Levon Aronian rallies to win in Sochi, Russia

Position No. 6017: Black to play and win. From the game Ivan Cheparinov-Vugar Gashimov, Sochi 2008.

Solution to Position No. 6016: White wins with 1 Nd6!, threatening 2 Ndf7+. Both 1 . . . Qxd6 2 Nf7+ and 1 . . . cxd6 2 Nxc6+ Kd7 3 Nxb8+ cost Black his Queen.

Grandmaster Levon Aronian of Armenia came from behind to win the first prize of 30,000 Euros (about $44,700) in the second Grand Prix tournament in Sochi, Russia. With three wins and a draw in his final four games, Aronian scored 8 1/2 -4 1/2 , edging Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, who finished second at 8-5.

The only undefeated player, Wang Yue of China, tied with former U.S. champion Gata Kamsky for third place at 7 1/2 -5 1/2 . Kamsky's only loss came when he fell into time pressure and botched a winning position.

Russian star Peter Svidler transformed a poor result into a respectable tie for fifth place at 7-6 by winning his last three games. On the other hand, early leaders Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria and Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan suffered the opposite fate. Cheparinov plummeted with three losses and a draw in his last four games, while Gashimov, "+2" after 10 rounds, lost twice in his last three games.

The World Chess Federation plans to award 300,000 Euros to the top 10 scorers in the six-tournament Grand Prix. Wang Yue, who shared first place in the May tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, now leads the series.

World Junior

The most prestigious age-group tournament, the World Junior Championship, brought 109 players, ages 20 or younger, to Gaziantep, Turkey. The field included 24 grandmasters. The surprising winner was 19th seed GM Abhijeet Gupta, 18, of India, who scored 10-3. He overcame two losses by winning his final five games.

The silver medal went to 15-year-old GM Parimarjan Negi of India at 9 1/2 -3 1/2 . Five players finished at 9-4, with International Master Arik Braun, 20, of Germany receiving the bronze medal on tiebreak over, among others, Hou Yifan, the 14-year-old Chinese girl who is already the world's fourth-highest rated female.woman.

American representative Tyler Hughes, 17, of Colorado finished with 6-7.

Dronavalli Harika, 17, of India led the 68-player World Junior Girls Championship with 10 1/2 -2 1/2 . Four players tied for second place at 9-4. Tatev Abrahamyan, 20, of Glendale tied for 14th place with 7 1/2 -5 1/2 .

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