World Youth Chess Championship Set For Thrilling Finish
The World Youth Chess Championship 2019 is being held in Mumbai, India from October 1-13.
This is the first time that India is hosting this prestigious event. After this event, India will also host the World Junior Chess Championship 2019 in New Delhi from October 14-26.
The World Youth Chess Championships includes six events in three age categories split between the open and the girls' section. The event will crown six new world champions in the age categories of under-14, under-16 and under-18 in both sections, open and girls'.
A total of 464 players from some 64 countries flocked to the city of Mumbai. Several titled players and national champions from five continents arrived for the six world championship titles up for grabs.
The tournament began with a colorful opening ceremony. The global crowd was treated to several Indian customs, traditions, shows and performances.
Here is a highlights video showing the different colors and delegations at the opening ceremony:
As hosts, India could field up to one-third of the participants. Countries including the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Norway and China have also sent their top players and each have about 10 players in their contingent.
India's star prodigy, GM Praggnanandhaa, is only 14 years old but is playing in the under-18 section. He starts as the second seed in the oldest category behind Chess.com regular GM Shant Sargsyan (shant_sargsyan) of Armenia.
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 |
| 1 | 3 | IM | Gholami Aryan | 2554 | 6 | 0 | 29 | 32.5 | 3 | 5 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2567 | 5.5 | 0 | 27.5 | 30 | 4 | 4 | |
| 3 | 15 | IM | Mitrabha Guha | 2434 | 5.5 | 0 | 25.5 | 29 | 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Iniyan P | 2509 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 32.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 5 | 1 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | 2580 | 5 | 0 | 28.5 | 32.5 | 3 | 3 |
In the girls' under-18 section, the Russian star IM Polina Shuvalova started off as the top seed and has managed to remain in clear first with six points after seven rounds.
She played the game of the tournament to outwit her compatriot WFM Anna Afanasieva in round seven. Polina constructured a nice attack and then finished the game with a brilliant sacrifice.
The top Indian junior in the girls' section, WIM Vantika Agarwal, is the local hopeful here and is in the joint second position. She is half a point behind the leader and they play each other in round eight after the rest day.
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 |
| 1 | 1 | WIM | Shuvalova Polina | 2412 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 29.5 | 3 | 5 | |
| 2 | 6 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | 2283 | 5.5 | 0 | 27 | 30 | 4 | 4 | |
| 3 | 3 | FM | Schulze Lara | 2327 | 5.5 | 0 | 25 | 28.5 | 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 13 | WFM | Serikbay Assel | 2208 | 5 | 0 | 26 | 28.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 5 | 5 | WIM | Śliwicka Alicja | 2307 | 5 | 0 | 25.5 | 29 | 3 | 4 |
They are several ongoing side events at the World Youth Chess Championship, including the FIDE trainer seminar, the FIDE arbiter seminar, and talk shows by various chess personalities.
Chess.com and Chesskid also hosted a booth at the event, which was well received.
Great to meet another @chesscom team member @WorldChess2019 @USChess @carolbmeyer pic.twitter.com/xXsOc6oXdU
— US Chess (@USChess) October 2, 2019
India's top Chesskid, GM Praggnanandhaa, also stopped by at the ChessKid booth.
Praggnanandhaa stands in front of a banner showing a ChessKid online event with Viswanathan Anand. | Photo: Rakesh Kulkarni.
More World Youth Championship information:
- Official website here.
- Live games can be found in our new events page: open section and girls'.
- Photos from the event can be found here.
- For updates and live content, like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
Rakesh Kulkarni is the Director of Indian Social Media for Chess.com and a correspondent on chess in India.
Rakesh has earned the International Master title and is a former Commonwealth Blitz Champion and a Commonwealth Bronze medallist in the junior category. Rakesh has a Masters of Commerce degree in Management & Business administration. He now is a professional chess player and trains young talents across the globe on chess.com
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