Indian youngsters win three golds at World Youth Chess Championships

India’s young stars shine in Al-Ain

India finished the World Youth Chess Championships that concluded at Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates on 28th, with a rich haul of eight medals, including three golds. Besides three gold, India also won two silver and three bronze medals.

Karthikeyan Murali of Chennai and Girish Koushik of Mysore tied for the first place with 9/11 to win the gold and silver medals as India dominated the Open Under-16 section. R Praggnanandhaa, of Chennai dominated the contest with a 11/11 sweep, winning the Open Under-8 section with a round to spare.

Saina Salonika of Odisha won the Girls Under-10 section with an undefeated 9/11 run, while K S Raghunandan of Bangalore posted a final round win to pick up the silver medal in the Open Under-12 section.

Vaibhav Suri (Delhi, Open U-18), C Lakshmi (Chennai, Girls U-10), Bhagyashree Patil (Mah, Girls U-8) won the bronze medals in their respective sections.

Winning three titles out of 12 and eight medals out of the maximum 36 is quite an achievement for the Indians. A total of 1818 players from 123 nations took part in this event that ran from December 17.