Round 3
The Asian Youth Chess Championship being held in Suwon, Korea from 3-11 August 2015 is providing to be particularly competitive as can be seen after three rounds of play where it is clear that the premier events, Open U-18 and Girls U-18 will be hard fought while Open U-16 could arguably be the strongest.
Both Open U-18 and Girls U-18 have also been reduced to seven rounds with the direct award of the International Master title still the main prize for many but not for top seeded Vietnam IM Tran Tuan Minh who was beaten by Iran's Mersad Khordashenas in the third round.
There were no major upsets in Girls U-18 but all three leaders have at dropped half a point and it is the same story for Open U-16 with no less than five on 2.5/3.
Earlier, in round two, India's Lakshami R Divya who had surprised fifth seeded fellow Indian G Lashya in round one, was beaten by Iran's Orimi Anahita Gholami in Girls U-18 while lower ranked Hajra Chandrejee won against World Amateur 2014 and ASEAN+ Age-Group U-18 Champion Shakshi Chitlange in Girls U-16.
Another smaller surprise was when Open U-12 third seeded Aravind L N Ram was beaten by fellow Indian G B Harshavadhan.
There were already big upsets in round one, the biggest being in Open U-16 where top seeded Indian GM Chithambaram Vr Aravindh who was considered before the start to be by far the strongest player in the entire championship fell to the local hero of the day, Korean champion Lee Jun Hyeok. And it was only just a little better going for the second seed, Iranian Shahin Lorparizangeneh, who drew India's Al Muthaiah and which led to the unlikely second round paring on seventh board of the top two seeds and with a second loss the championship's only grandmaster is as good as out of the running with only five rounds left.
Girls U-18 saw the second seed fall in an all Indian encounter where Sri Sheshadri suffered defeat to Smaraki Mohanty and in Girls U-16 top seeded Riya Savant from India was held to a draw by Malaysia's Rosamund Koo while in Girls U-14 Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Nhi upset second seeded Indian Tarini Goyal.
Results & Pairings are at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr182648.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984
Office Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/aycc2015
 
 
 
 The Asian Youth Chess Championship got underway with a short and simple opening ceremony graced by In Suk Hyun, President of the Korea Chess Federation who welcomed all participants to Korea and wished them every success and an enjoyable stay.
Kyung Hee University's Global Campus in Suwon is a beautiful setting for a competition that is held from 3-11 August 2015 and incorporates the World Youth Mind Sports Fair with Rapid and Blitz chess tournaments.
With over 282 participants from 15 countries, the event has broken the attendance records for this event from the last few years and validating the decision to host it in the Far East from traditional hosts Indian and Iran which result in the majority of participants coming from the home country.
Top seeded IM Tran Tuan Minh and the highly regarded fourth seeded IM Lu Chan Hung, both from Vietnam, start as favourites in the blue ribbon Open U-18 category. Two Iranians, second seeded Masoud Mosadehpour and third seeded Mersad Khodashenas are expected to provide the stiffest competition for the Asian title and direct IM title.
In the Girls U-18, with only 13 participants, it will just be a seven round rush to the finish and while Iran's Orimi Anahita Ghoami is the top seed, she is expected to be chased by no less than four Indians ranked second to fifth, Seshadri Srija, V Varshini, M Malalakshmi, and G Lasya, all who are capable of winning and getting the WIM title as are several others even lower seeded.
Newly crowned Indian Junior Champion, GM Chithambaram Vr Aravindh is the overwhelming favourite to add the Asian U-16 title to his resume although Iran's Shahin Lorparizangeneh would beg to differ and third seeded Indian N R Visakh cannot be also discounted.
India's Savant Riya is already World and Asian U-15 Champion and now is going one step up to add the Asian Girls U-16 title. Her competition are as always fellow Indians but also possibly lower ranked rivals from Uzbekistan and China.
Open U-14 has a very strong field, a good barometer indeed for the progress of chess in Asia. Iran's Aryan Gholami is the top seed but behind him are the highly rated Vietnam's Nguyen Anh Khoi, Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Yakubboev amongst others.
R Vaishali from India is the overwhelming ratings favourite in Girls U-14 but will have to deal with a large number of equally ambitious which are probably a lot stronger than their current ratings, amongst them third seeded Yijing Yang from China, fourth seeded country girl Vantika Agrawal, and sixth seeded Assel Serikbay from Kazakhstan.
In the lower categories, Alireza Firouzja from Iran heads Open U-12 with third seeded India's L N Ram Aravindh is best known rival, while in Girls U-12 there is no clear favourite.
With the lower age groups it is always hard to make predictions but Open U-10 looks to be a fight between Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan and R Panggnanandhaa from India and Deshmukh Divya from India expected to win Girls U-10. For the U--10 categories, both Open and Girls, let's just say it is possible new big talents can emerge as the champions!
The Chief Arbiter is MS Gopalkumar from India and the Tournament Director Tserendorj Sainbayar from Mongolia while the Korea Chess Federation Organising Team is led by Song Jinwoo.
Pairings and Results
Official Facebook Page
Korean Chess Federation Website
|
