India bags 125 medals in Western Asian youth chess championship

India won 14 out of 16 gold medals in the classical time-format and finished with an overhaul of 125 medals from the inaugural Western Asian youth chess championship.

India won 14 out of 16 gold medals in the classical time-format. (Representative Image)

As anticipated, India won 14 out of 16 gold medals in the classical time-format and finished with an overhaul of 125 medals from the inaugural Western Asian youth chess championship here on Tuesday.

Uzbekistan’s Abdimalik Abdisalimov (under-20) and Kazakhstan’s Abilmansur Abdikhair (under-16) walked away with gold medals while India swept 41 out of 48 medals at stake.

In the blitz format that followed, India again won 41 medals, including 15 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze.

Over the three time-formats, India finished with 44 gold, 41 silver and 40 bronze medals, way ahead of Uzbekistan with three gold, a silver and a bronze.

Sakshi Chitlange, winner of the under-20 section, also received a Woman Grandmaster norm.

The standings (Indians unless stated):

Under-20: Open: 1. Abdimalik Abdisalimov (Uzb, 7.5), 2. Rajdeep Sarkar (7.5); Leon Mendonca (6.5); Girls: 1. Sakshi Chitlange (7), 2. Vantika Agrawal (6.5), 3. Bakhora Abdusattorova (Uzb, 6.5).

Under-18: Open: 1. Srijit Paul (9), 2. G. M. H. Thilakaratne (Sri, 5), 3. Mukhammadali Abdurakhmonov (Uzb, 6); Girls: 1. Mrudul Dehankar (8), 2. K. Priyanka (7.5), 3. Srishti Pandey (6).

Under-16: Open: 1. Abilmansur Abdilkhair (Kaz, 6.5), 2. Mohammad Anees (6), 3. Ajay Karthikeyan (6); Girls: 1. Greeshma Dhumal (7), 2. Saina Salonika (6.5), 3. Vyshnavi Chinnam (6.5).

Under-14: Open: 1. Kashish Jain (7), 2. Sai Karthik (7), 3. Bhavesh Mahajan (6.5); Girls: 1. Bhagyashree Patil (6.5), 2. Sabrina Abrorova(Tjk, 7), 3. Sarayu Velpula (6.5).

Under-12: Open: 1. Sai Varshith Chilukuri (6.5), 2. Sahib Singh (6), 3. Bagwe Gaurang (5.5); Girls: 1. G. Tejaswini (6.5), 2. A. Sai Mahati (6.5), 3. Kheerthi Ganta (6.5).

Under-10: Open: 1. Mayank Chakraborty (7.5), 2. Arun Daakshin (7), 3. G. Aakash (6.5); Girls: 1. Palak Mohapatra (5.5), 2. S. Pournami (5), 3. Sachi Jain (5);

Under-8: Open: 1. Vivaan Saraogi (8), 2. Rosh Jain (8), 3. Nimay Agrawal (6.5); Girls: 1. Tashna Aggarwal (7), 2. Jennica Sequeira (6.5), 3. Alana Kolagatla (6).

Under-6: Open: 1. Madhvendra Sharma (7), 2. R. Nijesh (6.5), 3. Aditya Joshi (6.5); Girls: 1. Diya Sawal (8), 2. Aadya Ranganath (7.5), 3. Aliia Sharabidinova (Kgz, 6).

Medals tally (gold-silver-bronze-total):

India 44-41-40-125; Uzbekistan 3-1-4-8; Kazakhstan 1-1-1-3; Sri Lanka 0-2-1-3; Tajikistan 0-2-0-2; Bangladesh 0-1-0-1; Iran 0-0-1-1; Kyrgyzstan 0-0-1-1.