India strikes it rich at World Youth Chess Championship

It was an impressive show at the World Youth Chess Championship by Indians, who won five out of the 12 gold medals on offer.

India's R. Pragnananda won the Under-10 boys' category of the World Youth Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece.

India finished with a rich haul at the World youth chess championship in Halkidiki, Greece, on Thursday, with 11 medals — five gold, three silver and three bronze.

It was indeed quite an impressive show by the Indians who won five out of the 12 gold medals on offer. India was by far the best-performing country. The other top teams, Russia and the United States, won just four medals each but neither of them could win a gold.

The golds for India were clinched by M. Mahalakshmi (girls’ Under-18), R. Vaishali (girls’ Under-14), Rakshita Ravi (girls’ Under-8), R. Pragnananda (boys’ Under-10) and H. Bharath Subramaniyam (boys’ Under-8).

There were silver for V. Varshini (girls’ Under-18), Nihal Sarin (boys’ Under-12) and Dev Shah (boys’ Under-8) and bronze for Vantika Agrawal (girls’ Under-14), Saina Salonika (girls’ Under-12) and Divya Deshmukh (girls’ Under-10).

The other champions:

Boys: Under-18: Masoud Mosadeghpour (Ira).

Under-16: Roven Vogel (Ger).

Under-14: Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb).

Under-12: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb).

Girls: Under-16: Stavroula Tsolakidou (Gre).

Under-12: Nurgyul Salimova (Bul).

Under-8: Nguyen Le Cam Hien (Vie).