As expected, 14-year-old R. Praggnanandhaa provided the ‘golden’ embroidery to India’s best-ever haul of seven medals in the World Youth chess championship here on Saturday.
But unexpected was India’s eventual tally that was made possible by a series of favourable 11th-round results in five age-groups. In terms of quality, Russia finished ahead with five medals including three gold medals.
Out of the 18 medals at stake across six competitions in three age-groups, India collected three silver and as many bronze medals, in spite of drawing a blank in the girls’ under-16 section. Since 2015, when this championship was reduced to three age groups from six, this is India’s best performance.
India’s silver medals came from Vantika Agarwal (girls’ under-18), S. L. Srihari (under-14) and Divya Deshmukh (girls’ under-14). The bronze medals went to Aronyak Ghosh (under-16), M. Sreeshwan (under-14) and Rakshitta Ravi (girls’ under-14).
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Making his debut in the under-18 section, Praggnanandhaa (9 points), drew the final round against Valentin Buckels, once nearest contender and top seed Shant Sargsyan (8.5) did likewise against Arjun Kalyan on the second board.
For Praggnanandhaa, the under-8 champion in 2013 and the under-10 winner in 2015, this was a third world title.
“I chose to play in the under-18 category because I was looked for stiffer competition. Being the second seed and winning the title feels good,” said the soft-spoken champion, who now travels to New Delhi to play the World junior championship next week.
R. B. Ramesh, coach of Praggnanandhaa, Divya and Rakshitta and head of the Indian delegation here was satisfied with the overall home tally. “I expected gold medals in the two under-14 sections but liked the way the Indians fought back to reach the podium. A lot of work needs to be done, especially in the girls' section, and I’m you’ll see better results as we go along,” said the country’s finest chess trainer.
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