Disappointing end for Sri Lanka at Asian Online Chess
Uzbekistan and China grabbed major honours by emerging champions at the Asian Junior Boys/Girls online Rapid Chess Championships 2020 conducted by the Asian Chess Federation worked off from May 27 to June 4 at the chess.com site.
The boys finals which was worked off on Thursday turned out to be an absorbing game and after a long battle Abdusattorov Nodirbek of Uzbekistan defeated Tahbaz Arash of Iran keeping a clear one point lead. Nodirbek scored 7 and half points out of possible nine games while the runner-up Iranian scored 6 ½ points in his nine games. The winner was unbeaten throughout the event scoring six wins and three draws. Vokhidov Shamsiddin also of Uzbekistan clinched the third spot.
As expected Nodirbek sailed to glory making use of the experience he gained from competing in the World Chess champion recently. His fine moves made the opponent to think twice not giving the champ to any opening. The runner-up Iranian was never ready to go down as he too made some excellent movements matching the champ.
The three Sri Lankans, Harshana Thilakarathne along with girls Sayuni Gihansa Jayaweera and Devnethmi Dahampriya, appeared in the finals with their wins in the Zonal rounds as Thilakarathne secured the third spot scoring 5 ½ points in seven games. Jayaweera scored six points in possible seven games giving two draws to his opponent Bangladeshi player to secure a seat as Zonal champ. Dahampriya won the third place scoring 5 ½ points out of seven games in the qualifying round.
In the finals Thilakarathne scored four points and was placed 16th in the Boys category while Gihansa Jayaweera and Devnethmi Dahampriya who scored four and 3 ½ points respectively in the girls’ finals, were placed in the 16th and 17th positions.
Ning Kaiyu of China won the Girls Championship in better tie breaker after drawing with 7 points each to Munkhzul Turmunk of Mongolia. Though Munkzul also scored 7 points she had to satisfy with the silver medal. Arpita Mukharjee of India placed third with 6 1/2 points.
The Asian Junior Girls and Boys Rapid Chess Championship were organised in two stages, seven qualifying events from seven Asian Zones and the top three players of each zone was qualified to the finals. Seven qualifiers were played from May 27 to June 1 and the Girls finals was held on Wednesday and the Boys finals was played on Thursday.
The event was organised in a grand scale by the Asian Chess Federation and they offered cash awards of USD 5,000 for the winners. Total of 35 countries participated in the event.