AICF Press Release

India won the World Youth Chess Olympiad for a historic triumph at Singapore on August 11. In the final day, India scored a 3-1 win against Singapore and posted 28 points. Top seed Hungary could overtake us for the title had they won 4-0 against Indonesia. Woman FIDE Master Irine Sukandar shocked Tamas Fodor of Hungary and it helped India. Hungary could thus win only by 3-1 margin and finish second with 27.5 points.

India has never won any world level team medals in chess before. This time it was significant that we started well defeating the United States 4-0 and followed that up by defeating top seed Hungary 3.5-0.5. We had one bad moment when we lost 1-3 to the Philippines in the seventh round. Thereafter, the boys won the last three matches to win the title with 28/40. India won seven matches, drew two and lost one.

Indian scorers were: B.Adhiban 7.5/10, R.Ashwath 4.5/8, S.Nitin 7/10, Shyam Nikhil 5.5/7, Swayams Mishra 3.5/5. Besides the team gold and title, Adhiban of Chennai had the third best result of all players in the top board. Shyam Nikhil of Nagercoil had the second best result in the fourth board and Swayams Mishra had the second best score of all players in the reserve fifth board.

"After India defeated Hungary in the fifth round, we were certain of winning the title," said Baskaran, father of Adhiban in Chennai. Hungary made a serious comeback in the penultimate day and provided much excitement in an otherwise India dominated contest. The title race could not have been closer. India edged out Hungary in a well contested 10-round team event.

"We were sure of a medal from this competition this time but the boys did well for the gold," said D.V.Sundar, a delighted Secretary of the AICF. The success here reassures India's growing stature in chess and also in the Youth area. This event was for those Under-16 and India is the best team in the world. The training camp at Chennai provided the necessary chess food and unity for the players.

The team returns to Chennai on Sunday morning. B.Adhiban is going straight from Singapore to Abu Dhabi to compete in the Open Tournament where he will be seeking Grand Master norms and will not be returning home with the team. He is already an International Master. The team is accompanied by Raizada of Lucknow as coach. The team was trained by K.Visweswaran of Chennai prior to the contest for 10 days and he was also in touch with the team at Singapore on a daily basis over the internet from Chennai.

Final placings: 1 India (gold) 28/40, 2 Hungary (silver) 27.5, 3 Philippines (bronze) 25.5, 4 Uzbekistan 24.5..34 teams.