Six new World Champions crowned at the World Youth 2019

by Sagar Shah - 13/10/2019

Six new World Youth Champions were crowned on 12th of October 2019 - Aydin Suleymanli and Meruert Kamalidenova won the under-14 open and girls section respectively, under-16 was won by Rudik Makarian and Leya Garifullina and under-18 titles went to Praggnanandhaa and Polina Shuvalova. How tense was the last round? In four sections things went as per plan, however in the under-14 girls and under-16 girls everything changed completely in the final round. Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal, who were present at the venue in Mumbai, bring you a detailed report of how things panned out on the final day of the World Youth Championships 2019.

A picture speaks thousand words! The final round stress! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The last round of any event either goes as per plan or the final standings are turned completely upside down. One could say that in four sections of the World Youth 2019 things went as per plan, while in two sections we had surprise champions. First let's have a look at where things went as per plan!

Under-18 girls

Polina Shuvalova agreed to a draw against Assel Serikbay in the final round and nearly confirmed her gold medal | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The onus now was on Vantika Agrawal, whether to play for a win or not.

Vantika had a small edge against Obolentseva and accurate play could have given her good winning chances. However, she didn't play up to the mark and had to agree to a draw. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Here Black could have played ...Ra7 or ...Rb8, Vantika went for Ra7 but it wasn't the best. Rab8 would have been better, and Black would have had some winning chances here

Under-18 open:

Praggnanandhaa was leading with a half point margin going into the last round. The only person who could catch up with him if he drew his game was Shant Sargsyan. Shant was facing Indian IM Arjun Kalyan. Arjun was extremely solid and didn't give his opponent any chances. Seeing that Sargsyan's game was ending in a draw, Praggnanandhaa agreed for a draw and became the under-18 world champion by a half point margin.

Pragg vs Buckels

Pragg had a chance to fight for an advantage here with the move Rad1. He instead played Qc2. The main point after Rad1 is that you cannot give up your queen for the two rooks in the position. It would give White a clear advantage. Hence, after Rad1 Rexe5 is the natural move and after Qc8+ Kh7 Rxd4 Rxe1+ Kh2 Rxd4 White retains a small edge with Qf5+ and Qxa5.

Shant Sargsyan came to the game with all his fighting spirit, but his opponent Arjun Kalyan was well prepared | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Interview with Praggnanandhaa minutes after he became the under-18 world champion

A happy mother after her son's huge success! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Calling his father back home in Chennai! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Under-16 open:

Rudik Makarian (right) the leader in the under-16 open section

Rudik had a half a point lead over three players. His opponent Stefan Pogosyants, Aronyak Ghosh and Arash Daghli. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. On the top board Makarian and Pogosyants agreed to a draw and so did Daghli and Ghosh.

Aronyak tried fight hard by going for the Alekhine's Defence, but the game was eventually drawn

Thus, Rudik Makarian won the gold, Stefan Pogosyants the silver and Aronyak Ghosh took home the bronze.

Under-14 open:

Aydin Suleymanli was in the lead and he continued his good form to even win the last game. He was the only player in the event who won his section by a full point margin!

Aydin Suleymanli won a nice game against Sultan Amanzhol in the last round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Amanzhol vs Suleymanli

This bishop endgame looks drawish in nature, but Black is close to winning. The reasons for the same are better pawn structure and Black king's ability to reach the d5 square gaining more terrain.

On board two Srihari drew his game against Vietnamese Vo Pham Thien Phuc and Sreeshwan managed to beat Abinandhan. This resulted in the lads taking the silver and bronze respectively. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Under-14 girls:

Bat-Erdene Mungunzul was the sole leader with 8.0/10. She was followed by three players on 7.5/10. They were Eline Roebers, Ekaterina Nasyrova and Meruert Kamalidenova. Bat-Erdene playing on top board was toppled by Rakshitta Ravi, while Ekaterina Nasyrova was beaten by Divya Deshmukh. Meruert Kamalidenova managed to beat Eline Roebers and thus became the champion of the section! Rakshitta and Divya who were behind Ekaterina and Eline managed to move ahead. Divya won the silver and Rakshitta got the bronze.

Rakshitta Ravi managed to completely outplay her opponent with the black pieces in a positional battle | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Eline Roebers lost to the eventual champion Meruert Kamalidenova. On their adjoining board Divya managed to beat Ekaterina Nasyrova. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Victory often goes to the brave! This was perfectly illustrated by Kamalidenova who played the Staunton Gambit against the Dutch. Roebers was unprepared and the Kazakh girl managed to win the gold.

Divya had a slightly minus position out of the opening. But she managed to hold her position together and when the time was right, made some powerful moves to win her game against Nasyrova.

Under-16 girls

Going into the final round Nazerke Nurgali was leading with a score of 8.5/10. She was followed by Leya Garifullina at 8.0/10. Leya's game unexpectedly ended in a draw. It seemed as if Nurgali would win the title. All she needed was a draw. But she lost! And this pushed her back to the second spot as Garifullina overtook her in terms of tiebreak score.

Govhar Beydullayeva played an excellent game with the white pieces in the high pressure situation and beat the leader Nazerke Nurgali | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Leya Garifullina was better almost throughout the game but Svitlana Demchenko didn't give up. She managed to hold her opponent to a draw. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Closing ceremony:

The closing ceremony hall was jam packed | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Many International players carried back with them a flavour of our country! Here, Elene Kostava flaunts her ChessBase India t-shirt | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The settings at the closing ceremony with the dignitaries on the dais | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Two huge pillars of Pragg's success - his coach R.B. Ramesh and his mother Nagalakshmi | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The three Russian gold medalists - (left to right) - Rudik Makarian (under-16 gold), Polina Shuvalova (under-18 girls gold) and Leya Garifullina (under-16 girls gold) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The lads who made India proud - seven medals in all | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Three golds and one silver and one bronze for Russia! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Ukrainian arbiter Olexandr Prohorov had become one with Indian culture in his black kurta | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The team of arbiters led by Takis Nikolopoulos were extremely efficient and the tournament witnessed absolutely no disputes or appeals | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Under-14 Open

Gold - Aydin Suleymanli (center), Silver - Srihari LR (left), Bronze - Sreeshwan Maralakshikari (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fourth place - Alex Kolay (second from left), fifth - Marc Morgunov (left) and sixth - Vo Pham Thien Phuc (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vo Pham Thien Phuc gained the highest number of Elo points among participants of all groups - a whopping 272 points!

Final rank in under-14 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2426	9,0	0,0	73,0	79,0	6	7
2	12	FM	Srihari L R	IND	2283	8,0	0,0	73,5	77,0	6	7
3	1	FM	Sreeshwan Maralakshikari	IND	2449	8,0	0,0	72,0	77,0	6	7
4	17		Kolay Alex	USA	2164	8,0	0,0	71,5	76,5	5	6
5	13	FM	Morgunov Marc	AUT	2280	8,0	0,0	70,0	75,0	5	5
	60		Vo Pham Thien Phuc	VIE	1807	8,0	0,0	70,0	75,0	5	5
7	4	FM	Tsvetkov Andrey	RUS	2382	8,0	0,0	58,5	62,0	5	7
8	55		Abinandhan R	IND	1830	7,5	1,0	75,5	82,0	5	6
9	2	FM	Murzin Volodar	RUS	2433	7,5	0,0	63,5	68,5	6	6
10	6		Samant Aditya S	IND	2334	7,0	0,0	69,0	73,5	6	5

Under-14 Girls

Gold - Meruert Kamalidenova (center), Silver - Divya Deshmukh (left) and Bronze - Rakshitta Ravi (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fourth - Bat-Erdene Mungunzul (second from right), fifth - Ayan Allahverdiyeva (right) and sixth - Eline Roebers (left) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Final rank in under-14 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	8	WFM	Kamalidenova Meruert	w	KAZ	2025	8,5	0,0	68,0	73,0	5	7
2	1	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	2358	8,0	0,0	73,0	78,5	5	7
3	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	w	IND	2310	8,0	0,0	73,0	77,5	6	6
4	16	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	w	MGL	1912	8,0	0,0	69,0	73,0	5	7
5	3	WFM	Allahverdiyeva Ayan	w	AZE	2160	8,0	0,0	67,5	71,5	5	8
6	5		Roebers Eline	w	NED	2083	7,5	0,0	73,5	78,5	5	6
7	4	WFM	Nasyrova Ekaterina	w	RUS	2137	7,5	0,0	71,0	76,5	6	6
8	30		Velpula Sarayu	w	IND	1717	7,5	0,0	70,5	74,5	6	7
9	12		Wikar Martyna	w	POL	1969	7,5	0,0	68,0	73,5	6	5
10	7		Poliakova Varvara	w	BLR	2042	7,5	0,0	68,0	73,0	5	7

Under-16 girls:

Gold - Leya Garifullina (center), Silver - Nazerke Nurgali (left) and Bronze - Anousha Mahdian (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The fourth spot went to Govhar Beydullayeva (right), fifth - Svitlana Demchenko (second from right), and sixth - Saina Salonika (left) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Final rank in under-16 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WCM	Garifullina Leya	w	RUS	2330	8,5	0,5	74,5	80,5	5	6
2	4	WFM	Nurgali Nazerke	w	KAZ	2194	8,5	0,5	72,5	77,5	6	7
3	7	WFM	Mahdian Anousha	w	IRI	2103	8,0	1,0	73,0	78,0	6	6
4	2	WFM	Beydullayeva Govhar	w	AZE	2289	8,0	0,0	71,0	76,0	5	7
5	22	WFM	Demchenko Svitlana	w	CAN	1953	7,5	0,0	70,0	74,0	6	6
6	11	WFM	Salonika Saina	w	IND	2051	7,5	0,0	69,5	74,0	6	5
7	5	WFM	Bulatova Kamaliya	w	RUS	2181	7,5	0,0	67,5	72,0	5	5
8	6	WFM	Loskutova Viktoriya	w	RUS	2149	7,5	0,0	66,5	71,5	6	6
9	10		Zhang Xiao	w	CHN	2053	7,5	0,0	63,0	68,0	6	5
10	14	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	w	IND	2017	7,0	0,0	70,0	74,0	6	5

Under - 16 Open

Gold - Rudik Makarian (center), Silver - Stefan Pogosyan (left) and Bronze - Aronyak Ghosh (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fourth place - Arash Daghli (left), Fifth - Jose Gabriel Cardoso (right), Sixth - Kushagra Mohan (second from right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Final rankings in under-16 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	7	IM	Makarian Rudik	RUS	2386	8,5	0,0	72,0	77,0	6	7
2	13	IM	Pogosyan Stefan	RUS	2364	8,0	0,0	69,5	74,5	5	5
3	8	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2380	8,0	0,0	67,5	72,0	5	5
4	5	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2387	8,0	0,0	67,0	71,5	5	7
5	19	FM	Cardoso Cardoso Jose Gabriel	COL	2313	8,0	0,0	60,5	65,0	5	8
6	20	CM	Kushagra Mohan	IND	2309	7,5	0,0	71,0	75,5	6	4
7	23		Bilych Olexiy	UKR	2281	7,5	0,0	65,5	69,5	5	7
8	14		Harshavardhan G B	IND	2362	7,5	0,0	61,5	65,5	5	7
9	1	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2439	7,0	0,0	72,0	77,5	6	6
10	2	FM	Kacharava Nikolozi	GEO	2428	7,0	0,0	67,5	72,0	6	4

Under-18 girls

Gold - Vantika Agrawal (center) Silver - Polina Shuvalova (left) Bronze - Alexandra Obolentseva (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The fourth place went to Lara Schulz (second from right), fifth placed was Assel Serikbay (right) and sixth place went to Zala Urh (left) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Final rankings of under 18 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	w	RUS	2412	8,5	0,0	69,5	74,0	6	6
2	6	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	w	IND	2283	8,0	0,0	70,5	76,0	6	5
3	7	WGM	Obolentseva Alexandra	w	RUS	2282	7,5	0,0	70,0	75,0	5	4
4	3	FM	Schulze Lara	w	GER	2327	7,5	0,0	69,5	75,0	5	5
5	13	WFM	Serikbay Assel	w	KAZ	2208	7,5	0,0	68,5	72,5	5	5
6	19	WFM	Urh Zala	w	SLO	2105	7,5	0,0	66,0	67,5	5	6
7	21	WFM	Makhija Aashna	w	IND	2084	7,0	0,0	68,0	72,5	6	4
8	4	WFM	Afonasieva Anna	w	RUS	2312	7,0	0,0	68,0	72,0	5	6
9	9	WIM	Muetsch Annmarie	w	GER	2266	7,0	0,0	66,0	71,0	5	6
10	2	WIM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	w	MGL	2332	7,0	0,0	65,5	70,0	5	3

Under-18 open

Gold - R. Praggnanandhaa (center), Silver - Shant Sargsyan (left), Bronze - Artur Davtyan (right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Indian national anthem and the mood in the hall when Praggnanandhaa won the under-18 gold

Fourth place went to Valentin Buckels (second from right), Fifth - Aryan Gholami (right) and sixth - Arjun Kalyan (left) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings after round 11 in under-18 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2567	9,0	0,0	71,0	75,5	5	7
2	1	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2580	8,5	0,0	71,0	77,0	6	6
3	17	IM	Davtyan Artur	ARM	2418	8,0	0,0	67,5	71,0	5	6
4	12	IM	Buckels Valentin	GER	2442	7,5	0,0	69,5	75,0	6	5
5	3	IM	Gholami Aryan	IRI	2554	7,5	0,0	69,5	74,0	5	6
6	8	IM	Arjun Kalyan	IND	2483	7,5	0,0	68,5	73,5	5	6
7	7	IM	Pultinevicius Paulius	LTU	2503	7,5	0,0	65,5	70,5	5	6
8	22		Wang Shixu B	CHN	2370	7,5	0,0	64,5	69,0	6	6
9	9	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P	IND	2460	7,5	0,0	57,5	62,0	5	7
10	21		Bykov Oleg	RUS	2370	7,5	0,0	55,0	59,5	5	5

The organizers celebrated Pragg's success in a unique way | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The award for the best team went to Russia followed by India and then Kazakhstan | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Medal Tally

Rk.	FED	Federation	gold	silver	bronze	Total
1	RUS	Russia	3	1	1	5
2	IND	India	1	3	3	7
3	KAZ	Kazakhstan	1	1	0	2
4	AZE	Azerbaijan	1	0	0	1
5	ARM	Armenia	0	1	1	2
6	IRI	Iran	0	0	1	1

India won the highest number of medals but Russia was the best federation as they won three golds!

Norm makers:

As many as 13 norms were made at the event. Here is the list of norm makers:

1. Aryan Gholami - GM norm (also became a GM)

2. Ramazan Zhalmakhanov - IM norm

3. Wang Shixu - IM norm

4. Vladyslav Sydoryka - IM norm

5. Sibi Visal - IM norm

6. Aronyak Ghosh - IM norm

7. Kushagra Mohan - IM norm

8. Lara Schulze - WIM norm

9. Anna Afonasieva - WIM norm

10. Yan Tianqi - WIM norm

11. Assel Serikbay - WIM norm

12. Zala Urh - WIM norm

13. Aashna Makhija - WIM norm (Became India's latest WIM)

Hardik Vaidya the Master of Ceremony took a final selfie before the event came to a formal close! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The World Youth Championships were held for the first time on Indian soil. It proved to be a great exposure and learning experience for Indian kids. | Photo: World Youth Chess 2019

Heartfelt wishes from @FIDE_chess President, @advorkovich for all the participants, @aicfchess & Organising Committee of #WorldYouthChessChampionship.
Thank you Sir!#ChampionsOfLife #chess pic.twitter.com/eY9H9IAKoV
— World Youth Chess Championship (@WorldChess2019) October 12, 2019

The ChessBase India team

ChessBase India worked hard at the event to bring you all the reports, videos and analysis

14-year-old Avathanshu Bhat did some phenomenal journalistic work at the venue. His series - the board of many colours was a big hit! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Supriya Bhat, ChessBase India's Business Development Manager catered to every participant who visited the ChessBase India stall at the venue! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

All the reports from Mumbai were written by IM Sagar Shah and the photography was done by Amruta Mokal | Photo: Niklesh Jain

We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Next stop World Juniors 2019 in New Delhi from 15-27th October 2019.

Related news:

	Board of Many Colours - Throwback to World Youth 2019 @ 13/10/2020 by Avathanshu Bhat (en)
	Seven medals for India at the World Youth 2019 @ 12/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 Rd.10: How many medals can India win? @ 12/10/2019 by Amruta Mokal (en)
	World Youth 2019 Rd.9: Four sole leaders @ 11/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 Rd.8: In the battle of Indian GMs, Pragg beats Iniyan @ 10/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 R07: Who is the 1830-rated player performing at an Elo of 2568! @ 08/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 Round 6: Just 14 and already a professional - Aydin Suleymanli @ 07/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 R05: Top players begin their domination @ 06/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 Round 4: Srihari LR beats top seed Sreeshwan in under-14 section to claim sole lead @ 05/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 R02+03: Exchange French, Pawn Endgames and some brilliant play @ 04/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2019 begins with the downfall of defending under-18 champion @ 03/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	An electrifying opening ceremony at the World Youth Championships 2019 @ 02/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	For the first time on Indian soil - The World Youth Championships 2019 @ 29/09/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)