The players are beginning to settle down at the 11th Asian Schools Chess Championships 2015 with several favourites beginning to emerge after three rounds of play over two days including today’s double round.
Singapore’s big hope is Liu Xiangyi in the under 17 Open but the last game of the day to end proved to be frustrating as he was unable to take home the full point against his Sri Lankan opponent and had to settle for a draw. This has opened the door to second seeded IM Paolo Bersamina to take sole lead.
Liu Xingyi
There was no such difficulty for the top seed and newly crowned World Schools Champion in the under 17 Girls as Filipina Shania Mae Mendoza proved she was much too strong against Aussie Kristine Kuek and will play fellow three pointer Sri Lankan Nelunika Methmani.
Shania Mae Mendoza
In the under 15 Open the competition is particularly intense but the sole leader is G M Thilakarthne while in the under 15 Girls the top seed and another recently crowned World Schools Champion in India’s Tejaswini Sagar will have to face off co-leader and country girl Isha Sharma.
Tejaswini Sagar
Also on three points are J A K Saranth Nanayakkara from Sri Lanka and Sukhrobon Avalboev from Uzbekistan who jointly lead under 13 Open while Malaysia’s Chua Kian-Tien leads under 13 Girls alone.
Cyrus Nisban is the new hope for Singapore as he has emerged the leader in under 11 Open but in under 11 Girls there are four, Khazakhstan’s Nazerke Nurgali, China’s Wan Qian and Indians Yesha Shah and Dehankar Mrudul.
Nazerke Nugali
No less than four also share the lead in under 9 Open, Singapore’s Ng Shen Feng, Kyrgyzstan’s Eldiiar Orozbaev, Sri Lanka’s L M S T De Silva, and Uzbekistan’s Almas Rakhmatullaev while World Schools Champion Amina Kairbekova from Kazakhstan and Sanskruti Wankhade from India tie for the lead in under 9 Girls.
Orozbaev Eldiiar
Amina Kairbekova
Two Mongolians are on three points in under 7 Open, Ochir-Erdene Ariunbold and Erdenebat Azjargal but in under 7 Girls Kazakhstan’s Aida Aidarkyzy stands alone.
Report and photos by Peter Long
Aida Aidarkyzy
Ashna Makhija
Dineth Nimnaka Naotunna
Kazybek Nogerbek
Kristine Quek
Stephen Rome Pangilinan
