Excerpts from the mainstream media
The 2008 World Youth Chess Championship closed on Friday in Vung Tau, Vietnam, but the news are still flying around. IM Martica Fierro, who participated in the FIDE Trainers’ Seminar, sent a message to coordinator FM/ST Peter Long saying that “Italian team is really grateful for the organization and hospitality”.
The Indian media are naturally thrilled with Vishy Anand’s win in the World Chess Championship match and medal grab in Vietnam, where India finished top ranked in team standings. US fans were also pleased with two individual bronze and three team medals.
Anand started the revolution
Did you know India has produced 17 champions who have brought home the world chess titles, from all levels, a whopping 28 times?
In 2008 alone, seven world titles have come India’s way. Clearly, the revolution started by Viswanathan Anand in 1987 is churning out world champions like in no other sport. In Does Anand believe that he triggered off a revolution? “I really don’t know,” says Anand as he pauses to deal with a direct question and continues, “Perhaps, I did things that many did not expect at that time. Now looking back, it does appear like the starting point. But you don’t notice it when you are in the middle of a revolution. It is much later that you realise what has followed.”
Former USSR championship runner-up Grandmaster Artur Yusupov, who has played several Candidate matches through the 1990s, firmly believes “India will continue to grow stronger. With Anand winning the world title, the number of champions coming out of the country will grow.”
Anand has no doubt about the future of Indian chess. “What a fantastic year we’ve had so far! We have the two world junior champions (Abhijeet Gupta and D. Harika) and a few more from the youth sections. It’s just brilliant. The number is sure to grow.”
Read the full article in Hindu.com
Just days after Viswanathan Anand made India proud by yet again bagging the world’s best tag in Bonn, Kolkata young guns Sayantan Das and Diptayan Ghosh returned to the city today after conquering the world in the junior circuit last week.
Young Sayantan won the prestigious Under-12 title in the World Youth Chess Championship in Vietnam last week, while Diptayan finished a creditable fourth in the Under-10 world category, apart from bagging the gold in the Asian Youth Chess Championship. Sayantan and Diptayan came up with their stellar performances in Vietnam just two days after Anand saw off the challenge from Kramnik to reign supreme in Bonn in the matchplay format. Unfortunately for the two Kolkata masters, their exploits have been overshadowed to an extent by Anand’s world champion effort.
Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda, who hails from the same city, expressed his joy over Sayantan and Diptayan’s achievements in Vietnam. “From now on, I will help them in whichever way possible, whenever I am free. I couldn’t receive any gold medal in any world event as a kid, but they did it. They should continue the hard work and should get to play in different world events,” Chanda said.
Read the full article in Express India
Samuel L. Shankland goes home with IM title
The United States team had 28 members, and quite a few of them did well. Daniel Naroditsky of California, who was the under-12 champion last year, finished ninth in the under-14 section. Jonathan Chiang, who is from Texas, was fifth in the under-8 section, and Sarah Chiang, his older sister, placed 13th in the under-12 section for girls.
The top performances for the United States were turned in by Darwin Yang of Texas, who took third in a tie-breaker in the under-12 group, and Samuel L. Shankland of California, who tied for first in the under-18 section, but finished third in a tie-breaker.
Shankland’s performance earned him the title of international master. He had to play both Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, two grandmasters from Vietnam. Shankland drew Son in Round 4, and he beat Liem in the last round.
With 8/11 each, Samuel Shankland in the Boys Under 18 and Darwin Yang in the Boys Under 12, both achieved bronze medals in the 2008 World Youth (Vung Tau, Vietnam, October 18-31). Congrats to Sam and Darwin! Jonathan Chiang in the Boys Under 8 also scored 8/11 and placed fifth. In addition to our two individual medals, the U.S. won three team medals. The dominant force of the competition was India, who won eight individual medals and 19 total.
Check out the US Chess Federation website
