In the World Youth Championship , two of our youngest competitors, Tanuj Vasudeva and Samritha Palakollu scored impressive 8.5/11 scores in the Under 8 Open and Under 8 Girls. Both were on the top boards all event and earned silver medals due to superior tiebreaks! Our other big medal contender, Jarod Pamatmat faltered in the last two rounds to finish with 7.5/11, only enough to place in
11th. Alena Kats and Sarah Chiang, who were also in contention for much of the event, finished in 7th and 8th, respectively. Dachey Lin had a strong finish in the Under 10 Open to place in a tie for 9th.
Samritha was on top of the field for much of the event, but lost her final round. As it turns out, she probably would have finished in second even if she won or drew her last game, since the winner scored 9.5 and had the best tiebreaks. Tanuj blundered in round nine but came back with a stunning last round attack to push back up in the standings.
3749
Our total tally was 166 out of a maximum of 275 points. Look for more details including photos from the closing ceremony on CLO and coach GM John Fedorowicz's Chess Life Magazine report. Thanks to the coaches and players for their hard work during this long event. Also keep an eye on Tanuj's blog for his personal thoughts on his big win.
USA Coaches
IM Armen Ambartsumian
FM Aviv Friedman
GM John Fedorowicz
FST (Fide Senior Trainer) Michael Khodarkovsky
GM Sam Palatnik
US Squad Final Standings
|
VASUDEVA
TANUJ U-8 Open |
8.5 |
|
ZENG
WINSTON U-8 Open |
5 |
|
LIN
DACHEY U-10 Open |
7.5 |
|
HE TOMMY
U-10 Open |
7 |
|
CHIANG
JONATHAN U-10 Open |
6.5 |
|
GUREVICH-GRIGORIEV
DANIEL U-12 Open |
6.5 |
|
PAMATMAT
JAROD U-12 Open |
7.5 |
|
KRISHNAN
VARUN U-12 Open |
6.5 |
|
SHEN
ARTHUR U-12 Open |
7 |
|
BROWN
MICHAEL U-12 Open |
6.5 |
|
ROZOVSKY
DANIEL U-14 Open |
5.5 |
|
ADELBERG
DAVID U-14 Open |
6 |
|
FINNEY
STUART U-14 Open |
6 |
|
NG ANDREW
U-16 Open |
5.5 |
|
FM GETZ
ALEC U-16 Open |
6 |
|
VIGNA
LIZA U-8 Girls |
7 |
|
WANG
ANNIE U-8 Girls |
7 |
|
CHAWLA
ALISHA U-8 Girls |
7 |
|
PALAKOLLU
SAMRITHA U-8 Girls |
8.5 |
|
LIAO
SIMONE U-10 Girls |
7 |
|
WCM
CHIANG SARAH U-12 Girls |
7.5 |
|
MATLIN
ANNA U-14 Girls |
5 |
|
KATS
ALENA U-14 Girls |
7.5 |
|
ROBINSON
DARRIAN U-16 Girls |
5.5 |
|
WFM
MARSHALL ABBY U-18 Girls |
6.5 |