Harshita Guddanti and Dhyani Patel shine in Western Asia Junior Championship

7 years ago

The 2018 Western Asia Junior Chess Championship (for Under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 age categories) which was held from 16 to 22 November at the International Hotel Tashkent, Uzbekistan, ended in a convincing victory for the Indian participants. Eleven West Asian countries took part in the event namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, UAE, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan. Indian players won 14 medals in the categories of standard, rapid, and blitz.

Harshita Guddanti of Andhra Pradesh scored 7.0/9 points to win Gold in classical format of U-20 girls.

Gujarat’s WFM Dhyani Patel won Gold medal in Rapid & Blitz and Bronze in classical format of U18 Girls category.

Arushi Kotwal of Kashmir won Silver medal and Vrandesh Parekh of Gujarat won Bronze medal in the classical format of U-14 girls and open section respectively. In addition, Vrandesh also won Gold in U-14 Rapid championship.

U-8 player Jaivardhan Raj won 3 medals winning in every format—Silver in the classical and rapid format and Bronze in the blitz championship.

Swayham P Das of Gujarat won the Bronze medal in both the U-10 classical and blitz championship. While Garv Gaur of Haryana bagged the Silver medal in the U-12 rapid championship. Meanwhile, Maharastra’s IM Nubairshah Shaikh clinched Gold medal in the U-20 blitz championship.