Asian Youth Chess Championships:
Iranian boy Kakavand crowned under-10 champion
Iran’s Ramtin Kakavand grabbed a second gold medal at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in Al Ain, the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, walking away with the ultimate prize of the boys’ under-10 standard contests.
Having claimed the blitz title of the age class earlier in Al Ain, Kakavand shared the spoils with Syrian Talab Rami in the ninth and the final round to finish atop the standard table with 7.5 points.
Russian Arseny Kleschevnikov – representing the FIDE team – and Mazen Fandi of Syria finished equal on seven points but were separated by the tiebreaks to take the silver and bronze medals of the event respectively.
Kakavand’s triumph took Iran’s medal haul to six at the 25th edition of the tournament – held across six age groups in the standard, rapid, and blitz categories.
Iranian boys Mohammad-Taha Arkak (under-8), and Seyyed Kan’an Pourmousavi (under-12) settled for a couple of blitz bronzes, while Niousha Mohammadi won a girls’ bronze in the under-14 class of the event.
In the rapid chess contests, Rosha Akbari won another bronze for the country, standing on the third podium of the girls’ under-12 competitions.
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