UAE claim 3 gold in youth chess
dubai — The UAE won three gold medals in the Western Asia Youth Chess Championship, organized by the Al Ain Chess Club under the auspices of the Asian and UAE Chess Federations and Abu Dhabi Sports Council, which finished on Thursday at the Hili Rayhaan Rotana Hotel.
Seven-year-old Rouda Essa Alserkal of the Abu Dhabi Chess Club scored eight points in the nine-round Swiss System tournament to win the gold medal in the girls under-8 category. Rouda earlier won the silver medals in the blitz and rapid chess events. She had just won the silver medal in the same category in the World Schools Championship this month in Sochi, Russia.
Ten-year-old Khaled Tarek Altaher of the Sharjah Chess Club scored 7.5 points to finish alone in first and win the gold medal in the under-10 category. He earns the Candidate Master title from the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
Al Maamari Wafia Darwish of the Al Ain Chess Club won the gold medal in the girls under-14 category. She earns the Woman FIDE Master title and a Woman International Master norm. She earlier won the gold medal in the rapid chess event and silver medal in the blitz event.
Championships were held in the under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 categories for boys and girls among 14 countries namely India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and host UAE. Sri Lanka won the team trophy with four golds followed by the UAE with three golds, two silvers and three bronze medals. Iran followed in third with three golds and two silvers .