LAGUNA LASS PLACES 3RD IN WORLD YOUTH BLITZ CHESS

Mendoza.

Shania Mae Mendoza of Santa Rosa, Laguna successfully completed her chess tournament campaign by placing third place in the Girls Under-16 Blitz Competition in the recently concluded 2013 World Youth Chess Championships held in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Mendoza scored 5 points (5 wins and 2 losses) and actually shared 3rd to 9th places with 6 other players but had the superior tiebreak scores having lost only to the two girls who finished ahead of her, namely, 1st placer Sharashadat Kadamaisharieh of Iran and 2nd placer Srija Seshadri of India who dealt Mendoza a final round loss and snatching 2nd place in the process.

Mendoza?s result in the blitz chess competition, coupled with her outstanding performance in the standard competition somehow saved the day for the Philippine delegation where the other Filipino youth did not fare well in their own categories. In the standard competition, Mendoza scored 7 points from 4 wins, a lone loss, and 6 draws, allowing her to tie for 14th to 23rd places in the category competed by 110 players and which was won by Tianlu Gu of China followed by Irene Nicolas Zapata of Spain and blitz winner Sharashadat Kadamaisharieh who placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

In the highly-followed Boys Under-18 category, top seed GM Jorge Cori of Peru came up short but otherwise managed to place 4th. The division was won by Pouya Idani of Iran who emerged undefeated followed by David Anton Guijarro of Spain and Vaibhav Suri of India who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The?World Youth Chess Championship?is an annual?chess?competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. The 2013 edition was participated by some 1800 boys and girls springing from 121 countries and 6 continents.