Our juniors had a blast at the Thailand Youth Rapid Chess Championship that took place in Bangkok in the past three days. Five of our boys and girls became Thailand Champions. Huge congratulations to Pine, Nina, Kate, Proud and Chin on this remarkable achievement! Another three trophies went to Gavin, Tada and Jiajia, and three medals to Panerai, Evie and Plus. The success is even bigger since we missed many of our best players at the tournament, such as Ian, Dhi, Pac, Anda, Daisy, JJ, and others. We are proud of all our players who went through three days of very competitive chess and emerged victorious.
Pine dominates the U16 & U18 combined age groups
Even though he would often remind us that the rapid time control is not his cup of tea, Pine did a brilliant job at the tournament. With 11 wins, 2 draws and 0 defeats, he never gave his opponents a chance to catch up, winning with full 2 points ahead of the competitors. A well deserved champion title for Pine! In the same group we saw a very unexpected comeback from Tada, who joined after a long absence from the 64 squares and still grabbed the 2nd Runner-up trophy! Well done, boys!
Pine, receiving his Champion trophy from the President of TCA, Mr. Sahapol Nakvanich.
Nina has no competition in G14 age group
And the same thing can be said for the two Chiang Mai girls, Sirin in G16 and Araya in G18. In a combined G12+G14+G16+G18 group, each of the 3 girls won one and lost one game against each other, and then they won all the other games, finishing the tournament with 12 points from 13 rounds and 3.5 points ahead of the competition. In the end it was only a confirmation of what we already knew: Nina is G14 rapid chess champion of Thailand.
Nina, Champion in the G14 age group.
The attack on the U12 age group
What happened in the U12 age group can only be described as EPIC! Missing our Anda, who was suppose to fight for the title in this group but he was not able to join, we did not expect to have players in this group, until two of them decide to take a new challenge. Kate, who decided that there is not much to do in the G12 group and wanted to try her skills against the boys, and Gavin, who stepped out of the U10 group in search for battles with older opponents. After 13 rounds, Kate showed everyone that girls can be tough in chess too! She won the tournament with 11.5/13 points. Gavin did not start the tournament well, but he showed a fantastic fighting spirit: he climbed back to the top, winning most of the leading players and breaking through to the 1st Runner-up position.
Kate, Champion in the U12 group, playing against boys.
Proud wins the G10 age group
Proud did not miss to win yet another champion title in her category. She played very well against her main opponents, but she lost stamina during the long tournament. Still, she was always ahead on the table and her title was never in jeopardy.
Proud, Champion in the G10 age group.
Chin winning U08 is not a surprise
A tremendous progress in one year for Chin, who proved what you can do with dedication and passion for the game. After winning several school tournaments, he finally shined on the main stage, becoming a rapid chess champion of Thailand in the U08 age group.
Chin, Champion in U08 age group.
Jiajia is climbing to the top with fast steps
Another player who achieved great progress is Jiajia. He lacks tournament experience, but he is getting better and better every day. He landed on the third place in the strong U14 age group, playing against opponents with significantly longer experience.
A solid performance from the rest of the crew
Another 3 medals went to Panerai and Evie in the G08 age group, and little Plus in U06. He is only 4 years old and just starting his chess adventure, following the footsteps of his sister Proud. Pordee has all the quality he needs for good results in U08, and this tournament will help him to fight back when things do not go as planned. Warm and Aiden did well in U10, as well as Tod and Potter in U12, but they need more experience and hard work to climb up on the table. With a good motivation, the results will follow.
Congratulations to all for the wonderful effort and result! The next big challenge will be the Thailand Youth Chess Championship on a standard time control which is expected to happen during April 2024.
