WYCC 2015 final: India! India! India!

There can be no hyperbole in stating that Team India quite simply steamrolled the 2015 World Youth championship. With five gold medals, when no other nation managed more than one, three silver and three bronze, the eleven medal total was nearly triple the next two most successful medal winning nations: the USA and Russia, both with four (though no gold).

It wasn't about throwing vast numbers of young competitors either, since although India certainly had no fewer than 50 representatives, the United States had 129, Russia had 70, and even Canada had 56. China had 46 players, but left with only one medal.

Enjoy these final images by ChessBase correspondent Reint Dykema, and the stories accompanying the results.

Of all the snacks and goodies available, the Greek Frozen Yogurt was easily one of the
most popular

Chess dad and photographer Reint Dykema with his two sons Dirkho and Joshua, who played
under the South African flag

Enjoying a last swim in Porto Carras, Greece

A final sunset

All the female champions gather for a giant collective photo. A hearty congratulations to all.

Final standings

Untitled Iranian Masoud Mosadeghpour (2420) showed that the rise of Iranian chess is real,
notably in the males now, since the women had already made their mark more than once. After
Iranian Pouya Idani's surprise win in the 2013 World Youth Boys Under-18, Masoud is now the
nation's second gold just two years later. After a crushing 8.5/9 start, two draws secured gold.

The Boys Under-18 champions

Kirill Alekseenko, silver in the Boys Under-18, Andrey Esipenko, the silver in the Boys Under-14,
and Daniil Yuffa, bronze in the Boys under-18

The final standings of the Boys Under-16 was certainly one the least expected of podiums.
German Roven Vogel (center) had been a contender in the last rounds, but with so many in
similar positions, it was hard to point him out as a probable Gold. In the end, he was Germany's
only medal, but gold is gold! Taking silver was Italy's... Luca Moroni (left)! Unexpected because
the pre-event favorite was his compatriot IM Francesco Rambaldi, with nearly 100 Elo more.

Throughout most of the event, Egyptian FM Adham Fawzy had led, but a collapse at the end
with three losses left him in 18th. A pity, but there can be no doubt a bright future awaits him.

Untitled and ranked only 12th, Uzbek Shamsiddin Vokhidov was in the top from the very
beginning. As of round nine it was between him and FM Andrey Esipenko, but his tiebreak
won out in the end, and it was gold for the young man.

Iranian M.Amin Tabatabaei was the big favorite with a massive 2488 rating, but two losses
in the second half took the wind out of his sails and he finished in a disappointing 12th

It wasn't all bad news for Iran though, as their second big gun in the Boys Under-14, Aryan
Gholami (2400 FIDE) squeezed past his many rivals and took bronze, a great result

Russian FM Andrey Esipenko was also a dominant name throughout, and was only edged
out on tiebreak at the very end. His silver medal was nevertheless the fruit of a 2500+ TPR.

Team Iran

The Boys Under-12 had an exceptionally strong field and an equally unexpected podium.

The overwhelming top-seed was FM Nodribek Abdusattorov (2432). The prodigy from Uzebkhistan
had missed out on the gold in 2014, when he had also been the top seed, and this time seemed
hell bent on making sure history would not repeat itself. He was going fine until round nine, when
he lost to eventual silver winner Nihal Sarin (2096), which left him in fourth.

The second-seed was American FM Awonder Lliang (2365), gold winner in 2013, and hoping
to achieve great things, but round one already showed things were amiss when he drew
Liu Mingyang (1781). Two losses during the competition relegated him to a disappointing 5th.

It was his compatriot David Peng (2231) who brought home the bacon
for Team USA, finishing third after a crucial last round game against...

... Iranian Alireza Firouzja, the third seed with a very impressive 2364 FIDE,
who was one of the leaders after round nine. Unfortunately, a draw in round
ten, and a loss to Peng (in game above) in the last round meant a 6th place.

German fans were certainly worked up by articles touting him as the best thing since sliced
Lasker, but prodigy Vincent Keymer never seemed to really recover from the loss on time in
round five. Another very unfortunate loss, also on time, to Awonder in the final round sealed
his fate to 17th place. Asked what happened, he explained he was thinking intensely about
the position and forgot the clock. A costly lesson, but one he will certainly learn from.

Enough with the should've beens and could've beens, who won? Azeri CM Muradli Mahammad
was the gold medal of 2015, scoring very heavily with only one loss to the top-seed in round
seven. More important was not the loss, but how he reacted to the setback: a draw in round
eight, and three straight wins to the end were good for gold.

Tied for first with 9.0/11, is the quite remarkably talented player from India, Nihal Sarin (2096).
The Indian player was already gold in the Boys Under-10 in 2014, ahead of Abdusattorov. If he
put in 100% of his energy, who knows what he might achieve, since all this is achieved in spite
of his difficulty in staying seated.

In the last rounds to his silver medal, Nihal Sarin defeated successively the top two seeds
of his category: Awonder Lliang (2365) in round seven, and FM Nodribek Abdusattorov (2432)
in round eight. The photo above was taken during his round seven win over Awonder!

This was Praggnanandhaa's second gold medal. He was also the
gold medalist in the Boys Under-8 in 2013 with a perfect 11.0/11!

Ilya Makoveev from Russia came in second with 9.0/11, earning 68 Elo in the process. In 2014
he had eaarned gold in the Boys Under-8.

Justin Wang from the US was a strong competitor from end to end,
but a loss in round nine threatened to leave him off the podium. His
win in the last round (below) was what gave him the bronze.

Justin Wang - Stefan Tadic

How did White finish off his opponent? White to play and win.

The winners of the Boys Under-8

Ranked 32nd with an incredibly modest 2019 rating, Mahalakshmi from India was without
a doubt the greatest Cinderella story in the World Youth in Greece. Ahead of players rated
nearly 350 Elo more, she crushed the field with a 9.0/10 start, effectively winning the Girls
Under-18 a round in advance. Needless to say, her 2399 performance will garner her 210 Elo.

Taking silver was India's V Varshini, who started a mere 23rd, but also
took sole second with 8.5/11

The only crack in the Indian hegemony was Tijana Blagojevic from
Montenegro who took bronze

Greece's brightest star in the World Youth, Stavrous Tsolakidou once
more showed her stellar fighting spirit by winning the Girls Under-16
after a fairly lukewarm start. She finished with five straight wins, for
gold in 2015, after winning silver in the Girls Under-16 in 2014, and
gold again in the Girls Under-14 in 2013. She does her nation proud.

Taking silver was Veronika Gazikova from Slovakia, and Agata Bykovtsev from the US with
bronze. Of the tales of could've beens was Germany's Fiona Sieber who was a leader going
into the last round, but lost to Gazikova.

One could argue that as the overwhelming top-seed, R Vaishali was 'expected'
to win, but the truth of the matter is that out of the 12 different categories
she was only one of two top seeds to have succeeded in converting that
favoritism into a gold medal, leading from start to finish

Taking silver was Alicja Sliwicka from Poland, and in bronze was Agrawal
Vantika, also from India.

Top seed Nurgyul Salimova was the second top-rated player in her respective category to
succeed in winning gold. American Carissa Yip, ranked third, was silver, while Saina Salonika
from India took bronze.

The prize ceremony was a festival of photos

The Girls Under-10 was a big success for India, with Ravi Rakshitta taking gold, and Deshmukh
Divya taking bronze. Yuxin Song, who took silver, was China's only medal

The champions of the Girls Under-8

India's players and coaches gather for a picture. It was a colossal success for the nation. Stay
tuned for an in-depth overview by Sagar Shah.

Final medal ranking

Solution: 1.Bd6! Qc8 (1...Qxd6 2.c7) 2.c7 Nf6 3.Ba6! 1-0

All photos by Reint Dykema

About the photographer Reint Dykema is a passionate chess dad. Both his two sons Dirkho and Joshua compete this year in the World Youth championships. This is the third World Youth that Dykema has the opportunity to take photos and work closely with ChessBase. In last year's World Youth championship in Durban, Dykema was the official photographer. Over weekends he is also a wedding photographer when he is not taking photos in the local tournaments in South Africa.

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