Wang Yue, Munguntuul win World University Chess Championship

Batkhuyag Munguntuul

Wang Yue

Hello Everyone,

It is always nice to read about young people enjoying and doing well at chess. The XI World University Championship that ended in Zurich was a nice opportunity for young students. The best part was that there were very few draws!

GM Wang Yue of China won with the men's section with a 8.5/9.0 score. In fact, he was leading by 1.5 points before the penultimate round. Second place went to GM Anuar Ismagambetov (Kazakhstan) and third place to IM Davit Benidze (Georgia), both on 6,5 points.

In the women’s tournament top seed IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul won the title though she went into the final round with just 0.5 lead. She had to win the last round to be champion - which she solemnly did with an all-out attack.

In the combined nations’ ranking (one man and two women or vice versa) the race was even closer. At the end of the day the calculations gave the following result: 1. Mongolia 19; 2. Georgia 18½ (113) and 3. Russia 18½ (101).

A number of players fulfilled title norms. Grandmaster norms were achieved by Davit Benidze (Georgia) and by Lijlja Drljevic (Serbia, women’s grandmaster norm). International Master norms were achieved by Andika Pitra (Indonesia), Jonas Wyss (Switzerland), Peiman Mohajerin (Iran), Peter Poobalasingam (England) and Marco Gähler (Switzerland).

Final standings

Men: 1. GM Wang Yue (China) 8,5. 2. GM Anuar Ismagambetov (Kaz) 6,5 (38,5). 3. IM Davit Benidze (Geo) 6,5 (38,0, GM norm). 4. Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa (Mgl) 6,5 (37,5). 5. IM Vasily Papin (Rus) 6,5 (32,5) - 57 participants.

Women: 1. WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl) 7,0. 2. WIM Ljilja Drljevic (Srb, WGM norm) 6,5 (37,5). 3. WGM Sopiko Guramishvili (Geo) 6,5 (37,0). 4. WIM Judith Fuchs (Ger) 6,5 (36,0). 5. Tamara Cheremnova (Rus) 6,0 (32,0) - 39 participants.

Nations' ranking:

1. Mongolia

2. Georgia

3. Russia

4. Kazakhstan

5. Serbia

6. China

- 17 nations.

You can find more details at the official website of the event here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com