Young guns shine in youth Chess

In the Under-12 Boy’s section, Sayantan Das struck gold by scoring 9.5 points out of 11 points. 11-year-old Sayantan is a student of Goodricke National Chess Academy, which is run by the Alekhine Chess Club.

The Goodricke Academy has also produced players such as Grandmasters Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda, Neelotpal Das and Woman Grandmaster Nisha Mohota. International Masters Shankar Roy and Saptarshi Roy coach Sayantan at the Goodricke Academy. He is also the first player from Bengal to win a gold medal at any World Chess Championship. Sayantan is a student of Scottish Church School.

Another student of Goodricke Academy, Diptayan Ghosh, also performed creditably, finishing fourth in the Under-10 Boy’s section. 

The other players to win gold medals at the World Youth Chess Championships were Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in the Under-14 Boy’s section, Padmini Rout in the Under-14 Girl’s section and B Adhiban in the Under-16 Boy’s section. The silver medallists were SP Sethuraman in the Under-16 Boy’s and R Preethi in Under-18 Girl’s event. Pratyusha Bodda and Debashish Das won bronze in the Under-12 Girl’s and Under-16 Boy’s sections respectively.