Fourteen-year-old Rishabh Shah of Mumbai produced some steady performances which helped him to secure two bronze medals, in both the Under-14 Rapid and Blitz formats of the 2nd Western Asia Youth Chess Championship which concluded at the Citrus Hotel, Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka on Monday.
Rishabh Shah
The third ranked Rishabh (ELO 1667 points), a product of the South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA) was one of the stars of the tournament and started with a win against Sri Lanka’s Alwala A D Hansaja Ramith in the opening round. Thereafter, he continued to produce good decent results, but the loss to top ranked FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh (ELO 2153 points) and a couple of draws dashed his chances of finishing with the gold. However, Rishabh a student of Cathedral & John Connon School, managed to finish with a tally of 5 points from a possible 7, and had to settle with the bronze.
In the Blitz format Rishabh could only manage 4.5 points but it was good enough for him to seal a podium finish with the bronze medal.
“It’s an honour to represent and win medals for our country. I thank my mother Archana for being there all the time for me. I would also like to thank all my coaches at SMCA, who helped me and groomed me to become a world class chess player. Winning the World Chess title is my goal,” said the young Rishabh, after his success.
Sri Lanka’s Candidate Master G.M.H. Thilakarathne (ELO 1781) picked the gold with a tally of 6 points, while Bangladesh’s Mohammad Fahad Rahman finished with 5.5 points for the silver. The Blitz gold was won by Mohammad Fahad Rahman (6 points) and Thilakarathne (5.5 points) took the silver.
In the Classical format, Rishabh narrowly missed out on a podium finish as he ended in fourth position with 6.5 points out of 9 points. The Mumbai boy drew with second seeded Thilakaratne, who eventually ended up on the second position. A total of 187 players from five countries had taken part in the open category.
FIDE Master Balaji Guttula of the SMCA, the institution which produces some of the country’s best and consistent child performers in chess felt that has a lot of talent in him and with every passing day, he is improving. “Rishabh is a very talented player and time and again, he is proving this prowess with incredible victories across the world events, he is a versatile player who triumphs in all formats,” he said.
A former Singapore Open champion and a national champion, Rishabh has a knack of drawing games against Grandmasters.