Indian chess players emerged as winners in six different age-group categories in the Asian Youth Rapid Championship that was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Sunday, dominating the field of play.
The girls under-12 category was the most fruitful for India as Sahithi Varshini M and Savitha Shri B provided a 1-2 finish. Sahithi finished with 7.0 points to clinch gold while Savitha Shri bagged the silver with 5.5 points.
According to a report in The Hindu, this was Sahithi’s fourth international tournament after she won two gold medals (classical and blitz formats) in the Asian Youth International Chess Championship, Uzbekistan last year, won another gold in the Commonwealth International Chess Championship, New Delhi and secured the seventh spot in the World Cadets Chess Championship in Brazil in 2017.
At the championship in Thailand, as many as six Indian players won gold medals with girls accounting for four of them. India’s tally at the rapid championship read: Six gold medals, three silver, and one bronze.
List of Indian medal winners is as follows:
| CATEGORY | PLAYER | MEDAL |
|---|---|---|
| Girls, Under-12 | Sahithi Varshini M | GOLD |
| Girls, Under-12 | Savitha Shri B | SILVER |
| Girls, Under-14 | Mrudul Dehankar | GOLD |
| Girls, Under-16 | Salonika Saina | GOLD |
| Girls, Under-18 | Arpita Mukherjee | GOLD |
| Boys, Under-8 | Adireddy Arjun | GOLD |
| Boys, Under-12 | Gukesh D | GOLD |
| Boys, Under-14 | Srihari L R | SILVER |
| Boys, Under-16 | Koustav Chatterjee | SILVER |
| Boys, Under-18 | Mitrabha Guha | BRONZE |