City lad wins gold at Asian Youth Chess Championship

Thane: Thane’s chess prodigy Nubairshah Shaikh won gold at the Asian Youth Chess Championship held in New Delhi among 156 other elite players from across 16 Asian countries.
International rated player Shaikh (2, 222 Elo points) was officially selected in the Indian team to play the under-16 category. In the rapid format of seven rounds on the Swiss league basis, he was the 4th seed in the tournament.“This group was the toughest because out of 20 internationally rated participated players, 10 had an international rating of more than 2,100 points,” said Shaikh.
“I have become the under-16 Asian Rapid Champion with one round to spare. I lost only one match against India’s silver medal winner and top seed International Master Arvind Chithambaram (2,229),” said Shaikh.
Shaikh defeated Azali Ashkan of Iran, Ritwiz Parab of India, Atabayev Sapermyrat of Turkministan, Visakh Nr, Pranav Vijay and Vignesh Nr. With the title win his international rating has increased by 37 points in the rapid format.