It was a walk on a tightrope maybe, but in the end it lead to victory for the young Russian team! Their opponents gave them a good fight and second seed Iran was even closer to the first prize before the final round but as Iran dropped 1,5 points to Poland Russia managed to score 3,5 points against Armenia to move forward, just in the right time!

Congratulations Russia for yet another win in an international competition! Let’s see if their elderly countrymen will also be able to win gold medal in the Olympiad or not.

The second seed Iran tried really hard and showed their best but in the end it wasn’t to be, however silver medal is also quite an achievement! For the third place India was a huge favourite before the round and a 2,5-1,5 win against Australia-A was more than enough to secure the bronze. Both teams deserved a strong applause by chess fans for their will to fight and successful games!

All in all the World U-16 Olympiad saw many exciting games of good quality and a heart-stopping finish. All young players deserve the highest praise for their sportsmanship.

See you all in the next World U-16 Olympiad!

Prize Ceremony

The World u-16 Youth Chess Olympiad ended with the prize ceremony held on the same day of the final round. The ceremony began with a minute of silence in memory of Ataturk, the founder of Turkish Republic and hearing of Turkish National Anthem and FIDE Anthem. Afterwards a short opening speech was given by Turkish Chess Federation(TCF) President and FIDE Vice President Ali Nihat Yazici.

In his speech Mr. Yazici said that he is proud that such an exceptional event was organized by TCF in which young players had the chance to meet the greats of the chess world who came to play in the main Olympiad happening at the same time and the same place. Finally Yazici congratulated all teams and expressed his wish that young players who have competed in the Youth Olympiad now will replace their elders in the national teams of their countries and thus ended his speech.

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