Tiraspol, November, 26. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The World Youth Chess Olympiad started on November 25 in the Turkish city of Konya. Players under the age of 16 inclusive attend it.
Pupil of Tiraspol sports school № 3, the master of FIDE, Egor Lashkin, joined the Moldavian team for the first time. He plays on the second board. He already has two victories.
Moldova national team won the first two rounds. Initially, the victory was won over the team of Kyrgyzstan with a score of 3.5:0.5, then over the team of Serbia - 3:1.
In the third round, the opponent was the strongest team of the tournament - the national team of Uzbekistan. The grandmaster and three international masters with the average rating is above 2500 are its members. The Moldovan team (average rating is 2251) lost 0.5:3.5 to the leader. Ivan Skitsko ended up in a tie on the first board, the rest of the RM team lost.
In total there are 46 teams from 39 countries participate in the youth competition. Two teams each put up Kazakhstan, Algeria and Slovenia. Turkey as the host indicated 5 teams. Strong players came from Russia, India, Azerbaijan and Iran.
Competitions are held on the Swiss system in 9 rounds. Award winners and prize winners will be held on December 2.
Unfortunately, strong chess player Ilya Martynovich from Rybnitsa did not go to Turkey. This fact reduces the chances of Moldova team to perform successfully. Now Chisinau chess player Valentina Verbin will have to play on the fourth board until the end of the tournament. Although, according to the regulations, girls need to play only three rounds. Ruslan Soltanich is the coach of the youth team of the Republic of Moldova.
On November 29, participants of the Olympiad will have a free day. They will organize a tour of Konya sights for them. The city was founded 9500 years ago and is known for its ancient architecture monuments.
The results of the competitions and online games can be seen on the Olympiad website.
