Kent Juniors at the World Youth Chess Championships

Well done to the four Kent juniors who represented England in the World Youth Chess Championship at Halkidiki,Greece from 24th October to 5th November.

They included the under 14  English Youth Chess Champion Girinath Haridas,, 2014 under 12 British Champion Anantha Anilkumar, under 10 British runner up, Ranesh Ratnesan and  under 8-year-old Girls’ Champion, Radha Ratnesan.

These players were selected by the English Chess Federation after demonstrating exceptional ability based on grade, rating and/or performance.

WYCC is one of the major international junior championships in the season. It was a very intense and well attended competition, with over 3000 players from different countries across the world.

Girinath and Anantha played in the under 14 open section and Ranesh played in the under 10 open section. Radha played in the under 8 girls sections. 

All the Kent players managed to do well to improve their ratings and rankings.

Ranesh leading the way with 6 points, Girinath following with 5.5, Anantha with 5 and Radha finishing on 4.5.

Kent Coach GM John Emms was one of the ECF coaches for this event.

Overall it was an exciting opportunity for all our young players. They played chess at a very high international standard and benefitted from the quality coaching they received and the fantastic opportunity to be part of the England team.