RAIA: Chess prodigy of Goa, AIM Ethan Vaz, has made India proud yet again, this time by clinching the silver medal at the most prestigious chess tournament - the Super Final, which is the final stage of the FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid World Championship series.
The world championship series was organised online by the Georgian Chess Federation on behalf of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Over 3,000 participants from 160 National federations took part in the World Championship series, which started with the World Cup in August, followed by the Grand Prix in November, and finally culminated in the grand Super Finals in December.
Ethan ended the world championship on a high note, by winning the final game against the World No. 1 U-10 player CM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkey (Elo 2276). Moving into the final day of the 10-game round-robin tournament, Ethan (who was on 6 points) needed to score at least 1.5 points from the 2 games against the Turk (who was on 7 points) in order to be crowned the World Champion. Ethan played commendable chess, but suffered his first and only loss of the tournament in a hard-fought rook-pawn end game in the 9th round. In the final round, CM Yagiz Kaan offered Ethan a draw, but Ethan declined the offer and went on to register what would be remembered as one of the most memorable wins of his chess career as he defeated the top seed who was rated a mammoth 892 Elo points above him.
Earning 7 points out of possible 10, with 5 wins and 4 draws, Ethan finished one point behind CM Yagiz Kaan who scored 8 points. In other notable games, Ethan (Elo 1384) caused the upset of second-seed CM Schnaider Ilan of Argentina (Elo 2106) with a score of 1.5-0.5. Ethan, who was seeded 5th amongst the 6 players, played top notch chess and also held Dau Khuong Duy (Elo 1754) of Vietnam to a 1-1 draw, while defeating Sathvik Adiga (Elo 1374) of India 1.5-0.5 and Nguyen Quang Minh (Elo 1423) of Vietnam 2-0.
It may be recalled that Ethan had earned the rights to direct entry into the World Cup Super Final by winning the silver medal at the World Cup Finals. The best players in the world - three players from the World Cup, two from the Grand Prix series and one highest FIDE rated player - had qualified for the 6-player round-robin Super Final in each of the 10 categories (Open & Girls U-10, 12, 14, 16, 18).
The new world champions will be declared after the Fair Play checks, and will be announced during the closing ceremony scheduled to be held on the 26th of December.
Expressing joy on the accomplishment, the President of Goa Chess Association and Hon'ble Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar said, "We congratulate Ethan on this stellar achievement at the top-most level of world youth chess! It's a great moment for Goan chess, and we are extremely thrilled!"
"Winning medals at State, National, Western Asia, Asian Schools, and World Chess Championships, and then finally topping it off with a podium finish at the Super Final, is an amazing feat! Ethan is a role model for young chess players, and we are so proud of him," said Sharendra Naik, the Secretary of GCA.