There is a ‘double feast’ in chess. At the World Schools Chess Championship held on the Greek island of Rhodes between 13-23 April, young national chess nationals brought Turkey 3 world championships, 2 second place, 2 third place, a total of 7 medals.
In the championship, in which 514 athletes from 53 countries competed, Uygar Duruçay won all his matches in the 13-year-old general category and made Turkey proud of the championship with 9 points. Baver Yılmaz, who entered the last round of the championship alone in the 11-year-old general category as the leader with 7 points, won 8 matches in 9 rounds and reached the championship. FM Adar Tarhan became the third athlete to win a gold medal with 7.5 points in the 17-year-old general category.
FM Hasan Hüseyin Çelik in the 15-year-old general category and WFM Zeynep Çiftçi in the 17-year-old girls category won the silver medal in the world. Elifnaz Akat competing in the 17-year-old girls category and WCM Elif Zeren Yıldız competing in the 15-year-old girls category became the athletes who reached the third place in the world.
“We are very happy and proud, these young masters are the future of this country,” said Turkish Chess Federation (TSF) President Gülkız Tulay: “Our young nationals from the World Schools are returning with 3 championships, 2 second places and 2 third places. We are proud of our nationals who sang our National Anthem by winning gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. They achieved a great success in the championship and gave us a holiday gift. Our 39 young nationals who competed in the tournament also competed with a great performance. I congratulate all our athletes who have attracted the attention of the authorities. Our coaches Cemil Aghamaliyev, Serkan Yeke, Doğa Cihan Göksel, Metin Alper, Ali Can Sabahi and Cemil Yener accompanied our athletes. The effort and support of the devoted families of our athletes is enormous.I would also like to thank the families of our young people who make Turkey proud. We are very happy that our investments in Turkish chess, infrastructure and our youth have turned into victories and championships. We continue on our way with the right moves.”
At the World Schools Chess Championship, CM Kürşat Buğra Gökçek came in fourth in the 17-year-old general category, Ilgın Deniz Erdoğlu came in fifth in the 11-year-old girls category, and Poyraz Efe Asıcı came in sixth in the 9-year-old general category.