Surprise Bronze for Chess Team
Written by G.Ganbayar
Thursday, March 13, 2008.
The Mongolian chess team surprised many to win the bronze medal at the 10th World University Chess Championship, held in Novokuznetsk, Russia last week.
The host nation, Russia, came first, despite a fierce challenge from second-place getters China. The competition, held from March 4 to 10, saw 57 players from 12 countries compete in both a men’s and women’s section.
While Russia entered with the highest ranking and was expected to perform well, many other teams expressed surprise at the strength of Mongolia’s performance.
Mongolia had sent two of its best players, Gundavaa in the men’s section and Mongontuul in the women’s, who have achieved good results at recent national and international chess events. The winning team was established according to the total result of the country’s two best-ranked players in the nine round competition.
Each country was authorized to enter a maximum of eight competitors. The Mongolian men’s team consisted of Ts.Batchuluun, B.Gundavaa, N.Battulga and B.Bilegt, while the women’s team had B.Mongontuul, D.Yanjindulam, B.Ankhchimeg and J.Dagiisuren.
Many of the world’s top players competed in the fierce competition. Out of 33 players who competed in the men’s tournament, there were six Grandmasters, six International and seven FIDE Masters.
Out of the 24 female players, there were five Woman Grandmasters, two Grandmasters, six Woman International Masters and four FIDE Woman Masters.
Source: ubpost.mongolnews.mn
Russia got first and China second.
Mongolia is beginning to rise! Let us see if they can produce a super GM!
Are all these players full time university students? If not, tournament like this should not be called as “university chess championship”.