Atulya Shetty is competing in the World Youth Under 12 Championships in Vietnam. The event runs from October 19-31.
Follow his progress on the official site or from chess-results.com. I will add further posts during the event if I hear anything. (BC 10/18)
Postcard from Vietnam. Sharat (Atulya's father) provided the following update by email. (BC 10/26)
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Greetings from Vung Tau, Vietnam! The kids, and parents of course, get a day off today (Saturday). An interesting tournament so far. Atulya has 3 points at the end of the first 6 rounds. He's had at least three games over 5 hours long, including rounds 3 and 4 which were on day 3. All the games are online at www.chessasia.net.
We had a couple of days where the air-conditioner was not working at the tournament site. It was pretty warm even for the Indians in there! Yesterday the lights went out a couple of times and it was pitch dark except for the red lights of the clocks, video cameras and camera flashes. The second time it happened, Atulya had claimed a three-move repetition. The arbiter replayed the game in the dark, except for a portable fluorescent lamp, and verified Atulya's claim.
We're looking forward to the second half of the tournament and will keep you posted.
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Update via email from Sharat Shetty, dated 10/31/08.
The 2008 World Youth Chess Championship is over and we are headed home. Atulya finished with 5.5 points. The U.S. won bronze medals in U18 Boys (Sam Shankland) and U12 Boys (Darwin Yang). Sam also received his IM title. The U.S. also had some individual top-ten finishes and team medals.
Except for a couple of glitches, broken AC and power outages, the tournament was very well run. The playing facilities and all the arrangements for players were very good, and the organizers were extremely helpful. It was a great experience for Atulya!
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Below is an action shot from a recent simultaneous exhibition fundraiser. Atulya defeated all 15 opponents. (photo courtesy J Skidmore) |
