City kids clinch bronze medals

City kids, Aditya Patil and Suhaani Lohia, both representing India did remarkably well by finishing with bronze medals in the Asian Schools Chess Competition. Both Aditya and Suhaani are trained with the South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA).

Seven-year-old Aditya, a student of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, played with plenty of confidence to clinch the bronze medal in the Under-7 Open Rapid category of the chess championship, which was played at the Liaohe Art Museum, Panjin, China and concluded on Saturday.

There were a total of 26 players from 10 countries who participated in this competition and the eighth-seeded Mumbai lad Aditya scored five out of a possible seven points.

Buto Al-Basher of the Philippines with an all-win record bagged the gold medal with seven points. China’s Chen Zhiyuan along with Aditya and Kiaan Agrawal also of India, all ended with five points each. But the Chinese players was declared winner of the silver medal and Aditya picked the bronze on the basis of better progressive scores.

Meanwhile, eight-year-old WCM Suhaani Lohia, continued with her fine run of form by clinching the bronze medal in the Asian Schools Under-9 girls blitz category.

Early this month Suhaani had also finished with the bronze in the Commonwealth Chess Championship in New Delhi.

Aktamova Zilola of Uzbekistan with a tally of 8.5 points raced away with the gold followed by Chinese WCM Chen Yining who picked the silver with 7.5 points. WCM Suhaani with 6.5 points had to settle for the bronze.