FIDE World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships (under 14, 16 and 18 years old categories) finished in Salobrena, Spain. 178 players from 22 countries, including 1 GM, 5 IMs, 12 FMs, 1 WIM, 12 WFMs participated in the chess forum in Granada. After three days of intense battles, we have all twelve champions.
Final results of the World Junior rapid championships in Salobrena (11 – 12 September 2019):
Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam)
Winner U-14 Open: Aspet Tadevosyan (Spain)
Winner U-16 Open: Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo (Spain)
Winner U-16 Girls: Cecilia Guillo Longares (Spain)
Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands)
Winner U-18 Girls: Honorata Kucharska (Poland)
Final results of the World Junior blitz championships in Salobrena (13 September 2019)
Winner U-14 Open: Pham Thien Phuc Vo (Vietnam)
Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam)
Winner U-16 Open: Dominik Horvath (Austria)
Winner U-16 Girls: Ngoc Thuy Duong Bach (Vietnam)
Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands)
Winner U-18 Girls: Kamila Hryshchenko (Ukraine)
18-years-old Dutch grandmaster Lucas van Foreest celebrates double success winning both rapid and blitz world championships under 18.
He comes from the famous Van Foreest chess family: his brother Jorden won the 2016 Dutch Championship, and both his great-great-grandfather Arnold and great-great-granduncle Dirk were three-time Dutch Champions. It has been a very good year for Lukas so far - earlier in July he won the national championship and is now a part of the Dutch national team together with such grandmasters as Anish Giri and Erwin L’Ami. We will see him in action at the European Team Championship in Georgia in October.
"I feel quite relieved, happy. I played such tournaments for the first time in my life. I came here to win," said Lucas in an interview given to his compatriot Sergey Tiviakov.
The closing ceremony included speeches delivered by FIDE Deputy President GM Bachar Kouatly and President of the Spanish Chess Federation Javier Ochoa, vibrant Flamenco dances by local artists and presentation of awards to all the winners.
