Mumbai: Mumbai lad Rishabh Shah clinched the bronze medal in the recently concluded Western Asia Youth Chess Championship held in Sri Lanka.
The 14-year-old Rishabh who is a product of the South Mumbai Chess Academy was one of the stars of the tournament as he defeated the sixth, seventh and eighth seeded players respectively, en route to a third place finish in the U-14 Rapid format where there were a total of 18 participants. He scored five out of seven points which helped him end with a podium finish.
In the classical format of the U-14 boys category, Rishabh had to settle for the fourth position as he missed out on making it to the top three by a small margin.
The boy with 1667-rating scored 6.5 out of the nine points, and drew with second seeded CM GMH Thilakaratne, who eventually ended up on the second position. A total of 187 players from five countries had taken part in the open category.
FIDE Master Balaji Guttula of the South Mumbai Chess Academy, the institution which produces some of the country’s best and consistent child performers in chess felt that the 14-year-old Rishabh has a lot of talent in him and with every passing day, he is improving.
“Rishabh is a very talented player and and time and again, he is proving this prowess,” he said.
A former Singapore Open and national champion, Rishabh has a knack of drawing games against Grandmasters.
The boy, at such a tender age has made the country proud at the international stage and the future in chess is indeed bright for Rishabh, without a shadow of a doubt.