Azerbaijani chess grandmaster claims world junior blitz crown

Azerbaijani chess grandmaster Mahammad Muradli and Kazakh chess player Xeniya Balabayeva emerged as the winners of the FIDE World Junior Blitz Championship.

In the open section, Muradli got off to a great start, winning 6 straight games, grabbed the lead. Despite losing to Arseniy Nesterov in Round 9, the Azerbaijani grandmaster scored an impressive 9.5/11 and finished a full point ahead of the top-seed Raunak Sadhwani - the winner of the rapid section.

Arystan Isazhulov and Arseniy Nesterov tied for third place, with the former taking bronze thanks to better Buchholz.

The girls’ tournament was a closer race, with Xeniya Balabayeva and Amina Kaiberkova both scoring 8.5/11 and tying for the first place. Xeniya had a slightly better Buchholz, which made all the difference as she claimed gold while Amina had to settle for silver.