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.
