Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo claimed the title of the FIDE World Junior U20 Chess Championship in Turkey on Saturday.
The 18-year-old grandmaster won Russia’s Maxim Vavulin in the Round 10 of the games, securing his trophy while there is still one more round to go. This is the first time an Iranian has won the title, Mehr News Agency reported.
Describing him as the “magician from Persia”, the official website of the event wrote, “It’s sure that we’re facing a big talent here and he’s definitely one of the main candidates in the world now to enter the super elite in the near future.”
Maghsoodloo started the World Junior Championship as a top seed. He conceded half a point in the sixth round by drawing the game against his compatriot Alireza Firouzja. But in the rest of the games he managed to triumph scoring 9.5 out of 10 possible points and winning the tournament with one round to spare.
Underway in Turkey’s Kocaeli Gebze, the World Junior Chess Championship is an 11-round Swiss chess open event which ends on Sunday.
In a report, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) compared Maghsoodloo with Azerbaijani chess grandmaster Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov who is ranked No. 3 in the world and wrote, “Maghsoodloo’s performance is reminiscent of Mamedyarov’s totally dominating performances at the youth and junior events”.
Becoming the World Junior Champion will open new doors in Maghsoodloo’s chess career. He will get entry in the Tata Steel Challengers section in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands. He also gets direct entry into the World Cup 2019. When asked what the world title means to him, he replied, “It means that I have to work hard for the World Cup,” Shessbase.com reported.
Born in the city of Gonbad-e-Kavus in Golestan Province, Maghsoodloo was awarded the title of grandmaster by FIDE in 2016, the same year he was awarded the title of International Master.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints