The recent six-day FIDE World University Chess Tournament has now concluded, and during an awards ceremony on the final day, the four winning teams were presented with their medals. They also picked up a share of the 50,000 Euro prize fund.
Following a competitive week, the Russian entrants came out on top, with the Ural State Mining University crowned the champions. Their four players, each with a rating of over 2,400, now go back to Yekaterinburg a little richer, and a lot happier.
Placing second was St Louis University from the USA, who lost a tight final to the Russian team after the opening three games in both matches were all tied, the only female player, IM Leya Garifullina then twice defeating WGM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro to edge home in a classic duel.
Third and fourth places were decided after the Kazakh National University of Sports (KNUS) scraped home against UT Dallas in a topsy-turvy affair which saw the home nation’s players need to come from behind after trailing from the opening four matches. They reversed the 2.5 – 1.5 deficit to force a tiebreak, then won by Kazybek Nogerbek, who shared his elation with reporters, saying:
“It’s very important for us because we are playing at home and a lot of fans are supporting us. Of course, we wanted to win gold, but this is sport. Now it’s about the bronze medal.”
Final standings (from FIDE):
1st – Ural State Mining University
2nd – Saint Louis University
3rd – KNUS
4th – The University of Texas at Dallas
Final
Match 1: Ural State Mining University 2.5-1.5 Saint Louis University
Match 2: Saint Louis University 1.5-2.5 Ural State Mining University
Third-place match
Match 1: KNUS 1.5-2.5 The University of Texas at Dallas
Match 2: The University of Texas at Dallas 1.5-2.5 KNUS
Overall after two matches: 4-4
Tiebreak: The University of Texas at Dallas 2-2 KNUS
Sudden death: GM Kazybek Nogerbek defeated GM Aditya Samant and KNUS won third place
