New Delhi: The All India Chess Federation felicitated the 11 medal winners in the last World Youth and Cdates Chess Championship at Halkidiki in Greece.

With five Gold, three Silver and three Bronze medals, the country was the best performing team of the world for the fourth year in a row and winning five gold medals was indeed a special achievement given the fact that no other country could win more than one Gold medal.

At the central-council meeting held earlier in the day, the AICF amended a proposed change in the existing awards for the medal winners and it was unanimously passed. As a result, a total of Rs. 600000/- (Rupees Six Lakhs) were distributed to the young achievers for their remarkable performance.

The five Gold medal winners were awarded with a cash award of Rs. 75000/- each while the Silver and Bronze medal winners went home richer by Rs. 45000/- and Rs. 30000/- respectively.

The medal winners are:

1. Bharath Subramaniyam – Under 8 Open Gold
2. R.Praggnanandhaa - Under 10 Open Gold
3. Rakshitta Ravi – Under 10 Girls Gold
4. R.Vaishali -Under 14 Girls Gold
5. M.Mahalakshmi Under-18 Girls Gold
6. Dev Shah - Under-8 Open Silver
7. Nihal Sarin – Under-12 Open Silver
8. V.Varshini – Under-18 Girls Silver
9. Divya Deshmukh – Under-10 Girls Bronze
10. Saina Salonika – Under-12 Girls Bronze
11. Vantika Agrawal – Under-14 Girls Bronze

Earlier in the day the All India Chess Federation Central-Council discussed many important issues for development of the game across the country.

The cash awards for medal winners were increased by fifty percent from the existing while special preparations will be put in place for the country’s women team preparation for the next Chess Olympiad.

Besides, the cash prizes in several National Championships were increased substantially and a dress code for all the National Championships was also implemented.