World University Chess Championship

Wang Yue and Batkhuyag Munguntuul top seeded

As Chessdom.com informed a few months ago, the International Federation of University Sports has awarded the 11th World University Chess Championship to the Swiss University Sports Federation. The academic chess club Réti will organize the event in Zurich, Switzerland, from 5th to 11th September.

27 nations and about 100 players (men and women) will participate in the contest which will take place in Zurich, Switzerland.

The men’s competition is stronger than ever, featuring 11 grandmasters and almost 20 international masters. The big favourite is 23-year-old Wang Yue from China. With an Elo rating of 2716 points he is the first super grandmaster to participate in a World University Championship. He is the highest-rated Chinese player ever and in May occupied place 8 in the overall international ranking. After suffering a few set-backs since then, he will try to win again in Zurich in order to re-establish himself as one of the World’s top ten players.

His most dangerous rivals are the Russian Igor Lysyj (Elo 2631) and his compatriot Pavel Ponkratev (Elo 2604). In the last championship in Novokuznetsk, two years ago, Lysyj won the silver medal. The host delegation consists of five players headed by international masters Oliver Kurmann (Elo 2449) and Julien Carron (Elo 2380).

In the women’s competition Russia, Georgia and Mongolia traditionally feature the strongest players. Top seed is the 23-year-old Mongolian Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Elo 2421) who has already played on the first board for Mongolia in the last three chess Olympiads. Among the nine women grandmasters in the field she is the only one who carries the international master title among men as well. She is studying in Russia and is the winner of the Russian women’s blitz championship 2009. Just like their male compatriots, the two Swiss entrants Monika Seps (Elo 2184) and Maria Heinatz (Elo 1923) will need a special exploit to fight for a place among the first ten.

In the nations’ competition (combined results of men and women) Russia is the favourite. But Mongolia, Serbia and Iran also feature very strong delegations, and thus an exciting race is guaranteed to take place.

All details about the World University Championship can be found at the Chessdom.com preview and the official website.

Participants men

Wang Yue

2716

CHN

2

Lysyj Igor

2631

RUS

3

Ponkratov Pavel

2604

RUS

4

Ghaem Maghami Ehsan

2585

IRI

5

Markos Jan

2566

SVK

6

Popovic Dusan

2564

SRB

7

Nikolov Momchil

2552

BUL

8

Jumabayev Rinat

2547

KAZ

9

Papin Vasily

2521

RUS

10

Megaranto Susanto

2516

INA

11

Miljkovic Miroslav D

2510

SRB

12

Benidze Davit

2508

GEO

13

Toufighi Homayoon

2501

IRI

14

Sulashvili Malkhaz

2498

GEO

15

Roganovic Milos

2497

SRB

16

Ismagambetov Anuar

2492

KAZ

17

Jurcik Marian

2484

SVK

18

Swinkels Robin

2483

NED

19

Khmelniker Ilya

2483

ISR

20

Kuderinov Kirill

2481

KAZ

21

Golizadeh Asghar

2481

IRI

22

Pruijssers Roeland

2462

NED

23

Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan

2460

MGL

24

Burg Twan

2449

NED

25

Kurmann Oliver

2449

SUI

26

Nadj Hedjesi Balind

2426

SRB

27

Klimov Anton

2421

RUS

28

Nestorovic Nikola

2420

SRB

29

Pacher Milan

2417

SVK

30

Alavi Sayed Javad

2413

IRI

31

Purnama Tirta Chandra

2400

INA

32

Panjwani Raja

2395

CAN

33

Hoffmann Paul

2382

GER

34

Kukov Velislav

2381

BUL

35

Carron Julien

2380

SUI

36

Botvinnik Mikhail

2360

ISR

37

Kuipers Stefan

2354

NED

38

Ma Yu

2336

CHN

39

Erdene Ganzorig

2330

MGL

40

Akkozov Berik

2328

KAZ

41

Poobalasingam Peter S

2326

ENG

42

Hindermann Felix

2323

SUI

43

Otte Marijn

2303

NED

44

Gaehler Marco

2292

SUI

45

Munkhgal Gombosuren

2289

MGL

46

Pitra Andika

2283

INA

47

Wyss Jonas

2258

SUI

48

Surya Wahyudi

2233

INA

49

Viela Andre Filipe Folha

2223

POR

50

Horvath Laszlo

2200

HUN

51

Costa Joao Guerra

2171

POR

52

Kalugampitiya R S

2095

SRI

53

Fernando S K Akila

2053

SRI

54

Koggala W S V K

2026

SRI

55

Kumar Vedantha

1983

ENG

56

Herath H M L Y

1884

SRI

57

Emefiele Onyisi

NIG

58

Orgil Gantumur

MGL

Participants women

Munguntuul Batkhuyag

2421

MGL

2

WGM

Tsereteli Tamar

2384

GEO

3

WGM

Kovanova Baira

2376

RUS

4

WIM

Severiukhina Zoja

2341

RUS

5

WGM

Stojanovic Andjelija

2337

SRB

6

WGM

Tuvshintugs Batchimeg

2321

MGL

7

WGM

Sukandar Irine Kharisma

2311

INA

8

WGM

Pourkashiyan Atousa

2308

IRI

9

WGM

Guramishvili Sopiko

2298

GEO

10

WIM

Kharashuta Ekaterina

2298

RUS

11

WIM

Drljevic Ljilja

2273

SRB

12

WIM

Borosova Zuzana

2266

SVK

13

WIM

Melekhina Alisa

2265

USA

14

WGM

Paridar Shadi

2264

IRI

15

WIM

Hoolt Sarah

2245

GER

16

WIM

Fuchs Judith

2232

GER

17

WFM

Cheremnova Tamara

2225

RUS

18

WIM

Yanjindulam Dulamsuren

2224

MGL

19

WIM

Ghader Pour Shayesteh

2218

IRI

20

Zhang Ying

2218

CHN

21

WFM

Nakhbayeva Guliskhan

2216

KAZ

22

Lkhamsuren Uuganbayar

2206

MGL

23

Djukic Sandra

2198

SRB

24

Van Nies Pauline

2191

NED

25

WIM

Seps Monika

2184

SUI

26

Lestari Baiq Vina

2177

INA

27

WFM

Davletbayeva Madina

2168

KAZ

28

WFM

Hegarty Sarah N

2057

ENG

29

Naydenova Yordanka

1925

BUL

30

Heinatz Maria

1923

SUI

31

WCM

Kadek Iin Dwijayanti

1889

INA

32

WCM

Liyanagedara L G A

1844

SRI

33

Rajapaksha Ashanti K.

1790

SRI

34

Ferreira Ana Margarida

1789

POR

35

Dale Hannah

1759

ENG

36

De Silva Himeshi

SRI

37

Gunawardena Shanila

SRI