CM Silwal secures 4th place at Asian Youth Blitz Chess

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, July 26: Nepali chess player CM Purushottam Silwal secured fourth place at the 28th Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championship held in Shenzhen, China, on 24 July.

According to federation president Herakaji Maharjan, Silwal’s result is one of the most remarkable achievements in Nepal’s chess history.

  The event, organised by the Chinese Chess Association, followed a nine‑round Swiss system with a 3 minutes + 2 seconds blitz format, and featured players from 32 Asian countries.

Rated 2053, Silwal entered the tournament as the 22nd seed but impressed by scoring 6.5 points, finishing fourth.

  His performance rating averaged 2345, earning him 136.8 rating points.

In his first three games, he defeated Chen Xinshuo (China, 1741), FM Leonid Efimov (Russia, 2349), and FM Dang Anh Minh (Vietnam, 2171).

      He lost to FM Bolat Inayat (Kazakhstan, 2155) in round four, but bounced back by beating IM Banh Gia Huy (Vietnam, 2253) in round five.

He drew with IM Pham Tran Gia Phuc(Vietnam, 2351) in round six.

He then defeated CM Jamison Edrich Kao (Hong Kong, 2139) and Che Jiachen (China, 2367) in rounds seven and eight.

        In the final round, he lost to FM Duong Vu Anh (Vietnam), who went on to win the championship with 7.5 points.

The runner‑up was IM Arca Christian Gian Karlo (Philippines) with 7 points, while FM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma (India) also scored 7 points but finished third on tiebreak. Silwal, with 6.5 points, placed fourth on tiebreak.