MARGAO
Goa's Ethan Vaz has qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup Finals stage in Cadets & Youth (under-10 and -12) categories.
The nine-year-old AIM finished joint third runner-up and fifth on tie-break in the selection stage of the U-12 Open Chess World Cup organised from August 6 to 10. The 10-round Swiss tournament was contested by 201 players from 78 countries. Ethan, who was seeded at a distant starting rank of 92, played well to finish in the top 5, thereby qualifying for the World Cup Finals a second time, the first being at the U-10 Open World Cup Tournament conducted earlier from August 1 to 5.
In the U-12 Open World Cup, Ethan (Elo 1384) caused stunning upsets of three Candidate Masters from Poland, Vietnam and Kazakhstan, rated Elo 2090, 1992 and 2168 respectively. Pitted against higher-rated opponents in 9 out of 10 rounds with an average opponent rating of Elo 1952, Ethan scored an impressive 7.5 points of a possible 10 with a performance rating of 2050. Ethan's two hard-fought losses came against the eventual toppers, winner Azadaliyev Jahandar of Azerbaijan and first runner-up Poh Yu Tian of Malaysia.
The Goan had earned a double entry into the World Cup on account of his performances in U-10 and U-12 Nationals in India.
