Argentine Alan Pichot crowned world youth chess champion

Alan Pichot

Buenos Aires, Sep 30 (IANS) Argentine Alan Pichot was crowned the under-16 world champion after beating Russian Maxim Litvinov during the World Youth Chess Championship in Durban, South Africa.

The 16-year-old became the youngest Argentine to achieve this result in the last 22 years, finishing the meet with nine points from 11 games, half more than his closest rivals, reports Xinhua.

Pichot ended with nine wins and two losses.

"Alan played a brilliant game, adding more than 20 points in his classification ranking. He showed his usual fighting spirit, recovering in key moments after the fifth and second to last round losses and winning a game," the Argentine Chess Association said.

Pichot was national champion in the under 10, 12, 14 and 18 category.