Saarland shines at chess championships: five federal states defeated!

Saarland shines at chess championships: five federal states defeated!

The German Youth Individual Championship in Willingen, which is coming up soon, promises to be a real highlight for all chess enthusiasts. The period from May 18th to 26th, 2024 will bring together around 800 children and young people from all over Germany in the Sauerland Stern Hotel. Here the best of the best will compete against each other in a total of twelve age groups and an open junior tournament. The exciting competition not only serves to determine the German champions, but also as a qualification step for the World and European Youth Championships. As chess-international.com informs, the event will be one of the largest in Germany and will attract around 2,000 people including trainers and supervisors.

It is all the more pleasing that Saarland took part in this year's German Championships with a small but powerful delegation of only 17 participants. As wochenspiegelonline.de reports, Saarland has left five federal states behind. Particularly noteworthy: All Saarland participants scored points in their classes and almost all exceeded their estimated seeding list ranks. A great success! Max Müller managed an excellent 50 percent of the possible points in the strongest U18 tournament. Larissa Birkenheier also ended up in 11th place in the U12w and Carmina Anish Muthukumar secured 4th place in the U8w tournament.

Strong performance from the Saarlanders

Bronze for the best Saarland participant Lennart Tabales – a proud achievement! The young player previously led the largest tournament (ODJM B) with 136 participants for three rounds, but ultimately had to settle for third place due to a defeat and a draw. This result was shared by two players with equal points, but the finer ranking did not help Lennart to a higher place on the winner's podium.

• Die saarländische Delegation:
  – Carmina Muthukumar (U8w)
  – Lev Gurevich (U8)
  – Meara Classen (U10w)
  – Liam Schröder
  – Peilin Liu (U10)
  – Larissa Birkenheier (U12w)
  – Ming Sheng
  – Marnin Classen (U12)
  – Arnesh Prashantakumar (U12)
  – Yuelin Liu (U14w)
  – Arju Prashantakumar (U14)
  – Marcel Jung (U16)
  – Max Müller (U18)
  – Anna Huppert
  – Miguel Classen
  – Lennart Tabales (ODJM B)

The players were accompanied by three coaches, including the honorary president of the German Chess Federation IM Herbert Bastian. This excellent support contributes to the positive development of talent. The Saarland delegation was also actively supported by the Saarland Ministry of the Interior and Sport, which is a nice gesture and shows how important chess is in the region.

A look at the future

Preparations for the German Club Championship, which will take place in Magdeburg from December 26th to 30th, 2023, are now in full swing. This championship attracts thousands of club teams from all over Germany and promises exciting competitions. The German chess youth have their hands full with this, as there are several age groups in which the best of the best compete. Anyone who makes it to DVM U20 or DVM U16 has a great chance of representing their peers internationally.

Finally, it should be noted that the sport of chess in Saarland is not only actively practiced, but is also characterized by fairness - this was also honored by the German Chess Federation's Fairness Cup. At this big event, the participants wore T-shirts from the Saarland Chess Youth and pointed out the upcoming Special Olympics next year in Saarland. There is definitely a good chance for the future of chess!