Out of 29 U.S. kids who participated, eight of them brought home medals. Very impressive indeed. Most of them ended up in top 10 and some had to face each other in crucial rounds. 

In the Open-8 under, Arthur Guo & Andrew Tang both tied for 1st with 8 points apiece with Arthur Guo taking Gold on tiebreak. 

In the Girls-10 under, WCM Martha Samadashvili won the Gold Medal with an amazing performance, scoring 9.0/9.0! In the same section, WCM Aasa Dommalapati earned the Silver Medal.

In the Open-10 under, CM Christopher Shen was also golden by scoring a perfect score (9.0/9.0!)

In the Open-12 under, Frutos Chase tied for 2nd place with 7.0. He eventually got Bronze due 

to tie-break. 

In the Girls-14 under, top-seed WFM Agata Bykovtsev won Gold and scored 8 points (1.5 points ahead of the 2nd place finisher).

In the Open-16 under, NM Vignesh Panchanatham won the Gold Medal by beating his fellow leader in the last round. He earned the FIDE Master title and an IM norm, which was the main reason he decided to play up!

The Mexican Chess Federation did a great job. They provided tons of events during the festival: seminars, training, singing, swimming, playing soccer, etc. They also had a blitz tournament.   They're hoping FIDE will award them to organize the World Youth next year, according to  Mr. Raúl Hernández, President of the Mexican National Chess Federation.  

Mexico was the 1st in the team blitz section with 127 points, USA came 2nd with 116 points, and Peru was placed 3rd with 105 points. A couple of American kids did pretty well in this side event. CM Christopher Shen won 2nd place in the u10 and Abhishek Handigol got 9th place in the U14.

The US team was coached by FIDE Senior Trainer Aviv Friedman, GM Robert Hungaski and FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky.

IA Russell Smith, General Secretary of the Chess Confederation for Latin America, announced that "we had the participation of 642 chess players from 23 countries, 412 boys and 320 girls, surpassing the assistance of the last Pan American in Brazil with 320 chess players."

Next year's Panamerican Youth Festival will be held in Colombia. 

Parents and kids had a great time during and after the event. 

On behalf of NorCal House of Chess, I can say our kids were particularly adventurous visiting neighboring towns, checking out some mummies, old churches, hiking up the mountains and trying authentic Mexican food. After the tournament, we even visited the Pyramids, historical buildings in Mexico City, museums, and many more! 

NorCal House of Chess students/members did great. NM Vignesh got Gold, Jason Zhang got 8th place (tied for 7th), Chenyi Zhao got 10th (also tied for 7th) while Abhishek Handigol had a great 1st half (5.0/5.0) but ended up 16th place (tied for 13th). I had so much fun coaching these kids while taking them around Mexico and trying new things. After all, it's not just about winning. 

Here's a game that NM Vignesh Panchanatham played against his co-leader in the last round. It's worth noting that his opponent immediately offered a draw after few moves. Vignesh knew the only way to win the Gold was to win. 

7466

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 Qb6 9.Rb1 Qa7 10.Nd1 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bc5 13.c3 0-0 14.Be2 f6 15.exf6 Nxf6 16.Nf2= Bd7 17.0-0 Rac8 18.Rbc1
My plan was to open and play on the c-file. 

18...Rc6 19.Rcd1 b5 20.Kh1 Bxd4 21.Qxd4 Qb8 22.Bd3 a5 23.Rde1 Rfc8 24.a3 b4 25.axb4 

25.cxb4 axb4 26.a4 Rc5 27.b3 Rc3 28.Rb1 Qc7= 

25...axb4 26.Nd1 bxc3 27.bxc3 Qb6 28.Qe5 Be8 29.f5 Bf7 

With white's weak pawns, black is slightly better. 

30.Qd4 exf5 31.Bxf5 Rb8 32.Ne3 Qc5 33.Ng4 Nxg4 34.Qxg4 Qxc3 

A supposed mistake, but a good practical chance with my opponent in time pressure. 

35.Re7 35.Qf4 Rcb6 36.Bxh7+ Kxh7 37.Qxf7 Rd8 

35...Qc4 36.Qxc4 dxc4 37.Bxh7+ Kxh7 38.Rexf7 c3 39.Rc1 

The double rook endgame is clearly better for black.  

39...c2 40.Rff1 Rd8 41.h3 Rd2 42.Kh2 Rcd6 43.Rf3 Rc6 44.Rff1 Kg6 45.Kg1 Rf6 46.Rxf6+ gxf6?! 

I missed white's next move. 46...Kxf6 47.Kh2 Ke5 48.Kg3 Kd4 49.h4 Kc3 wins much easier.

47.Kh2 Kf5 48.Kg3 Ke4 49.h4 Kd3 50.Kg4 Rd1 51.Rxc2 Kxc2 52.h5 Rd5 53.Kh4 Rd4+ 54.Kg3 Kd3 55.h6 Ke4 56.Kg4 Ke5+ 57.Kh5 Rd1 58.h7 Rh1+ 59.Kg6 Kf4 0-1

Find full results of the Pan-American Youth in all sections on chessresults.com & the official website. 

Ted Castro is one of the most successful coaches in the US. Find out more about his programs and camps at the NorCal House of Chess.