China, Poland and Brazil stand out at WUC Chess

Host country finishes with individual silver and third place overall 

ARACAJU — With the world’s best student chess players exercising their minds over the last week in Brazil, some fine performances emerged from the nine rounds and many days of concentration, patience and silence at the World University Chess Championship. 

In the men’s suit, university athlete Tadeas Kriebel of the Czech Republic was the champion. “I am very proud of my result,” he said, holding his gold medal. “Not only because of the quality of opponents who were very strong, but also because the competition model featured several double rounds.”

Poland’s Grzegorz Nasuta won silver, while Chinese Grandmaster Lu Shanglei got third place. Among all the chess players in the competition, Shanglei was the best placed in the FIDE world rankings, but was defeated early in the first rounds and didn’t recover enough to finish on top.

The women’s competition brought the best result for the host country as Brazilian Kathie Librelato, reigning chess champion of the Brazilian University Games, won silver by defeating Peru’s Cori T Daysi in the final round. 

“It was a great championship, so this result carries a lot of importance. I am very happy because it is a very significant result for me,” said a proud Kathie who produced the best result ever for Brazil in the history of WUC Chess. China’s Shiqun Ni, the only female Grandmaster in the field, won gold.

In the overall rating, China was on top, followed by Poland and Brazil in the bronze medal position. Brazil finished strong thanks to Kathie, but also Julia Alboredo who finished fourth in the women’s suit.

“It is a historic result for Brazil and we are very happy to be part of it,” said Julia. “This shows that if you believe and put in the work, the country can become very strong in chess. We hope our result will help improve the visibility of the sport in the country.”

All in all, the 2018 World University Chess Championship was a grand success.