It is a close fight at the halfway mark of the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Penang, Malaysia. Chinese children are leading in many age groups, namely boys under-16, 12, 10 and 8 and girls under-10 and 8, together with children from Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Mongolia and Singapore in various age groups. Chinese youth are obviously inspired by Chinese World Champion Ding Liren and Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun.
Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings. Visit the Penang Chess Association 
facebook page. The tournament is hosted by the Penang Chess Association under the auspices of the Malaysian Chess Federation, Asian Chess Federation and FIDE. Photos by Quah Seng Sun.
Untitled Dang Anh Minh of Vietnam (above right) and FM Poh Yu Tian of Malaysia (above left) are tied for the lead in the boys under-18 at 4.5 points each followed by FM Ivan Travis Cu of Philippines (below right) and FM Battulga Tenuunbold of Mongolia (beow left).
Four players are tied with 4 points each in the hotly contested boys under-16 division.
Mohan Kavin of Malaysia is alone with 5 points for the lead in the boys under-14 followed by six players with 4 points each.
China’s Zhang Haoxuan grabbed solo lead with 4.5 points in the boys under-12 followed a half point behind by three players with 4 points each.
Chinese Zuo Junyu is alone with 4.5 points in the boys under-10 followed a half point behind by five players with 4 points each.
Leading with a perfect score is Yu Zixiao of China with 5 points in the boys under-8 followed by five players with 4 points each.
WFM Bayanmunkh Amin-Erdene of Mongolia leads alone with 4 points in the girls under-18 followed by two players with 3.5 points each, namely Adeeba Ulayya of Indonesia (below right) and Yu Yaochen of China (below left).
Three players are tied for the lead in the girls under-16, namely WCM Davaakhuu Unurzul and Erdenebat Tugstuguldur, both of Mongolia, and Nguyen Ngoc Hien of Vietnam.
Afif Ainul Mardhiah of Malaysia leads the girls under-14 alone with 4.5 points followed close behind by two other players.
WCM Velmurugan Sreekarthika of Singapore is in solo lead with 4.5 points in the girls under-12 followed by two players with 4 points each.
Support of parents encourages children interested in chess.
Wu Sinian of China grabbed solo lead with 4.5 points in the girls under-10 followed by two players with 4 points each.
Chinese Chen Zhihan leads alone with 5 points in the girls under-8 followed a full point behind by two other players.
