Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The 2012 Asian Junior Chess Championships under 20 kicked off on 30 May in Tashkent. Around 50 players from Uzbekistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, the UAE and Vietnam will be competing for nine days – from 30 May to 7 June – in the tournament organized by Fund Forum, Uzbekistan Chess Federation, the Asian Chess Federation and the Ministry of Culture and Sports Affairs of Uzbekistan.

The opening ceremony in Tashkent, which is hosting the high-level championship for the first time, featured the organizers and arbiters, who wished the young players good luck in the games. The symbolic first move was made by the Minister of Culture and Sports Affairs of Uzbekistan Tursunali Kuziyev.

After the opening and welcome remarks the junior players busied themselves with games. Within a few minutes the games developed into an intense battle, proving once again that chess is a game of intelligence that requires not only skills and experience but also logic, a well-polished strategy as well as an ability to plan your moves and figure out the competitor’s tactics in advance.

The chess championship jury members for boys include Uzbekistan international arbiters Husan Turdialiyev, Abduqahhor Abduhalikov, Andrean Mirzaahmedov as well as UAE international arbiter Rajai Al-Susi. The girls’ games will be judged by international arbiters Larisa Pinchuk and Farhod Sobirov of Uzbekistan, Dmitriy Davidov of Kyrgyzstan, and Ilyas Hayrulla, an international arbiter from Lebanon.

According to draw results, the boys split into 15 pairs while girls into 11.

The players are in for nine days of both challenge and excitement as they will be vying for the title of Asian Junior Chess Champion. The Championship will be played according to the Swiss system of 9 rounds. One tournament will be held daily at 2 p.m. from 30 May to 7 June inclusive. Seven blitz tournaments will be held on 7 June from 3 to 6 p.m. The closing ceremony and the awards ceremony will be held on June 7 at 7 p.m. at the Uzbekistan Chess Federation. The top three positions in each event and category (standard chess and blitz chess tournaments) will be awarded medals. Asian Junior and Girls Champion will be awarded the title of International Master and Woman International Master, respectively. Clear first place is equivalent to a 9-game Grandmaster or Women Grandmaster result.