Panaji: Goa’s Evan Antonio Telles won the bronze medal in the Under-8 Blitz category at the 28th Asian Youth Chess Championships 2026 held at Hotel COLI, Longgang District, Shenzhen, China.
Representing India, Evan finished third with seven points from nine rounds in the tournament, which featured 893 players from 30 official FIDE Asian federations across 12 categories ranging from Under-8 to Under-18 in the Open and Girls sections.
Starting the event as the 16th seed with an international rating of 1661, Evan recorded victories over Lei Linfeng of China, Wu Yanxi of China, Berzhan Temirlan of Kazakhstan, Pham Quang Vinh of Vietnam, Agamammedov Begmyrad of Turkmenistan, fellow Indian Vivaan Vardhan Sahu and Luo Hongxuan of China. His only defeats came against Russia’s top seed Shishov Mikhail and Kazakhstan’s Endibayev Aslan.
Evan finished with a performance rating of 1768 and gained 26.8 FIDE rating points.
The championship, held from July 15 to 25, brought together young players from across Asia in the Open and Girls Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 categories.
Born in 2018, Evan’s podium finish earned India a bronze medal in the Under-8 Blitz competition and added another achievement to the country’s performance at the continental event.
