11-Year WCM Old Amaya Wins U12 Prize in World Junior Rapid
By Cameron W. · Mon, 09 Nov 2026
England’s Amaya Agarwal, 11, scored 5/9 in the girls U20 World Junior Rapid in Al Ain and won the $500 best under-12 prize.
Most players at the World Junior Rapid in Al Ain were fighting for a world title. Amaya Agarwal was fighting for something just as hard to win: a place among much older girls in a field that runs all the way up to age 20. At 11, the England-based Woman Candidate Master scored 5/9 and walked away with the $500 prize for the best under-12 performance.
A big field for a small player
The girls section is an under-20 event, so Agarwal spent nine rounds in the same Swiss as players up to nine years her senior, among them titled players from several countries. The English Chess Federation congratulated her on her result and confirmed both the 5/9 score and the under-12 prize. The official prize list for the girls championship backs up the award. It names her as the winner of the best under-12 category, listing her as a WCM representing England with a rating of 1878.
It was a strong section. The top five finishers included an international master, two women's grandmasters and two women's international masters, and the top seed carried a rating of 2366.
Who finished where
The main prizes went to a strong group at the top. Eline Roebers of the Netherlands won the title on 7/9 and collected $2,000. Four players followed her on 6.5/9, separated by tiebreaks:
Umida Omonova of Uzbekistan took second and $1,500, Marina Kuznetsova, playing under the FIDE flag, took third and $1,000, Elnaz Kaliakhmet of Kazakhstan finished fourth for $800, and Afruza Khamdamova of Uzbekistan was fifth for $700.
The special prizes spread the rewards further down the field. Veronika Iudina of Russia took the best under-16 prize and Asma Asalieh of Syria the best under-8 prize, each worth $500, alongside Agarwal's under-12 award. There were also $400 prizes for the best Arab player, which went to Rouda Essa Alserkal of the UAE, and for the best player from the host Al Ain Chess Club, which went to Sheikha Abdulla Almeraikhi.
What the result says
A 5/9 score in a field like this is not a headline-grabbing number, but it is a quietly impressive one for a girl who is still shy of her teens. A world-level event in the UAE, against older players from across the globe, is about as demanding a classroom as junior chess offers, and nine rounds of it add real experience.
The prize is small in dollar terms, but the message is not. England has an 11-year-old who played a world junior event and came home with an award, and the next few years will show how far she goes.
