The Argentine chess player Candela Francisco was awarded today by the Ministry of Culture of the Nation for her “remarkable performance in recent chess tournaments.”
Minister Tristán Bauer presented this Thursday a plaque of distinction to the 16-year-old youth chess player at the Kirchner Cultural Center, due to her conquest of the Continental tournament, which she won undefeated and which took place in Cuba.
Candela also qualified for the World Cup of the specialty in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, with which she became one of the best Under-16 chess players.
The conquests placed the youth athlete as the new number 1 in the country and number 6 in America.
In addition, she was awarded the title of Female Grand Master, with which she became the third player in the history of the discipline in the country, to receive the award, after Claudia Amura and Carolina Luján.
At the award ceremony, Bauer declared that the young woman “is a truly exceptional chess player. She has just won a very important prize and, without a doubt, she has a great future ahead of her.” In turn, Candela affirmed: “I feel very happy. The truth is a blessing to be the third great teacher in the history of Argentina. For me, chess is a great sport.”
The young player’s background is that she is a four-time national champion, a two-time Pan-American champion and a three-time South American champion. She also obtained the Under-16 championships of the 2021 and 2022 editions, Under-14 (2019), Under 12 (2017).
She was also crowned champion in the U-12 (2018), U-14 (2019) and U-16 (2022) Pan American Games; she in addition to the South American U-14 and the title in Blitz (2019), the gold medal in the Buenos Aires Tournament (2019) and the double gold medal in the National Evita U-14 individual and by teams (2019).
In addition, Candela participated in the activities carried out by the Chess Program carried out by the Ministry of Culture, which aims to spread this sport as the heritage of Argentines.