Iran as far as I know is not strong in chess. But following and analyzing the on-going WYCC2008, I noticed that Iran has a strong squad. 34 young Iranians are participating in different categoris. Ten of them have 2000+ FIDE rating. Nine others have between 1800 - 1900 rating. Except one who has 1700 rating, the other fourteen are not rated yet. Among the 34 players, one is FM and three are WFMs. It is a shock for me when our best bet Li Tian was defeated by an unrated Iranian player in the first round.
Maybe we can learn how chess is booming in Iran after it was banned in the early Islamic Revolution. It is amazing to know the fact that there are many young Iranian chess players have 2000+ Elo ratings. I also noticed that half of the fourteen unrated players are Under 8. Meaning that Iran has exposed internationally their young talents very early. From just having 3 IMs befor 1979, now it has 2 GMs and 5 IMs.
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