Russia, China Rule in World Junior Chess; Aleksandra Goryachkina, Lu Shanglei World U-20 Chess Champions

Hello chess blog friends, Russian and Chinese chess ruled at the World Junior Chess this year in Pune, India. Russia's Aleksandra Goryachkina defended her title to become the World Junior Girls' Chess Champion for the second time in a row. She earned the gold with a round to spare. In the open section, Chinese Lu Shanglei won the gold with a winning performance in the final round.

Four players, Wei Yi of China, Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia and Lu Shangleiu, went into the 13th round with 9 points each. 

There was a four way tie from second to fourth position where Wei Yi of China secured Silver, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia bagged bronze while Duda Jan Krzysztof was a trifle unfortunate to go without a medal, finishing fourth after the resolution of the tie-break by the Bucholz system. All four players had scored 9.5 points. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi was the best Indian finisher with 9 points and was placed fifth. Shardul Gagare was the best performer from Maharashtra and was awarded the Pune Mayor Cup in the Open section.

In the Girls section 16-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina had successfully defended her title with a round to spare yesterday and today settled for a short draw against Anna Iwanova to raise her points tally to 11. Ann Chumpitaz of Peru also drew against Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva while Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran defeated Srija Seshadri of India to bag the bronze, both tallying 9.5 points each. After the tie-breaks Sarasadat secured the Silver medal and Chumpitaz had to settle for the bronze.

Padmini Rout was the best Indian finisher with 9 points and was placed fourth. Rucha Pujari was the winner of the Pune Mayor’s Trophy for Girls as the best performer from Maharashtra.. Today Padmini scored a quick victory over Marina Brunello of Italy. Srija Seshadri had scored 8/11 but lost the last two rounds to finish tenth.

Both Lu Shanglei and Aleksandra Goryachkina earned a qualification slot for the World Cup 2015 for Open and Women respectively. The World Cup is a part of the World Championship Cycle. Both players also received a cash Prize of Rs 1,50000 each. The silver Medalists were richer by RS 100000 each and the bronze medallists by Rs 50000.

This 13 round gruelling Swiss League event was sponsored by LIC and Government of Maharashtra and Amanora, ONGC, Jain Irrigation and Everstone were the Associate sponsors. There were 132 players from 51 countries in fray while the Girls section had 77 players.

The encounters between Wei and Krzysztof was a hard fought Italian game lasting 57 moves before fizzling into a draw. Top seed Fedoseev could not also make much headway and had to settle for a draw after 40 moves. Shanglei opted for the Dutch Defence against Indjic and appeared heading for trouble in the initial stages with Indjic playing positively and aggressively. However White lost way, failed to keep the momentum, did not castle and watched helplessly as Black’s pieces (Knight, queen and rook ) infiltrated decisively to weave a check-mating net. (FIDE)

Final standings:

Open: 1. Lu Shanglei (China) 10 points; 2. Wei Yi (China) 9.5 (106.5 Bucholz), 3. Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) 9.5 (105.5 Bucholz), 4. Dida Jan-Krzysztof (Poland) 9.5 (99.5 Bucholz), 5. Vidit Gujrathi (India) 9 (94.5 Bucholz), 6. Kamil Dragun (Poland) 9 (92.5 Bucholz), 7. Srinath Narayanan (India) 9 (91.5 Bucholz), 8. Murali Karthikeyan (India) 9 (85.5 Bucholz), 9. Diptayan Ghosh (India) 8.5 (97 Bucholz), 10. Bai Jinshi (China) 8.5 (95.5 Bucholz).

Girls: 1. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) 11 points, 2. Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iran) 9.5 (98.5 Bucholz), 3. Ann Chumpitaz (Peru) 9.5 (97 Bucholz), 4. Padmini Rout (India) 9, 5. Zhai Mo (China) 8.5 (95.5 Bucholz), 6. Anna Iwanow (Poland) 8.5 (95 Bucholz), 7. Sabina Ibrahimova (Azerbaijan) 8.5 (92 BUcholz), 8. Meri Arabidze (Georgia) 8.5 (89.5 Bucholz), 9. Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzbekistan) 8.5 (81 Bucholz), 10. Srija Seshadri (India) 8 (91 Bucholz).

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World Junior Chess in Athens R4: Only Yu Yangyi, Alexander Ipatov with Perfect Score

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The latest chess news from the World Junior Chess Championships 2012 in Athens, Greece, via Chessdom, is that GM Yu Yangyi and GM Alexander Ipatov are the only players who are leading with a perfect score after four rounds. Seeded 2nd and 6th respectively, they now lead the championship 1/2 points ahead of competition.
GM Ipatov employed a temporary piece sacrifice against GM Baron Tal to get solid initiative and closed the game in a convincing manner. GM Yu Yangyi waited patiently for a mistake by his opponent GM Jorge Cori in time trouble to conclude the game with a full point. The chasing pack shares the 3rd place with 3,5/4 and includes IM Sahaj Grover, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, GM Salem A R Saleh, FM Wei Yi, GM Aleksandr Shimanov, and GM Nils Grandelius.

GM Yu Yangyi

In a multitude of surprising results FM Stef Soors defeated GM Niclas Huschenbeth, FM Michael Kleinman won against his compatriot IM Eric Hansen, the untitled Spyridon Naoum held to a draw IM Evandro Amorim Barbosa, FM Aman Hambleton drew with IM Ulvi Bajarani, IM Leandro Krysa lost to the untitled Ioannis Stathopoulos.

The rating favorite GM Ding Liren was stunned yet another time, this round he was held to a draw by GM Yilmaz Mustafa. Both are now 1,5 points behind the leaders, sharing the position with 18 more players. However, with 9 more rounds to go the medals and top positions will be up for grabs until the very end.

The Open section of the World Junior Chess Championship presented excellent chess to the audience today, with 50 from the 65 boards finishing with a decisive result.

The girls section of the World Junior Chess Championship was close to having a sole leader. In difficult time trouble WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina could not score a full point against WIM Irina Bulmaga with the black pieces. The other leaders before the start of the round, WGM Guo Qi and IM Anastasia Bodnaruk, agreed to a draw. Now all of them share the first place together with the only winner from the chasing pack – WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina.

They are closely followed by a large group of players at 1/2 points distance – WGM Jovana Vojinovic, WFM Klaudia Kulon, WGM Alina Kashlinskaya, WIM Meri Arabidze, Wang Jue, WGM Deysi Cori, WGM Mona Khaled, WIM Monica Sihite Chelsie, WFM Aulia Medina Warda, Hanna-Marie Klek, WFM Irina Petrova, and Zoi Iordanidou.

Just like in the boys/open section, Round 4 turned out to be extremely combative for the girls. Except the top boards, the girls competition saw only 3 more draws, all other games finishing with decisive results. You can find lots of photos and information at the official website.

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Russian girl is youngest WGM at 13

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Aleksandra Goryachkina, born 1998, has become the youngest WGM in the world with her performance at the European Women Chess Championship, according to Chessdom. The young Russian girl finished at the amazing 40th place with 6,0/11, competing with a large number of GMs and IMs in what is considered to be the strongest EIWCC in history. 

With completing her WGM norm, Goryachkina becomes the youngest WGM in the world and gets very close to the record of youngest WGM in history World Champion Yifan Hou (12 years and 3 months).

 

Aleksandra Goryachkina

Alexandra Goryachkina is born September 28, 1998, in Russia. She first appeared as FIDE rated player in the October 2008 list with ELO of 1889, rapidly improving it to 2019 in the next rating list. Since then she stayed at relatively the same level, until she won her WFM title at the end of 2008- start of 2009 via the World Youth Chess Championships. That proved to be a game changer for her, she quickly set pace for a WIM title (approved at the 82nd FIDE Congress 15-22 October 2011, Krakow, Poland). Now only six months later Goryachkina is a proud owner of 3 WGM norms, soon to be approved as a WGM title.

The WGM title comes as no surprise, as Goryachkina has recently presented her fantastic form by winning the Lyudmila Rudenko Memorial. In her short career Goryachkina is winner of four important gold medals (U10 in World Youth Chess 2008 Vung Tau, U12 in European Youth Chess 2010 in Batumi, U14 in European Youth Chess in Albena, U14 in World Youth Chess 2011 in Caldas Novas), she has one silver (U12 European Youth Chess 2009 in Fermo), and one bronze (U12 World Youth Chess 2009 in Kemer).

Goryachkina is rated 2341 at the March 2012 FIDE rating list, a rating that is expected to rise viewing her strong recent performance.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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