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 Youth Chess Championships 2013: Indian Juniors win Most Medals

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The World Youth Chess Championships always showcase the chess stars of the future. The 2013 World Youth Chess Championships were held on 17-29th December in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. The event was organized by the UAE Chess Federation and Al Ain Chess Club, under the auspices of FIDE. A total of 1,773 players from 121 countries competed.

India and China won three gold medals each, but the Indian players also bagged two silver and three bronze medals. Russia won 1 gold, one silver and 3 bronze medals, while Iran won one of each medals. United States claimed the gold and silver in the U10 boys section. Among the other countries, Canada, Armenia and Greece have one gold medal each. Spanish players won two silver medals, while Serbia, Mongolia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Belarus one silver each. Azerbaijan won two bronze medals home. Also with bronze medals, one for each country, are Poland, Bulgaria and Turkmenistan. (Report via FIDE) For a report on the Indian results, including the news on GM Abhijeet Gupta winning the Al Ain Open Chess Classic, read Chess Magazine Black and White website. All the results via the official website.

The closing ceremony was held after the last round of World Youth Chess Championship 2013 with medal winners in classic and blitz sections in all 12 categories recieving their medals from Sheikh Nahyan and FIDE president Kirsan Illyumzhinov.

U18 boys:1 IM Idani Pouya IRI 2483 – 8.5
2 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2558 – 8.0
3 GM Vaibhav Suri IND 2544 – 8.0

U18 girls:
1 WFM Tomnikova Lidia RUS 2167 – 8.5
2 WGM Ziaziulkina Nastassia BLR 2354 – 8.5
3 WIM Ibrahimova Sabina AZE 2205 – 8.5

U16 boys:
1 IM Karthikeyan Murali IND 2431 – 9.0
2 FM Girish A. Koushik IND 2413 – 9.0
3 FM Alekseenko Kirill RUS 2445 – 8.0

U16 girls:
1 Gu Tianlu CHN 2128 – 9.0
2 WIM Nicolas Zapata Irene ESP 2237 – 8.5
3 WGM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2298 – 8.5

U14 boys:
1 Li Di CHN 2091 – 9.5
2 Zajic Milan SRB 2340 – 9.0
3 Atabayev Saparmyrat TKM 2203 – 9.0

U14 girls:
1 Tsolakidou Stavroula GRE 2132 – 9.0
2 Abdusattorova Bakhora UZB 1933 – 9.0
3 WFM Vasenina Anna RUS 2053 – 8.5

U12 boys:
1 Hakobyan Aram ARM 2015 – 9.5
2 FM Raghunandan K. Srihari IND 2168 – 8.5
3 Lobanov Sergei RUS 2239 – 8.5

U12 girls:
1 Shengxin Zhao CHN 1753 – 9.5
2 Shuvalova Polina RUS 2052 – 9.0
3 WFM Antova Gabriela BUL 1815 – 8.5

U10 boys:
1 FM Liang Awonder USA 2246 – 10.0
2 CM Peng David T USA 2042 – 9.0
3 Teclaf Pawel POL 1893 – 9.0

U10 girls:
1 WCM Salonika Saina IND 1642 – 9.0
2 WFM Asadi Motahare IRI 1657 – 8.5
3 WFM Lakshmi C IND 1757 – 8.5

U8 boys:
1 FM Praggnanandhaa R IND 1852 – 11.0
2 Can Isik TUR 1751 – 9.0
3 Suleymanli Aydin Elshan AZE 0 – 9.0

U8 girls:
1 WCM Zhu Harmony CAN 0 – 9.0
2 Mungunzul Bat-Erdene MGL 0 9.0
3 Bhagyashree Patil IND 1423 – 8.5

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GM Alexander Ipatov is World Junior Chess Champion 2012

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

Hi everyone,

The latest chess news via Chessdom from mid-way of the last round at the World Junior Chess Championships 2012 in Athens, Greece is that GM Alexander Ipatov has won the boys' title by collecting 10,0/13.  Second place goes to GM Richard Rapport who scored the same points, but has worse tiebreak. The regular updates are coming in from the official website.

 

GM Alexander Ipatov

According to regulations Ipatov qualifies to the World Cup 2013, part of the World Championship Cycle 2012-2014. Alexander Ipatov’s name is now next to a long list of World Junior Champions! See full list in extended post.

Read more »

World Junior Chess R11: Rapport, Ipatov Lead in Boys' Section; Cori in Sole Lead in Girls' Section

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

Hi everyone,

The chess tournament news update via Fide about the World Junior Chess Championships 2012 is that the girls' section has a sole leader in WGM Deysi Cori and the boys' section leaders now are GM Richard Rapport and GM Alexander Ipatov. Eleven rounds have been played with one more to go.

Read more »

World Junior Chess R10 - GM Richard Rapport Holds on to Sole Lead

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

Hi everyone,

Defending champion
among girls: Deysi Cori 

As the World Junior Chess Championship nears the conclusion, the tenth round was played in Athens on Monday. All games were decisive on the top six boards, according to the round-up report via Chessdom. GM Richard Rapport held on to his sole lead with a win at 8.5/10. GM Alexander Ipatov won on the second board and is just half-a-point behind. GM Yu Yangyi, GM Ding Liren, GM Nils Grandelius and GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan are in third place at 7.5 points. Some interesting results saw IM Eric Hansen draw with GM Zherebukh, norm winner Mark Lapidus held to a draw by IM Heimann and FM Wei Yi beat IM Shyam Nikil.

Read more »

World Junior Chess 2012 Round 9 - GM Richard Rapport in Clear Lead; Check Norms' List

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

Hi everyone,

GM Richard Rapport has beaten GM Yu Yangyi on the top board in the ninth round at the World Junior Chess Championship currently on in Athens, Greece to take sole lead, according to a comprehensive chess report via Chessdom.

Rapport now has 7.5 points. Both Rapport and Yangyi were overnight leaders along with GM Alexander Ipatov. Ipatov pulled off a fighting draw against GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan. With this GM Ipatov is now sharing the second position at seven points with the other winners of the round: GM Aleksandr Shimanov and IM Conrad Holt.

Read more »

World Junior Chess - Ipatov, Yangyi, Rapport in Joint Lead; Nastassia Ziaziulkina Leads in Girls' Section

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

Hi everyone,

The top seed and the leader of the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, Ding Liren and Alexander Ipatov, split the point on the top board in round 8 following the rest day on Thursday, according to the latest chess news via Chessdom.

Ipatov continues to lead, but is now joined by Yu Yangyi and Richard Rapport from Hungary. Among the other players with 5,5 points, IM Debashis Das (India) and FM Peter Schreiner (Austria) held the higher rated players GM Aleksandr Shimanov (Russia) and GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (Armenia), respectively.

GM Richard Rapport

IM Conrad Hold defeated the 3rd seed GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, while the modestly rated Mark Lapidus (2129) from Estonia beat the tough GM Salem A R Saleh from UAE. Lapidus started the tournament with two losses but then turned the trend and signed six consecutive wins.

Meanwhile, Reigning Belarus champion WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina singled out on the top of of the standings in the girls section of the World Junior Chess Championship. In round 8 Ziaziulkina defeated the top-seeded IM Anastasia Bodnaruk (Russia) to lift the count to 6.5 points. WIM Irina Bulmaga and the defending champion WGM Deysi Cori, also entering the day as joint leaders, drew their game and remained on the shared 2nd place.

WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina

In a mixed day for the Russian representatives, 3rd seed WGM Alina Kashlinskaya lost against WGM Guo Qi of China, but WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina scored against WIM Klara Varga from Hungary. Bulmaga, Cori, Qi, Goryachkina and WIM Meri Arabidze from Georgia share the second place with 6 points each. (Photos by Andreas Kontokanis)

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World Junior Chess R7: GM Alexander Ipatov in Sole Lead

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

Hi everyone,

The latest chess news via Fide about the World Junior Chess Championship 2012 in Athens, Greece is that GM Alexander Ipatov is in sole lead in the open section after seven rounds. The top four boards Ipatov – Rapport, Debashis – Yu Yangyi, Shimanov – Grigoryan, and Ter-Sahakyan – Grandelius all finished in draws, keeping the status quo of the tournament.

GM Ding Liren managed to score a full point. With this victory the top seeded player now shares the second place. FM Peter Schreiner and IM Mikhail Antipov also won their games and joined the chasing pack, thus making a total of nine players with 5,5/7 at positions 2-10.

They are closely followed by a large group with 5,0/7, including IM Mustafa Yilmaz, IM Sahaj Grover, IM Conrad Holt, FM Wei Yi, GM Jorge Cori, GM Nils Grandelius, GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, Mark Lapidus, and IM Antonios Pavlidis.

The girls section of the World Junior Chess Championship again has a group of players tied on first place. The leader after round 6 WIM Irina Bulmaga was held to a draw by WGM Alina Kashlinskaya. This was used by IM Bodnaruk, WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina, and the 2011 winner WGM Deysi Cori. They scored full points and are now with 5,5/7, the same points as WIM Bulmaga.

5th-10th place is shared by a group of players just 1/2 points behind the leaders. Among them are WGM Guo Qi, WGM Alina Kashlinskaya, WIM Meri Arabidze, WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina, Wang Jue, and WIM Klara Varga.


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World Junior Chess R6: Alexander Ipatov, Irina Bulmaga Sole Leaders

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

Hi everyone,

Alexander Ipatov and Irina Bulmaga

The latest chess news via Fide is that Alexander Ipatov and Irina Bulmaga are in sole lead at the World Junior Chess Championship currently on in Athens, Greece.

GM Alexander Ipatov beat GM Nils Grandelius with black in a key encounter of Round 6 to take sole lead in the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, Greece. A member of the Turkish Olympic Team, Ipatov is now with 5,5/6, half a point ahead of the chasing pack, as the other top board match GM Yu Yangyi – GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan finished draw.

IM Karen Grigoryan, GM Richard Rapport, IM Das Debashis, and GM Aleksandr Shimanov used the opportunity to join GM Yu Yangyi and GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan at the second position with 5,0/6. The tournament top seeded player GM Ding Liren continues undefeated, but made a third draw with black, which leaves him sharing 8th place with IM Grigoriy Oparin, GM Salem A R Saleh, FM Peter Schreiner, GM Baron Tal, FM Wei Yi, and the local top placed player IM Antonios Pavlidis, all with 4,5/6.

Find more details on the official website.

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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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World Junior Chess Round 3 - Top Seeds Sail Along

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

Hi everyone,

The world junior chess championships currently on in Athens, Greece, witnessed strong play on Day 3 as well. Yu Yangyi and Alexander Ipatov punished the risky play of their opponents, Aleksandar Indjic and Frode Urkedal respectively, to score victories on the top two tables in the Open section of the 2012 World Junior Chess Championships, according to the Chessdom report.
Salem A R Saleh (UAE) defeated the local representative Antonios Pavlidis in a model game from the black side of the Sicilian Sveshnikov, while the bronze medalist from 2011 WJCC Grover Sahaj won the Indian derby against Debashis Das. The former World U12 champion Wei Yi from China (2418) defeated another higher rated player, Grigoriy Oparin (2488) from Russia, to maintain the perfect score.


GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan

Top seeded players Ding Liren, Yaroslav Zherebukh, Richard Rapport and Alexandr Shimanov recovered from yesterday’s setbacks and signed confident victories.

All results WJCC Open / Standings Open
Top seed in the Girls section IM Anastasia Bodnaruk (2414) won a nice attacking game against the 8th-seeded Wang Jue from China.

The defending champion WGM Deysi Cori (2413) played another marathon game, this time against the reigning Belarus champion and 9th seed WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina. The endgame appeared to be equal but some precision was required. However, Cori erred and allowed white to set a Lucena bridge.

Jovana Vojinovic drew Alina Kashlinskaya, while Irina Bulmaga continued the winning row and defeated Lisa Schut.


Lateefah Messam-Sparks
WGM Guo Qi won rather quickly after her opponent Medina Warda Aulia forgot the Queen in the danger zone.

All results WJCC Girls / Standings Girls

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