World Junior U20 Chess Championship 2018: Round 2
World Junior U20 Chess Championship 2018: Round 2
Although first round was by no means a one-sided battle for favorites, the second round was destined to be even tougher as the rating differences between paired opponents got less. All the games were hard-fought and contained interesting and bold play from young stars.
Open Round 2 Results
In the open section it was a good day for 2600+ players as Maghsoodloo, Donchenko and Karthikeyan - despite the draw in the first round you can count Jorden van Foreest as well - all won fine games against their lesser rated opponents, thus entering the third round unharmed with 2 points.
One of the greatest upsets of the round was the defeat of the 16 years old Russian star Andrey Esipenko, at the hands of 18 years old Kazakh player Denis Makhnev. IM Makhnev played the opening phase of a Semi-Tarrasch game not too well and allowed Esipenko to equalize easily. At one point it looked like Black could even take the initiative but things have changed with Esipenko’s very quickly played move 18…Rd8? Makhnev found the best way of playing, namely with the idea of trapping the awkwardly placed black queen; a problem which Esipenko found very hard to deal with. By move 25 Makhnev won the f7-pawn and then went on to calculate a brilliant sequence of tactics to reach a double rooks ending with an extra bishop vs two pawns; which he converted perfectly. A great performance by the Kazakh player!
The fifth board also saw a brilliant win by the Chinese grandmaster Xu. The intermediate move 20. Rxf6! was a beautiful exchange sacrifice after which the passivity of black pieces and mate threats led to a material down and totally lost ending for Janik from Poland.
Two other notable games in both of which underdogs have won against their opponents need to be mentioned. IM Percivaldi from Denmark won what seemed to be a very well played game against GM Bai from China, punishing his opponent for his reckless play. The 13 years old Işık Can of Turkey, one of the brightest stars of Turkish chess, managed to win against IM Lobanov from Russia; thanks to a very dangerous passed pawn on c-file. A very well played ending by the young FM! At 2 points Işık Can is also leading the race between the local players as of now.
By the end of the second round only 25 players remain with full score in the open category and with the exception of Işık Can -against GM Martirosyan (1.5 pts)- they will play against each other. We are still nowhere near the climax of the tournament and the best is yet to come!
Girls Round 2 Results
It was a day of missed opportunities and twists in girls section. There were four draws in the first five boards but it could easily have been five decisive games as well.
IM Tsolakidou of Greece, the top seed of the championship, had a significant advantage in a queenless middlegame position against Chinese WIM Chu but when she missed a couple of nuances at critical moments her advantage dissipated and the game ended in a draw. Bibisara Assaubayeva won on second board against Indian WIM Varshini, a game which went equal for a long time but when the Indian WIM finally faltered FM Assaubayeva didn’t give a second chance to her opponent.
Perhaps the most incredible game of the round was played on third board, between German FM Schneider and the Uzbek WGM Tokhirjonova. Schneider opted for a wrong setup in Giuoco Pianissimo and handed down a very dangerous kingside attack to her opponent which was probably winning at a few moments of the game. However WGM Tokhirjonova lost her way and somehow a winning ending for white emerged on the board! FM Schneider played very well, all the way until the promotion after which she was an exchange up with a very easily winning position. Just pushing her passed pawn or mopping up the a-pawn of black was enough to win the game easily but instead miracles began to happen and in the end one can even say that it was white who had to make the draw! If someone speaks of the merits of resigning in completely lost positions show him/her this game!
The wins of Egyptian WGM Wafa and Polish WFM Dwilewicz against WIM Unuk and WIM Haussernot were also very impressive in different ways, the former being a slow grind whereas the latter a 27 move mate after some power play by White!
Third round of 2018 World Junior Chess Championship will start on September 7, 10:00 local time as the next one will be played in the afternoon at 17:00! A tiring day for sure, both for players and our commentators IM Arduman & FM Selbes! See you tomorrow at the live broadcast!
Daily results at wjcc2018.tsf.org.tr
World Junior U20 Chess Championship 2018: Round 1
2018 World Junior Chess Championship and World U-20 Girls Championship have started today. A very important championship historically – just mentioning the fact that world champions Spassky (1955), Karpov(1969), Kasparov (1980) and Anand (1987) have all started as world junior champions is enough - it is definitely the event to follow these days, especially if you want to discover the elite players of future.
This years edition sees a record-breaking number of participation, players from 65 different countries have come to Gebze/Turkey to compete for the most important title U-20. But it’s not just about quantity. In the open section there are 30 players who have an ELO rating higher than 2500, which shows the strength of the competition. As for girls, it might seem to be not as strong as the open category but still in a very evenly matched field anything might happen, so lots of surprises and difficult battles should be expected in this category as well. Let’s have a short look at first round in both sections.
Open Round 1 Results
The first round usually brings heavy favorites against weak players but not here. For example on the first board GM Maghsoodloo (2649) from Iran found himself matched up against FM Wadsworth (2351) of England. Certainly not a championship to be taken lightly, even the very start is quite difficult in this marathon.
That being said still the first round saw few surprises. 12 years old Russian talent Volodar Murzin held against the second seed Jorden van Foreest and thus managed to begin the championship with a draw, usually not a bad result if you are playing with black against a 2624 ELO player! One of the local hopes, FM Tuna Tuncer of Turkey has played a very clean game against GM Martirosyan (2597) of Armenia and in a position with a material imbalance accepted the draw offer of his opponent. Probably a wise decision by the Armenian grandmaster, as black knight and bishop had trouble finding good squares for themselves whereas the same cannot be said of white rook and pawns.
In the second round we’ll see closer matchups than today and we can certainly expect a great amount of hard-fought games! Stay tuned for the live broadcast!
Girls Round 1 Results
Women chess in general is a lot more exciting than men and this first round was also another occasion proving it. On board number one, the rating favorite Stavroula Tsolakidou from Greece seemed to be cruising to victory but then somehow found herself completely lost! This was not the end of the drama though as her opponent Malatsilava returned the favor and thus lost her chance to inflict a very upsetting defeat on IM Tsolakidou at the start of the championship.
The second board also saw the underdog getting winning chances, this time actually capitalizing on it. The second seed IM Nomin-Erdene from Mongolia found out that her Chilean opponent is not to be underestimated and lost in an uncomfortable position despite opposite-colored bishops to WIM Gomez Barrera. An early setback after which the Mongolian star will have a hard time climbing up the ranks again, but in an 11-rounds event everything’s possible!
There are tough pairings in the second round as Tsolakidou and Assaubayeva will find themselves matched up against Chinese WIM Ruotong and Indian WIM Varshini respectively. If you think about how underrated players from China and India actually are these matches will be quite interesting to follow!
See you all at the second round starting on September 6, 15:00 local time! Don’t miss the live broadcast and commentary by IM Arduman & FM Selbes!
Daily results at wjcc2018.tsf.org.tr