World Youth 2019 begins with the downfall of defending under-18 champion
The World Youth Championships 2019 kicked off on the 2nd of October 2019 in Mumbai. India. The biggest upset of round one was defending champion Viktor Gazik losing his game to local lad Vedant Panesar. Gazik sacrificed an exchange in the style of Petrosian, but never really had enough compensation. In the past players like Tiviakov and Andersson have been successful with a similar idea. In this article we try to find what was the difference between those sacrifices and Viktor's. We also feature a brave-hearts of the tournament Harshita Guddanti, a girl who is playing in the open section. Round one report from the venue by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.
The first day of any age group event is quite chaotic. The parents who have come to drop their kids for the first game want to ensure that their children have safely reached the board. In order to do that they enter the tournament venue, but once that happens it's very difficult for the organizers to control things. In this respect the organizers of the World Youth Championships 2019 found quite an interesting solution:
Youth = Freshness!
When you visit a youth tournament, the first thing you see is that these youngsters aren't afraid to experiment. Both on and off the board! We will come to the on the board experiments later in this report, but let's first have a look at same off the board ones!
Brave-heart of the tournament!
I have always wondered why players like Judit Polgar or Humpy Koneru or Hou Yifan became the best in women's chess? One common thing between all three of them, is that they always preferred to fight it out with the boys! They wanted the strongest competition right from a very young age and they were always open to the idea of playing in the open section! In fact Judit, the greatest woman player of all time, hardly ever played in the girl's section. These world class players have always been vocal about this fact that girls should play in open section. Yet, I see not many girls ready to take the chance of fighting it out with the boys! At the World Youth 2019, we have an exceptions!
Round 1 - a not so smooth sailing for top seeds!
The biggest upset of round one was definitely India's under-17 champion Vedant Panesar getting the better of the defending under-18 world champion Viktor Gazik.
Here's the game by Vedant to beat his opponent who was rated over 300 Elo points above him:
The sacrifice by Gazik ...Rxe3 isn't uncommon. In fact Ulf Andersson had once held a draw against World Champion Garry Kasparov with this similar idea:
Sergey Tiviakov in fact was even able to beat Razuvaev with this sacrifice:
However, if you look at the above games closely you will realize that Gazik's sacrifice wasn't well timed.
Yes, ...Rxe3 looks tempting. However after fxe3, White has all his pieces nicely developed and more importantly he can just play Rc1 and start putting pressure on the c7 pawn. In both Kasparov-Andersson and Tiviakov-Razuvaev, the c7 pawn was never weak!
Non transmission of games
According to the situation on the ground, a key part of the live broadcast setup was missing on day one. The organizers are trying their best to get that before round two begins. As a result of this glitch, most of the games in round one were not broadcast live.
Under-14 Open
Aditya Varun Gampa provided the upset of the round in the under-14 boys when he held Andrey Tsvetkov to a draw. Pranav V (2308) lost his round one game against Abinandhan (1830).
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | FM | Sreeshwan Maralakshikari | IND | 2449 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Potawad Anirudhha | IND | 1914 | 46 | |||
2 | 47 | Vinay R Jumani | IND | 1900 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | FM | Murzin Volodar | RUS | 2433 | 2 | |||
3 | 3 | IM | Suleymanli Aydin | AZE | 2426 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | De Silva L M S T | SRI | 1879 | 48 | ||
4 | 49 | Aditya Varun Gampa | IND | 1879 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | FM | Tsvetkov Andrey | RUS | 2382 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | FM | Pranav Anand | IND | 2351 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | CM | Kadam Om Manish | IND | 1872 | 50 | ||
6 | 51 | Stijve Niels | SUI | 1868 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | Samant Aditya S | IND | 2334 | 6 | ||||
7 | 7 | FM | Petkov Momchil | BUL | 2333 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Beukema Constantijn | BEL | 1864 | 52 | |||
8 | 53 | Shah Jeet | IND | 1844 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | FM | Chyzy Jakub | POL | 2327 | 8 | |||
9 | 9 | FM | Borhy Marcell | HUN | 2321 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | CM | Mohamed Saeed Laily | UAE | 1836 | 54 | ||
10 | 55 | Abinandhan R | IND | 1830 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Pranav V | IND | 2308 | 10 |
Under-14 Girls
Round 1 results
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 2358 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Marium Fatima | IND | 1628 | 41 | |||
2 | 42 | WCM | Abdala Cancino Patricia Anastas | CHI | 1608 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WIM | Rakshitta Ravi | IND | 2310 | 2 | ||
3 | 3 | WFM | Allahverdiyeva Ayan | AZE | 2160 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Boramanikar Tanisha S | IND | 1607 | 43 | |||
4 | 44 | Ray Hiya | WLS | 1596 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Nasyrova Ekaterina | RUS | 2137 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | Roebers Eline | NED | 2083 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Ananya Arumbakkam | IND | 1583 | 45 | ||||
6 | 46 | Tanvi Vasudev Hadkonkar | IND | 1582 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | WFM | Omonova Umida | UZB | 2078 | 6 | |||
7 | 7 | Poliakova Varvara | BLR | 2042 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WCM | Kriti Mayur Patel | IND | 1551 | 47 | |||
8 | 48 | Femil Chelladurai | IND | 1544 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | WFM | Kamalidenova Meruert | KAZ | 2025 | 8 | |||
9 | 9 | WFM | Dhyana Patel | IND | 1995 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Marthinussen Emma Viktoria Lia | NOR | 1544 | 49 | |||
10 | 50 | Swara Lakshmi S Nair | IND | 1536 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WCM | Obada Ema | ROU | 1987 | 10 |
Under-16 open
Under-16 open round 1 results
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | IM | Niemann Hans Moke | USA | 2439 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Karthik Sai Ch | IND | 2046 | 40 | |||
2 | 41 | Zetocha Adrian | SVK | 2043 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | FM | Kacharava Nikolozi | GEO | 2428 | 2 | |||
3 | 3 | IM | Avila Pavas Santiago | COL | 2406 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Goderdzishvili Giga | GEO | 2038 | 42 | |||
4 | 43 | Tomiello Mateus Costamilan | BRA | 2030 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | FM | Gharibyan Mamikon | ARM | 2388 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | FM | Daghli Arash | IRI | 2387 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Skurniak Szymon | POL | 1997 | 44 | |||
6 | 45 | Bagvilas Lukas | LTU | 1983 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | FM | Nogerbek Kazybek | KAZ | 2387 | 6 | |||
7 | 7 | IM | Makarian Rudik | RUS | 2386 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Alvarez Angel Nelson Eduardo | COL | 1974 | 46 | |||
8 | 47 | Sadnan Hasan Dihan | BAN | 1973 | 0 | - - + | 0 | CM | Aronyak Ghosh | IND | 2380 | 8 | |||
9 | 9 | IM | Raja Rithvik R | IND | 2369 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki | IND | 1967 | 48 | |||
10 | 49 | Kanishk S K | IND | 1939 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | IM | Sankalp Gupta | IND | 2369 | 10 |
Under-16 girls
Two mini-upsets occurred on boards nine and ten - Ge eva (1673) drew her game against Alessia- Mihaela Ciolacu (2095) and Arushi Kotwal (1657) holding Zhang Xiao (2053) to a draw.
Under-16 girls - results of round one
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | WCM | Garifullina Leya | RUS | 2330 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WFM | Noshin Anjum | BAN | 1793 | 36 | ||
2 | 37 | Poorna Sri M.K | IND | 1787 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Beydullayeva Govhar | AZE | 2289 | 2 | |||
3 | 3 | WCM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2227 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Otrubova Kristyna | CZE | 1766 | 38 | |||
4 | 39 | Meenatchi Rajam V | IND | 1764 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Nurgali Nazerke | KAZ | 2194 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | WFM | Bulatova Kamaliya | RUS | 2181 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Lei Amy | USA | 1754 | 40 | |||
6 | 41 | Eesha Ajay Sarda | IND | 1744 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Loskutova Viktoriya | RUS | 2149 | 6 | |||
7 | 7 | WFM | Mahdian Anousha | IRI | 2103 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Maciulaityte Barbora | LTU | 1682 | 42 | |||
8 | 43 | WCM | Al Maamari Wafia Darwish | UAE | 1673 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Srdanovic Jovana | SRB | 2100 | 8 | ||
9 | 9 | WFM | Ciolacu Alessia-Mihaela | ROU | 2095 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | Ge Eva | AUS | 1673 | 44 | |||
10 | 45 | WCM | Arushi Kotwal | IND | 1657 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | Zhang Xiao | CHN | 2053 | 10 |
Under-18 Open
Under-18 open - round 1 results
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | ARM | 2580 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Sydoryka Vladyslav | UKR | 2247 | 38 | ||
2 | 39 | Botta Massimiliano | ITA | 2239 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2567 | 2 | |||
3 | 3 | IM | Gholami Aryan | IRI | 2554 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Sramek Vojtech | CZE | 2221 | 40 | ||
4 | 41 | Panesar Vedant | IND | 2219 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | IM | Gazik Viktor | SVK | 2546 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | GM | Iniyan P | IND | 2509 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Donoso Diaz Sebastian | CHI | 2203 | 42 | ||
6 | 43 | Kizatbay Abyl | NOR | 2160 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | IM | Gumularz Szymon | POL | 2505 | 6 | |||
7 | 7 | IM | Pultinevicius Paulius | LTU | 2503 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Vatsal Singhania | IND | 2157 | 44 | ||
8 | 45 | FM | Zrikem Nassim | MAR | 2125 | 0 | - - + | 0 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | IND | 2483 | 8 | ||
9 | 9 | IM | Rahul Srivatshav P | IND | 2460 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WIM | Harshita Guddanti | IND | 2123 | 46 | ||
10 | 47 | Arjun C Krishnamachari | IND | 2123 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | IM | Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari | IND | 2449 | 10 |
Under-18 girls
Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | WIM | Shuvalova Polina | RUS | 2412 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WFM | Laurincova Kristyna | CZE | 2006 | 33 | ||
2 | 34 | WFM | Hng Mei-En Emmanuelle | SGP | 2002 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | WIM | Munkhzul Turmunkh | MGL | 2332 | 2 | ||
3 | 3 | FM | Schulze Lara | GER | 2327 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | WCM | Jyothsna L | IND | 1995 | 35 | ||
4 | 36 | Zeliantsova Kseniya | BLR | 1994 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WFM | Afonasieva Anna | RUS | 2312 | 4 | |||
5 | 5 | WIM | Sliwicka Alicja | POL | 2307 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | WFM | Sanskriti Goyal | IND | 1980 | 37 | ||
6 | 38 | Pandey Srishti | IND | 1963 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | IND | 2283 | 6 | |||
7 | 7 | WGM | Obolentseva Alexandra | RUS | 2282 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WFM | Sankova Stella | SVK | 1926 | 39 | ||
8 | 40 | Simkunaite Gabija | LTU | 1926 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | WFM | Radeva Viktoria | BUL | 2277 | 8 | |||
9 | 9 | WIM | Muetsch Annmarie | GER | 2266 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Srimathi R | IND | 1914 | 41 | |||
10 | 42 | Onur Cigdem | TUR | 1913 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Yan Tianqi | CHN | 2236 | 10 | ||||
11 | 11 | WFM | Harshini A | IND | 2230 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | Golub Nikolina | CRO | 1899 | 43 |