The special tournament, entitled "Young Stars of the World", is
taking place in Kirishi, in the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) region of Russia.
It runs from May 13 to 26, and is reserved for the most promising young talents
of the region.
Currently the tournament has reached round seven and has the top seed Sergey
Karjakin in the lead.
Young Stars of the World
By Misha Savinov
Is Russia still the greatest chess power in the world? According to the average
rating of the country's top players, its superiority is apparent. However,
the Chess Olympiad 2004 has raised doubts whether it will last for long. The
average age of the victorious Ukrainian team is impressively lower than that
of the Russian team. Most of the experts agree that there are no young players
of Karjakin's and Volokitin's calibre in Russia. Juniors from Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Poland and some other countries surpass the Russians in the world and European
championships more and more often. However, losing the leading position in
chess is something that is not going to be accepted light-heartedly in this
country.
Zhigalko, Sjugirov, Andreikin, Alekseev at the Young Stars opening ceremony
One of the beginner's manuals states that a chess student is better off when
scoring about 40% against a stronger opposition compared to having a nearly-perfect
score against a weaker line-up. This is quite reasonable, as chess players
improve faster when facing strong opposition on a regular basis. Still, the
task of actually finding a strong tournament for a youngster is often more
than challenging. Basically, the market offers just open tournaments, usually
not very suitable for making a serious progress.
Young stars Linchevsky, Khairullin, Kuzubov, Negi
A generation of now 20-year-old Russian players had very little chance to
break into the denser layers of a chess atmosphere. Who needs more young Russians
in invitation tournaments, when there is a wide choice of established grandmasters
with higher ratings (usefully contributing to a higher tournament category)?
Artyom Timofeev from Kazan made a great breakthrough by narrowly qualifying
for the Russian championship 2004, getting an opportunity to face Kasparov,
Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Dreev and other country's top players. This
wasn't left unnoticed, and now he is invited to Sarajevo 2005. However, the
Russian national team trainer Sergey Dolmatov said in an interview that although
Artyom will certainly get into the team someday, the time to develop into a
player of Kramnik's calibre has run out.
The team of arbiters for the tournament
All eyes are now at younger boys. The chess federation has launched a project
of gathering the most talented juniors for training sessions of the recently
founded Bareev Chess School. The national under-20 championship this year was
a strong round-robin event (1. Timofeev, 2. Alekseev...). However, there is
also another round-robin for younger players, founded three years ago in a
town Kirishi, Leningrad Region. It is the "Young Stars of the World 2005,
Vanja Somov Memorial". Funded by "KINEF" (a local oil company)
and managed by honored trainer of Russia Gennady Nesis, this event is very
likely the strongest teenagers' tournament in the world. Its status
is very high – it is sufficient to say that the Leningrad Region Governor
Valery Serdyukov is a Chairman of the Organizing Committee.
This year the organizers gathered the strongest line-up in a tournament's
history. The brightest star competing is Sergey Karjakin, who arrived in Kirishi
directly from Greece, where he had training sessions with Mr. Nigel D. Short.
Sergey Karjakin, still a little stunned from the car accident?
There was an idea to invite Magnus Carlsen, but after some thought the Norwegian
decided to pass on it. So he was replaced by Evgeny Alekseev, the most experienced
player of the event, who recently shone in Dagomys, taking the 2nd place on
Board 1 in the Russian team championship (surpassed only by Svidler, ahead
of Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Grischuk, Gelfand, Malakhov, Volokitin, etc.). The
participation of Karjakin, Alekseev and the Internet blitz idol Rauf Mamedov
created an opportunity for GM and IM norms – which seems a unique feat
to me, considering the age of the players!
Probably each of the IMs participating has grounds to claim a GM norm. Another
Ukrainian Yury Kuzubov, Sergey Zhigalko from Belarus and Luca Lenic from Slovenia
are somewhat more experienced than their Russian colleagues Ian Nepomniachtchi,
Dmitry Andreikin and Ildar Khairullin, so this tournament is a challenge for
the promising Russians. The rating outsider is the Leningrad Region champion
in his age group Daniil Linchevsky, who was born in 1990 as well, but did not
have much international success yet. There are also two 12-year-old boys who
will fight for an IM norm: Sanan Sjugirov from Kalmykia and Parimarjan Negi
from India.
The tournament is organized at a very high level. Arbiters, players and trainers
(or parents) are accommodated in a four-star hotel "Yunost" ("youth").
The playing venue is a modern "Palace of Culture KINEF", located
just across the road from the hotel.
All players except Rauf Mamedov arrived on May, 13th to see the opening ceremony,
which was attended by important political persons and attracted a lot of spectators.
Local actors performed an Eastern fairy tale with exotic dancers, illusionists
and special effects, concluded by players' presentation and fireworks. For
someone more accustomed to rather formal opening ceremonies it was quite impressive.
The participants were very attentive as well.
The Atrium, where the Alekseev simultaneous exhibition was held
After the performance people moved to a beautiful atrium, where Evgeny Alekseev
gave a simul to boys and girls from local chess club.
Andreikin, Nepomniachtchi and Sjugirov enjoying Alekseev's simul
His future rivals in the tournament decided to take a look at his openings
(see below). Alekseev allowed only four draws, winning the rest of the games.
We were informed that at least two of those draws were more a charity than
anything else, including one with the youngest of the simul participants, to
ensure that the festive atmosphere would not be spoiled.
Navy cadets and supervisors waiting for Sakaev's simul
Konstantin Sakaev arrived to give another simul to the strongest local players
and cadets of St. Petersburg navy colleges. Next day Konstantin returned home
to take part in a traditional match against Moscow on 40 boards, so this was
a good warm up for him.
It turned out that the organizers made only one blunder that day – they
did not notice that Slovenian IM Luka Lenic celebrated his 17th birthday. So,
the next day they tried to make amends by presenting him with a TV set. Luka
looked flattered, and it is possible that a generous gift also affected his
opening play. His position against Sergey Karjakin seemed dangerous already
around the move 10...
By the way, Karjakin told me that only at the opening ceremony he found out
that he is going to play 11 rounds, not 9! Sergey is obviously tired, not having
visited home for more than two months, because of constant playing and travelling.
There was also a car accident on a way back to the airport in Greece –
Nigel's car was severely damaged, but luckily no one got hurt. Karjakin arrived
to Kirishi with his father, a well-disposed and cheerful man, whose optimism
and energy noticeably inspire Sergey. However, in the game against Lenic the
Ukrainian grandmaster did not look like himself, missing the most energetic
continuations and allowing the opponent to escape from a suspicious position.
The evening 'tie-break' at the pool table brought the Slovenian a convincing
victory.
Young stars at play – but not chess!
Lenic and another Ukrainian, Kuzubov, seem to me the best billiard players
in this tournament. Kuzubov apparently plays a lot at home with his father
(who is even better specialist) and looks very confident with a cue, while
Lenic's attitude to this game could be illustrated by the fact that even when
other players have left the hall circa 12:00 AM, he stayed there to practice
alone.
Andrey Zhigalko to move...
Sergey Karjakin on the attack
A non-playing program for the participants of the 'World's Youth Stars' is
not exhausted by playing pool. Every morning at 10am they can visit sports
facilities to play football, basketball or tennis, to swim in a professional
swimming pool (one of the best in Europe, by the way – Kirishi’s
water polo team is the champion of Russia) or to do weight training. There
is also a sauna on every evening, a couple of hours after supper. Saturday
this week will be a day off, and the players have a choice of excursions to
either St. Petersburg or Novgorod (which is a little bit closer to Kirishi)...
However, let's return to the playing hall. The organizers made a wise choice
of moving the play from the stage of a huge main hall to a cosier auditorium
at the first floor. There are demonstration boards, and young demonstrators
from local chess school constantly shift between the boards and a press centre,
brining the moves to six Staunton sets there. Electronic boards are not used,
and as a consequence there is no Internet relay – perhaps the only flaw
of this tournament judging by modern standards.
Round One:
Karjakin - Lenic 1/2
Alekseev - Khairullin 1/2
Sjugirov - Andreikin 1-0
Linchevsky - Negi 1/2
Nepomniachtchi - Zhigalko 0-1
Kuzubov - Mamedov 1-0
One could call a win of 12-year-old Sjugirov over the already very experienced
Andreikin a sensation. In 2004 Andreikin participated in the Higher League
of Russian championship in St. Petersburg, and deserved Ratmir Kholmov's nickname
'Central defender' for not losing a single game against such an impressive
opposition as Dolmatov, Gleizerov, Alekseev, Landa, Shaposhnikov, Najer, Tregubov
and Sakaev! However, recently Dmitry seems to have lost his form, and in the
game against Sjugirov he blundered away a fairly good position. Yury Kuzubov
made a good start, beating a grandmaster in a complicated struggle. Ian Nepomniachtchi
(pronounces "Ne-pom-nya-schij") has to blame his memory for the poorly
handled opening variation – even a stubborn four-hour defence (the organizers
decided in favor of FIDE time control) did not save the game. Linchevsky-Negi
was a sharp Sicilian (possibly a fight of preparations, GM Valery Popov vs.
GM Evgeny Vladimirov), where White sacrificed a lot of material and gave a
perpetual check. Less spectacular but very tense was a draw between Alekseev
and Khairullin. In the end Alekseev had a more pleasant endgame, but a mutual
time trouble typical for FIDE control inclined him to starting peaceful negotiations.
Round Two results:
Alekseev - Linchevsky 1/2
Negi - Karjakin 0-1
Mamedov - Sjugirov 1-0
Khairullin - Zhigalko 1-0
Lenic - Kuzubov 0-1
Andreikin - Nepomniachtchi 0-1
A great surprise was a draw between Alekseev and Linchevsky. The candidate
master was not inferior to the grandmaster in any stage of that encounter –
a fair draw! It is possible that Evgeny suffers from lack of motivation –
it is not so easy to play 'kids' after the tough struggles with Morozevich
and other greats. Evgeny is supported at the event by Nikolay Negra, a grandmaster
in... checkers! I am very curious to see how such a tandem works out.
Generally, there were no other surprises that day. Yury Kuzubov won a second
game in a row and occupied the top spot. Ian Nepomniachtchi rehabilitated for
his 1st round loss, defeating Andreikin, who was a tough opponent for him before
(-2 =4). Khairullin sacrificed a pawn for initiative, and converted it into
a full point with energetic play. GM Denis Yevseev, who helps Khairullin in
this tournament, was quite happy with the play of his protégé.
Grandmasters Karjakin and Mamedov registered not unexpected wins against the
youngest participants.
Generally, there were no other surprises that day. Yury Kuzubov won a second
game in a row and occupied the top spot. Ian Nepomniachtchi rehabilitated for
his 1st round loss, defeating Andreikin, who was a tough opponent for him before
(-2 =4). Khairullin sacrificed a pawn for initiative, and converted it into
a full point with energetic play. GM Denis Yevseev, who helps Khairullin in
this tournament, was quite happy with the play of his protégé.
Grandmasters Karjakin and Mamedov registered not unexpected wins against the
youngest participants.
Round Three results:
Karjakin – Alekseev 0-1
Kuzubov – Negi 1/2
Linchevsky – Khairullin 1/2
Lenic – Sjugirov 0-1
Zhigalko – Andreikin 1-0
Nepomniachtchi – Mamedov 1/2
A game between two rating favourites ended in Alekseev's favour. After a principled
opening variation, a very sharp line of the Najdorf, Alekseev took the initiative
and outplayed his dangerous opponent. The leader Kuzubov did not get any advantage
against Negi, and had to agree to a draw. Linchevsky underestimated his position
when accepting a timely draw offer made by Khairullin – White had all
reasons to play for a win. Lenic created a serious pressure on his opponent's
position, but overreacted at some point, and allowed Sjugirov to turn the tables.
Zhigalko did not give a chance Andreikin, who played extremely passively as
Black. Andreikin lost a third game in a row. Finally, Nepomniachtchi developed
a dangerous initiative at the cost of a pawn against Mamedov, but the Azerbaijani
grandmaster managed to hold with resourceful defence.
Pictures from the opening ceremony
