Yuriy Kuzubov, 14, Grandmaster
Yuriy Kuzubov, the young Ukraine chess
prodigy we introduced to our readers in a recent
article, completed his third and final GM norm at the Category 9 tournament
that was held in Alushta, Ukraine.
The town of Alušta lies on the Crimean peninsula on the north of the
Black Sea, which is part of the modern Ukraine. It is a seaside resort, popular
with the Russian and Ukrainian middle-class. There are many sanatoriums in
Alushta, each one with its own piece of beach. There is a long-long promenade
along the sea shore and it is covered by many cafes, restaurants, souvenir
shops.
The tournament was held in the private boarding
house “Kaissa”, which is located on the South Crimean shore,
just 12 minutes walk from the sea, with accommodation for 45 persons. There
are toilet facilities, constant cold and hot water supply, TV sets, refrigerators
(air-conditioners in the deluxe rooms), satellite TV, big billiards, table
tennis, a sauna and a library.
The boarding house is also a chess center. We constantly held international
level chess tournaments with the participation of leading International Masters
and Grandmasters. "If you want to play professional chess, fulfill the
norm of the International Master or International Grandmaster we invite you
to take a part in our tournaments," the owners write.
Final standings
Note that there are errors in the table: the rating of the winner, Paragua,
is 2529, not 2430. The errors will be corrected by the organisers in the official
home page.
Yuriy Kuzubov completed his final norm at the age of and at 14 years, 7 months,
12 days, making him the second youngest grandmaster in the world today. Magnus
Carlsen is over ten months younger, while Yuriy's club mate Sergey Karjakin
is two weeks older. Karjakin holds the record for becoming the youngest GM
in history, having made his final norm at the age of 12 years, 7 months, 0
days.
The three youngest GMs in the world
To celebrate the new grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov here's one more portrait