Vachier-Lagrave, Soumya win World Junior

World Junior Chess Championships 2009 in Patagonia

One round before the end Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus was in the lead with 10.0/12, half a point ahead of top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. In the thirteenth and final round Zhigalko faced Ivan Popov of Russia with the white pieces, but got only a marginal advantage in a Breyer and had to concede a draw in 38 moves. Meanwhile Vachier-Lagrave had played a novelty on move eight in a Sicilian Kan and soon gained a considerable advantage. But it took the top-ranked French grandmaster 57 determined moves to take in the full point and draw level with Zhigalko. On tiebreak Vachier was higher and took the title of Junior World Champion.

The two winners, Sergei Zhigalko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with Michal Olszewski in third

Open Championship: top rankings after thirteen rounds (final)

• Full results cross table can be viewed here

In the girls' section the final round was, if possible, even more dramatic. To the delight of the Turkish nation their girl, Betül Cemre Yildiz was in the sole lead, ahead of two tough rivals:

In the final round, playing black against Indian WIM Manisha Mohanty Kiran, rated 2153, Betül got nothing out of an Anti-Marshall and took a draw after 24 moves. Next to her WIM Deysi Cori Tello of Peru, sister of the world's youngest GM Jorge Cori and third seed in this event, faced WGM Iozefina Paulet of Romania, rated just 19 points below her, with the black pieces. Deysi played the French and found herself under some pressure. But then the tide turned.

Paulet,I (2342) - Cori T.,D (2361) [C11]
WJun Girls Puerto Madryn ARG (13), 03.11.2009
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.a3 g5 10.fxg5 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Ncxe5 12.Bf4 Bg7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.h4 Bb7 15.h5 Qe7 16.Na2 Rac8

Instead of plausible moves like 17.h6 or 17.Re1 White plays the dubious 17.g4? and is immediately on the defensive. 17...Nc5 18.Qh2? and after 18...Nxg4 the Romanian girl is essentially lost. 19.Qg3 Bxd4 20.Rxd4 e5 21.Kb1 exd4 22.Qxg4 d3 23.Bxd3 Nxd3 24.cxd3 Qe6 25.Qg3 Qf5 26.Be5 Rfe8 27.Bd4 Re4 28.Bf6 Rg4 29.Qd6 Qxd3+ 30.Ka1 Qe3 31.Rb1 d4 32.Nb4 Qe6 33.Qxe6 fxe6 34.Rd1 a5 35.Nd3 Bd5 36.Ne5 Rg2 37.Nd3 Bb3 38.Re1 Rd2 39.Nf4 e5 40.g6 exf4 41.gxh7+ Kxh7 42.Re7+ Kh6 0-1. With this Cori, who had beaten the then leading Swaminathan Soumya in round twelve, had caught Yildiz.

A decisive penultimate round game: WIM Deysi Cori Tello of Peru defeats Indian
WGM Swaminathan Soumya of India opens the way for a three-way fight for first

On the other critical board Soumya now faced the other Turkish hopeful, Kübra Öztürk, who was in place ten. The Indian WGM put her 18-year-old opponent under pressure in a Anti-Marshall, and that resulted in a fatal blunder.

Soumya,Sw (2297) - Ozturk,Ku (2176) [C88]
WJun Girls Puerto Madryn ARG (13), 03.11.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.d3 Be7 8.a4 0-0 9.Re1 d6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nf1 h6 13.Ne3 Re8 14.Bd2 Nc6 15.c3 Bf8 16.axb5 axb5 17.Qb3 Qd7 18.Qxb5 Ba6?

Black's last move gives Swaminathan the chance to pick up a second pawn with a decisive attack: 19.Bxf7+ Qxf7 20.Rxa6 Rxa6 21.Qxa6 and the game is over – White wins it on the queenside. 21...Qc7 22.b4 Kh7 23.b5 Nb8 24.Qa4 Nbd7 25.Ra1 Rb8 26.c4 Nb6 27.Ba5 Ra8 28.Qd1 Ra7 29.Ra4 Be7 30.Nf5 Bf8 31.Bxb6 Qxb6 32.Qa1 Rf7 33.Ra8 Nh5 34.Qa6 Qc7 35.b6 Qd7 36.Ra7 1-0.

With this result Swaminathan Soumya had joined the other two on the top of the table, with 9.5/13 points but with the best tiebreak. Thus the Indian player took the title.

Three-way tie for first: Deysi Cori Tello, Swaminathan Soumya and Betul Cemre Yildiz

Girls' Championship: top rankings after thirteen rounds (final)

• Full results cross table can be viewed here

How Betül missed a $33,000 prize

Betül Cemre Yildiz is a Women International Master and has won the Turkish Women's Championship (for adults) a total of six times already. She was invited to the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nanjing last month, where she fared disastrously.

Top Turkish female in chess, Betül Cemre Yildiz, in Argentina

The Junior World Championship in Argentina was a completely different matter. Betül went into the final round looking poised to take Gold. But in the end she only tied for first and came in third on tiebreak points. Had she won clear first she would have got a WGM title directly and been eligible for a special jackpot prize of the Turkish Chess Federation. As we reported in February this year, the basic prize was 10,000 Turkish Lira for any Turkish player becoming a grandmaster or woman grandmaster (GM or WGM). An additional bonus of 20,000 TL would be paid to the first player to get one of these titles, and a further bonus of 20,000 TL for the first player to do so under the age of 20. According to our calculations this adds up to:

1. WGM title – 10,000 TL
2. First WGM – 20,000 TL
3. First WGM under 20 – 20,000 TL
   Total: 50,000 TL = 22,624 Euro or US $33,000

Pity, Betül, who is a charming, intelligent and widely educated young lady, missed this by a couple of tiebreak points – and by a tiny little qualification in the title rules. We checked with FIDE: it appears she and Deysi Cori Tello, with their Silver and Bronze medals, are only eligible for the WIM title, which they both already have. Each gets one nine-game WGM norm. The Gold medal winner, Swaminathan Soumya, on the other hand does in fact qualify for a full WGM title – which she, however, already has. She gets one nine-game IM norm. Such is life.

All pictures by Åse Østebø

Video impressions of the World Junior in Puerto Madryn

Links Official tournament site All available games from the open section All available games from the girls' section To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.