World Junior 10/11: Goryachkina and Wei Yi lead

Rounds ten and eleven: Goryachkina and Wei Yi reign supreme

By Sagar Shah

Going into the final leg of the tournament, the long distance runners can be easily distinguished from the sprinters. While many started the tournament with enthusiasm and spirited play, it is only a very select few who have been able to maintain their momentum for eleven rounds. Two such amazing individuals are Aleksandra Goryachkina and Wei Yi. With just two rounds left, these two highly talented individuals are all set to win the yellow metal!

It's obvious that such a pressure filled event will lead to exhaustion…

... but the players have to find some way to fight it!

Aleksandra Goryachkina is now on 9.5/11 and has a 1.5 point lead over her nearest rivals. With five wins on a trot, she looks simply unbeatable. She now requires only one point out of the remaining two rounds to retain the title that she won in 2013. If she does manage that, she will be the first girl after Ketino Kachiani to won the World Junior girls title in consecutive years in (Ketino did it in 1989 and 1990).

Aleksandra Goryachkina (2430) looking for her second world junior title.
By the way did we mention that she has just turned sixteen years of age?

Aleksandra Goryachkina’s appetite for victory is just amazing! In the eleventh round, she had an entire one point lead over the field. Yet she played for five and a half hours and beat Zhai Mo in an ending which was pretty unclear.

Eagle eyes will spot Goryachkina fighting it out with Zhai Mo on the far right.
To play for such long hours requires a lot of stamina and will power.

You must also not miss the ten-move miniature in which Goryachkina beat Sarasadat Khademalsharieh with the black pieces in the tenth round:

Srija Seshadri is a player from Tamil Nadu, India. She was the silver medal winner in the Asian Youth under-16 category in 2013. Srija had a slow start to the tournament, losing the first round. She recovered after that, but what she achieved in the last three rounds is commendable. With wins against Maria Brunello (2275), Ioana Gelip (2154) and P.V. Nandhidhaa (2174), she has moved into the joint second spot with Ann Chumpitaz. She has also gained 93 Elo points, and faces WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina on board one of the twefth round. Beating the in-form World Junior Champion will not be easy, but it is the only way to keep her chances alive for a gold.

Ann Chumpitaz (2201) from Peru has played this tournament very consistently and is on joint second place with 8.0/11. With just one loss in the tournament, against the top seed, she has already gained 52 Elo points.

Wei Yi vs Karen Gigoryan on top board in round eleven

Prior to round eleven the two Chinese players Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei were leading the field with 8.0/10. Karen Grigoryan seemed the perfect candidate to the former a tough fight. But it was not to be. Karen chose the Petroff Defence which was already not in sync with his style. He went wrong and lost a pawn and soon the game. It meant that the Chinese was in the lead with 9.0/11.

Things got better for Wei Yi when his compatriot Lu Shanglei drew his game. Wei Yi, thus leads the Open section alone. But Lu Shanglei is on his heels with 8.5/11. He beat the top seed GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2661) in round ten – it was really an unusual tactic which spelled doom for the Russian player.

Here is one more game to learn from:

Matej Blazeka from Croatia has a very curious situation: he came to play the World Junior...

... but has ended up playing in a kind of Indian National Junior Championship!

Supreetha Potluri (1738) is doing something unbelievable: she has
scored 6.5/11 and is gaining a massive 197 Elo points from this event!

R. Praggnanandhaa (1946) started off as the 129th seed in the open section and is
currently gaining a whopping 170 points from the World Junior.

Bart von Meijenfeldt (2354) from Netherlands has the longest (and nicest) hair in the boys section…

... with William Fisher (2313) from USA just one place behind!

It was a great pleasure to meet Dr Andrzej Filipowicz at the tournament venue. He is not only an International Master but also an International Arbiter along with being an honorary member of FIDE. He is the chief arbiter of the Anand-Carlsen match that is to be held in Sochi in November 2014. Not only were his stories captivating and mesmerizing, he also had pearls of wisdom for upcoming players. And when it comes from a man who has played against the likes of Tal, Botvinnik and Smyslov you must heed his words carefully. When asked what is best way to become a world class GM, he replied: "Trying to win all the games in an event at the beginning of one's career!"

Group photo time. From left to right Niranjan Godbole, WGM Swati Ghate, Sagar Shah, Ravindra Dongre, GM Vidit Gujrathi, Prithviraj Chavan, Dilip Pagay, GM Abhijit Kunte, IM and FT Prathamesh Mokal, WGM Soumya Swaminathan. Prithviraj Chavan is a big name in India. He was the 22nd Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra and it was thanks to him that the Government contributed five million Rupees for the organization of this tournament.

Professor R. Anantharaman, a very respected and knowledgeable
person in Indian chess circles, is the chief arbiter of this event.

All India Chess Federation Treasurer Ravindra Dongre with Rakesh Rao who is famous
for having conducted the largest number interviews with Vishwanathan Anand

After the 10th round the lobby of Grand Hyatt witnessed two talented youngsters, GM Vladislav Kovalev and GM Vladimir Fedoseev, take on each other on the giant chess board. The game ended in a draw, but what was wonderful to see was the intensity and concentration with which they were playing this friendly game.

The last two rounds remain to be played at the World Junior 2014. While Goryachkina looks all set to take Gold in the Girls section, things are not so clear in the Open section. Wei Yi has a strong challenge in the form of Vladimir Fedoseev in round 12. It's going to be an exciting end at the 53rd World Junior Chess Championships.

All pictures by Amruta Mokal

Results and standings

Before we could publish this report the twelfth round of the World Junior Championship had been completed. In the following we bring you the results of the top pairings and the tournament standings after twelve rounds. Our next report will come after the final round thirteen.

Top results of Round twelve

• Full results of all 70 round twelve games are available here

Top rankings after Round twelve

• Standings of all 137 players after round twelve

Top results after Round twelve

• Results of all 39 round twelve games

Top rankings after Round twelve

• Standings of all 78 players after round twelve

All the above pictures were taken by Amruta Mokal

Live video commentary on the official site by our reporters Sagar Shah and V. Saravanan

Rounds ten and eleven World Championship video reports by Vijay Kumar

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN; Open + Girls (courtesy TWIC) The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.