The World Junior Championships took place in Athens 2nd-16th August 2012. The
top players were Ding Liren (2695), Yu Yangyi (2635), Yaroslav Zherebukh (2629),
Richard Rapport (2605), Aleksandr Shimanov (2596) and Alexander Ipatov (2577),
all with full GM titles. In the Girls section the top seeds were IM Anastasia
Bodnaruk (2414), WGM Deysi Cori (2413) and WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (2391).
World Junior Championship: GM Alex Ipatov is the winner!
Report by GM Efstratios Grivas
Alexander Ipatov (above left), representing Turkey, won the FIDE World Junior
Championship U.20 in Athens, Greece. Ipatov collected 10/13 to claim first place.
Second place was gained by GM Richard Rapport (above right, Hungary) who scored
the same points but had worse tiebreak. Third place went to Ding Liren (China)
with 9½/13. According to regulations Ipatov also qualifies for the World
Cup 2013, part of the World Championship Cycle 2012-2014.
Final top standings after thirteen rounds
In second place by tiebreak: Hungarian GM and prodigy Richard Rapport
Third place for top seed GM Ding Liren of China
The Girls' Section was won on tiebreak points by Chinese WGM Guo Qi
Alexander Ipatov’s name is now next to a famous long list of World Junior
Champions including Viswanathan Anand, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Alexander
Beliavsky, Garry Kasparov, Kiril Georgiev, Maxim Dlugy, Vladimir Akopian, Emil
Sutovsky, Lazaro Bruzon, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Pentala Harikrishna,
Zaven Andriasian, Ahmed Adly, Abhijeet Gupta, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry
Andreikin, Dariusz Swiercz, etc.
Alexander Ipatov was born in Ukraine on July 16th 1993. He was two times Vice-Champion
of the Ukraine among boys under ten years (2003), under 14 (2007), under 16
and 20 (2008, he was just 14 at the time!). He is a Master of Sports (Ukraine)
and a participant of two world championships under ten years (2003, 11th place),
under 14 years (2007, 8th place). His first major feat was the second place
at the international chess tournament Le Mans (France, 2008). While commenting
the World Chess Championship live in Sofia he won the strong Sofia Blitz Championship
and from there his success followed one after the other. A few months later
IM Ipatov won a medal and GM norm at Cappelle La Grande and the same year came
his final GM norm in Nakhchivan with equal points as Vallejo, Sokolov, and Almasi.
Early in 2012 Ipatov was attracted by the Turkish Chess Federation and the
same year he brings the first gold from World Junior Championships to the country.
His next event is the important World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, where he will
be on the top boards of the team.
I think that Alex was in trouble in only one of his games at the World Junior:
[Event "FIDE-WC U.20"] [Site "Athens"] [Date "2012.08.11"] [Round "9.2"] [White
"Ipatov, Alexander"] [Black "Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO
"D45"] [WhiteElo "2577"] [BlackElo "2567"] [Annotator "Efstratios Grivas"] [PlyCount
"158"] [EventDate "2012.08.02"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "GRE"] 1. d4
d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2 b6 9.
O-O Bb7 10. Rd1 Qe7 11. e4 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qxe4 Nf6 14. Qh4 c5 15. Bf4
Rad8 16. Be5 cxd4 17. Rxd4 Bxe5 18. Nxe5 Qc5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Ng4 Rd2 21. Rd1
Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 Nxg4 23. Bxg4 Qd4 24. h3 g6 25. Qg3 e5 26. Qe3 Qxe3 27. fxe3
h5 28. Bf3 e4 29. Be2 h4 30. g3 g5 31. Bg4 Kg7 32. Kf2 Kf6 33. gxh4 gxh4 34.
Ke2 Bc6 35. b4 Ke5 36. Bc8 f5 37. Kd2 Be8 {White's chosen opening wasn't a success,
as Black's novelty (15...Rad8) solved all his opening problems. After some further
White innacuracies Black is about to cash the point...} 38. c5 ({ An active
try, as after} 38. a3 f4 39. exf4+ (39. Ke2 f3+ 40. Kf2 Bf7 $19) 39... Kxf4
{, White can barely escape...}) 38... Bb5 (38... bxc5 39. bxc5 Bb5) 39. Ke1
(39. cxb6 axb6 40. Ke1 f4 41. exf4+ Kxf4 42. Be6 Ke5 43. Bb3 Bd7 44. a4 Bxh3
45. a5 bxa5 46. bxa5 Bc8 {should win for Black as well.}) 39... bxc5 40. bxc5
Bc6 $1 {That's the point! Black stops the white c-pawn and plans to attack it
with his king after the coming ...f4.} 41. Kd2 f4 42. exf4+ (42. Ke2 f3+ 43.
Kf2 Kd5 44. Bf5 Kxc5 $19 {.}) 42... Kxf4 43. Bg4 e3+ 44. Ke2 Bb5+ 45. Ke1 Ke4
{It seems that there is nothing left to play for White. But Alex is a creative
player, so he tries to pose the maximum problems to his opponent.} 46. Be2 Bd7
47. Ba6 $1 Kd4 48. Ke2 Be8 $6 ({The text still wins, but it was easier to go
for} 48... Bxh3 49. c6 Bg4+ 50. Kf1 (50. Ke1 h3 51. Bf1 Kc5 $19) 50... Kc3 $1
51. Be2 Be6 52. c7 Kd2 53. Ba6 Bh3+ $19 {.}) 49. Kf3 $1 {Passivity leads to
nowhere!} Bh5+ 50. Kf4 e2 51. Bxe2 Bxe2 52. c6 Bb5 53. c7 Bd7 54. Kg5 Bxh3 55.
Kxh4 Bc8 56. Kg3 Kc3 {Black wins, as he can take White's last pawn without allowing
the white king to settle for his queen corner - keep in mind that the black
bishop is of opposite colour corner of its pawn on the a-file.} 57. Kf3 Kb4
58. Ke4 Ka3 59. Kd4 Kxa2 60. Kc4 {And here is the critical position.} Kb2 $2
(60... Ka3 $1 {is the only winning move:} 61. Kb5 Kb3 62. Ka5 a6 63. Kb6 Kb4
{and the black pawn promotes.}) 61. Kb4 $1 {But now it's a draw, as the white
king has two safe squares on a4 and b4, and he cannot be allowed to surrender
critical squares to his counterpart.} Bb7 62. Ka4 Ka2 63. Kb4 Bc8 64. Ka4 Ba6
65. Ka5 Bb7 66. Kb4 a6 67. Ka4 Bc8 68. Kb4 Ka1 69. Ka4 Kb1 70. Kb4 Kb2 71. Ka4
Kc3 72. Ka3 $1 ({And the white king settls for the safety of his queen corner.
Losing was} 72. Ka5 $2 Kb3 73. Kb6 Kb4 $19 {.}) 72... Be6 73. c8=Q+ Bxc8 74.
Ka2 Be6+ 75. Ka1 a5 76. Kb1 a4 77. Ka1 a3 78. Kb1 Kb3 79. Ka1 Bf5 1/2-1/2
After this game I told him that he is destined to win the tournament. There
is nothing like playing 13 consecutive games without an error, so if he could
escape his weak moment there was nothing to fear from now on! The next game
was of a highly sporting importance:
[Event "FIDE-WC U.20"] [Site "Athens"] [Date "2012.08.07"] [Round "6.2"] [White
"Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Ipatov, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo
"2562"] [BlackElo "2577"] [Annotator "Efstratios Grivas"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate
"2012.08.02"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "GRE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nf3 Nc6 {As Grandelius seemed to have no experience in this line, the 'Two Knights
Tango', we decided in the morning preparation to give it a try. Of course it
was a dangerous decision, as Alex was playing this system for the first time
in his life. But he quickly absorbed all the critical lines and plans that I
was able to explain to him. I was lucky enough to have played this system with
the white pieces, so I knew all the details and the complexities that a position
like this offer. After some further study alone, he was ready to go for it!}
4. a3 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O a6 9. d5 Na5 $1 ({This novelty
seemed better than} 9... Ne7 10. e4 b5 11. e5 dxe5 12. Nxe5 Rb8 13. dxe6 Bxe6
14. Qe2 c6 {1/2-1/2 Carstensen,J-Aagaard,J Helsingor 2012.}) 10. Nd2 Rb8 11.
b4 {White is more or less obliged to go for the gold!} Nxc4 12. Nxc4 Nxd5 13.
Nxd5 Bxa1 14. Bh6 Bg7 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qd4+ f6 17. Nc3 {After some forced move
an interesting position is on the cards. White has gained two pieces for a rook
and two pawns. The position is balanced, offering chances to both sides.} d5
$1 18. Na5 $6 (18. Nb2 a5 19. Nd3 $13 {was a must.}) 18... c5 $1 {Black must
activate his central pawns and rooks, otherwise the pieces will prevail.} 19.
Qf4 (19. Qxc5 $2 b6 {.}) 19... Bd7 20. Rd1 $6 (20. Nb3 cxb4 21. axb4 Rc8 $15
{.}) 20... b6 21. Nb3 c4 22. Nd2 (22. Nd4 $5 e5 23. Qe3 exd4 24. Rxd4 $17 {.})
22... e5 23. Qf3 d4 {Suddenly the black passed pawns are rolling and nothing
can stop them!} 24. Nd5 Rc8 25. e4 c3 26. Nf1 Bb5 27. h4 f5 $1 28. Rc1 Bc4 29.
h5 b5 (29... fxe4 30. Qxe4 Qxd5 31. Qxd5 Bxd5 32. Bxd5 d3 33. Be4 Rfd8 $19 {was
good enough.}) 30. hxg6 hxg6 31. g4 Qg5 32. Qg3 Rfe8 ({Here Alex was a bit stoned,
as he had missed the text move. Easier was} 32... fxg4 {.}) 33. gxf5 Qxg3 34.
f6+ Kf8 35. fxg3 (35. Nxg3 Bxd5 36. exd5 d3 37. Bf3 Rc4 $19 {.}) 35... Bxd5
36. exd5 e4 37. d6 (37. Bh3 Kf7 $1 38. Bxc8 Rxc8 39. d6 Kxf6 40. d7 Rd8 41.
Kf2 Rxd7 $19 {.}) 37... Rcd8 38. g4 e3 39. g5 e2 40. Kf2 d3 $1 {The black pawns
are unstoppable!} 41. Ne3 Rxe3 42. Rh1 e1=Q+ 0-1
The last round was a nervous affair. It seemed that a draw would be enough
for Alex to catch the gold, so my main task was to 'convince' him to play for
a win rather for a draw! And this is the right policy; there are many cases
of failed players who played just for the draw… History and experience once
more was on our side…
[Event "FIDE-WC U.20"] [Site "Athens"] [Date "2012.08.15"] [Round "13.2"] [White
"Ipatov, Alexander"] [Black "Shimanov, Alexandr"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2577"] [BlackElo "2596"] [Annotator "Efstratios Grivas"] [PlyCount
"71"] [EventDate "2012.08.02"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "GRE"] 1. d4
Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. Nf3 Qa5+ 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxc6
bxc6 9. O-O O-O 10. a3 Qc7 11. Qc2 d6 12. Rb1 Bg4 13. h3 Bd7 14. b4 h5 15. Bb2
e5 16. Rfd1 Rad8 17. Qc3 h4 18. g4 Nh7 19. Ne4 f5 20. Nxd6 fxg4 21. c5 Ng5 22.
Qe3 Ne6 23. Bxe5 gxh3 24. Bxh3 Bxe5 25. Bxe6+ Bxe6 26. Qxe5 Bd5 27. Rxd5 cxd5
28. Qxd5+ Kg7 29. Qe5+ Kg8 30. Qd5+ Kg7 31. Qd4+ Kg8 32. Qxh4 Qg7 33. Qc4+ Kh8
34. Rb3 Qh6 35. Rg3 Kh7 36. Qe4 (36. Qe4 {Here Alex looked at the game next
to him (Ding Liren-Rapport) and he observed that a dead draw was on the cards.
So, knowing that he is the champ, he offered a draw but obviously he is completely
winning:} Qh5 37. Qe7+ Kg8 38. c6 {. Who can blame him?}) 1/2-1/2
Epilogue: That was an interesting story after all! A Turkish representative,
guiding by a Greek trainer, triumphed in the heart of Athens, just along the
Acropolis. Well, it seems that we truly live in a global world! Once more, congrats
Alex!
The proud trainer and his successful student, with trophy, at the closing
ceremony
Picture gallery
