2013 World Junior: Yangyi and Goryachkina are gold

In May 22 earlier this year the Turkish Chess Federation announced that the World Junior Chess Championship for boys and girls would be held in the city of Hatay, Turkey. Many chess players and federations were unhappy with this decision, as Hatay is a mere 20 kilometers away from the Syrian border – a stone's throw away from Aleppo. With accusations of the Syrian government engaging in chemical warfare, and the threat of US missile strikes, the TCF decided to change the venue of the tournament to Kocaeli, which is as far away from Syria as you can get in Turkey.

Video impressions

Vijay Kumar has been providing daily videos of the playing hall and surroundings

Impressions by Vijay Kumar from the twelfth round

The final video of the last round and closing ceremony

Open section

Sometimes great is not enough. These are the only words of consolation one can offer 2012 World Junior Champion, Alexander Ipatov, who came hoping to not only become the only player to defend the title but to tie Mamedyarov’s record two. He did everything right too, scoring a great 10.5/13 with a 2766 performance, a score that equaled Garry Kasparov who clobbered the field in his day, and Mamedyarov, who also won a round in advance when he too finished with 10.5/13.

By all standards Ipatov had a great tournament, but it was not enough

The only problem is that history was in the making, and a young Chinese player was out to turn ‘great’ into second best.  Yu Yangyi came in as the clear favorite with a 2662, but that is just a statistic, a probability, and ratings don’t win games. Having a strong start was expected and Ipatov was up to the challenge. After ten rounds, they both shared a commanding one point lead with 8.5/10, but the Chinese player won both his next games, while the Turkish grandmaster conceded two draws. By all measures, Ipatov’s 10.5/13 score was nothing short of great, but Yangyi’s 11.0/13 and 2813 performance were simply sublime, and as far as this author knows, it is the most dominant win in the last 40 years.

Yu Yangyi's 11.0/13 result was one of the most dominant ever

At 9.5/13 were both Vidit Gujrathi from India and former Peruvian prodigy Jorge Cori, with the Indian taking bronze by virtue of tiebreak.

Vidit Gujrathi from India took bronze

The object of all the fuss

A jubilant Yu Yangyi hoists his trophy

Garry Kasparov gives Alexander Ipatov his reward

Vidit Gujrathi poses with his

Final standings of the Open group

The team of arbiters who helped keep a smooth event

Girls

The final and decisive round

The Girl’s section was no less fascinating, and after the two thirds point, it was anyone’s guess who was going to take it. Romanian WGM Irina Bulmaga took the early lead with 6.0/7, but was trailed by several players, and nothing was decided. By round eleven, she had managed to keep her lead with 8.0/10, followed by 2011 champion, Peruvian Deysi Cori, and Russian wunderkind Aleksandra Goryachkina, both on 7.5/10, but it proved to be a turning point.

After leading until the end, two losses knocked Irina Bulmaga off the podium

Bulmaga lost with white to Indian WGM Padmini Rout, while Cori lost to Goryachkina, giving the Russian the sole lead for the first time. The leaderboard saw a new name fighting at the top: 13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik, who had won her game, and because of the heads rolling in that round, saw herself now tied for second, a half point behind the leader.

A strong finish allowed Aleksandra Goryachkina to steal the lead and keep it until the end

In round twelve, Goryachkina kept her foot on the accelerator, as she defeated Arabidze in a tense game fraught with errors by both sides. Young Abdumalik was black against Cori Deysi, the second seed of the tournament (by a single Elo point), who outranked her by 160 Elo. She managed to get a slight upperhand when the Peruvian had a moment of blindness and blundered a piece. Bulmaga also lost her second straight game, and as a result was out of the medal contention. When the dust had settled, Alexandra Goryachkina was gold with 10.5/13, Zhansaya Abdumalik was silver with 9.5/13, and Alina Kashlinskaya, the top-seed, took bronze with 9.0/13.

13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik was the surprise clear second

Irina Kashlinskaya squeaked her way into the medals at the very last minute

The girls receive their rewards

A group shot of the winners and officials

Photos by Zeynep Yetisgin and Fatma Koc Ozturk

Final standings of the Girl's section

Statistics and norms

Perusing the lists of results and stats is always interesting, if only to see the biggest winners and biggest losers. In the quest for titles and norms, China saw three of its untitled players leave with IM norms. The only grandmaster norm was scored by Polish IM Duda, but it was more a formality as he is due to receive the title this coming FIDE congress next week.

The lists of ratings won or lost were quite the cold shower, and if Radjabov was in need of solace, he need look no further. At the lower end of the spectrum, several of the male players saw 60, 70 and even more than 80 Elo lost in this event. Canadian IM Richard Wang dropped 58 Elo, Danish FM Ochsner lost 70, but the train-wreck of the Open section was a luckless Indian player who lost 87 Elo. Still, the nuclear Elo disaster of the competition went to an unfortunate young lady in the Girl’s section. You had better sit down first. She lost an unbelievable 142 Elo. FIDE may be sued for 'cruel and unusual punishment' in the next ratings list.

Of course, there is an upside to this: the biggest Elo winners. For example, among the boys, Zhokar Zhanbai Uulu won a colossal 126 Elo. There were others such as untitled Chinese player Yiye Wang, rated 2258, who scored an IM norm with his 2514 performance, garnering 68 Elo as well. In case you wonder, Yu Yangyi and Alexander Ipatov both earned 21 and 26 Elo respectively, whereas in the Girl's section, silver medalist Abdumalik was one of the biggest winners with 34 Elo. Still, the champion was also one of the youngest participants, the cute-as-a-button nine-year-old WFM Bibissara Assaubayeva, who added 54 Elo to her tally.

Nine-year-old WFM Bibissara Assaubayeva won 54 Elo

Links

• Official tournament website
• Open standings + games
• Girls standings + games

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