Jeffery Xiong leads World Junior U20 Chess Championships

by Johannes Fischer
8/18/2016 – The World Junior Chess Championships U20 take place from 7th to 22nd August in Bhubaneswan, India. In a 13-round Swiss some of the world's most promising juniors play for the prestigious title of World Junior Champion. After nine rounds 15-year old US Grandmaster Jeffery Xiong has good chances to secure the title. After a wild attacking win in round 8 and a quiet positional victory in round 9 Xiong now has 7.5/9 and is sole leader with four rounds to go.

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The 15-year old Jeffery Xiong (born 30th October 2000) is one of the greatest talents in the US - and in the world. Which he shows again at the World Junior Chess Championships. With four rounds to go he leads the field with 7.5/9 and has good chances to add another prestigious title to his already long list of impressive wins. With a current rating of 2633 Xiong is number 139 in the world, number 9 in the US and number 6 at the Juniors, but in Bhubaneswar he started as second seed behind Vladislav Artemiev from Russia who has a rating of 2665.

In round eight Xiong scored a crucial win against Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram (born 9th November 1999), another great talent. In a wild game both players tried to mate the enemy king at all costs but it was Xiong who handled the complications a bit better and won.

Jeffery Xiong (left) against Aravindh Chithambaram

 

In round nine Xiong showed his stylistic versatility by exploiting two small inaccuracies of his opponent to turn a seemingly harmless and quiet position into a better endgame which he won with good and solid technique. With this win Xiong defended his position as sole leader and has a current rating-performance of 2741.

 

Standings after 9 rounds

Rk.   Name FED RtgI Pts.  TB1   TB2  Rp
1 GM Xiong Jeffery USA 2633 7,5 0,0 46,0 2741
2 IM Nasuta Grzegorz POL 2442 7,0 0,0 42,5 2593
3   Xu Yinglun CHN 2516 6,5 0,0 46,0 2616
4 GM Artemiev Vladislav RUS 2665 6,5 0,0 44,0 2614
5   Ivekovic Bozidar CRO 2351 6,5 0,0 41,0 2525
6 GM Karthikeyan Murali IND 2514 6,0 0,0 47,5 2562
7 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND 2543 6,0 0,0 46,0 2531
8   Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2576 6,0 0,0 45,5 2514
9 IM Svane Rasmus GER 2546 6,0 0,0 44,0 2542
10   Beradze Irakli GEO 2440 6,0 0,0 42,5 2511
11 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2515 5,5 0,0 48,5 2548
12 GM Alekseenko Kirill RUS 2582 5,5 0,0 45,0 2453
13 IM Menezes Christoph AUT 2408 5,5 0,0 44,0 2456
14 FM Xu Yi CHN 2371 5,5 0,0 43,5 2477
15 IM Mosadeghpour Masoud IRI 2437 5,5 0,0 43,5 2520
16 GM Gagare Shardul IND 2486 5,5 0,0 42,0 2446
17 IM Visakh N R IND 2431 5,5 0,0 42,0 2477
18 IM Bersamina Paulo PHI 2402 5,5 0,0 41,0 2371
19 IM Beukema Stefan BEL 2380 5,5 0,0 40,5 2470
20 GM Wagner Dennis GER 2572 5,5 0,0 40,0 2384
21   Srijit Paul IND 2217 5,5 0,0 40,0 2464
22 FM Grandadam Patrik SUI 2325 5,5 0,0 39,0 2386
23 IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin IRI 2478 5,5 0,0 37,0 2417
24 IM Henriquez Villagra Cristobal CHI 2520 5,5 0,0 37,0 2438
25 FM Praggnanandhaa R IND 2429 5,0 0,0 44,5 2445

... 80 players

Source: chess-results.com

Games rounds 1 to 9

 

But what exactly is a junior? The organisers in Bhubaneswar offer a clear answer: All players have to born on 1st January 1996 or later, that is, you have to be 20 or younger to play in the World Juniors.

These two young players look as if they would like to win a huge number of games before their 20th birthday

Vishy Anand supports the young talents. In 1987 Anand was the first Indian to become World Junior Champion.

Indian flair

The tournament hall

Top seed Vladislav Artemiev from Russia

In July Jeffery Xiong (right) won the US Junior Championships, one month later he has chances to become World Junior Champion

Photos: Tournament page

 

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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