Zhigalko leads World Junior in Patagonia

World Junior Chess Championships 2009 in Patagonia

Puerto Madryn, the host city of the World Junior Championships 2009, is in the province of Chubut in the geographical region known as Patagonia. The championships are being played in two categories: the World Junior Championship U20 and the World Girls Championship U20. Both are 13-round Swiss tournament, with a rate of play of 90 minutes for the first forty moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

Report after round ten

After eight rounds top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2718, and third highest ranked player Sergei Zhigalko, 2646, were in the lead with 6.5 points each. In round nine Vachier outplayed England's David Howell in a Ruy Lopez Bird's, while Zhigalko got the following gift from the 2600+ Chinese GM:

Zhigalko,S (2646) - Li Chao2 (2617) [C43]
WJun Puerto Madryn ARG (9), 30.10.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.Nc3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Qh4 10.g3 Qh3 11.Rb1 0-0-0 12.c4 dxc4 13.Qf3 c6 14.Bxc4 Be6 15.d5 cxd5 16.Bxd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Rd7 18.Qa5 a6 19.Qc3+ Kb8 20.Be3

20...Qg4?? 21.Qc6 1-0.

Both Vachier and Zhigalko remained in the sole lead, and in round ten the French GM, playing black, decided to take a quick (15-move) draw against GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela, rated 2605. His main rival battled it out against a Polish GM and was rewarded for his fighting spirit.

Olszewski,Mi (2544) - Zhigalko,S (2646) [A84]
WJun Puerto Madryn ARG (10), 31.10.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bd3 f5 6.0-0 Nf6 7.b3 Qe7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Ne2 Nd7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Bc5 13.Bd4 Ba3 14.Rb1 b6 15.Bb2 Bxb2 16.Rxb2 Bb7 17.f3 Nc5 18.Nd4 Rad8 19.b4 Nxd3 20.Qxd3 dxc4 21.Qxc4 Rd5 22.f4 Rc8 23.Rd2 c5 24.bxc5 bxc5 25.Nb3 Rxd2 26.Nxd2 Bd5 27.Qc3 Qb7 28.Nc4 Rb8 29.Rc1 h6 30.Qc2 Qa6 31.h3 Rb4 32.Nd6 Qa3 33.Qxc5 Qxa2 34.Rc2 Rb2 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Ne8 Qb1+ 37.Kh2 Rb8

38.Nf6+! The only move for White. 38...Kg6. 38...gxf6 39.Rc7+ and mate to follow. 39.Qc7?? Fingerfehler? The queen should move to the d-file: after 39.Qd7 Black cannot play 39...gxf6 because of 40.Rc7 and mate to follow. 39...gxf6 40.exf6 Qb7 41.Qd6 Rc8 0-1.

David Howell, a hopeful during the first half of the event, was 6.0/9 after eight rounds, and faced the 14-year-old IM Ray Robson, who had the same score, in round ten. Robson played the black side of a French Tarrasch and came out of the opening with an advantage, which he turned into a big plus and finally into a mating attack. It is well worthwhile to replay this game.

Howell,D (2624) - Robson,R (2527) [C05]
WJun Puerto Madryn ARG (10), 31.10.2009
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.a3 Be7 9.b4 cxd4 10.cxd4 a6 11.h4 Qc7 12.Bd2 b5 13.Ne2 Nb6 14.Nc1 Nc4 15.Nd3 a5 16.Nc5 0-0 17.Bd3 h6 18.Bc3 f6 19.Ke2 Rb8 20.Bc2 f5 21.Qc1 Bxc5 22.bxc5 b4 23.axb4 axb4 24.Bb2 b3 25.Bd3 Nb4 26.Nd2 Qc6 27.Rh3 Nxd3 28.Rxd3 Ba6 29.Rxa6 Qxa6 30.Nxc4 dxc4 31.Rc3 Rb4 32.Kf2 Ra4 33.c6 Rc8 34.d5 exd5 35.Qd2 Qxc6 36.e6 Ra2 37.Rg3 Qc5+ 38.Kf3 c3 39.Qe1 cxb2 40.Rxg7+ Kxg7 41.Qe5+ Kg8 0-1.

Top rankings after ten rounds (open)

Top standings after ten rounds (girls)

Whales in Puerto Madryn

No good pictures of the chess activities in Patagonia, but we did get some very nice shots of whales. Nigel Short, who is looking after his compatriot David Howell, told us that the two had spotted right whales on a morning walk by the shore. "It was a most unexpected and amazing sight as they were not very far away at all," wrote Nigel. He also got some pictures from Åse Østebø, which were taken on the free day.

A right whale in the seas off the Puerto Madryn coast

Showing off its fin – you do know that these were hoofed legs when the predecessors
of today's whales lived as mammels on land...

The hump which is characteristic of right whales...

The final farewell: when whales dive, usually for fifteen minutes or half an hour, the
last thing you see of them is the fluke (tail fins), which stretch out of the water.

Links

The official tournament site contains many links to pages which Google blocks because "malicious software is hosted there". You may get the warnings if you use Firefox – Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari have far better nerves and simply take you to the suspicious pages.

• All available games from the open section
• All available games from the girls' section