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At the end of the year, we again invite our readers to vote for the player of the year, the female player of the year, the game of the year, the combination of the year, the endgame of the year and — newly added to our list of accolades — the "newcomer" of the year.
For every poll, our editorial team made nominations — which are, of course, subjective even though selected by a panel. To make things easier we whittled down the candidates, and we know some of you might miss your favourites — this is just one of many possible lists.
Here we want to find the best endgame of the year 2018. Our editors have put together the following shortlist. Now make your choice! Who was the best newcomer of 2018?
Vote:
2018newcomeroftheyear
Anand, So, Gelfand, Duda, Shankland, Navara, Adams, etc. annotate the games of the WCh match. Chess Olympiad with video specials by Pelletier. Plus 11 opening articles with new repertoire idesas, e.g. 1.e4 Nc6 or a new recipe in the London System!
Parham Magsoodloo is the best player from a whole bunch of young talented newcomers from Iran. With his outstanding win of the World Junior Championship this year, he is the de facto representative of the Iranian chess boom.
Photo: Amruta Mokal
Poland's national team has gotten a big boost thanks to current Polish Champion and world number one among junior players on the Elo list Jan-Krzysztof Duda has broken into the world elite this year. The twenty-year-old is slated to make his debut appearance in the Tata Steel Chess Masters group next month.
Photo: Macauley Peterson
At the 2018 US Championship Sam Shankland left the "big three" of the US chess behind and won the title. He went on to win the Capablanca Memorial and the American Continental Championship, was also rewarded with a huge jump on the Elo list to over 2700.
Photo: Lennart Ootes
Thanks to the successes of Viswanathan Anand, chess has become a popular sport in India. An army of young Indians is currently storming the Asian and European tournament arenas. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu ('Pragg' for short) is one of the best and this year became the second youngest grandmaster of all time at the age of 12 years and 10 months.
Photo: Alina l'Ami
Praagnanandha's young compatriot Nihal Sarin, also 13 years old, is currently a few notches higher up the Elo list from his colleague. Will there be a World Championship match between the two in ten or fifteen years? That certainly can't be ruled out.
Photo: Alina l'Ami
Another great talent who made waves in 2018 is 14-year-old Vincent Keymer. He plays in the German League for Deizisau where he caused a stir with victories over strong grandmasters. At the Isle of Man Open defeated none other than Boris Gelfand. Next Spring he's expected to get a crack at the current world elite in the Grenke Chess Classic thanks to his amazing victory in the Grenke Open in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Photo: Frank Hoppe
