1/28/2010 – Ten rounds have been played, three to go, with Thursday the rest day. That
give us a chance to catch up on the somewhat neglected lower groups. After our
recent Group B
pictorial we turn our attention to Group C, where six players are 20 years
old, five younger and three older. Dutch photographer Frits Agterdenbos has
sent us information and pictures for another lovely close-up gallery.
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The C-Group in Wijk aan Zee is for young and upcoming stars, and a number of
today's A and B players can be found in the C Group tables of past years. Six
players in the current tournament are 20 years old, five are younger and the
rest older. The first half was dominated by the second-youngest player, Ray
Robson, 15, who led the field for most of the first eight rounds, but is now
in 3-5th place.
Participants of Grandmaster Group C
Title
Player
Nat.
Rating
born
GM
Li Chao
CHN
2604
1989
GM
Abhijeet Gupta
IND
2577
1989
GM
Ray Robson
USA
2570
1994
GM
Kjetil Lie
NOR
2547
1980
IM
Nils Grandelius
SWE
2515
1993
GM
Robin Swinkels
NED
2495
1989
GM
Daniele Vocaturo
ITA
2495
1989
IM
Robin van Kampen
NED
2456
1994
WGM
Marya Muzychuk
UKR
2447
1992
GM
Zhaoqin Peng
NED
2402
1968
FM
Stefan Kuipers
NED
2340
1990
WGM
Soumya Swaminathan
IND
2323
1989
FM
Benjamin Bok
NED
2322
1995
Sjoerd Plukkel
NED
2279
1983
Average rating: 2455 – Category:
11
Standings after ten rounds
Players' portraits
GM Li Chao, CHN, 2604, 7.5/10, performance 2648
Li Chao, 20, born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, became China's 23rd Grandmaster in 2007
at the age of 18. He has been a second and assistant to Wang Yue on several
occasions, and both are good friends having known each other since kids.
Daniele Vocaturo, 20, was invited to the event as a young Italian GM. He recently
made his three GM norms within six months, the last one in Reykjavik with a
wonderful game beating
GM Hillarp Persson. He is in Wijk aan Zee together with his trainer GM Mihail
Marin and manager Y. Garrett.
IM Robin van Kampen, NED, 2456, 6.0/10, performance 2533
IM Robin van Kampen, 15, is like his friend Anish Giri, a young Dutch talent.
He made his first IM norm by winning the Batavia Amsterdam Chess Tournament
2009, and in the same year was Dutch Junior Champion (U20). In Groningen 2009
he played a match versus Jan Timman (lost 2.5-1.5). Robin has his own
blog, in Dutch, but hasn't updated it since last September.
GM Ray Robson, USA, 2570, 6.0/10, performance 2487
Ray Robson, born on October 25, 1994 in Guam, attracted international attention
when he became
a grandmaster at the age of 14 years 11 months and 16 days, the youngest
GM ever in the United States and the 16th youngest in chess history (see list
of chess prodigies).
Ray's father is Gary Robson, a professor of applied linguistics at St. Petersburg
College, and Yee-chen, a kindergarten teacher at Country Day School. The family
later moved to Largo, Florida where they live today. An only child he learnt
chess from his father at age three. Ray was leading the C-Group in Wijk aan
Zee for the first half of the event, but dropped to equal 3-5th place when he
lost three of his last four games.
GM Robin Swinkels, NED, 2495, 6.0/10, performance 2606
Robin Swinkels, 20, has represented the Netherlands in the World and European
Junior Championships in different age groups on a number of occasions. His highest
ever rating was in July 2009, where he appeared at 2516 and was the 15th highest
ranked Dutch player.
In 2008 Robin Swinkels played a very unusual game against IM Hans Bohm
IM Nils Grandelius, SWE, 2515, 5.5/10, performance 2457
Nils Grandelius, 16, is Sweden's most promising young player. The last three
years have seen his rating climb by 400 points. So far, his best achievements
have been winning the Swedish Junior Championship in 2007 and winning a grandmaster
tournament in Olomouc in the Czech Republic, where he also secured his first
grandmaster norm. His playing style is very aggressive and creative, making
him difficult to play, something that a number of grandmasters have already
experienced. In ten games so far he has made a single draw, winning five and
losing four. In round ten he got mated by WGM Soumya Swaminathan (her first
win in this event).
Abhijeet Gupta, 20, hails from Bhilwara in Rajasthan. He entered the Limca
Book of Records by becoming the youngest National junior (under-19) champion
at the age of 13 years and 10 days. He received the IM title in 2005 and his
GM title in 2008. Abhijeet has won 14 international medals, including six gold
medals from the Asian, Commonwealth and British Championship age-group categories.
Peng Zhaoqin (彭肇勤), 41, was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong,
but has lived in the Netherlands since 1996. She has the full ("male")
grandmaster title, which was awarded in October 2004. Peng, as she is called,
has won the Dutch Women's Championship eleven (in words: eleven!) times in and
is currently the Netherland's number one female player.
Kjetil Aleksander Lie, 29, was Norway's eighth grandmaster (the first who is
not from the Oslo vicinity) and currently the national champion, having won
the 2009 Norwegian championship. His playing style is aggressive and sacrificial,
and he is known as a dangerous tactician. During the 2007 candidates matches
in Elista, Lie served as Magnus Carlsen's second, helping with analysis and
preparations. He was praised by Magnus's father for his efforts and humor. In
Wijk aan Zee this year he mainly assists Magnus by playing squash with him in
the evenings.
FM Benjamin Bok, NED, 2322, 4.5/10, performance 2460
Benjamin Bok, 14, is the youngest player of all groups in Wijk aan Zee. He
was Dutch Junior Champion U12 in 2008, and last year (2009) he played in the
Gibtelecom tournament, facing the likes of Nakamura and Berczes, and in the
Groningen Festival, where he beat GMs Alon Greenfeld and Sipke Ernst.
FM Stefan Kuipers, NED, 2340, 4.5/10, performance 2436
Stefan Kuipers, 20, received the ‘Ymouth Versatility’ award of
100 Euros for his win over Mariya Muzychuk in round six of the current tournament.
The game went as follows:
IM Mariya Muzychuk, UKR, 2447, 4.0/10, performance 2362
Mariya Muzychuk, 17, Ukraine, was number seven in the FIDE Girls list in January
2010. She is the younger sister of Anna Muzychuk – there was an awwwww
report on the two sisters in ChessBase in 2004.
WGM Soumya Swaminathan, India, 2323, 3.0/10, performance 2319
Soumya Swaminathan, 20, is a Women Grandmaster, her country's eleventh, from
Pune, India. She won the World Junior Girls Championship at Puerto Madryn in
Argentina on November 3, 2009. "Soumya has been training at the Kunte Academy
for the past three years and has sacrificed a lot for chess. She is a hard-worker,
a talented player and has a bright future” (GM Abhijeet Kunte). She is
also a final year B.Com student in BMCC, with a scholarship from Indian Oil
Corporation.
Sjoerd Plukkel, 26, Holland, is the only player in this year's tournaments
without a FIDE title. He played in the Cultural Village Chess Tournament 2009,
scoring 5.0/9 with a performance of 2392.
All photos and information by courtesy of ChessVista
– Frits Agterdenbos.
Many more pictures are available on this web site.
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!
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