Work and play at the World Junior

World Junior Championships

A report from Istanbul by Nigel Short

It was not exactly a stinging rebuke – more, a mild chastisement, but Jonathan Berry, from Canada, took issue with my assertion that there was large contingent of players from the Americas. “Quoi? I count Argentina (1 boy, 1 girl), Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador (1 each), total 5 players from the Americas. Nobody from North America: USA, Canada, Cuba etc.”

Gulp. There are two Colombians actually, but that is too insignificant a difference to absolve me. I plead guilty, m’lud. Indeed my mind has wandered. In attempted exculpation I should say that I have been very distracted by the wonderful announcement in Istanbul that Bessel Kok, with Ali Nihat Yazici as his deputy, are to run during the FIDE Presidential elections in Turino next year. The chess world is certainly in dire need of a new governing body with the business skills to attract serious corporate sponsorship.

Running for FIDE: Ali Nihat Yazici, president of the Turkish Chess Federation,
and Bessel Kok, successful businessman from the Dutch Federation

Anyway as thus far my reports on the World Junior Championship have apparently been bereft of statistical accuracy, I will leave that field to others more diligent. What you really want is some gossip, don’t you?

What do young chess players do when not playing tournament games or preparing? They go the Internet mostly, it seems. Those blessed with WiFi connections, as many people are these days, hang out in the bar downstairs, where the signal is strongest. The stripling Anya Corke of Hong Kong , for example, can be observed every morning in communion with her laptop – smiling constantly. When I gently ribbed her about this today, she was at pains to emphasise that she was laughing with her geographically displaced friends and not some inanimate object. Oops.

How chess players interact during their free time these days

The wireless notebook is the center of attention

The Playchess server and ICC are very popular destinations for the cyber-space generation. Occasionally a quaint plastic board, clock and pieces are also produced by those intent on enjoying a frenetic game of blitz. The other evening I suffered defeat to a student of Waterkloof High in Pretoria, South Africa, when I foolishly tried to flag him in a drawn position. Of course the extra seconds that I had didn’t matter one jot against someone less than half my age, and I easily lost on time. The tournament leader, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, who was watching this debacle, was eager to demonstrate his superiority. Replacing me, he promptly suffered a similar fate.

Sitting around in the lobby chatting – but not quite like in the saintly days of yore

Anyone for a normal game of chess? Board and wooden pieces?

Okay, some are actually doing it...

If you search hard enough you can find pockets of resistance to the notebook world

Pool is another popular attraction in the Lion Hotel – a four star establishment, allegedly, just off Taksim Square. Indeed with so many people milling around in the same ground floor area it is a wonder why the management are not eager to provide service. Yesterday I enquired in the reception as to why the bar was closed only to be told “The bar is open. It is just that there is nobody there to serve.” That remained the case for the rest of the night. Were it an isolated case, they might even be forgiven, but alas this neglect is the rule rather than the exception.

Pool billiard has always been an alternative to countless blitz games

It's called "cards" and requires a very small hardware configuration

This wireless application is known as "Having Fun"

Love is in the air. Turkey and Romania, Denmark and Georgia – some couplings are less expected than others. There is no hanky-panky from certain delegations: China, for one, exerts discipline on its representatives, as does Iran – particularly on its females. A guardian from the theocratic republic is always sent to these official events to ensure that no gross impropriety – such as boy and girl holding hands – is ever committed. Quite right too; we don’t approve of that sort of thing. One suspects, however, that the main social event of the tournament – the party before the free day – may contain a smidgen of the above-mentioned indecency and worse.

Obviously the girls' section is running Friendship 2.0

Ah, the boys seem to have installed it too...

Just hope Mom doesn't see this picture – oops, they put it on the front page!

I should perhaps mention something about the chess. I suppose it is, after all, why most people are gathered here. In the girls’ event Gu Xiaobing of China conceded a draw – her first – in the sixth round to Lizzy Paehtz. Her rating performance so far is a sterling 2672. Nevertheless she is being closely followed by Beata Kadziolka of Poland and – rather more surprisingly – Turkan Mamedyarova, the lowly rated, diminutive sister of Shakhriyar.

How does he do it? Big Shak Mamedyarov in the lead, with 5½ out of six.

Following in his steps? Little sister Turkan Mamedyarova

Big brother has opened up a yawning chasm of one point on the rest of the field at the half way stage. His rating performance (2873) would be envied even by veterans like Veselin Topalov. Still, there is a long way to go to the finishing line – ample time to mess it up.

And there, I am afraid, I will have to leave it. Your intrepid reporter has a flight to catch tonight to Bangkok, where I will give a couple of simuls at the Stock Exchange of Thailand before moving on to New Zealand for a more extended tour. No, I won’t be playing in Khanty Mansysk, as you may have surmised: it is extremely impolite to cancel long agreed and arranged plans with local organizers at a few weeks notice, just because of some hopelessly belated (and then changed again) FIDE announcement.

I trust that my replacement in Istanbul, whoever that may be, will keep you both informed and entertained.

Standings after six rounds

Performance boys

Performance girls

Links

• Official web site of the Turkish Chess Federation
• Special Tournament site (live games, results, standings and pictures)

Picture gallery

The girl's section of the World Junior Chess Championship

Brana is the photographer who sent us the pictures in this section. What do most of them have in common? Well, apart from the fact that they are of pretty young female players? They show a small electronic device that the participants are using to record their moves.

The FIDE certified Personal Chess Manager is produced bya company called MonRoi, owned and run by Brana with-the-long-surname. It is a PDA-sized electronic scoresheet which is used to record and store chess games. It connects wirelessly to a central computer, which can broadcast the moves live on the Internet. During the game the players tap in the moves on a display keypad, which shows the game in traditional scoresheet style. Turkey is the first national federation to adopt the use of the MonRoi PCM. You can find out more about the system at the MonRoi Web Site.