10/9/2014 – In the first round there were, naturually, mostly lopsided Swiss pairings, but things started to get more interesting in the next two rounds. Currently five players are leading with perfect 3.0/3 scores in the Open section, and one in the Girls. And of course there are multi talents in Pune, India, like Erik Ronka, who sports a rating of 2183 and plays a mean Presto agitato.
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In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
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Rounds two and three: the tournament builds up!
By Sagar Shah
While the first round saw many lopsided pairings, things started to get a little more interesting in the second and third rounds of the World Junior Chess Championships 2014. After three rounds, the Open section has five players with a perfect score of 3.0/3. They are Wei Yi (2641), Cori Jorge (2612), Kovalev Vladislav (2548), Lu Shanglei (2533), Idani Pouya (2517). Surprisingly in the girls section we already have a sole leader with three points: FM Daria Pustovoita (2354) of Russia. As was the case with the first round report, here too we will let the pictures do the talking.
One of the prime examples of how a well prepared IM can give a tough time to super grandmasters
was the battle between GM Robin Van Kampen (2641) vs IM Bai Jinshi (2406)
Bai Jinshi was so well prepared that he hardly used his time for the 26 moves that he made and effortlessly drew against his opponent, who was rated almost 250 points above him
Two of the best Indian players crossed swords with each other in round three. GM Sahaj Grover (2491) vs GM Vidit Gujrathi (2635) ended in a draw. Vidit can be a little upset with the result as he had a clear advantage but he had some luck going his way when he converted a seemingly impossible position to win a rook endgame in round two.
[Event "World Junior Open 2014"] [Site "Pune IND"] [Date "2014.10.07"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Vignesh, NR."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D58"] [WhiteElo "2635"] [BlackElo "2360"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6k1/5p2/6p1/7p/8/2R1PKP1/r4PP1/8 w - - 0 38"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2014.10.06"] {Such positions should be easily drawn. However it is instructive to see how White, who was the superior player, tried to maximize his chances.} 38. e4 Kf8 (38... Kg7 {keeping the king on g7 was much simpler.}) (38... f6 $5 { Preventing e5 also looked interesting.}) 39. Re3 Ke7 40. Re2 Ra3+ 41. Kf4 Kf6 42. e5+ Ke6 43. Kg5 Ra5 44. f4 Ra3 45. Kh4 Ra1 (45... Kf5 $1 {stopping g4 makes it very difficult for White to make progress.}) (45... f6 {leads to a position similar to the game.}) 46. g4 hxg4 47. Kxg4 f6 (47... Rb1 {trying to wait is a dangerous strategy:} 48. Kg5 Rg1 49. Rb2 Ke7 50. Rb7+ Ke6 51. Rb6+ Ke7 52. Kh6 Rxg2 53. Kg7 $18) 48. Rb2 Ra6 49. Rb5 Rc6 50. g3 Ra6 51. Rc5 Rb6 52. Ra5 Rc6 53. Ra7 $1 fxe5 54. fxe5 Rc5 (54... Kxe5 55. Kg5 Ke6 (55... Ke4 56. g4 Kf3 57. Ra3+ Kf2 58. Kh6 $18) 56. Kxg6 Ke5+ 57. Kh5 Kf6 58. g4 $18) 55. Kf4 g5+ 56. Kxg5 Rxe5+ 57. Kh6 Kf5 (57... Re4 58. Rg7 Kf5 (58... Kf6 59. g4 $18) 59. Rg5+ Ke6 60. g4 $18) 58. Rf7+ $1 {The final subtlety} Kg4 59. Rg7+ Kf3 60. g4 $18 Re6+ {A beautiful display of endgame technique by Vidit.} 1-0
After a scare in the first round, the Chinese super prodigy Wei Yi played confident chess in the next two rounds and is now 3.0/3. Surely, the readers are inquisitive as to what exactly happened in round one. Wei Yi missed a mate in 13 moves right out of the opening.
Out of the Chinese three players in the open section two are in the lead with 3.0/3. One is Wei Yi as mentioned above and the other is the blitz master Lu Shanglei (2533).
The 1995 born Chinese player Lu Shanglei recently beat Magnus Carlsen in World Blitz Championship. In the World Juniors he is playing extremely well and the finish to his third round game against IM Shardul Gagare was aesthetically beautiful.
FM Daria Pustovoitova (2354) is the sole leader in the women's section with 3.0/3
WFM Irina Petrukhina (2218) from Russia with a score of 2.5/3
WIM Ivana Maria Furtado drew with WGM Padmini Rout in round three and is now on 2.5/3
WIM Ni Shiqun (2312) of China is 2.0/3
Cyrielle Monpeurt (2115) from France is on 1.5/3
The two GM-hopefuls of India Aravindh Chithambaram and Murali Karthikeyan. Both have made their three GM norms and only need to cross 2500 to get the title. Murali was 2499 at the start of the tournament but lost his first round and is now 2492 in the Live Rating list, while Aravindh is on 2484.
Dhaval Shah, the co-owner of RBS Ahmednagar Checkers team in the
Mahrashtra Chess League watches the top games with two little fans.
Waiting for the players is really a boring job! Some pass their time reading books...
… while some simply doze off
The Under-10 World Champion Nihal Sarin is playing wonderfully with a score of 2.0/3. He has one win and two draws and all his opponents were rated above 2400. The little kid came to the analysis room to show his third round game, and the clarity with which he analysed the game was simply mind blowing.
An inspiring video showing Nihal's restless style of play, how he never sits at the board during the game
GM Abhijit Kunte (right), who is not only the main organizer of this event but also a strong grandmaster, came to the commentary room and analysed a few games with the author of these lines (middle). He was witty and funny, as you can see by the reaction of WGM Soumya Swaminathan (left)!
The interview with Abhijit Kunte starts at 2 hours 17 min, and Nihal Sarin's from 4h 28 min
The lobby of Hotel Grand Hyatt where the tournament is being played has a piano. We found a young boy trying his hand at the instrument. He was so good that we had to go and interview him. And guess what?!! He is a 2183 rated player from Finland and has 11 years of experience of playing the piano. His name is Erik Ronka and maybe he is the future Mark Taimanov!
Erik Ronka playing the third movement (Presto agitato) of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Piano Sonata
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 a free Playchess client and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
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The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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