World Youth Championship: The champions

by Albert Silver
12/31/2013 – It was a grueling tournament, and hard fought by all, from chess’s youngest competitors, to those coming of age. A couple of players had secured their places on the topmost step of their pantheon, but for most it was all down to the last round, when the players decided their fates. Garry Kasparov showed up to inspire the children, and FIDE issued a statement on the Israeli flag issue.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

 

World Youth Chess Championship 2013

17-29 December 2013, Al Ain, UAE

The medalists from the 2013 World Youth Chess Championship

It was a grueling tournament, and hard fought by all, from chess’s youngest competitors, to those coming of age. A couple of players had secured their places on the topmost step of their pantheon, but for most it was all down to the last round when even the most comfortable leaders risked seeing their work dashed in a momentary lapse of reason.

The last round decided the fate of many

The arbiters had their hands full

Little by little the games ended and the name plates were collected

An incredible 1773 players from 171 nations came to compete

The symbols of glory

Boys will be boys

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is greeted with flowers

Look who was in Al Ain, and as usual the centre of interest...

...Garry Kasparov, on a private visit, inspiring those who are still mid-struggle

Wow!! Natasha Van Niekerk from South Africa meets her hero.

Of all the nations, India has to be considered the biggest winner, with a total of eight medals, including three gold. Although China also claimed three gold medals, their grand total was not quite as expansive. Russia claimed one gold, one silver and three bronze, but perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament was Iran. Iran not only saw three athletes take a medal, but incredibly, IM Pouya Idani, ranked 14th in the Under-18 Open group, and over 125 Elo behind the top seed, came in clear first after a flawless campaign.

IM Pouya Idani brought Iran its historic first gold in the Under-18 Open

Before proceeding to the pictures and standings of the deserving victors, it is worth noting that a statement was published on FIDE’s site concerning the lack of Israeli flag in the event. It turns out it was not a slight by the hosts, but rather a request by the Israelis themselves for security reasons. Here is the statement in full:

Announcement by the Israel Chess Federation

Yesterday the 2013 World Youth concluded in Al Ain, in the U.A.E. with the participation of 1773 players from 171 federations. The Israeli delegation which took part in the event consisted of 5 players and several accompanying persons. 

During the event there were several publications and petitions from several institutes and individuals about the fact that the flags of Israel were removed from the relevant tables in the tournament and from the official web as well and replaced by flags of FIDE. We would like to state very clearly that this move was done as a result of our security people's request and with full cooperation with the local organizers. While we believe that participation of Israeli players in events held in Arabic countries, and vice versa of course, with Israeli flags is very positive and contributing to a good atmosphere, we all realize that such events need security solutions and strict cooperation about. 

We cordially appreciate all those who were standing on our rights in what looked like a breach of it but we stress again - this was not a decision or initiative of the U.A.E. authorities but ours and we would like to thank the organizers and FIDE events commission for their cooperation and for the excellent treatment our delegation was met. 

Gens Una Sumus


Israel Gelfer 
FIDE Vice President 

Moshe Slav 
Chairman-Israel Chess Federation

Link to statement on FIDE site

A warm thank you to Team South Africa for sharing their wonderful pictures. See more at their Facebook page.

Girls final standings:

WYCC U8 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 23 WCM Zhu Harmony CAN 0 9.0 47.5
2 82   Mungunzul Bat-Erdene MGL 0 9.0 52.5
3 5   Bhagyashree Patil IND 1423 8.5 50.0
4 3 WFM Divya Deshmukh IND 1482 8.5 53.0
5 79   Mironenko Galina RUS 0 8.5 51.5

Canadian Harmony Zhu receives her gold medal

Three proud winners in the Girls Under-8

WYCC U10 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 14 WCM Salonika Saina IND 1642 9.0 47.5
2 11 WFM Asadi Motahare IRI 1657 8.5 53.0
3 6 WFM Lakshmi C IND 1757 8.5 51.5
4 22   Yip Carissa USA 1602 8.5 49.0
5 2 WFM Assaubayeva Bibissara KAZ 1848 8.0 49.5

Iranian Motahare Asadi (silver) and Indian Saina Salonik (gold) are jubilant

WYCC U12 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 35   Shengxin Zhao CHN 1753 9.5 50.0
2 2   Shuvalova Polina RUS 2052 9.0 51.5
3 18 WFM Antova Gabriela BUL 1815 8.5 50.0
4 12 WFM Yu Jennifer R USA 1858 8.5 44.0
5 36 WCM Serikbay Assel KAZ 1752 8.0 50.0

China's Shengxin Zhao (right) took gold in the Girls Under-12

WYCC U14 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 1   Tsolakidou Stavroula GRE 2132 9.0 50.0
2 18   Abdusattorova Bakhora UZB 1933 9.0 49.0
3 4 WFM Vasenina Anna RUS 2053 8.5 52.0
4 6 WFM Kiolbasa Oliwia POL 2021 8.5 49.0
5 2 WFM Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim UZB 2126 8.0 51.5

Although Stavroula Tsolakidou from Greece (center) came in as the top seed,
she never led and spent much of the event playing catch-up after an unexpected
loss in round three. Her doggedness and competitivity earned her the gold
with a key last-round win.

WYCC U16 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 6   Gu Tianlu CHN 2128 9.0 49.0
2 3 WIM Nicolas Zapata Irene ESP 2237 8.5 48.0
3 1 WGM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2298 8.5 50.0
4 12 WCM Wozniak Mariola POL 2079 8.0 46.5
5 16   Harazinska Ewa POL 2050 8.0 48.0

Giu Tianlu (right) took gold with a better tiebreak over Irene Nicolas Zapata,
who won silver

Iranian WGM Sarasadat Khadem stumbled in the last round
taking bronze, but avenged herself with the Gold medal in
the WYCC 2013 Blitz

WYCC U18 Girls Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 11 WFM Tomnikova Lidia RUS 2167 8.5 46.5
2 2 WGM Ziaziulkina Nastassia BLR 2354 8.5 52.0
3 9 WIM Ibrahimova Sabina AZE 2205 8.5 50.0
4 4 WIM Osmanodja Filiz GER 2274 8.0 46.5
5 10 WIM Severina Maria RUS 2203 8.0 44.5

Belarus WGM Nastassia Ziazulkina (silver), Russian Lida Tomnikova (gold), and
Sabina Ibrahimova from Azerbaidjan (bronze)

Open final standings:

WYCC U8 Open Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 4 FM Praggnanandhaa R IND 1852 11.0 49.0
2 5   Can Isik TUR 1751 9.0 51.5
3 157   Suleymanli Aydin Elshan AZE 0 9.0 49.0
4 64   Tsvetkov Andrey RUS 1799 8.5 49.0
5 50 CM Lu Maximillian USA 0 8.5 47.0

Indian Praggnanandhaa (center) had a flawless campaign, and silver won by
Isik Can from Turkey (left) and bronze by Elshan Suleymanli Aydin (right) were
only decided in the last round with nine others

WYCC U10 Open Classic

Rk SNo Tit Name FED Rtg Pts TB
1 1 FM Liang Awonder USA 2246 10.0 49.5
2 3 CM Peng David T USA 2042 9.0 49.0
3 13   Teclaf Pawel POL 1893 9.0 51.0
4 8 FM Yu Kaifeng CHN 1960 9.0 45.0
5 5 FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman BAN 2028 8.5 49.5

It was a dynamic duo for USA in the Open Under-10 with a near clean sweep
by Awonder Liang (right) with 10.0/11 and gold, and silver for David Peng (left)

WYCC U12 Open Classic

Rk SNo Tit Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 30   Hakobyan Aram ARM 2015 9.5 55.0
2 10 FM Raghunandan K. Srihari IND 2168 8.5 52.0
3 4   Lobanov Sergei RUS 2239 8.5 49.5
4 19   Kevlishvili Robby NED 2070 8.5 50.0
5 3   Deac Bogdan-Daniel ROU 2276 8.5 49.5

Armenian Aram Akobyan (middle) had a fantastic tournament with 9.5/11 and a
2400+ performance in spite of his 2015 FIDE rating

WYCC U14 Open Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 40   Li Di CHN 2091 9.5 51.5
2 5   Zajic Milan SRB 2340 9.0 50.0
3 19   Atabayev Saparmyrat TKM 2203 9.0 49.0
4 16   Dai Changren CHN 2216 9.0 46.0
5 20   Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2199 8.5 44.5

Chinese player Li Di came ranked 40th with 2091 FIDE, but took clear first with
9.5/11 and a 2434 performance

Serbian Milan Zajic took silver ahead of...

...Saparmyrat Atabayev from Turkmenistan with bronze.

WYCC U16 Open Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 6 IM Karthikeyan Murali IND 2431 9.0 50.5
2 7 FM Girish A. Koushik IND 2413 9.0 50.0
3 4 FM Alekseenko Kirill RUS 2445 8.0 51.0
4 9 IM Dastan Muhammed Batuhan TUR 2409 8.0 50.0
5 11 IM Sanal Vahap TUR 2397 8.0 46.5

It was an Indian tag team for gold and silver by Murali Karthikeyan (center)
and Koushik Girish (left), while Russian Kirill Alekseenko took bronze, edging out
many rivals on tiebreak

WYCC U18 Open Classic

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
TB
1 14 IM Idani Pouya IRI 2483 8.5 50.0
2 3 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2558 8.0 46.5
3 5 GM Vaibhav Suri IND 2544 8.0 46.0
4 1 GM Cori Jorge PER 2609 8.0 45.5
5 9 GM Abasov Nijat AZE 2510 8.0 47.5

The medalists in the Under-18 Open: David Anton Guijarro (silver), Pouya Idani (gold)
and Suri Vaibhav (bronze)

Links

The games will be 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 there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register