Tari leads World Juniors, Abdumalik caught

Aryan Tari defends lead

After six rounds Aryan Tari from Norway had scored 5½ points from six rounds and was sole leader at the World Junior Championships. In round 7 Tari played against 14-year old Awonder Liang from the US and drew. In Round 8 he won again, this time against the very strong Russian GM Grigoriy Oparin.

Kirill Alekseenko from Russia and the Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa hope to catch Tari to become World Junior Champion. If Praggnanandhaa wins the title he would automatically become a grandmaster — the youngest ever in the history of chess. Both players also won in round 8 to keep the pace.

Alekseenko is already a grandmaster. He was born in Vyborg, near the Finnish border. In 2006 Alekseenko's family moved to St. Petersburg and his chess career started in earnest: in 2007 he became European Junior Champion U-10, in 2011 he became World Junior Champion U-14, and in 2013 he again became European Junior Champion, this time in the U-16 and in 2015 he won silver at the U-18 World Junior Championship.

The results of the Indian talent Praggnanandhaa are also impressive, to say the least: he is currently 12 years old and in 2013 he won became World Champion U-8 and two years later, in 2015, he also became U-10 World Champion. But he is already strong enough to play in the U-20 World Junior Championship in 2017. In fact, he is one of the favourites to win the event. Praggnanandhaa R is from Chennai, hometown of Vishy Anand.

The  game between Alekseenko and Praggnanandhaa in round 7 ended in a draw but it seems as if Praggnannandhaa missed a good chance:

White has a couple of problems: the king is under lock and key, e4 is weak and Black's passed pawn is dangerous. Black played 46...Ra8 and a couple of moves later he agreed to a repetion of moves. It might have been better to try 46...Rb7 to force an exchange of rooks. Penetrating with the second black rook should then decide the game.

The game between Xu Xiangyu from China and Valentin Dragnev from Austria was also drawn. The draws of the leading players allowed the pursuers to catch up. Tari leads with 6.0/7 but no less than nine players follow half a point behind, and behind them is a large group of players with 5.0/7.

Round 8

In round 8 Tari defended his lead but the biggest news of the round was Pragganandhaa's win against Awonder Liang. With this victory the 12-year old Indian scored his first GM-norm. Currently, he has a rating-performance of 2749 and this is enough to secure the norm after nine rounds. (The tournament, however, lasts for 11 rounds.)

Pragganandhaa 1-0 Awonder Liang (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

Courtesy ChessBase India on YouTube

His coach was also naturally delighted:

First GM norm for Praggnanandhaa! So it begins...

— Ramesh RB (@Rameshchess) November 21, 2017

Results of round 8 (top 10)

All games (Rounds 1 to 7)

The Spanish Fianchetto

In the fight for playable, unbalanced positions after 1.e4 e5, many top players (including World Champion Magnus Carlsen) turned to 3…g6 against the Ruy Lopez (2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5). Black aims for a kingside fianchetto combined, depending on White’s reaction, with …Nf6 or a quick …f5. In this DVD, Sam Collins explains the key ideas of 3…g6 and provides a complete repertoire for Black, suitable for regular use.

Standings after Round 8 (top 20)

Girls

In the girls section Zhansaya Abdumalik suffered a setback in round 8. After defeating Nino Komeriki, one of her closest rivals in round 7, and extendeding her lead to a full point, she then suffered a major upset at the hands of Anastasya Paramzina, who is now surprisingly tied for the lead despite being rated just 2123.

The position is ripe for a breakthrough and Paramzina found it. 20.Bxh6! Taking the bishop allows an exchange on e8 followed by Nxf6,  so 20...Rxe1 21.Rxe1 Bxf3 22.gxf3 and now facing no good options Black played 22...Rg8, which was swiftly punished 23.Qh5 and White has unstoppable threats.

Results of round 8 (top 10)

Standings after round 8 (top 20)

All games (Rounds 1-7)