12/21/2019 – Evgeny Shtembuliak is having a breakthrough year. The Texas Tech University student won the World Junior Championship earlier this year and has now been crowned Ukrainian Champion. The 20-year-old was first among a strong field of well established grandmasters, including Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Andrei Volokitin and Alexander Moiseenko. In the women's section, Natalia Zhukova had a better tiebreak score than Iulija Osmak, which prompted her to win her first ever national championship. MIKHAIL GOLUBEV reports. | Photos: Oleksandr Martynkov

11/30/2019 – He started as the seventh seed, but finished as the winner with a rating performance of 2752, gaining 23 Elo points and scoring 9.0/11 to become the World Junior Champion 2019. His name is Evgeny Shtembuliak. Originally from Ukraine, the youngster now lives in the United States and is studying on a full scholarship at the Texas Tech University. His feel for positional chess is outstanding and at the age of 20, he is already rated 2600. Being the World Junior Champion, we are sure to see him in action in many important events in the coming months. IM SAGAR SHAH got in touch with Evgeny after his World Juniors victory in Delhi for an interview. In this article you get to know everything you wanted to about this genial champion.

10/29/2019 – The European Team Champs has seen a number of interesting games. IM Lawrence Trent checks out one from Anish Giri. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is live for free and on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/28/2019 – Wrapping up our coverage of the World Junior Championship, we bring you all the pictures from the closing ceremony as well as photos of the 17 norm makers. Reporting from one last time are the intrepid team of Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal. | Pictured: Volodar Murzin and Praggnanandhaa — future world title contenders? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/27/2019 – The World Junior Championships officially came to an end on October 26th 2019 when players from over 50 countries left for home. Two new World Champions were crowned: Evgeny Shtembuliak in the Open section and Polina Shuvalova in the Girls' section. The silver and the bronze medal in the Open section went to the Armenians, Shant Sargsyan and Aram Hakobyan respectively. In the Girls' section it was Mobina Alinasab from Iran who won the silver and Elizaveta Solozhenkina who won the bronze. We take you to the moments of the final rounds where the six medals were decided in a huge report from New Delhi by Sagar Shah, Amruta Mokal, Niklesh Jain and Angela Franco. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/24/2019 – He read the Zurich Interzonal 1953 book written by Bronstein and Gelfand's Positional Decision Making to improve his positional understanding. He goes to the gym and swims every day to stay fit. He is the sole leader in the open section with a score of 7½/9 and has a performance rating of 2783. She won the under-18 world championship 2019. She's sure to go the gym every morning, and she enjoys each and every moment she spends on the chess board. She has an Elo performance of 2585 and is leading the girls section at the World Junior with 8.0/9. That's Evgeny Shtembuliak and Polina Shuvalova for you! These two youngsters are looking unstoppable at the World Juniors 2019.

10/23/2019 – Polina Shuvalova is on fire at the World Junior 2019. After her pretty queen sacrifice at the World Youth 2019 that went viral, the Russian youngster yet again sacrificed her queen, this time at the World Junior. This one wasn't as deep or beautiful as what we saw in Mumbai in her game against Afonasieva, but to beat a player like Assaubayeva with a queen sacrifice is never easy! In the open section we have two leaders: Shtembuliak drew his game against Shant Sargsyan. This let Miguel Santos Ruiz catch up. The Spaniard beat Praggnanandhaa in pretty fashion to join Shtembuliak at the top. IM SAGAR SHAH brings a detailed report from New Delhi.

10/22/2019 – In 2018 we had Parham Maghsoodloo who made a dash towards the finish line at the World Junior Championships. He won the event with one round to spare. In 2019 it seems like Evgeny Shtembuliak is going to take the honours. Although there are still four rounds left to be played, the Ukrainian GM has beaten some of the strongest opposition in the tournament. In round seven he got the better of GM Aram Hakobyan in a tense encounter. Shtembuliak leads with 6.0/7. He is followed on 5½/7 by Miguel Santos Ruiz alone. In the girls section Mobina Alinasab remained in the lead after her draw against Stavroula Tsolakidou, but she was joined at the top by Polina Shuvalova as well. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed round seven report from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/22/2019 – On the heels of the World Youth, Under-18 winner Praggnanandhaa moved on to the stiffer competition of the World Junior Championship. IM Lawrence Trent analyses his game against the fifth round leader, GM Evgeny Shtembuliak. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's Black to move. | Lawrence is free on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/19/2019 – Praggnanandhaa had an unbeaten streak of quite some games having won the under-18 gold at World Youth and playing some inspired chess in the first four rounds of the World Juniors. However, this came to an end at the hands of Ukrainian GM Evgeny Shtembuliak. Pragg sacrificed yet another exchange in the game, but it was not enough. Shtembuliak is now the sole leader with 4½/5, with three players following him on 4.0/5. In the girls section Mobina Alinasab (pictured, left) joined the leader Boldbaatar Altantuya at the top. Something from Iran to cheer amidst their player Aryan Gholami withdrawing from the event and Amin Tabatabaei facing Or Bronstein. In this report IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed analysis, photos and videos from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/18/2019 – On October 17th, the World Junior Championships 2019 had two rounds. After the final game ended we already had clarity on who has the early lead in the event. In the open section we have three players who are sharing the lead with 3½/4 — Miguel Ruiz from Spain, Evgeny Shtembuliak from Ukraine and the local favourite Praggnanandhaa. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH analyses one game of Praggnanandhaa and one game of Shtembuliak in great depth. While Pragg teaches you the art of exchange sacrifices, Shtembuliak shows you how to play positions in which you are winning. In the girls section we have Boldbaatar Altantuya from Mongolia who is on 4.0/4 and is the sole leader. A detailed report from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain