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Before the start of the 7th round the organizers of the WYCC prepared a surprise for all the participants. Every single participant, all 1584, received a gift – a copy of ChessBase Magazine. ChessBase is also one of the biggest sponsors of the World Youth Chess Championship 2012, having wanted to contribute to make it the great event it deserves to be. Zver Milan, Slovenian presidential candidate and the president of the organizing committee surprised the players when he came to visit.
In round seven, the players were greeted with a surprise: each and every one received
a copy of ChessBase Magazine, with both booklet and DVD.
A few players pose for the photographer
Zver Milan, Slovenian presidential candidate and the president of the organizing committee
together with GM Adrian Mikhalchishin.
The presidential candidate was a surprise visitor and for those who knew who he
was: an inspiring one.
In the championship we still have three players with the maximum number of points. These players are Priyanka (U10 girls) from India, who is already a point ahead of Zhu Jiner from China and Gabriela Antova from Bulgaria. The last player with 100% is Nguyen Anh Khoi from Vietnam (U10 open), who is also a point ahead of the field. GM Swiercz has finally taken the lead in the U18 open group.
In the 7th round he defeated IM Lagarde from France and now leads by a half point. Aleksandra Goryachkina, who is definitely one of the most promising female players in the world, has also taken the lead in the girls U18 group. In the U16 open group Uri Eliseev is the leader with 6.5/7. In the girls U16 group Xiao Yiyi is a half point ahead of the others. In the U12 open group, top seed Sevian is in the lead and a half point ahead, after his win against his compatriot, second seed Jeffery Xiong.
11-year-old Samuel Sevian (2347 FIDE)
One of the areas in the venue where the children could relax and enjoy themselves
Video report of round seven by Vijay Kumar
The playing hall before the start of the games
The table where the daily bulletins are published and distributed. Aside from the report,
each comes with a selected game commented by GM Adrian Mikhalchishin.
In the World Youth Chess Championship in Maribor, the games of the 8th round were played today. Priyanka (U10 girls), Abdusattorov (U8 open) and Nguyen Anh Khoi (U10 open) still shine and continue to remain undefeated. Abdusattorov is already a point ahead of Uzumcu Ahmet from Turkey. In the 9th round they will play against each other and if Abdusattorov wins in round nine, he will most probably become the World Youth champion. [Update: their game was drawn.]
In the girls U8 group Asadi Motahare from Iran is in the lead, giving away only a half point until now. In the U10 open group Nguyen Anh Khoi is a point ahead of Viktor Matviisen (Ukraine). The players from USA are dominating in the U12 open group. There are eight of them among the top 20 players. Puranik Abhimanyu (India) who beat Sevian (USA), and Cameron Wheeler are both in the lead with 7.0/8. One of the biggest surprises of the group, Bryce Tiglon (USA), lost today against his US teammate Jeffery Xiong .
Bryce Tiglon has come a very long way in a very short period of time
Tiglon came into the tournament without a FIDE rating, yet has performed over 2100 so far. A look at his USCF rating shows that at the beginning of the year he was rated 1600 USCF, which means an incredible 600 Elo gain (at least) over the course of the year. Certainly one of the tournament’s revelations.
The spectators area where the parents and coaches anxiously follow the games
Video report of round eight by Vijay Kumar
The World youth chess championship is slowly approaching the end. The tension is getting higher every day and every game is crucially important. A loss in the last rounds can be catastrophic.
Today very interesting games were played in the 9th round, and after nine rounds we have only two players left with 9.0/9. The unstoppable Nguyen Anh Khoi from Vietnam (U10 open) beat Viktor Matviishen from Ukraine today and is now a point and a half ahead. Now only a miracle can prevent him from becoming the World youth chess champion. A similar story reigns in the girls U10 group, where Priyanka (India) defeated Jennifer Yu (USA) today, and is also a point and a half ahead.
Nine-year-old Priyanka from India was 33rd ranked in her group, but is crushing the
field with 9.0/9. Here she is being interviewed for Indian TV.
In the U8 open group Abdussatorrov (Uzbekistan) finally drew though remains a full point ahead. GM Swierz (U18 open) and WGM Goryachkina (U18 girls) drew today and are still in the lead. The 14-year-old Russian phenom faced the Iranian Cinderella story, Minoo Asgarizadeh (2106 FIDE), and was unable to break her and drew.
14-year-old Alexandra Goryachkina is poised to become the
2012 Youth Champion in the Girls U18 group.
Iranian Minoo
Asgarizadeh (2106 FIDE) has had a Cinderella event
so far, second in the Girls U18, and performing at 2425 FIDE.
In the U16 open and U16 girls groups IM Uri Eliseevi (Russia) and Xiao Yiyi (China) scored important wins today. Xiao is now a point and a half ahead, while Eliseev has 8.0/9 and the highest performance of all the categories combined: 2675 FIDE.
Chief Arbiter
Guran Unal
In the U14 open group FM Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh won against French FM Bilel Bellahcene and is now a point ahead. There are two girls in the lead in the girls U14 group - Monnisha (India) and Huang Mofei (China) with 7.5/9. In the U12 open group Cameron Wheeler is ahead of Sevian and Golubov with 8.0/9 and will face top-seed Samuel Sevian (2347) in round ten. In the girls U12 group Vaishali (India) is in the lead with 8.0/9.
WFM Monnisha from India is leading the Girls U14
A special tribute should be made to the the chief technical team, who have had the extraordinary work to ensure TV transmission as well as live broadcasts of 90 boards. It is a true tour de force that not one failure has been noted, when you consider that sometimes events with one tenth that number can suffer from chronic problems.
Click here for full tournament standings and pairings
Pictures by Vijay Kumar and WYCC
