FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final: Favourites Fall
The FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid Super Final started on Tornelo today, December 18. Each of 10 separate sections (Open and Girls under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) is a 6-player double round-robin. Every day of the championship, the participants play two games against the same opponent, changing colours. The rating difference is often not an explicit criterion to judge the strength of young and rapidly progressing players. The event won’t be an easy walk for the rating favourites, and some of them experience a bumpy road from the very first day. World’s top-rated (2276!) 10-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey (pictured above) exchanged blows with his Round 1 opponent, Dau Khuong Duy from Vietnam. Both games were anything but dull: Dau sacrificed a piece in the first one, but the attack did not go his way. However, in the second game, his energetic style paid off and he stroke back, finishing the day on 1-1. In this section, the leaders after Day 1 are CM Ilan Schnaider Ilan from Argentina and AIM Ethan Vaz from India, who won both games. This summer, everyone learnt the name of Abhimanyu Mishra when this 12-year-old from New Jersey, USA, hit the headlines as the youngest person to become a grandmaster, beating Karjakin’s record by over two months. All eyes are on his development ever since, but he is off to a rocky start here. FM Ihor Samunenkov from Ukraine, the world’s #4 in this age group by rating, showed good endgame technique and defeated Mishra in the first game. The second game finished in a draw, placing Samunenkov on the second spot behind the early leader Ivan Zemlyanskii from Russia, who won both games. Ihor Samunenkov, photo: Федерація шахів Києва Both rating favourites in Girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, the world’s top-rated players in this category, lost points on Day 1. In fact, Meenakshi’s opponent, Le Thai Hoang Anh from Vietnam, scored 1.5 points and occupied the first spot in the tournament table. Not an easy day for the initial favourites in most of the categories! From the clear favourites in the Girls section, only Alice Lee from the USA (Girls U12) won both games. Girls U14 rating leader Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal gave half a point to her opponent, and the top seeds U16, WIM Meruert Kamalidenova, and U18, WIM Govhar Beydullayeva, faced a sadder fate, dropping 1.5 and 1 point, respectively. The most solid players take part in the Open U16 tournament. Three out of six games ended in draws — compare that to two draws in all other Open section games combined. Only Aaryan Varshney from India won both games and took an early lead. There are also no clear favourites in Open U14 and U18, and the leaders after Day 1 emerge from the group of possible victors: IM Aldiyar Ansat from Kazakhstan (U14), FM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan from Sri Lanka (U16) and FM Nikolaos Spyropoulos from Greece (U16) started with two wins. Here are all the leaders after Day 1. You can replay the live stream of the first day, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov, here. Tune in for Day 2 at 16:00 CET on December 19. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final Kicks Off
The Cadets and Youth Rapid cycle enters its ultimate stage with the Super Final event starting on Tornelo on Saturday, December 18. In 2020, reacting to pandemic restrictions and the impossibility of holding the over-the-board events, FIDE and Georgian Chess Federation organized the inaugural edition of this tournaments’ cycle for young players. This year, we are witnessing its second edition and will hopefully celebrate many more in the coming years as a pleasant addition to over-the-board events. More than 3,000 participants from 160 federations took part in this year’s competition. The qualifying stage of the event included three tournaments, World Cup and two Grand Prix, all in five different age groups (under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) and in two sections, open and girls. The best in each category—three players from the World Cup, two from the Grand Prix Series and one by rating—qualified for the 6-player round-robin Super Final. Despite the young age, some players are well-known to the chess audience. The youngest-ever grandmaster, Mishra Abhimanyu from the USA, is the favourite in the Open U12 category. The #1 seed in Open U10 is Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey, the top-rated 10-year-old in the world. With 2276, he is more than 150 points ahead of #2 on the global list. Two top-seeded girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, are the world’s top-rated players in this category. The same status applies to Alice Lee from the USA, Girls U12, and Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal, Girls U14. The all-play-all event will have two games per day, from December 18 to 22 (or 23, if tie-break is necessary), and during the closing ceremony on December 24, after the Fair Play checks, we will learn the names of the new world champions. Apart from gaining titles and bragging rights, the winners will split the prize fund of 30,000 euros. In his opening address, FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili wished the participants to showcase their skill on the chessboards and not forget about the FIDE Fair Play regulations. The whole event will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov. Tune in every day at 16:00 CET. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.