Nogerbek Kazybek and Divya Deshmukh triumph at Word Junior Championship 2024
The FIDE World Junior Chess Championship 2024 is in the books. Nearly 230 players from 42 countries participated in this fascinating event in Gujarat, India. Both Open and Girls competitions were 11-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. The open section was a tightly contested tournament that came down to the wire. Going into the final 11th round, Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia was in the lead with 8/10, closely followed by his compatriot Emin Ohanyan and IM Nogerbek Kazybek (Kazakhstan), both on 7.5/10. To add excitement to the finale, the leader faced Kazybek with black pieces, while Ohanyan took on IM Daniel Quizon of the Philippines. Nogerbek’s persistence and determination in a roughly even endgame earned him a crucial victory over Mamikon, which allowed him to leapfrog the leader. Meanwhile, Emin Ohanyan defeated Daniel Quizon, who blundered a nice intermezzo in a balanced position and caught up with Nogerbek. Both scored an impressive 8.5/11, tying for the top position, but the title goes to Nogerbek Kazybek, thanks to a slightly better Buchholz. Three players netted 8/11 and shared third place with Luka Budisavljevic taking bronze with the help of superior Buchholz. Final standings Open: 1 IM Nogerbek Kazybek KAZ 2502 8½ 2 GM Ohanyan Emin ARM 2501 8½ 3 GM Budisavljevic Luka SRB 2468 8 4 GM Gharibyan Mamikon ARM 2492 8 5 IM Koelle Tobias GER 2470 8 6 GM Grebnev Aleksey FID 2540 7½ 7 GM Cardoso Cardoso Jose COL 2497 7½ 8 IM Makarian Rudik FID 2524 7½ 9 IM Quizon Daniel PHI 2448 7½ 10 GM Pranav Anand IND 2540 7½ Complete final standings In the Girls section, the top seed Divya Deshmukh (India) seized the lead after Round 6 and never looked back. The home player turned in a commanding performance and won the title with a spectacular score of 10/11. The second seed WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (Armenia) stayed in the race for gold to the final round but finished a half-point behind the champion and took silver. Ayan Allahverdiyeva collected 8.5/11 and earned bronze. Final standings Girls: 1 IM Divya Deshmukh IND 2456 10 2 WIM Mkrtchyan Mariam ARM 2300 9½ 3 WIM Allahverdiyeva Ayan AZE 2133 8½ 4 WFM Shubhi Gupta IND 1943 8 5 WGM Rakshitta Ravi IND 2271 7½ 6 Abdinova Narmin AZE 2121 7½ 7 WFM Rindhiya V IND 1965 7½ 8 WIM Mrudul Dehankar IND 2028 7½ 9 WIM Hryzlova Sofiia SUI 2246 7 10 Norman Kseniya FID 2134 7 Complete final standings Photos: ChessBase India