The FIDE World Junior Chess Championship kicked off in Petrovac, Montenegro, on Tuesday, February 25. The competition, open to players under 20 years old, features two categories: Open and Girls.
Nearly 230 players from 44 countries are participating in the event with 157 players (including 12 GMs) from 63 countries in the open section. The highest-rated player in the tournament is GM Daniel Dardha (2651) from the Belgium.
The Girls’ section has attracted 98 players, including seven WGMs from 27 countries. IM Lu Miaoyi (2432) from China is the tournament’s top seed.
The championship’s first day featured a technical meeting led by Chief Arbiter IA Nebojsa Baralic and FIDE Technical Delegate Sergei Indeikin.
The opening ceremony took place before Round 1, graced by the presence of Montenegro’s Minister of Sports and Youth, Dragoslav Scekic; Jovan Milovic, President of the Montenegro Chess Federation; and FIDE delegate Sergei Indeikin. Minister Scekic and MCF President Milovic made the tournament’s symbolic first move.
The opening round of the Junior World Chess Championship in Petrovac provided the spectators with an abundance of fighting games and upsets despite a significant Elo and experience differences on most of the boards.
One of the tensest games of the first round was played on board 3. One of the pre-tournament favorites GM Aleksey Grebnev representing FIDE faced FM Mateu Boci of Albania.
The game started with the Nimzo-Indian Defence with Aleksey opting for a sub-variation of the Rubinstein system recently popularized by Richard Rapport.
Black did not react in the most principled way and proceeded to develop in the Colle – Zukertort reversed fashion. Objectively, White got a small positional advantage aided by the f3-pawn effectively restricting Black’s minor pieces. However, the position remained mostly unclear and full of life.
A few moves later Grebnev went for an interesting pawn structure transformation with a long-term plan of transferring his passive e2-knight to a glorious central outpost on e5.
However, this plan takes a long time to execute and Mateu generated counterplay on the kingside with a typical AlphaZero-inspired h-pawn thrust.
The position was getting increasingly sharp and complex with White finally achieving his strategic goals but severely weakening his king in the process. The first critical moment came on move 35, when, in mutual time trouble Grebnev went all with 35. Qxc6 – a greedy decision which should have backfired. Instead, 35. Rh2 would have allowed White to fight on equal terms albeit Black is probably to be preferred in a practical game.
The young Albanian player reacted energetically, activating both rooks and putting his opponent on the verge of crushing defeat. Objectively, Black’s attack was decisive.
However, nerves seemed to take their toll at this point–Mateu did not consider a professional decision to first repeat the position a couple of times to reach the time control with 39…Nh1+ 40. Kg1 Ng3 41. Kf2. With 30 extra minutes on the clock, Boci was very likely to crown his attack with a victory. In fact, the cold-blooded 41…Rb2 (or even 41…Ra2) puts White in zugzwang as both 42. Qf3 and 42. Qa8+ Kh7 43. Qf3 are met with Nh1+ -+.
Instead, disaster struck as Black blundered with 39…Qh5??, missing 40. Qa8+! Kh7 41. Qf3! +-. Suddenly 41…Nh1 does not work anymore because of 42.Ke3! Aleksey was quick to capitalize on his lucky chance as Black had to exchange Queens and the resulting endgame was hopeless for him due to a very strong passed d-pawn.
Grebnev went on to convert easily, finishing the game with a nice tactical shot.
A heartbreaking loss for FM Mateu Boci, who played an inspired game against a very strong opponent. Still, if he continues to perform at the same level, more GM scalps will be coming his way soon. And for GM Grebnev this narrow escape may very well boost his confidence. After all, you cannot be a champion without a little luck involved.
Photos: Vlada Crne Gore
Official webste: worldjunior2025.sahcg.me/