The FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023 kicked off today at Eindhoven's High Tech Campus in the Netherlands. The "smartest square kilometre in the world" is a fitting backdrop for the U16 team chess tournament, which brings together 252 players from 63 teams and 47 countries. The Olympiad is a 9-round Swiss tournament with a time control of 45 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1. Each team consists of four players, of which at least one woman player.

 Opening Ceremony

This year, the Royal Dutch Chess Federation marks its 150th anniversary as the oldest chess federation in the world. The President of the Federation and WGM, Bianca de Jong-Muhren, expressed her enthusiasm during the opening ceremony, stating, "We managed to bring an international youth championship to the Netherlands, with a new international women's top tournament as a bonus. We are going to make it an unforgettable event!" After the opening ceremony, she seamlessly transitioned to providing commentary alongside IM Stefan Kuipers.

The event's opening was graced by Maes van Lanschot, Eindhoven's alderman of sports and a chess enthusiast, who made the ceremonial first move alongside Yichen Han, the first board player from the Dutch team. 

Round 1 results

Top team Kazakhstan 1 had a significant challenge against Australia 1. Boards 1-3 ended in draws, with only the game between WCM Cheng (Australia) and WIM Alua Nurmanova of Kazakhstan (pictured below) ending in favor of the favorite. After an inaccuracy in black’s opening, white seized control of the dark squares. This became evident when the white knight landed on d6 on move 12. With control over these dark squares, the white player didn’t let go of the advantage. With a devastating king’s attack and a beautiful final combination, white decided the game.

The second team in the starting list, China, had less trouble against the 4th team from the Netherlands. Boards 1-3 saw intense battles, with the advantage often leaning towards China during the games. Sascha Kurt saved the honor for the Dutch team by holding his opponent to a draw. On board 4, WIM Lu launched a strong attack against Boyd Leenen. The attack was a great example of aggressively breaking through a position. A visual delight with piece sacrifices, perhaps not as much for Boyd Leenen.

Check out the game on lichess.org

And now, on to the first surprise between Georgia and Turkey. According to the ratings, Turkey was the favorite, although the rapid ratings seemed to be somewhat misleading. On board 1, IM Gurel (Turkey) had a chance to clinch a win against FM Kiladze (Georgia), who agreed to a draw in a better position due to severe time pressure. Board 4 also seemed in favor of Georgia for a long time, but unfortunately, Kesaria Mgeladze couldn’t convert her advantage into a win against WCM Akat. The fate of the match was decided on the boards in between, with special attention to board 3, where IM Erdogmus demonstrated how to seize and maintain control. As often happens in these openings, it’s a risk for black to exchange on d4 and thus give up the center. Nevertheless, black did this, giving white a pleasant spatial advantage. When the black knight was banished to b7 on move 20, black had to admit that there were many weak spots in the position. It became a long ordeal where Erdogmus showed that there’s no need to rush to exploit weaknesses.

Check out the game on lichess.org

Despite Erdogmus’s win, the match was tied 2-2 draw, as the Georgian WFM Kirtadze proved stronger than FM Kilic.

Moving on to the host country, the Netherlands, which stands in 4th place with their first team and surely aims to contend for the podium. On board 1, FM Yichen Han seemed to struggle to achieve much with his London System. However, his opponent from Kazakhstan 5(!) was a bit too greedy by capturing the h-pawn. Rooks love open lines, so Han probably welcomed this move. Not much later, Bogdanov made an even bigger blunder. A rough start for the black player. For Kazakhstan 5, Mariya Kholyavo upheld the honor by defeating Dana Verheij in an exciting game. In a tactical feast from the Sicilian Defense, Kholyavo showed better calculation. Take a look at the various tactics in this game. FM Arthur de Winter (board 2) and Prajit Kumar (board 3) engaged in battles where they proved superior to their opponents.

The other Dutch teams enjoyed success. Team 4 lost to China but teams 2 and 3 won their matches. Team 2, consisting of Kobe Smeets, Roger Labruyere, Rhys Arnold, and Isafara Gergin, faced off against Thailand 2. The result was 3-1, with Isafara unfortunately losing to an opponent who played extremely precisely. The remaining games were far from smooth, but determination and sharpness were on the Dutch side. Team 3, with Noah Ritzerveld, Wouter Terlouw, Oscar Zecha, and Fleur Westerhof, proved to be too much for Uganda 3. Quite a young team, with Fleur Westerhof from 2009 as the “oldest” player on the team.

Results of top10 matches:

Australia 1 - Kazakhstan 1 1½-2½
China - The Netherlands 4 3½-½
Georgia - Turkey 2-2
The Netherlands 1 - Kazakhstan 5 3-1
Kazakhstan 4 - Hungary 1-3
Uzbekistan - Canada 2 4-0
Paraguay - Azerbaijan 0-4
France - Morocco 3-1
Canada 3 - Israel 0-4
Romania - South Africa 1 4-0

Text: Bram Klapwijk

Photos: Lennart Ootes and Frans Peeters

Official website: youtholympiad2023.fide.com/