At the World Youth Chess Championships held in Durban, South Africa, the strength of India’s player-development programme was thrust into the forefront as the once obscure chess nation won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals. That was twice the number of medals which the traditional elitist chess team, Russia, collected. India’s finest showing was in the boys’ and the girls’ competitions for players under 10, with the Indians winning the gold medals in both categories. The two silver medals came in the under-18 and the under-16 boys’ divisions, and the bronze came in the under-14 girls’ section and the under-8 boys’ group. The tournament registered 959 competitors representing 89 countries, 22 of which took home medals.
One of the winners of the boys’ gold medal, Nihal Sarin, is the World under-10 blitz champion, having won the title at Al Ain, United Arab Emirates last December. Nihal did that in fine style, finishing with a Fischeresque score of seven points from seven rounds, winning all of his games. Now he is playing in the World Junior Championship
tournament which is currently taking place in Pune, India, and comes to a finish tomorrow. In the men’s section of the tournament, 18 grandmasters and 20 international masters are participating with five of the grandmasters rated above 2600. In the womens’ group, four grandmasters are included and 14 international masters. Leading the tournament are: in the men’s section, the Peruvian grandmaster sensation Jorge Cori (2612), and in the women’s Indian grandmaster Padmini Rout (2331). Among five co-leaders in the women’s group, Padmini captured the gold medal on fifth board at the recent 2014 Tromso Olympiad.
Cori, the South American grandmaster, is proving to be the surprise package of the tournament. Grandmasters have been forewarned that the Peruvian plays a ‘’mean’’ endgame.
Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand, the Italian and Israeli grandmasters, tied for first place in the FIDE Grand Prix which was held in Baku, Azerbaijan and are making their way to the candidates’ knockout tournament next year in a quest to challenge the world champion. Gelfand, 46, played excellent chess to forge ahead of his much younger opponents. It is worthwhile to note that Vishy Anand, 43, won the last candidates’ tournament ahead of similar younger opposition thereby giving him the opportunity of challenging world champion Magnus Carlsen next month. Azerbaijan has a successful state programme for the continuous development of chess and is a popular venue for tournaments and matches. At the Grand Prix tournament, the little island nation of Cuba was proudly represented by Javier Dominguez Perez (2751) and he was listed sixth on the list of competitors of 12.
In a previous cycle, Dominguez had emerged victorious ahead of some notable top players who were challenging for the right to play the world champion. This time around, however, he finished at the bottom of the points table.
Notwithstanding that circumstance, there is a possibility that he can do better in the other two Grand Prix in which he is listed to appear.
Wesley So, 21, the Philippine grandmaster now playing for the USA , won the Millionaire Chess Tournament and a US$100,000 first prize in Las Vegas earlier in the week. The tournament was the brainchild of Jamaican-born US grandmaster Maurice Ashley who promised US$1 million in prize money spread over six sections.
The entry fee was US$1,000 per participant, and some 600 players signed up for the tournament. So’s first prize amounted to the largest in the history of Open tournaments.
On the local chess circuit, there is nothing to report. One remains hopeful, however, that the 2014 National Junior Championship would be contested in a timely manner.
