World Juniors Rd.10: Who will win the World Juniors 2019?
The sole leaders in both open and girls section Shtembuliak and Shuvalova maintained their lead. While Shtembuliak has half a point lead, Shuvalova is very close to the title with a full one point gap over rest of the players. Round 10 was an exciting one as we saw plenty of high voltage action. Wang Shixu and Volodar Murzin achieved their maiden GM norms. We also bring to you a beautiful game played by 13-year-old Leon Mendonca - symphony on the chess board. Who are the ones with a chance of winning a medal at the World Juniors? We analyze the chances of the players and present them in this article.
The tenth round at the World Juniors came to an end. After the end of the penultimate round, tihs is how things stand as far as standings are concerned:
Top 10 places after 10 rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Bdld | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 7 | GM | Shtembuliak Evgeny | UKR | 2577 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 59,5 | 63,5 | ||
| 2 | 9 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2561 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 57,0 | 60,5 | ||
| 3 | 10 | GM | Santos Ruiz Miguel | ESP | 2560 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 60,5 | ||
| 4 | 6 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | ARM | 2580 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 53,0 | 57,5 | ||
| 5 | 50 | Wang Shixu B | CHN | 2370 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,0 | 59,0 | |||
| 6 | 3 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2609 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 54,5 | 59,0 | ||
| 7 | 32 | IM | Murzin Volodar | RUS | 2433 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 52,5 | 56,0 | ||
| 8 | 2 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2617 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 58,5 | 63,5 | ||
| 9 | 8 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2567 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 56,0 | 61,5 | ||
| 10 | 46 | IM | Mendonca Leon Luke | IND | 2388 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 53,0 | 55,0 |
Pairings for the final round:
| Bo. | No. | Name | Bdld | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Bdld | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 7 | GM | Shtembuliak Evgeny | UKR | 2577 | 8 | 7 | IM | Murzin Volodar | RUS | 2433 | 32 | |||||
| 2 | 10 | GM | Santos Ruiz Miguel | ESP | 2560 | 7½ | 7½ | GM | Sargsyan Shant | ARM | 2580 | 6 | |||||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2609 | 7 | 7½ | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2561 | 9 | |||||
| 4 | 18 | GM | Kuybokarov Temur | AUS | 2501 | 6½ | 7 | Wang Shixu B | CHN | 2370 | 50 | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2617 | 6½ | 6½ | IM | Janik Igor | POL | 2467 | 24 |
1. Evgeny Shtembuliak takes on 13-year-old Volodar Murzin with the white pieces. A draw should be sufficient for Shtembuliak to become the champion. Murzin on the other hand just made his 10 game GM norm by beating GM Albornoz Cabrera. This should definitely give him the boost to play for a win in the final round!
2. The match up between Miguel Santos and Shant Sargsyan is an exciting one. As Shant's tiebreak is pretty poor, he will push for a win tomorrow. That being said Miguel Ruiz having the white pieces will surely want to push for more than a draw. It's a battle of two ambitious youngsters and just about anything can happen!
3. Aram Hakobyan, currently on second place has a good tiebreak. He will be keeping his eyes on the second board. But he has to ensure some good chess on his board as well because he is facing the strong Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram. Aravindh who has 7.0/10 has no option but to play all out for a win if he would like to fight for a medal. This will really be an exciting game to follow.
4. Wang Shixu, the Chinese untitled player who has impressed everyone with his play is up against Temur Kuybokarov from Australia. If Wang manages to win, he has excellent chances of getting a medal.
Let's have a look at the girl's section now:
Standings after round 10
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 4 | WIM | Shuvalova Polina | RUS | 2412 | 9,0 | 0,0 | 58,5 | 63,0 | |
| 2 | 25 | WIM | Alinasab Mobina | IRI | 2239 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 60,0 | 64,5 | |
| 3 | 6 | WGM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | KAZ | 2381 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 57,0 | 62,0 | |
| 4 | 24 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | IND | 2248 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 60,5 | |
| 5 | 17 | WIM | Solozhenkina Elizaveta | RUS | 2283 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 55,5 | 60,5 | |
| 6 | 11 | WIM | Dordzhieva Dinara | RUS | 2335 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 55,5 | 60,0 | |
| 7 | 10 | Berdnyk Mariia | UKR | 2349 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 55,0 | 59,5 | ||
| 8 | 13 | FM | Antova Gabriela | BUL | 2318 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 53,5 | 57,0 | |
| 9 | 33 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2181 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 52,5 | 56,0 | |
| 10 | 15 | WIM | Song Yuxin | CHN | 2292 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 48,5 | 52,0 |
Pairings for round 11
| Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 15 | WIM | Song Yuxin | CHN | 2292 | 7 | 9 | WIM | Shuvalova Polina | RUS | 2412 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 25 | WIM | Alinasab Mobina | IRI | 2239 | 8 | 7 | WGM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | KAZ | 2381 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 10 | Berdnyk Mariia | UKR | 2349 | 7 | 7 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | IND | 2248 | 24 | ||||
| 4 | 17 | WIM | Solozhenkina Elizaveta | RUS | 2283 | 7 | 7 | WIM | Dordzhieva Dinara | RUS | 2335 | 11 | |||
| 5 | 33 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2181 | 7 | 7 | FM | Antova Gabriela | BUL | 2318 | 13 |
1. Polina Shuvalova has nearly confirmed her title by scoring 9.0/10. However, she may still need a draw because Mobina Alinasab, although a point behind her has the better tiebreak score. A draw against Yuxin Song should not be a big deal for Polina, but with last rounds you never know.
2. Mobina Alinasab will surely try to win, as a full point gives her the theoretical chance of fighting for the gold medal. Her silver medal is nearly confirmed even if she loses the final round. Bibisara Assaubayeva would also be fighting hard for a win. As many as seven players are on seven points.
3. On boards 3,4,5 we can expect fighting chess as the ones who win will have the best chance to fight for the bronze medal.
Round 10
Girls section:
