WJCC 09: Black Wednesday

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 18/08/2016

In the ninth round,the top board saw a USA-Iran clash. Anybody who follows international politics will tell you that things between the two countries are not always friendly, and here were two of the strongest juniors in the horizon taking on each other. West vs. East -- once again! Check out what happened in the game, and also why Rajdeep Sarkar is not particularly impressed in our thumbnail picture and more in our illustrated report.

WJCC 09: Black Wednesday

For more than half a decade now, the USA and Iran have shared a tricky relationship with each other. From the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the Iranian President in 1953 to the powerful countries' nuclear weaponry cold war, things have never been far from the surface. When it comes to sporting events, though, the countries are hardly ever seen competing on equal terms.

While the United States recently won its 1000th medal at the Olympics, Iran has won less than 70. There is hardly any question as to the dominance of the Americans in the sporting arena, including chess. Iran had been a relative backwater as far as chess is concerned. In fact, playing chess in Iran back in the early '80s is equivalent to a girl child going to school in a Taliban-ruled area today. Yes, it took courage to play chess back then for Iranians.

In 1979, after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, chess was banned in public! The aficionados were forced to go underground. But a decade later, it made a triumphant comeback as Ayatollah Khomeini rehabilitated the game. There was a chess boom across the country. Until, a fatwa by a cleric in Iran banned it again at the turn of the century.

Iranian champion Alireza Firouzja (14), runner-up Aryan Gholami (13) and second runner-up Parham Maghsoodloo (16). [Photo: Reza Mahdipour]

Fortunately, the reformists took over the government not long after, and efforts were made to separate religion from the administration. Chess was back to capture the public imagination. It took some time for Iran to rise, but now, it can be safely said that the youth of Iran has finally arrived. Read more about the history here.

Iran's No. 1 player: Parham Maghsoodloo (2576)

The August FIDE rating list saw a new Iranian No. 1 in 16-year-old Parham Maghsoodloo who zoomed a career-best 2576 Elo. In the World Junior Championship 2016, he was having a pretty solid tournament, with a handful of draws. But after a beautiful game in the eighth round brought him back on track.

In the ninth round, it was a USA-Iran clash at the top board.

White just played 15.Nb5 to which Xiong replied 15...a6. White to play.

White had to play 16. Nd6!, when he has a much better structure and good chances to win. Maghsoodloo went wrong and had to suffer. Xiong now leads the leaderboard with 7.5/9.

[Event "World Junior Chess Championship 2016"]
[Site "Bhubaneswar"]
[Date "2016.08.17"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Maghsoodloo, Parham"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2576"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2016.08.17"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6000+855"]
[WhiteClock "0:15:16"]
[BlackClock "0:47:03"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 g6 3. Bb2 Bg7 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 c5 8. e3 d5
9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Nc3 Qd7 11. d4 cxd4 12. Qxd4 Nc6 13. Qh4 Rad8 14. Rad1 Qc8 15.
Nb5 a6 16. Nbd4 $2 $15 (16. Nd6 $1 Rxd6 17. Rxd6 exd6 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Qxf6
$14 {White has a much better structure}) 16... Qa8 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. Rxd8 Rxd8
19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Qf4 Kg7 21. Ne1 Rd2 22. Qb4 Rxa2 23. Qxb6 Bd5 24. Qb4 Rb2 25.
Qb6 a5 26. Qb5 e6 27. Bxd5 Qxd5 28. Qxd5 exd5 29. Nf3 Rxb3 30. Rd1 Rb5 31. Nd4
Rb6 32. Nc2 Rc6 33. Nd4 Ra6 34. Nb5 a4 35. Nc7 Rc6 36. Ne8+ Kf8 37. Nxf6 Rxf6
38. Rxd5 Ra6 39. Kf1 a3 40. Rd1 Ke7 41. Ke1 a2 42. Ra1 Kd6 43. Kd2 Kd5 44. Kd3
Ra3+ 45. Kd2 h5 46. h3 g5 47. g4 h4 48. Kd1 Ke4 49. Ke2 f6 50. f3+ Kd5 51. Kd2
Kc4 52. Kc2 Rxe3 0-1

What is the crowd so eagerly looking at?

White to play: Karthikeyan, with the white pieces, was taking on Polish IM Nasuta Grzegorz and had gone all in for the attack, but it turns out that Black is ahead here.

[Event "World Junior Chess Championship 2016"]
[Site "Bhubaneswar"]
[Date "2016.08.17"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Karthikeyan, Murali"]
[Black "Nasuta, Grzegorz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2514"]
[BlackElo "2442"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2016.08.17"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6000+1560"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:35"]
[BlackClock "0:00:33"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Nfd7 8. Bg2
Be7 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qe2 O-O 11. O-O-O Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Qa5 13. Kb1 Rb8 14. Qd2 Qc7
15. f4 b5 16. f5 Ne5 17. Ne2 Bb7 18. Ng3 Rfc8 19. h4 Nc4 20. Qd3 e5 21. Ba7 Ra8
22. Bf2 b4 23. g5 a5 24. f6 Ba6 25. fxe7 Na3+ 26. bxa3 Bxd3 27. e8=Q+ Rxe8 28.
Rxd3 bxa3 29. Ne2 Rec8 30. Nc3 Rab8+ 31. Kc1 Rb2 32. Kd2 Qc4 33. Rc1 Qb4 34.
Be1 Rxa2 35. Kd1 Rb2 36. Nd5 Rbxc2 37. Bxb4 Rxc1+ 38. Ke2 a2 39. Ne7+ Kh8 40.
Nxc8 axb4 0-1

IM Nasuta Grzegorz (2442) is the only player on 7.0/9 and is placed second.

GM Vladislav Artemiev is slowly clawing back into contention and is on 6.5/9.

Aravindh Chithambaram and Murali Karthikeyan are the best among the Indians in the field.

Seven players made 9-game IM norms -- Parham Maghsoodloo, Xu Yinglun, Irakli Beradze, Bozidar Ivekovic, Harsha Bharathakoti, Srijit Paul and Rakesh Kumar Jena. Odisha's local star FM Rakesh Kumar Jena brought in the much-needed cheer for the local camp with his second IM norm in his career.

A draw in the final round, from a better position, against Praggnanandhaa R. meant that Rajdeep Sarkar missed out on his chance.

Standings after Round 09:

Rank		Name	IRtg	Club	Type	Pts	Res.	BH.	BH.	BL	Vict
1	GM	Xiong Jeffery	2633	USA	U16	7½	0	46	50½	5	6
2	IM	Nasuta Grzegorz	2442	POL	U20	7	0	42½	46½	5	5
3		Xu Yinglun	2516	CHN	U20	6½	0	46	49½	4	4
4	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2665	RUS	U18	6½	0	44	47½	4	5
5		Ivekovic Bozidar	2351	CRO	U20	6½	0	41	43½	4	6
6	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2514	IND	U18	6	0	47½	52	4	5
7	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2543	IND	U18	6	0	46	50	4	4
8		Maghsoodloo Parham	2576	IRI	U16	6	0	45½	48½	4	4
9	IM	Svane Rasmus	2546	GER	U20	6	0	44	47½	5	4
10		Beradze Irakli	2440	GEO	U20	6	0	42½	45½	4	4

Complete Standings

The girls'section saw some fireworks as the Russian derby at the first table between WIM Alina Bivol and WIM Dinara Dordzhieva ended in a win for Alina, who was playing with the black pieces.

WIM Alina Bivol (2362) won a fairly easy game

[Event "World Junior Girls Chess Championship"]
[Site "Bhubaneswar"]
[Date "2016.08.17"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dordzhieva, Dinara"]
[Black "Bivol, Alina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2304"]
[BlackElo "2362"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2016.08.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6000+970"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:26"]
[BlackClock "0:15:46"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. O-O b5 6. a4 Bb7 7. d3 cxd3 8. Ne5
b4 9. Nxd3 e6 10. Qc2 Be7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. Nc4 Qc8 13. Na5 Qc7 14. Nxb7 Qxb7 15.
a5 Rc8 16. Bd2 Nd5 17. Qc4 Nd7 18. e4 N5f6 19. Nxb4 Ne5 20. Qc3 Rd8 21. Ra4
Rab8 22. Qxe5 Rxd2 23. Nxc6 Rc8 24. Nxe7+ Qxe7 25. Qb5 Qc7 26. Rb4 Qc2 27. Qb7
Rd7 28. Qb5 Rd2 29. Qb7 Rd7 30. Qa6 Ng4 31. h3 Ne5 32. Qb5 f6 33. f4 Rd2 34.
Bf3 Nxf3+ 35. Rxf3 Rg2+ 36. Kf1 Rh2 0-1

The top seed WGM Dinara Saduakassova drew with...

...Filipino WIM Frayna Janelle Mae.

Thus, Alina and Frayna now lead the girls' section with 7.0/9.

WIM Dinara Dordzhieva

WIM Dinara Dordzhieva, despite losing her game, made a WGM norm, while WFM Alinasab Mobina of Iran and India's Priyanka K. made WIM norms.

WIM Nandhidhaa Pv's Sicilian was attacked viciously by Michele Catherina, who succeeded in beating her, also moving to 6.5/9.

[Event "World Junior Girls Chess Championship"]
[Site "Bhubaneswar"]
[Date "2016.08.17"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Michelle Catherina, P."]
[Black "Nandhidhaa, Pv"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2205"]
[BlackElo "2151"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.08.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 Nf6 8.
O-O Be7 9. f4 d6 10. a4 O-O 11. Kh1 Bd7 12. Nb3 b6 13. Bf3 Rfe8 14. g4 Bc8 15.
g5 Nd7 16. Bg2 Bb7 17. Rf3 g6 18. Rh3 Bf8 19. Qe1 Bg7 20. Qh4 Nf8 21. Qf2 Nd7
22. f5 Bxc3 23. bxc3 exf5 24. Qh4 Nf8 25. exf5 Ne5 26. Rf1 Bxg2+ 27. Kxg2 Qxc3
28. Nd4 Qc4 29. Kg1 Rac8 30. Rf4 Qc3 31. Bc1 Qa1 32. Rf1 Rc4 33. Be3 Qxa4 34.
fxg6 Nexg6 35. Qf2 Qd7 36. Nf5 Re6 37. Nh6+ Kg7 38. Bd4+ Ne5 39. Bxe5+ dxe5 40.
Qxf7+ Qxf7 41. Rxf7+ Kg6 42. Rxf8 Kxg5 43. Nf7+ Kg6 44. Rg3+ Kh5 45. Rh8 h6 46.
Nxh6 Rxh6 47. Rh3+ Kg4 48. R3xh6 Rxc2 49. Rf8 1-0

Standings after Round 09:

Rank		Name		IRtg	Club	Type	Pts	Res.	BH.	BH.	BL	Vict
1	WIM	Frayna Janelle Mae	F	2292	PHI	U20	7	1	47	51	5	5
2	WIM	Bivol Alina	F	2362	RUS	U20	7	0	47	52	5	6
3	WIM	Dordzhieva Dinara	F	2304	RUS	U18	6½	0	48½	51½	4	5
4	WGM	Saduakassova Dinara	F	2423	KAZ	U20	6½	0	48	51½	4	4
5	IM	Rodriguez Rueda Paula Andrea	F	2321	COL	U20	6½	0	44½	49	5	6

Complete Standings

Pairings for Round 09:

Open

Girls

Games in PGN