Breaking…Russian GM Mikhail Antipov is the new world junior champion, catching front-runner Jan-Krzystzof Duda of Poland with a last-round win Tuesday and claiming the Under-20 title on tiebreaks in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. WFM Nataliya Buksa of Ukraine was the surprise winner of the junior women’s crown, a half-point clear of WIM Bivol Alina of Russia and WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan.
It’s lost a little of its juice in recent years, but the title of “World Junior Champion” is still a pretty cool line to have on your resume.
With one round to go in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda is trying to hold off hard-charging Russian GM Mikhail Antipov in the Open tournament, while unheralded WFM Nataliya Buksa has surged to the top of the World Junior Girls’ Championship, with Kazakh WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya the only one with a chance to catch her. Play concludes Tuesday and we’ll have updated results at washingtontimes.com.
Ex-world champions such as Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand were also world junior champions, but in recent years, many of the top under-20 stars prefer to compete at the grown-ups’ table. Some of the best younger players, including new Chinese superstar GM Wei Yi and 14-year-old American prodigy GM Sam Sevian, opted to compete in the concurrent FIDE World Cup knockout event now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Still, some fine players have used the junior title as a springboard to greater things in recent years, including French No. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna.
And the lack of star power hasn’t hurt the quality of the play in Russia. Chinese IM Jinshi Bai earned his first grandmaster norm at the 2014 World Junior event, but he was on the wrong end of one of the best attacking games at Khanty-Mansiysk, falling to Dutch IM Jorden Van Foreest in a short, sharp Taimanov Sicilian.
Van Foreest as White offers a speculative pawn sacrifice with 11. 0-0-0!? Bxc3 (accepting the challenge) 12. Qxc3 Nxe4 15. Qe3 f6 14. Bg3, when Black might have consolidated his material edge with 14…Qe7 15. f3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 h6, and White’s compensation may not be enough.
Instead, the young Chinese IM “castles into it” with 14…0-0?!, and finds his position increasingly constricted after 15. f3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 f5 17. Bc4 Re8 18. Rd6. With White pressing in the center and on the open h-file, it takes only one defensive lapse for Black’s game to collapse.
Thus: 19. Qe5 Re7? (Black had to defend his queen with 19…Rac8! 20. Kb1 g6 21. Rhd1 a5 and it’s still a game) 20. g4! (premature was 20. Rxe6? dxe6 21. Bxe6+ Kh8 22. Rxh7+ Kxh7, and Black defends) fxg4 (see diagram; the point of White’s 20th move was to clear the path to the h-file for the queen) 21. Rxe6!! dxe6 (Qxe5 22. Rxe7+ d5 23. Rxe5 dxc4 24. fxg4 and White has a big edge) 22. Bxe6+! Kf8 (Rxe6 23. Qxc7, while 22…Kh8 loses to 23. Rxh7+! Kxh7 24. Qh5 mate) 23. Rxh7!, when 23…Qxe5 allows 24. Rh8 mate.
It’s already too late to organize a defense, as Black’s king is caught in a withering mating attack. It’s over after 25. Qxg7+ Kxe6 (White is also totally winning on 25…Kd6 26. Qf6 Qd8 27. Qf4+ Kc6 28. Bxd7+ Kxd7 29. Qd2+ Kc7 30. Rxd8) 26. Qxg4+ Ke7 (Ke5 27. Rh5+ Kf6 28. Rh6+ Kf7 29. Qe6+ Kf8 30. Rh8 Ke8 31. Rh8 mate) 27. Qg5+ Kf7 28. Rh7+ Ke6 29. Rh6+, and Black resigns ahead of 29…Kf7 30. Qf6+ Kg8 31. Rh8 mate.
Van Foreest-Bai, World Junior Championship, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, September 2015
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Qf3 Bb4 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bd4 c5 10. Be5 Bb7 11. O-O-O Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Nxe4 13. Qe3 f6 14. Bg3 O-O 15. f3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 f5 17. Bc4 Re8 18. Rd6 Qc7 19. Qe5 Re7 20. g4 fxg4 21. Rxe6 dxe6 22. Bxe6+ Kf8 23. Rxh7 Rd7 24. Rh8+ Ke7 25. Qxg7+ Kxe6 26. Qxg4+ Ke7 27. Qg5+ Kf7 28. Rh7+ Ke6 29. Rh6+ Black resigns.
• David R. Sands be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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