Two more rounds were played at the FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023. That means a lot of hard work, both for the participants and for the reporters. But hard work is not the same as tedious work. On the contrary: as spectators, we’re getting a lot of value for our money.
Round 7
All eyes were on the leader, China facing Armenia and especially on their star player Miaoyi Lu, who still had a perfect 100% score going into Round 7.
Miaoyi Lu – Nvard Hayrapetyan
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 Bg4 7. O-O Nxd4 8. Qe1+ Ne6?!
The knight is awkwardly placed here. 8…Be7 would have been better, allowing Black to achieve a normal development after moves like 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. Qe5 Nf6.
9. Ne5 Bf5 10. c4!
White seizes the opportunity and forcefully opens the center.
10… Nf6 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. g4 Bxb1
This seems to win a tempo since White has to capture back. After
13. Rxb1 Be7
It seems like Black can finally castle. However, she doesn’t get the chance:
14. Qe4 Ndc7
After 14…Nec7, 15. Rd1 follows, winning material.
15. Qa4+ b5 16. Bc6+ Kf8 17. Qe4
Black’s castling is prevented, and the rook on a8 becomes trapped.
17…Rc8 18. Bb7 Bd6 19. Bxc8 Qxc8 20. Le3 f6
21. f4! Nd8 After 21…fxe5 22. fxe5+ Black is in check. White regains the piece with interest and also obtains a dangerously advanced passed pawn.
22. Rbd1 Ne8 23. Kh1 Qe6 24. Bxc5 fxe5 25. fxe5+ Kg8 26. Bxd6 Nf7 27. Qd5 Qg6 28. Rf4 h5 29. Rdf1 Nf6 30. exf6 1-0
A textbook example of punishing opening mistakes.
With two draws on the top boards, China seemed to be heading for victory. Xiangrui Kong appeared to be holding well against Benik Agasarov, until it all went terribly wrong towards the end:
Black played the unfortunate 85…Qe4?? (Black could have held with something like 85…f4 ) and then after 86.Nf4+ Kg4 87.Qg6+ White delivered checkmate. 1-0
China suffered their first defeat in a game and conceded their first match point in the tournament after tying the match with Armenia.
China is now at 13 match points after seven rounds; Armenia follows with 11 points. They are joined in the battle for second place by Kazakhstan 1, who won 2½-1½ against Uzbekistan, and Turkey, who defeated Ukraine 3-1. Uzbek player Afruza Khamdamova, along with Miaoyi Lu, was the only player with a 100% score before this round, but she had to settle for a draw after 119 moves against Alua Nurmanova.
The game between Asronjon Omonov and Edgar Mamedov ended in a disaster for the white player.
It might seem like there’s not much going on, but three moves later, it was all over for White:
56.h5?? Rcd8 57.Rf1?? Nf4
Suddenly, it’s Black who delivers checkmate! After 58.Bxf4 Rd1 Asronjon stopped the clock. 0-1
Eray Kilic took advantage of opponent Vladyslav Fishchuk’s overconfidence in the middle game, where Fishchuk moved his central pawns enthusiastically, leaving a few pieces hanging. Eray’s teammate Elifnaz Akat initially had less space after the opening and stood worse, until her opponent Roman Kovalskyi blundered in the following position:
24.Nb6??
The wrong piece. After 24.Bb6 Qd7 25.Rbd1, White stands much better.
24…dxe5! Suddenly, Black takes control.
25.Nxc8 exd4 26.Bxb7 Bxc8 27.Qd5
Black is winning, and on move 53, she delivered checkmate. 0-1
The first Dutch team secured a 2½-1½ victory against the well-performing Bangladesh. Yichen Han sacrificed a piece for two pawns but didn’t get the type of play he was looking for and eventually had to capitulate after defending for a long time. Arthur de Winter won a crucial pawn in the opening and gradually expanded his advantage into a win. In Prajit Sai Kumar’s game, the advantage swung back and forth, but in the end, White’s attack proved stronger than Black’s. Dana Verheij found herself in a difficult position in a queenless middlegame but managed to secure a crucial half-point for her team.
Round 8
China secured victory in the Olympiad with one round to go. They defeated Hungary 4-0, a team that, on paper, wasn’t expected to lag behind China (with only a 49-point difference in average rating). This means that Miaoyi Lu still maintains a perfect score. Congratulations to the Chinese team, who, with 15 match points and 27½ board points, have an insurmountable lead: second-placed Turkey, after a 3½-½ victory against Kazakhstan, is 2 match points and 5 board points behind. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus achieved a swift win after his opponent Daniyal Sapenov greedily grabbed a central pawn on move 19:
The game continued with the daring 19…Nxe4?! 20.Ba7 Rxf4 21.Rd4, and here Black made a serious mistake with 21…Nxc3?. White’s advantage grew considerably after 22.Qxe6+ Rf7 23.Bxb8 d5 24.Re1, and a few moves later, Black resigned. 1-0
Armenia and Azerbaijan drew 2-2. The game between Khagan Ahmad and Erik R. Gasparyan exemplifies what can go wrong for White in the Novosibirsk Variation of the Sveshnikov Sicilian:
If White now calmly continues with 14.0-0, there would be no issues. However, he made an instructive mistake 14.cxb5? Black responded to this flank action with the classic Sicilian counteraction in the center: 14…d5!. It is a key move in virtually every Sicilian, and this situation is no exception. After 15.bxa6 0-0 16.0-0 fxe4 17.Bb5 Rd8, Black gained a powerful block of central pawns. Black’s advantage remained unchallenged, and it was a matter of time when the Tetris block started moving. Once that happened, White had no chance. 0-1
Netherlands 1 lost 2½-1½ against Austria. Yichen Han played a draw in a game that hasn’t strayed far from equality. In the endgame, Prajit Sai Kumar failed to neutralize Black’s passed pawn while trying to protect his own kingside pawns, leading to the pawn becoming an increasingly troublesome presence on the board. Dana Verheij didn’t find the strongest defence and succumbed to weaknesses around her king. Arthur de Winter won, although it required a fair share of luck:
The position here is evaluated as 0.0 according to the engines. However, in the next five moves, the Lichess engine gives out 11 question marks. This once again demonstrates that positions with opposite-side castling and mutual attacks are incredibly difficult to play. Mistakes are always lurking in such razor-sharp positions, and finding the only correct move is often a challenging task.
33…Qa4?? (33…bxc4) 34.h4 Rh8?? (33…Bxc4) 35.b3?? (35.hxg5) Qb4 36.h5? (36.hxg5) a5 37.Qb7?? (37.Rd6) a4 38.Qf3?? (38.Qe4) bxc4 and Black launched a winning attack. 0-1
Standings:
After 8 rounds in the Olympiad, China secured victory with 15 points. Turkey is second with 13 points, followed by Armenia, Kazakhstan 1, and Austria with 12 points. Medals are out of reach for the Dutch teams. Netherlands 1 has 10 points and is in 10th place. Netherlands 3 has 8 points and is in 35th place; just behind is Netherlands 2 with 7 points, and Netherlands 4 is in 47th place with 6 points.
The final ninth round will be played today.
Text: Michael van Liempt
Photos: Lennart Ootes and Frans Peeters
Official website: youtholympiad2023.fide.com/
