Youth chess championships are returning to over-the-board play after the pandemic hiatus. Rapid and Blitz Championships in Rhodes at the end of April became the first mass event for young players, followed by World School Individual Championships in Panama. On September 5, the Romanian beach resort of Mamaia took over the baton.
Altogether, 620 players from 72 federations participate in six tournaments: Open and Girls under 14, 16, and 18. Naturally, the host Romania is represented by the highest number of players, 84. Among other large delegations are Poland (24 players), Kazakhstan (21), Spain (20), and Ukraine (19).
The Opening Ceremony took place in the playing hall at 14:30 on Tuesday, September 6th. Among the dignitaries present were the ambassadors of Armenia, India and Serbia, the consul of Egypt, the President of Constanta County, Vice-Mayor of Constanta Municipality and President of Romanian Chess Federation. In addition to all the dignitaries, Tournament Director on behalf of Organizing Committee, Chief Arbiter on behalf of arbiter team and FIDE Technical Delegate on behalf of FIDE, addressed to all present participants.
FIDE Anthem was played prior to the speech of FIDE Technical Delegate.
Ambassadors symbolically played first moves at randomly chosen boards among players from their federations.
The likes of young stars Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Keymer, Sarin, and Praggnanandhaa, storming 2700 and top-30 lists, are missing from the event. Nevertheless, the lineups promise a great fight, high-quality games, and many outstanding young talents to follow.
To name a few, FM Arthur de Winter (Netherlands), who tops the starting list in the Open U14 section, is the #6 rated 14-year-old in the world. Rating-favourite in the Open U16, Indian IM Pranav Anand, is very close to breaking 2500 and will try to make his famous namesake proud by living up to expectations.
WFM Alexandra Shvedova, rating-favourite in Girls U14, was European Champion U10 in 2018. Four years later, she’s storming the world championship title. Eline Roebers (Netherlands) is topping the Girls U16 starting list. She’s the world’s second-rated girl under 16 years of age. This winter, Roebers made headlines by becoming the first-ever female winner of the Untergrombach Open by defeating GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov in the final round. Famous chess YouTuber Agadmator showed this game on his channel. In 2020, the Dutch phenomenon won the World Championship U14, held online due to the pandemic.
The event will stretch for 11 rounds and finish on September 16.
The first three rounds have shown that the top-seeded players would not have an easy task securing the titles. Among 31 participants with perfect scores, only WFM Alexandra Shvedova (FID, Girls U-14) and Eline Roebers (NED, Girls U-16) are the only two top-seeded players.
Youth championships are massive forums; alongside participants, they attract many accompanying persons. Mamaia hosts a few additional events to benefit trainers and parents during this event: the FIDE Arbiter seminar from 7-11 September, the FIDE trainer seminar from 7-12 September, and events with Chesskid.com and Chess.com.
Photo: Mark Livshitz
Official website of the World Youth Championships: worldyouth2022.com/
