Focus on junior players
Now that world class players are getting younger than ever, focus has centered on the junior world championship, the spawning ground for senior world champions.
While Wilhelm Steinitz claimed the senior world championship in 1886, the junior world championship was started only in 1951. The enterprising Englishman, William Ritson-Morry, conceived the idea of an under-20 junior world champion. It was held every two years until 1973, when a yearly schedule was passed and adopted by the 1973 FIDE Congress.
The first junior world championship was held in 1951 in Birmingham, England. Then there were only 11 entries and Yugoslavia’s Borislav Ivkov topped the all-play-all event.
In 1953 in Copenhagen, Denmark, there were 20 participants, and the tourney had preliminary and final phases. Oscar Panno (Argentina), emerged winner. 1955 saw the Soviets formally entering the championship. Their entry Boris Spassky won handily the tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1957 in Toronto, Canada, William Lombardy (USA), literally pitched a no-hitter, the most convincing win to date, when he went 11 out of 11.
The junior world champion automatically becomes a grand master. The past junior champions have invariably made names for themselves upon graduation to the ranks of seniors. Four previous champions, Spassky, Karpov 1969 Stockholm (Sweden), Kasparov 1980 Dortmund (Germany), and Anand 1987 Baguio (Philippines) have gone on to win the world championship.
This year, the 58th Junior World Championship took place Oct. 15-26 in New Delhi, India. There were 94 participants in the 11-round Swiss system event. Evgeny Shtembuliak of Ukraine, had a grand time, copping first with an unblemished 9.0/11 slate.
In the 37th Girls Championship, Polina Shubalova of Russia, ran away with the gold, scoring an impressive 9.5 out of 11.
* * * Meanwhile, Chinese Wang Hao delivered in the final two rounds, then edged American Fabiano Caruana in tie-break, to win the FIDE Grand Swiss in Douglas, Isle of Man.
The 30-year-old Wang, ranked 18th in the world, beat former world champion Vishy Anand (India) and England’s David Howell in rounds 10th and 11th, to become the fifth player to make it to next year’s Candidates tournament.
Now he is heading to Ekaterina, Russia, to join early qualifiers Caruana, Azeri Teimour Radjabov, compatriot Ding Liren and Dutchman Anish Giri.
Three spots are still to be determined to complete the elite eight-player field. If this remarkable brevity is not the best attacking game in the tournament, then it is certainly the most entertaining.