2012 World Youth Chess Championships

Polish GM Dariusz  Swiercz, 2011 World Junior Champion, playing for Gold at the World Youth

The 2012 World Youth Chess Championships are taking place this November 7 - 19, 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia.  There are 1587 juniors, including 214 titled players (5 GMs).  This prestigious event has 12 sections, separated by age and gender - there is an Open and Girls Section for the following 6 age groups: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18.  Note: for all references in this post, GU18 means Girls U18 section, etc.

Titles and Norms Available in the Open sections:

• Gold medal in U18 = 9-game GM Norm, IM title
• Equal 1st* in U18 = IM title.
• Silver or Bronze in U18 = FM Title.
• Gold medal in U16 = 9-game IM Norm, FM title
• Equal 1st* in U8, U10, U12, U14 or U16 = FM title
• Silver or Bronze in U8, U10, U12, U14 or U16 = CM title

Titles and Norms Available in the Girls sections:

• Gold medal in Girls U18 = 9-game WGM Norm, WIM title
• Equal 1st* in Girls U18 = WIM title.
• Silver or Bronze in Girls U18 = WFM Title
• Gold medal in Girls U16 = 9-game WIM Norm, WFM title
• Equal 1st* in Girls U8, U10, U12, U14 or U16 = WFM title
• Silver or Bronze in Girls U8, U10, U12, U14 or U16 = WCM title

* For equal first, there must at most 3 players tied for first


In 2010, 187 FIDE titles were awarded at the World Youth, including 7 GM Titles, 20 IM Titles and 60 FM Titles.


Notable Past U18 Gold Medal Winners:

1991: GM Vladimir Kramnik (2795), currently #3 in the world, 2006-7 World Champion
1994: GM Peter Svidler (2747), #16 in the world
1997: GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2735), #19 in the world, 2002-4 FIDE World Champion
2003: GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2748), #14 in the world


Recent USA World Youth Gold Medal Winners:
2011: FM Awonder Liang (2010), won on tiebreaks ahead of FM Aravind Lam (1965) in U8
2010: IM Steven Zierk (2475), finished 1 point ahead of 2nd, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2580) in U18
2007: IM Daniel Naroditsky (2483) won on tiebreaks ahead of GM Illya Nyzhnyk (2620) in U12
2005: GM Alex Lenderman (2614) finished 1/2 point ahead of 2nd-3rd, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2704) and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2705) in U16

2012 World Youth Title Statistics:

Section:	GM	IM	FM	CM	WGM	WIM	WFM	WCM	# USA	# Players
U18	5	13	20	1					2	112
U16		4	19	3					2	130
U14		2	10	2					6	169
U12			10	8			1		18	195
U10			5	8					7	195
U8									17	136
GU18			1		2	10	13	6	1	80
GU16						3	10	4	4	106
GU14				1		1	10	6	8	119
GU12						1	7	8	6	124
GU10			1				6	13	11	129
GU8								1	7	92
Total	5	19	66	23	2	15	46	38	89	1587

Top Seeds in each Section (Nation, October FIDE Rating):
U18: GM Dariusz Swiercz (POL, 2609)
GU18: WGM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2391)
U16: IM Urii Eliseev (RUS, 2486)
GU16: WIM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (IRI, 2302)
U14: IM Alexander Doncheko (GER, 2411)
GU14: WIM Furtado Ivana Maria (IND, 2119)
U12: Samuel Sevian (USA, 2336)
GU12: WIM Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ, 2174)
U10: Andrey Esipenko (RUS, 2120)
GU10: Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (RUS, 1954)
U8: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 1949)
GU8: WFM Bibissara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 1698)

Top American Players (Seed #, October FIDE Rating, October USCF Rating):
U18: SM Robert Perez (28, 2355, 2508)
GU18: WCM Anna Matlin (28, 2064, 2168)
U16: LM Michael William Brown (26, 2270, 2383)
GU16: WCM Sarah Chiang (16, 2099, 2230)
U14: FM Kayden Troff (8, 2312, 2401)
GU14: WFM Kimberly Ding (15, 1999, 2049)
U12: LM Samuel Sevian (1, 2336, 2446), FM Jeffrey Xiong (2, 2236, 2414), NM Cameron Wheeler (5, 2127, 2240)
GU12: Ashritha Eswaran (6, 1924, 1861)
U10: NM Praveen Balakrishnan (2, 2083, 2178), FM Awonder Liang (4, 2010, 2135)
GU10: WFM Annie Wang (3, 1809, 1976)
U8: Eric Wang (23, 1474, 1632)
GU8: Jessica Rattray (68, Unr, 1210)

USA Team Coaches for World Youth: GM Ben Finegold, GM Joel Benjamin, GM Nick De Firmian, GM John Fedorowicz, GM Alejandro Ramirez, GM Gennady Zaitchik, GM Sam Palatnik, IM Armen Ambartsoumian, IM Andranik Matikozyan, IM John Bartholomew, IM Jan van de Mortel
Head of Delegation: FST Michael Khodarkovsky

Stay posted for an report at the end of the tournament (November 19).