World Youth Chess Championship 2015

National developments, strategies and ideas.
Adam Ashton
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Adam Ashton » Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:40 pm

Alan Walton wrote:Looking at the game in my view it was full of inaccuracies; Akshaya was clearly better in the early middle game then drifted into a worse position where Black horribly blundered into the lost position, then Akshaya missed numerous chances to finish it off a lot earlier, then came the final error leading into the RvN endgame
I think some of Akshaya's play early on was quite impressive. Seemed to switch off a bit when winning unfortunately but we've all been there. Crunch game tomorrow so best of luck to her.

NickFaulks
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:32 am

Alan Walton wrote:Looking at the game in my view it was full of inaccuracies
Can we assume that is the view of a computer?
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Alan Walton
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Alan Walton » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:40 am

NickFaulks wrote:
Alan Walton wrote:Looking at the game in my view it was full of inaccuracies
Can we assume that is the view of a computer?
Some of it was, but I think I am good enough to understand positions without relying on computers all the time

A couple of simple points, when drifting from the better position the piece play seemed to be going backwards instead of pushing the advantage forward; and black's simple error not putting the knight on f6 and onto b6 instead

LawrenceCooper
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:32 pm


John Higgs
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by John Higgs » Sun Nov 01, 2015 6:14 am

"I'm not the one who got it wrong. I'm the only one who got it right". Carrie Mathison.

LawrenceCooper
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sun Nov 01, 2015 2:28 pm


Brian Towers
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Brian Towers » Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:19 pm

Looks like Akshaya's opponent resigned and then they put the kings on the wrong squares.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Roger Lancaster » Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:30 pm

Loss for Dhruv, unfortunately.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sun Nov 01, 2015 6:38 pm

Brian Towers wrote:Looks like Akshaya's opponent resigned and then they put the kings on the wrong squares.
Seriously, what is the purpose of this rigmarole. People seem to get it wrong almost as often as not :roll: :lol:
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John Higgs
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by John Higgs » Sun Nov 01, 2015 7:08 pm

"I'm not the one who got it wrong. I'm the only one who got it right". Carrie Mathison.

Mike Truran
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Mike Truran » Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:58 pm

I know I shouldn't be negative, but what is the number 7 seed doing down in 67th place?

LawrenceCooper
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sun Nov 01, 2015 10:00 pm

Mike Truran wrote:I know I shouldn't be negative, but what is the number 7 seed doing down in 67th place?
Bear in mind that Ravi had an amazing summer and gained around 200 rating points at the Politiken & Vienna. Had he been ranked according to his August rating at this event he would be 55th seed. He's more than capable of a good finish but performing to his new rating in a junior event was always going to be a big ask.

Richard Bates
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Richard Bates » Sun Nov 01, 2015 10:42 pm

Frankly it also shows how this 40 K-factor thing is just at best an imperfect fix to the fact that FIDE ratings for juniors are a complete and utter mess (and why the ECF should be extremely wary of going down the route of ELO ratings). Having (as you highlighted) gained 200 pts in the last couple of months, he would have been losing 80 of them back had his K-factor not been fixed at 10 as a result of hitting 2400. Of course much of this tournament can presumably be put down to the fact of opponents being significantly under-rated as the possibility that he is a little bit "over-rated".

Brian Towers
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Brian Towers » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:39 am

Richard Bates wrote:Frankly it also shows how this 40 K-factor thing is just at best an imperfect fix to the fact that FIDE ratings for juniors are a complete and utter mess (and why the ECF should be extremely wary of going down the route of ELO ratings). Having (as you highlighted) gained 200 pts in the last couple of months, he would have been losing 80 of them back had his K-factor not been fixed at 10 as a result of hitting 2400. Of course much of this tournament can presumably be put down to the fact of opponents being significantly under-rated as the possibility that he is a little bit "over-rated".
Did you read that through, Richard, before posting just to check the logic?
You see, to me it reads like this. You make an abrasively controversial claim in the first sentence only to then go on and provide evidence that that statement is wrong in the next two sentences.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Leonard Barden
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Re: World Youth Chess Championship 2015

Post by Leonard Barden » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:43 am

I think Mike's question is legitimate, and is not fully answered by the replies above.

One could also ask what a player who just a few months ago began the British championship with 3.5/5 and had winning positions there against two grandmasters, is doing down in 126th place with a minus score.

Ravi has not been a one-event wonder, he scored 7/11 in the 2014 British and as far as junior events go had a good result in the European U18 teams.

As for the true reasons, I suggest that one can be found in the daily reports on the ECF website by the team leader, which (along with a detailed report of Halloween celebrations) reveals that the England delegation totals 79(!) people. Jeez.

Compare that to the small, experienced groups that went to World Youth events in years like 1992 and 1998 when we actually won titles and medals.

In Greece the overall team score after 7 of 11 rounds is below 45%, with only two players +2 or better, and a few with significant minus scores. One has to question both the selection process, and the wisdom of sending such large numbers.

Actually, I think that the best talents are wise to steer clear of these events. Luke McShane only competed once (in a Euro U12 when he was ambushed by Ponomariov) between the world U10 and the world U20. This was deliberate policy by his father.

After David Howell, like Ravi, shed a bucketload of rating points in an U14 event, I advised his father not to play youth events until U18/U20 where the ratings are more stable and there is a chance of a GM norm So for the next few years David played in the Isle of Man in preference to the World Youth, and when he returned to junior events he missed the World U20 title by a whisker.

So that would be my advice to Ravi, too. It would be consistent with his brave and ambitious decision to use his 2400 rating to take on the elite, including even Magnus Carlsen ,at Qatar in December.

Alex Golding has to learn not to allow a single defeat after a good start to trigger a run of bad results, as it did in Coventry and now has again in Greece. Decades ago Boris Spassky told me he had a similar problem, but overcame it with help from his coach Bondarevsky and "now I feel that a defeat makes me stronger in the next game"-though it didn't work for Boris in Reykjavik.