Sunway Sitges International 2018

[Tim Harding]

Round 1 this afternoon saw 2nd seed Vasil Ivanchuk crushed in under an hour by a 12-year-old Indian:

[Event "5th Sunway Sitges International"] [Site "chess24.com"] [Date "2018.12.14"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Sreeshwan Maralakshikari"] [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A67"] [WhiteElo "2244"] [BlackElo "2717"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.12.14"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Bb5+ Nfd7 9. Nf3 a6 10. Bd3 b5 11. O-O O-O 12. Kh1 Re8 13. a3 c4 14. Bc2 Nc5 15. Nd4 Bg4 16. Qxg4 Bxd4 17. f5 Nbd7 18. fxg6 fxg6 19. e5 Bxe5 $4 (19... Bxc3 20. bxc3 Nxe5 {Black is better according to online Stockfish}) 20. Bxg6 hxg6 21. Qxg6+ Bg7 22. Qf7+ Kh8 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Bg5 Qc8 25. Qf7+ Kh8 26. Rf4 1-0

[Leonard Barden]

The final paragraphs of today's Guardian article discuss the chances of Dommaraju Gukesh, who won his opening round at Sitges today, breaking Karjakin's GM age record of 12 years 7 months.
Gukesh, now 12 years 6 months, has a live raring of 2490 going into Sitges and needs his third and final norm for the record.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/ ... g#comments

Also I notice that there is just one English player in this very strong open. He is 16-year-old Max French, of Millfield School, rated 2059,who made a fine start today by drawing as Black against 2398-rated Piotr Korobov of Ukraine.

Congratulations to Max's teacher GM Matthew Turner (I hope that's right).

[NickFaulks]

Round 1 this afternoon saw 2nd seed Vasil Ivanchuk crushed in under an hour by a 12-year-old Indian

And with the GM taking most of that time. These pre-teen Indians seem to be coming through on a conveyor belt.

[Kevin Thurlow]

And I saw Praggnanandhaa in action in Reykjavik earlier this year. "Remember the name", I said in a report I wrote.

I can understand the family of Shreyas Royal wanting to stay in UK (and he has spent most of his life here), but I was never convinced by the argument that his chess development would suffer in India.

Ivanchuk has his off days, but Sreeshwan looks quite useful.

[Leonard Barden]

I reckon that Ivanchuk as a former world No2 may be the strongest victim of a pre-teen opponent in all chess history.

I tried to think of a better precedent but could only come up with Morphy v Lowenthal 1850. There is also Alekhine v Pomar 1944 but that was only a draw.

Impressive that in the same tournament India should have one 12-year-old setting a world age record and another (Gukesh, see link to my article above) going for a different world age record.

Pragg is also playing at Sitges but paradoxically only drew in round one against a 2153.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"There is also Alekhine v Pomar 1944 but that was only a draw."

One pupil at a school where I tried to encourage chess said his family included a great player. The boy said he was Pomar's grandson!

[Leonard Barden]

I notice that there is just one English player in this very strong open. He is 16-year-old Max French, of Millfield School, rated 2059,who made a fine start today by drawing as Black against 2398-rated Piotr Korobov of Ukraine.

Congratulations to Max's teacher GM Matthew Turner (I hope that's right).

Another excellent result today for the lone English player in this very strong open. Max French drew in round two with IM Antonio Gual Pascal, rated almost 300 points above him at 2357.

[JustinHorton]

For the record, Antonio is his first name. Gual Pascual are surnames (apellidos).

[John Higgs]

The chess-results link for this event is: http://chess-results.com/tnr383044.aspx ... ES&flag=30

[Jonathan Rogers]

It's a very good start for Max, though I am not so surprised - he has a great temperament and has been improving consistently for a while now. Especially impressive that he should be doing this well as the only English player.

Yes, I think that Matt is his main chess influence.

[Leonard Barden]

I notice that there is just one English player in this very strong open. He is 16-year-old Max French, of Millfield School, rated 2059,who made a fine start today by drawing as Black against 2398-rated Piotr Korobov of Ukraine.

Congratulations to Max's teacher GM Matthew Turner (I hope that's right).

Another excellent result today for the lone English player in this very strong open. Max French drew in round two with IM Antonio Gual Pascal, rated almost 300 points above him at 2357.

Yet another notable draw today against a much higher-rated opponent in round three at Sitges for 2059-rated 16-year-old Max French, this time in a long game as Black against FM Gabriela Antova (2303), Bulgaria's No 4 woman.

Next up in tomorrow's fourth round is Algeria's No7, IM Henni Mohamed (2314). Max has White.

Dommaraju Gukesh, needing a 2600 TPR to beat Karjakin's world record as the youngest ever grandmaster, reached 2/2 but today lost tamely as White to the No6 seed GM Daniele Vocaturo (2629).

[Leonard Barden]

Max French, the Millfield 16-year-old, has finished Sitges this morning with 5/10 (+2=6-2). He is rated 2059, and every one of his opponents was at least 100 points higher, ranging from 2165 to 2398.

Max's TPR was 2290 and he gains 113 Fide points from the Sitges tournament.

He will jump several places in the England U16 rankings. Arguably Sitges rather than his historic rating represents his current strength, and 2290 would make him England No3 in his age group after FM Koby Kalavannan (2328) and FM Bozna Derakhshani (2325).

In former times, from the 1970s to Gawain Jones and David Howell, ambitious England juniors were ready to seek strong events on their own, but in recent years it has become the norm to go only in a group or to a major event at home.

So Max French deserves recognition for his enterprise going to Sitges alone and achieving such an excellent result. I reckon he should now be considered a candidate for competing in the World U20 Junior, for which he is eligible for the next four years. It's up to others to make such decisions, though. Are you viewing, Alex Holowczak? Are you viewing, John Higgs?

[Alex Holowczak]

Are you viewing, Alex Holowczak?

Yes. Although the World Junior is almost certainly going to be the bailiwick of the International Director rather than the Junior Director, as it was a few years ago, so you might want to add Malcolm Pein to your list of people...

[Leonard Barden]

Are you viewing, Alex Holowczak?

Yes. Although the World Junior is almost certainly going to be the bailiwick of the International Director rather than the Junior Director, as it was a few years ago, so you might want to add Malcolm Pein to your list of people...

Malcolm is a very rare visitor here (total 7 posts in 10 years) so perhaps you can bring the subject to his attention.

[Jonathan Rogers]

His 4NCL captain is viewing, if that is any consolation. I gather that Max's Indian opponent this morning is the highest rated U11 in the world, at 2276. (These days it would not wholly surprise me to read 2426).