World Junior Chess Championship U20 Recap
Let me first introduce myself, my name is Roman Gavrilin, known as “romkachess” across various social media platforms. I was born in 2003 and this is my final year on Junior Level, so I decided to use this last chance and participate in World Junior Chess Championship in Mexico. I participated in European Youth Chess Championships twice and it was always a dream to play in the World Championship and I am very lucky to have this opportunity. My current rating is 2156 and I still look forward to improving it and get above 2300.
Welcome to World Juniors 2023 (Hotel Del Prado)
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
- 11 rounds swiss system
- The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the 1st move
- No draw offers are allowed before 30 moves by both players, without the consent of the arbiter. All other regulations apply as per FIDE Handbook, including 15 minutes default time
- Tie-breaks: If two or more players are tied, the following tiebreaks will be used a) Results of direct encounters between the tied players (applies only if all tied players have played each other) b) Buchholz Cut 1 c) Buchholz d) The greater number of games played with black e) The Greater number of wins.
1ST ROUND
In the first round I was paired against an unrated kid and I didn't really know what to expect. After few moves I understood that it won't be too hard and the following game might be one of the easiest wins in my chess career.
The game finished in 40 minutes and I knew this would be the only game in the tournament where I didn't have to think at all and next opponents will be much stronger.
Round 2
IM Koelle Tobias (2458) was my second opponent of the tournament. I was playing with white pieces, I decided to play a line I've never played before and I think I got a good position from the opening. At this level you should try to surprise people cause their elo is a bit higher and you need to get them out of their comfort zone and I think I succeeded with that goal.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find the best moves in the end, we both had no time and he was more trickier, but this result is not bad considering the fact that I played this line for the first time. I was still a bit dissapointed because I missed a good chance, but this shows the difference between 2100 and 2400, it only motivates me to get better every single day.
Round 3
I expected to play a lower-rated opponent and I got 11 year-old Mexican kid with rating of 1772. In these types of tournament it is very important to be consistent and win against weaker opponents and then try to get points from higher-rated ones.
Round 4
In the 4th round I got Austrian IM Peyrer Konstantin (2430). He plays almost every possible opening and I analyzed almost everything except for the line which happened in the game)
Round 5
In round 5 I got paired against Italian FM Lumachi Gabriele (2399)
I got completely destroyed, I didn't have clear plan and allowed my opponent to open h-file and get the pieces around my king. 2,5/5 is the middle result and ai could think of some changes to be made during the rest day and just chill a little bit before the second part of the tournament.
Rest day
During the rest day, we visited teotihuacan pyramids.
Round 6
In round 6, I was facing a Mexican kid with rating of 1463. He was showing good perfomance beating higher-rated players, so I knew I shouldn't relax before I see 1-0 in the scoresheet.
Finally, I was able to win with white pieces, 3,5 points after 6 rounds and from now on I wanted to show my best chess to get the best outcome.
Round 7
In round 7, I was paired against very talented IM from Israel-17 year-old Levin,Guy (2409). Things didn't go according to my plan from the very first move. I was surprised by Trompovsky as his usual choice is either 1.Nf3 or 1.c4
Another loss from 2400. This is all a very great experience, but I need to do something with it and start doing better against these guys. It was the third loss of the tournament and I can't say I played worse, that's just small details that matter on this level. It is very hard when it comes to converting winning games or defending some very unpleasent positions. 3,5/7 seems like a very bad result, only half points scored, I really wanted to get above 50% mark in the final table.
Round 8
In round 8, I played a lower rated player again, but this time rating difference was only 186 rating points. This isn't easy and I knew I need to come up with something and surprised my opponent with the move I played few times which is d4!!! I decided to play London just to surprise my opponent and I got the line I studied 5 years ago with my coach, though I didn't even prepare it before the game.
4,5/8 and 3 more rounds to go. I wanted to play the best chess I can to get the best final result.
Round 9
In round 9, I was facing 14-year old Columbian talent with rating of 2295. I spent the whole day preparing for Bg5 Najdorf and was very pleased to see my preperation work.
Round 10
FM Fecker Noah (2396) was my opponent in round 10. Interestingly, I have a history against Swiss Junior #1, we played each other back in 2019 in European Youth Chess Championship U16 in Bratislava and game finished in a draw. This time colours were the same and our ratings changed +100 approximately since the last time. We had a nice chat before the game and it was time to battle on chessboard.
The game finished in a draw like last time. I didn't feel well after 2,5 hours of this game, as it turned out later, I got food poisoned and I did't sleep well before the last round and I knew the last round will be the toughest one of the tournament so far.
Round 11
In the last round of the tournament I was playing Swiss #2 Fischer Daniel (2346) with black pieces. I was 5,5/10 and successful result could result top 50 in final standings.
WIN!WIN!WIN! The longest game of the tournament which lasted 5,5 hours. I was waiting for mistake for more than 60 moves and I would take a draw if he offered it before he made this mistake, but I didn't make any serious mistakes during the game and was awarded with this important win.
I was very happy to be part of such event. Organization was great and I really enjoyed everything from playing hall,tour to pyramids to local food, despite the incident in the end. This is a moment for lifetime. Future superstarrs are born on these types of events and maybe soon there will be new french number 1-Maurizzi Marc' Andria. It is a really great opportunity to see best juniors of their respective countries competing for the world champion title and who knows, maybe some of these people will soon compete for the main title in chess. As far as my result is concerned, I am pretty happy, I finished on 48th place and gained 29 rating points and I will be at my all time high 2185 in the November List (2163 previous high) and now only 15 points away from 2200. I don't know when I will play my next tournament, I don't really want to play here in Canada,cause we don't have strong events. Maybe, I will consider US tournaments again. This is all for now. Thanks everyone who read this blog till the end!
