World Junior Chess Championship Underway

Chess prodigies are so good and so young these days that having a 'Junior' World Chess Championship for them almost seems patronising, but the quality of the event justifies it's continued existence.

Former illustrious World Junior Champions include Yasser Seirawan (1979), Garry Kasparov (1980) and Vishy Anand (1987).

The definition of 'Junior' in this context is anyone, male or female, born on or after 1 January 1988, but some players who qualify by age may not be attending as they are already world class (Magnus Carlsen for example).  Despite the event being open to both sexes, a separate event for the top Junior 'Girl' is being held concurrently.

The format will be a 13 round Swiss-System using the modern FIDE time control (40 moves in 90 minutes followed by an additional 30 minutes to finish the game, and a 30 second/move increment from the start).

The event is being held in Turkey until the 16 August and the official website is here.

Familiar names participating in the event are Wesley So, David Howell, Pariamarjan Negi and Hou Yifan (in the open event).