Inside Story: Andy Woodward on 2023 World Junior Championships

Editor's note: This story first appeared in the February 2024 issue of Chess Life Magazine. Consider becoming a US Chess member for more content like this — access to digital editions of both Chess Life and Chess Life Kids is a member benefit, and you can receive print editions of both magazines for a small add-on fee.

The World Junior Championship is one of the most important events of the year, and its list of alumni is a who’s who of modern chess. Four winners — GMs Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Viswanathan Anand — have even gone on to win the world championship.

The 60th edition of the World Junior and the 39th running of the Girls Junior were held in Mexico City from September 20 through October 2, 2023, with 235 participants representing 55 countries. Fourteen GMs and 30 IMs took part in the Open, while one IM, three WGMs, and 13 WIMs battled for top honors in the Girls section.

Hans Niemann at the opening ceremony (courtesy FIDE/David Llada)

Team USA had six players make the trip to Mexico City. GM Hans Niemann was the ratings favorite in the Open section, while IMs Kirk Ghazarian, Josiah Stearman, and your author all had hopes of scoring upsets. IM Carissa Yip was the first seed in the Girls section, and she was joined by eight-year-old WCM Romi Milner. Some American university chess programs also sent players with coaches, including The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and the University of Missouri.

Other notable players were GMs Frederik Svane and Arseniy Nesterov in the Open, along with Canadian IM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, the winner of the 2022 World Youth U18, and 14-year-old prodigy IM Shreyas Royal of England. Many eyes were also on 14-year-old WIM Miaoyi Lu from China in the Girls section, who has played some incredible games in recent months.

After hearing about this tournament through one of my chess friends in New Zealand, it seemed like a good opportunity for me. With Mexico City being just a three-hour flight from my home, this was an easy trip for an international tournament. The leisurely playing schedule, with most games played at a pace of one per day, was also attractive. And I was happy to see that my friend Shreyas Royal was registered to play too.

My ultimate goal for the event was to notch my third GM norm, but without a whole lot of time to prepare — I had to get ahead on my schoolwork to be able to play — I just wanted to play good games and gain experience.

My dad accompanied me on this trip, as we figured his ability to speak a bit of Spanish would be handy. A shuttle took us to the hotel after landing at the airport, and the first thing I saw in the hotel lobby was a “Welcome Juniors” sign with a life-sized chess board! Our hotel room was nice, but the wi-fi was cutting out and almost unusable. Thankfully the hotel was located next to a large mall, and a very kind hotel staff member helped us buy a local SIM card to hotspot my dad’s phone. The workaround was a bit klunky — my laptop wouldn’t connect, so I had to use my dad’s — but everything worked well enough in the end!

GM Susan Polgar and the organizers at the opening ceremony (courtesy FIDE/David Llada)

The opening ceremony took place on the morning of October 21. There were speeches and live entertainment from local musicians and dancers. Then, the moment of truth — what color would the top players take in the first round? Top seeds Niemann and Yip came to the stage and were faced with two men in sombreros, who had white and black knights under their hats. Carissa went first, chose, and the man revealed a white knight. And Hans did the same!

The tournament started that afternoon. Early rounds are usually uneventful in major events; here, my first big challenge came when I took the black pieces against Niemann in round three. This was the second round of the day — the only day where we had two games — and the pairings didn’t come out until 40 minutes before the round. Without much time to prepare, and knowing that Hans plays so many different lines, I just looked through his recent games to feel him out. In our game he played an anti-Grünfeld line, which surprised me, but I had an interesting idea that I wanted to try, and it worked out well.

As you can see in the game, Hans had a chance to draw, but he decided to enter into a slightly worse position hoping to make something out of it. I have been in this situation several times, so I completely understand his decision. Hans bounced back in the remainder of the tournament and finished strong, an unfortunate final round loss to Nesterov tempering his result.

Niemann (L) against Woodward in round three (courtesy David Llada/FIDE)

The win over Niemann was the highlight of my event, but after that, its trajectory changed. In the fourth round I was paired with the eventual winner of the tournament, 16-year-old GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi from France. Accompanied by his coach, Marc’Andria had great preparation in our game, secured a strong position after move 20, and ground me down in the endgame. After his victory over me, Maurizzi continued to stay at the top of the leaderboard, becoming one of the youngest players ever to win the World Junior title. Here’s one of his best games from the tournament.

I returned to form in round five, defeating Peruvian IM Saul Rodriques Flores Daniel Quillas in a complicated struggle where both sides could easily have gone wrong. Then came the rest day, which was much needed! Most players went on a tour organized by the event staff, but my friend Shreyas and I decided to stay put and try to recharge our batteries.

British IM Shreyas Royal (L) and Woodward in the middle of one of their long blitz battles between rounds (courtesy David Woodward)

Unfortunately my tournament started going downhill when play resumed. A loss to UTRGV’s IM Gleb Dubin, followed by two draws in rounds seven and eight, dropped me down the crosstable. Then came a win and a loss, followed by a final round pairing with another UTRGV member, Turkish IM Ekin Baris Ozenir. I got a slightly better position out of the opening against Ozenir, but I spent too much time doing so, and I wasn’t able to convert my advantage with the time that remained.

The tournament ended sooner than I wanted, but I was happy to attend the closing ceremony with both old and new friends. The ceremonial fire was lit once more, and the winners were crowned. I ended up blitzing the night away with Shreyas!

Marc'Andra Maurizzi was a deserving winner in the open section (courtesy David Llada/FIDE)

Maurizzi was the deserving winner in the Open section, edging out GMs Nesterov, Luka Budisavljevic (who plays for the Missouri chess team), and Mamikon Gharibyan on tiebreaks. All four players scored an excellent 8½/11.

Candela Belen Francisco Guecamburu, from Argentina, won the Girls' Junior championship (courtesy David Llada/FIDE)

First place in the Girls section went to Argentinean WGM Candela Belen Francisco Guecamburu. Starting as the second seed, Francisco Guecamburu benefitted from better tiebreaks to take the title over Yip and WGM Beloslava Krasteva (another Mizzou player!), all of whom also finished with 8½/11. While Yip was (as she reported in the January issue) a bit disappointed in her performance in Mexico City, it did get her in fine shape to win the U.S. Women’s Championship just days later!

It's just a warm-up! Carissa Yip in Mexico City, days before her U.S. Women's Championship victory (courtesy David Llada/FIDE)

Here’s one of her best games from the World Girls Junior, her round seven win over Switzerland’s WIM Sofiia Hryzlova.

I didn’t play as many good games as I had hoped for, but I was able to spend lots of time with my chess friends. That, for me, is the best part of my tournament experience: eating, laughing, and taking walks together is a highlight for me. My Dad also enjoyed getting to know some of the players, coaches, and event organizers.

I once saw this quote somewhere: “Life is not a competition, but a journey to become the best version of you.” The experience of playing against some best juniors in the world inspired me to continue my journey towards becoming a better chess player. I’m thankful for this opportunity, and I hope to play the World Junior again someday!