Kolay Surges in World Youth; Niemann Stumbles

IM Hans Niemann has suffered two tough losses in Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2019 FIDE World Youth, putting any medal chances the Open U16 section in serious jeopardy. He is currently tied for shared fourth place at 7/10, a point back of leader IM Rudik Makarian with one round to play.

Hans Niemann (photo Carol Meyer)

Niemann led the tournament by a half-point after eight rounds, but a loss to Ghosh Aronyak (IND) in Round 9 allowed Aronyak and Makarian (RUS) to catch the American at 7/9.

[pgn]

[Event "World Youth Open U16"]
[Date "2019.10.10"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Aronyak, Ghosh"]
[Black "Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2380"]
[BlackElo "2439"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.10.02"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 c5 4. Nc3 Nh6 $6 5. h4 Nf5 6. h5 d6 7. d3 Nc6 8. h6 {
Such pawn moves have taken on new notoriety in the age of Alpha Zero and Leela
Chess, but any bughouse player worth her salt knows the value of a pawn on h6!}
Bf8 9. Bd2 (9. g4 Nfd4 10. e3 Ne6 11. f4 {threatens g4-g5 and a huge bind.})
9... e6 10. Nf3 Be7 11. a3 a5 12. Nb5 Bf6 13. Bc3 e5 (13... Ncd4) 14. Nd2 O-O
15. Ne4 Be7 16. Bd2 Be6 17. Nbc3 a4 $1 {Taking control of the weak light
squares on White's queenside.} 18. e3 Na5 19. Rb1 b5 $1 {A nice idea by
Niemann.} 20. Nxb5 d5 21. cxd5 Bxd5 22. Bxa5 Qxa5+ 23. Nbc3 Bb3 24. Qf3 Qa6 $2
(24... Nd4 $5 {is moderately difficult to find, but the idea is that after} 25.
exd4 cxd4 {the knight is pinned and lost.} 26. O-O dxc3 27. bxc3 {is probably
equal}) ({Similar is} 24... c4 25. g4 Nd4) 25. g4 Nh4 ({And now} 25... Nd4 {
just loses a knight}) 26. Rxh4 Bxh4 27. g5 {Black won't be able to save the
bishop without concessions.} Rac8 $2 (27... f5 28. Nxc5 Qa5 29. Nxb3 axb3) (
27... Rad8 28. Qh3 Bxg5 29. Nxg5 Qxd3 30. Nge4) 28. Nf6+ Kh8 29. Qg4 $18 c4 30.
d4 Qb6 31. Nfd5 Qb8 32. Rc1 f6 33. Qxh4 fxg5 34. Qxg5 Rce8 35. Nf6 Qd8 36. dxe5
Re6 37. Bd5 Re7 38. f4 Qb6 39. Kf2 Qb8 40. Bf3 Ref7 41. Bd5 Re7 42. e6 1-0

[/pgn]

His problems were compounded by Friday's Round 10 loss to FM Arash Daghli (IND).

[pgn]

[Event "World Youth Open U16"]
[Date "2019.10.11"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Black "Daghli, Arash"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2387"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2019.10.02"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 c5 11. a4 Ne8 {Daghli decides to postpone retaking the
pawn.} (11... Rxa5 {is more usual.}) 12. Ra3 h6 13. Ne1 f5 14. Bd2 Nf6 15. f3
f4 16. Nd3 {Niemann reroutes the knight to defend the kingside.} (16. Nb5 g5
17. Nd3 h5 18. Kh1 Ng6 19. g3 $5) 16... g5 17. Nf2 h5 18. h3 $6 {Ostensibly
guarding g4 once more, but also giving Black the possibility of opening more
lines.} Ng6 19. Qb3 Ra6 20. Rb1 Rf7 21. Qd1 Bf8 22. Rb6 Rxa5 23. Rb5 Ra7 24. a5
Rg7 25. Na4 {The battle lines are clearly drawn. White will play on the
queenside and Black on the kingside. Whoever can break through first may well
win.} Bd7 26. Rb2 Nh8 27. Nb6 Be8 28. Kf1 {Niemann changes gears and decides
to get his king to higher ground. The problem is that the plan is fairly slow.}
({To be fair, it's hard to see where White's play on the queenside comes from,
i.e.} 28. a6 Rxa6 29. Rxa6 bxa6 30. Qa1 Ra7 (30... g4 31. fxg4 hxg4 32. Nxg4
Nxe4)) 28... Nf7 29. Bc3 (29. Qb1 Nh6 30. Rab3 {and it still remains to be
seen how Black crashes through. At the moment} g4 {may be too early:} 31. fxg4
hxg4 32. hxg4 Nfxg4 33. Nxg4 Nxg4 34. Bxg4 Rxg4 35. Rh3 $13) 29... Nh6 30. Ke1
g4 $1 31. Kd2 gxh3 32. gxh3 Nh7 (32... Rg3 $5) (32... Nf7 $5) 33. Qf1 Be7 34.
Kc2 Bh4 35. Nd3 Nf7 36. Kb3 (36. Bd1 {followed by Kc1/b1 clears the second
rank for the rook.}) 36... Nf8 37. Bd1 Nd7 38. Ka2 (38. Nxd7 {is no better
after} Bxd7 39. Ka2 Rg3 $1) 38... Nxb6 39. Rxb6 Bd7 {White is going to have a
hard time covering all his weaknesses.} 40. Qe2 Rg1 41. Qc2 Bxh3 42. Rb2 Bc8
43. Be2 Bg3 44. Rb1 Rxb1 45. Qxb1 h4 46. Qh1 h3 0-1

[/pgn]

Niemann retains an outside chance of medaling, although he will need some help to do it. Makarian is alone in first place with 8/10, with three players (Aronyak, Daghli, and IM Stefan Pogosyan of Russia) trailing by half a point at 7.5/10. Niemann plays FM Jose Gabriel Cardoso (COL) with Black in Saturday’s final round.

Alex Kolay (photo Carol Meyer)

America’s best hope for a medal in Mumbai may now be Alex Kolay, who shares second place in the Open U14 with four others at 7.5/10, a half-point behind IM Aydin Syleymanli (AZE). Tied for ninth place after eight rounds, and a point and a half off the pace, Kolay has hit stride at just the right time, winning in both Rounds 9 and 10 to climb the table. His Round 9 victory over FM Anand Pranav (IND) shows the dangers of opening lines to one’s own king.

[pgn]

[Event "World Youth Open U14"]
[Date "2019.10.10"]
[Round "9.7"]
[White "Kolay, Alex"]
[Black "Pranav, Anand"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2164"]
[BlackElo "2351"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2019.10.02"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 (7... a5
8. g4 Na6 9. Be3 Nd7 10. Nd2 Ndc5 11. Rg1 Kh8 12. a3 Bd7 13. Qc2 c6 14. O-O-O {
1-0 (62) Carlsen,M (2832)-Nakamura,H (2786) chess.com INT 2018}) 8. g3 f5 9.
exf5 gxf5 10. Ng5 (10. Nh4 {has similar ideas.}) 10... Qe8 11. Be2 Nf6 12. Be3
Na6 (12... f4 $5 13. gxf4 exf4 14. Bd4 $5) 13. Qd2 Bd7 14. O-O-O h6 15. Nf3 Nc5
16. g4 $5 (16. Nh4 Nce4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Qc2 Ng5 {0-1 (40) Radjabov,T (2734)
-Ding,L (2732) Wijk aan Zee 2015}) 16... fxg4 $2 {Opening lines against one's
own king cannot be recommended.} (16... Nfe4 $1 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Qc2 (18. Qe1
$2 f4 19. Bd2 Nxd2 20. Qxd2 e4) 18... Nxf2 19. Bxf2 fxg4 20. hxg4 e4 $13) 17.
hxg4 Nxg4 18. Rdg1 h5 (18... e4 19. Ne5 $1) 19. Bh6 (19. Ng5 $5) 19... Nxh6 20.
Qxh6 Qf7 21. Kd1 Rfe8 22. Rxh5 Kf8 23. Qh7 Bf6 24. Qxf7+ Kxf7 25. Rh7+ Kf8 26.
Nh4 (26. Rg6) 26... Bxh4 27. Bh5 Bc8 (27... Bc8 28. Rf7#) 1-0

[/pgn]

Kolay then took a messy point from Filip Luczak (POL) in Round 10. He plays Black on Board 3 against Austrian FM Marc Morgunov in tomorrow’s eleventh and final round.

[pgn]

[Event "World Youth Open U14"]
[Date "2019.10.11"]
[Round "10.4"]
[White "Kolay, Alex"]
[Black "Luczak, Filip"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2164"]
[BlackElo "2136"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2019.10.02"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 e5 5. e4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8. Be3
Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Qd2 a6 (10... d5 {equalizes on the spot.}) 11. O-O-O b5 12.
Nc2 d5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. exd5 $6 (14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Qxd5 16. exd5 $14)
14... Bf5 15. Bd4 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 Nbd7 17. Kb1 b4 18. Na4 (18. Ne4 Rc8 (18...
Nxd5 $2 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Rxd5) 19. Bc4) 18... Qa5 19. Bc4 Rac8 20. Qb3 (20. b3
{allows} Nxd5 21. Bxg7 Ne3 $1 22. Qd3 Nxc4 23. bxc4 Qxa4 24. Bb2 Ne5 {equalish}
) 20... Rxc4 21. Qxc4 Qxa4 22. Rhe1 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Qa5 24. Rd1 Nf8 25. Bxf6 $6 {
Perhaps forcing things a bit.} (25. Bf2) 25... Bxf6 26. Qc6 Kg7 27. f4 h6 28.
g3 Be7 29. f5 gxf5 30. d6 Bf6 31. d7 Ne6 32. Rd5 Qd8 33. Qd6 $2 Qa8 $1 34. Kc1
a5 35. h4 Qa7 36. Rxf5 Qg1+ 37. Qd1 Bxb2+ 38. Kd2 Qd4+ 39. Kc2 Qc3+ $2 (39...
Qe4+ $1 {wins without much difficulty:} 40. Kxb2 Qxf5 41. d8=Q Qe5+ 42. Kb3
Nxd8 43. Qxd8 Qc3+ 44. Ka4 b3 $1 {; the idea being that if} 45. axb3 Qb4#) 40.
Kb1 Ba3 41. Rf2 {Black is better, but White is hanging on.} a4 42. Rd2 Kf6 $2 (
42... b3 43. d8=Q Nxd8 44. Qg4+ Kf6 45. Qd4+ Qxd4 46. Rxd4 bxa2+ 47. Kxa2 Ne6)
43. Qe1 $2 (43. Rc2 $1) 43... Kg7 44. Qd1 Nd8 (44... b3 $1) 45. Qc2 Qxc2+ 46.
Kxc2 Kf6 47. Re2 b3+ 48. axb3 axb3+ 49. Kxb3 {Objectively equal, but Kolay has
the wind at his back.} Bd6 50. g4 Bc7 51. Kc4 Ne6 52. Kd5 Ke7 53. Kc6 Bg3 $2 (
53... Bf4 $11) (53... Kd8 $11) (53... Bd8 $11) 54. g5 $1 Bxh4 55. Rxe6+ Kxe6 ({
If} 55... fxe6 56. Kc7) 56. d8=Q hxg5 57. Qe8+ Kf6 58. Kd5 Bg3 59. Qh8+ Kf5 60.
Qh7+ Kf6 61. Ke4 Bf4 62. Qh6+ Ke7 63. Kf5 Ke8 64. Kf6 Bd6 65. Qh8+ Bf8 66. Qg8
1-0

[/pgn]

With one round to play, Kolay has an expected FIDE rating jump of 74 points, showing the quality of his results thus far. Others are exceeding expectations as well – Jake Wang is up 54 points in the O18 with a round to go – but special mention must be made of Logan Wu’s performance, who stands to gain a whopping 145.6 rating points after 10 games!

Logan Wu (photo Carol Meyer)

Wu’s aggressive play – only one draw in the tournament! – has given him a performance rating of 2294, 300 points above his rating of 1994 at the start of play. He has defeated two FMs and drawn another in Mumbai, and in the final round he will try to keep his good run alive against Aditya Samant (IND). American Rankings after 10 Rounds