Newsflash: Liran Zhou and Alice Lee Earn Gold in China, Bronze for Li and Yan

Congratulations to Liran Zhou in the Open Under 12, and Alice Lee in the Girls Under 10, who both earned GOLD medals at the World Cadet Championships in China. Rachael Li in the Girls Under 10, and Ruiyang Yan in the Girls Under 12 both took home bronze medals while the U.S. team earned second overall team behind Russia. Liran Zhou won his final round game to finish in clear first with a scorching 9.5/11.

[pgn] [Event "WCCC 2019 UNDER 12 OPEN"] [Site "http://chessftp.dataglobe.eu"] [Date "2019.??.??"] [Round "11.1"] [White "Zhou Liran"] [Black "Dang Anh Minh"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2311"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 d6 5. d3 Be7 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. Nf1 Be6 8. Ne3 a6 9. a4 Nd4 10. Bd2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. Ncd5 Nb6 13. Ba5 Bg5 14. Bxb6 Qd7 15. c3 Nc6 16. Nc7 Bxc4 17. Nxa8 Be6 18. Nc7 Bd8 19. Nxe6 Bxb6 20. Nxf8 Kxf8 21. Qg4 Qe7 22. Qc8+ Nd8 23. Nd5 1-0 [/pgn]

Alice Lee also won her final round game, to finish with an outstanding 10/11, though surprisingly another player, Chen Yining from China also earned this score, with Alice taking the gold on tiebreak.

[pgn] [Event "Girls U10 World Cadet Championship"] [Date "2019.09.01"] [Round "11.1"] [White "Lee, Alice"] [Black "Zhou, Yafei"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E92"] [WhiteElo "1822"] [BlackElo "1757"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Bg5 Na6 9. Nd2 Qe8 10. a3 Bd7 11. b3 h6 12. Be3 Nh7 13. Rb1 f5 14. f3 b6 15. b4 Qe7 16. O-O f4 17. Bf2 g5 18. c5 axb4 19. cxd6 cxd6 20. axb4 h5 21. Bxb6 Nf6 22. Bf2 Bh6 23. Nc4 g4 24. Nb6 g3 25. hxg3 fxg3 26. Bxg3 Qg7 27. Bf2 Bh3 28. g3 Be3 29. Kh1 Bxb6 30. Bxb6 Bxf1 31. Qxf1 Qxg3 32. Bf2 Qf4 33. Qh3 Nc7 34. Rg1+ Kf7 35. Nb5 Rg8 36. Nxc7 Rxg1+ 37. Bxg1 Ra1 38. Nb5 Qg5 39. Nxd6+ Kg6 40. Qf5+ Qxf5 41. Nxf5 Nxd5 42. Nh4+ Kg5 43. exd5 Kxh4 44. Kg2 Ra2 45. Bf2+ Kg5 46. Bf1 h4 47. Kg1 Kf4 48. Bxh4 Kxf3 49. b5 e4 50. b6 e3 51. b7 Rb2 52. d6 Rb1 53. Kh2 Rb2+ 54. Kh3 e2 55. Bg2+ Kf4 56. d7 Rb3+ 57. Kh2 1-0[/pgn]

The incredible rising star Rachael Li earned bronze in the Girls Under 10. Ruiyang Yan was in pole position throughout the final rounds of the Girls Under 12, setting the pace for gold. A last round loss allowed two players to pass her, but her incredible play throughout secured her bronze. A huge thanks to our wonderful coaching squad in China, HOD FM Aviv Friedman, Assistant HOD GM Sergey Kudrin, Coaches IMs Kostya Kavutskiy, Levy Rozman, Andranik Matikozyan, Jan van de Mortel, and WGM Katerina Nemcova. Thanks to our sponsor American Intercultural Education, AIE.