Results in at World Cadet: US Team Sweeps Open Gold

The results are in at the World Cadet in Pocos de Caldas, Brazil and the US team, sponsored by Two Sigma, swept gold in all three Open divisions. Aren Emrikian (IL) took gold in the Under 8 Open, while Abhimanyu Mishra (NJ) earned silver. The two Americans played on board one in the final round. Aren scored the victory in a hard-fought game to leapfrog Mishra.

[pgn]

[Event "World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2017.08.31"]
[Round "11.13"]
[White "Mishra, Abhimanyu"]
[Black "Emrikian, Aren C"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1774"]
[BlackElo "1408"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:26:31"]
[BlackClock "0:26:38"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. b4
Be7 9. Qb3 Nb6 10. Be3 Bf5 11. Rd1 Qc8 12. a4 Nxc4 13. dxc4 Qe6 14. Ne1 Rad8
15. Nd2 Bg4 16. f3 Bh5 17. Ne4 f5 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Bxc5 Rfe8 20. Nd3 b6 21. Bf2
Rd7 22. Nb2 Rf7 23. Re1 Qg6 24. Kh1 Ref8 25. c5 Kh8 26. cxb6 cxb6 27. Nc4 e4
28. f4 Qh6 29. Be3 Rf6 30. b5 Ne7 31. Ne5 Bf7 32. Qb4 Re8 33. c4 Ng6 34. Qc3
Qh5 35. Nxf7+ Rxf7 36. a5 Qg4 37. axb6 axb6 38. Rf1 Rd7 39. Qa3 h6 40. Qa6 Nh4
41. g3 Qe2 42. gxh4 Qxe3 43. Rae1 Qc5 44. Qa2 e3 45. Qe2 Rd2 46. Qxd2 exd2 47.
Rxe8+ Kh7 48. Rd1 Qxc4 49. Re3 Qc2 50. Rxd2 Qxd2 51. Rg3 Qd5+ 52. Kg1 Qxb5 53.
Kg2 Qe2+ 54. Kg1 b5 55. h3 Qe1+ 56. Kh2 Qxg3+ 57. Kxg3 b4 0-1

[/pgn]

Liran Zhou (NY), hot off successfully smashing the 2200+ barrier, took clear first in the Under 10 Open by a full point, winning his final round game vs Adam Mekhane of France.

[pgn]

[Event "World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2017.08.31"]
[Round "11.7"]
[White "Mekhane, Adam"]
[Black "Zhou, Liran"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1967"]
[BlackElo "1897"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "France"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:31:45"]
[BlackClock "0:04:46"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. Qg4 g6 8. Qe2
d6 9. O-O Nd7 10. a4 Ne5 11. Na3 Nf6 12. Bh6 Qc7 13. Kh1 Nfg4 14. Bg7 Rg8 15.
Bxe5 Nxe5 16. a5 Bd7 17. f4 Nxd3 18. cxd3 b5 19. Rac1 Qb7 20. e5 Qd5 21. Nd2
Rc8 22. Nc2 dxe5 23. fxe5 Bc6 24. d4 Rf8 25. Nf3 g5 26. Ne3 Qe4 27. Rfd1 g4 28.
Ne1 Bg5 29. N1c2 Bb7 30. Qxg4 Qxg4 31. Nxg4 Bxc1 32. Rxc1 Ke7 33. Nf6 Rc4 34.
b3 Rc3 35. Nxh7 Rfc8 36. h4 Rxc2 37. Rg1 Rh8 38. d5 Rxh7 39. d6+ Kd7 40. Kh2
0-1[/pgn]

Arthur Xu (IL) earned silver, so the US team had double gold-silver in the two youngest Open sections! How did Arthur force immediate resignation in his tenth round game vs. Read Samadov (AZE)? Show Solution In the Under 12 Open, Vincent Tsay of New York scored a crucial final round victory over Martin Stukan of Russia. Hess pointed out that Tsay already upset three players over 2280, and his formidable field throughout the event earned him the golden nod on tiebreak. Congrats to Vincent!

[pgn]

[Event "World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2017.08.31"]
[Round "11.3"]
[White "Stukan, Martin"]
[Black "Tsay, Vincent"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2146"]
[BlackElo "2033"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:48"]
[BlackClock "0:37:43"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Qa4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Nd5 8.
Ne5 Bd7 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Nc3 Nxd4 11. Qxd7+ Kxd7 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Bxb4 Nc2+
14. Kd2 Nxb4 15. a3 Nc6 16. Bxd5 Ne5 17. Kc3 c6 18. Bg2 Kc7 19. h3 Rhe8 20.
Rad1 b5 21. f4 Nd7 22. e4 Nb6 23. h4 Rad8 24. g4 Na4+ 25. Kc2 Nc5 26. Rxd8 Rxd8
27. g5 Rd4 28. Re1 a5 29. h5 b4 30. f5 Nd3 31. Rd1 c5 32. Bf3 Ne5 33. Rxd4 cxd4
34. g6 fxg6 0-1

[/pgn]

Despite a final round loss, Nastassja A Matus took silver in the Under 12 Girls. Her penultimate victory against the Polish representative put her in a great final round position to medal.

[pgn] [Event "World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2017.08.30"]
[Round "10.5"]
[White "Wikar, Martyna"]
[Black "Matus, Nastassja A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1950"]
[BlackElo "1910"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Poland"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "POL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:28:08"]
[BlackClock "0:52:20"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 h5 8. Nf4 Bh7
9. g5 cxd4 10. Nb5 Be4 11. f3 Bf5 12. Nxd4 Ne7 13. Nxf5 Nxf5 14. Bd3 Qc7 15.
Bxf5 Qxe5+ 16. Qe2 Qxf5 17. g6 Bd6 18. gxf7+ Kxf7 19. Nd3 Nc6 20. Be3 Ne5 21.
O-O-O Nxd3+ 22. Rxd3 Be5 23. Kb1 Bf6 24. Qf2 b6 25. Rg1 Rac8 26. Bg5 Qe5 27.
Bxf6 gxf6 28. Ra3 Qc7 29. Rc3 Qb8 30. Rxc8 Qxc8 31. Re1 Rg8 32. Qe3 Rg6 33. c3
e5 34. Qd3 Qe6 35. Kc1 Rg7 36. Rd1 Ke7 37. Qxd5 Qxd5 38. Rxd5 Rg1+ 39. Kc2 Rg2+
40. Rd2 Rg3 41. Rf2 Rh3 42. Kd3 Rxh4 43. Rg2 Kf7 44. Ke3 Rh1 45. Rd2 Ke6 46.
Rd8 h4 47. Rh8 h3 48. b3 h2 49. Kf2 Ra1 50. Rxh2 Rxa2+ 51. Kg3 Rxh2 52. Kxh2 e4
53. f4 Kf5 54. Kg3 a6 0-1[/pgn]

This concludes a great summer of chess for the Minnesota star, who also won the Susan Polgar Foundation Invitational last month.  Meanwhile Ellen Wang snagged the bronze medal in the Under 10 Girls. In GM Robert Hess's final round "Medal Watch", he said Ellen "played a phenomenal tournament and her constant smile is uplifting to all of her friends and coaches." Hess thought the chances for Ellen to earn a medal were long based on the final round pairings and a potential huge tie for third (which materialized), but pointed out that "Stranger things have happened." Indeed! Congrats to the whole team as well as our hard-working coaches, supportive parents and team sponsor Two Sigma. Look for more photos, games (you can find more on chess 24) and US perspectives from the World Cadets in the coming days and follow us on twitter and facebook for additional content.