U.S. Bags Four Medals at the World Cadet Champs

Team USA bagged four medals at the World Cadet Championships, held from November 4-15 in Santiago, Spain. Congratulations to Yuvraj Chennareddy (gold, Under 8 Open) Evelyn Qiao (Girls Under 8, bronze), Nico Chasin (Under 12 Open, bronze) and Erick Zhao (Under 10, silver).

Yuvraj Chennareddy clinched gold with a round to spare, and returned to his winning ways today to finish with an outstanding 10.5/11, 1.5 points ahead of the field. Yesterday we quoted Raj's coach GM Mesgen Amanov and IM Kostya Kavutskiy, who coached him at the event. Today, we hear from Raj himself, where he also discussed his last two games.

[pgn]

[Event "U8 World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2018.11.14"]
[White "Zverev, Lev"]
[Black "Chennareddy, Yuvraj"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "1723"]
[BlackElo "1497"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bb3 d5 7. Qe2 h6 8. h3
Re8 9. Nbd2 d4 10. Nf1 Be6 11. Ng3 Qd7 12. O-O Kh7 13. Nh4 dxc3 14. bxc3 g6 15.
Kh2 Qe7 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Be3 Bb6 18. Nf3 g5 19. Nd2 Red8 20. Nc4 Rd7 21. Rad1
Rad8 22. Rd2 Bxe3 23. fxe3 b5 24. Na3 b4 25. Nb1 bxc3 26. Nxc3 Nb4 27. Rfd1 Qc5
28. Na4 Qa5 29. Nb2 Kg6 30. d4 exd4 31. exd4 Kg7 32. Nc4 Qa6 33. Ne5 Qxe2 34.
Nxe2 Rd6 35. Ng3 c5 36. Nc4 Rxd4 37. Rxd4 Rxd4 38. Rxd4 cxd4 39. a3 Nc2 40. e5
Nd5 41. Ne4 Nde3 42. Ned2 Nxc4 43. Nxc4 d3 44. a4 Kg6 45. g4 Kf7 46. Kg3 Ke7
47. Kf3 Ne1+ 48. Ke3 Ng2+ 49. Kxd3 Nf4+ 50. Kd4 Nxh3 51. Kc5 Nf2 52. Ne3 Nd3+
53. Kd4 Nf2 54. Kc5 Kd7 55. Kb5 Kc7 56. Ka6 Kb8 57. Kb5 Kb7 58. Kc5 Kc7 59. Kb5
Ne4 60. Ka6 Nc5+ 61. Kb5 Nd3 62. Nc4 Nf2 63. Ne3 Nd3 64. Nc4 Nf4 65. Ka6 h5 66.
gxh5 Nxh5 67. Kxa7 g4 68. Ne3 g3 69. Ng2 Ng7 70. Nf4 Kc8 71. Kb6 Ne8 72. a5 Nc7
73. Kc6 Na6 74. Kd6 Nc7 75. Ng2 Kd8 76. Nf4 Kc8 77. Kc6 Kb8 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "U8 World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[White "Mamedov, Edgar"]
[Black "Chennareddy, Yuvraj"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "1599"]
[BlackElo "1497"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Kazakhstan"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "KAZ"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Be2 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
O-O Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be6 10. c4 Bf6 11. Bb2 Qd7 12. Qb1 Rab8 13. a4 a6 14. Ba3 Rfd8
15. e4 Bg4 16. Rd1 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Nd4 18. Qb2 Nxf3+ 19. gxf3 Qh3 20. Qe2 Bg5 21.
Bc1 Bxc1 22. Qf1 Qxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Bf4 24. h3 Rd6 25. a5 Rbd8 26. Ke2 Rh6 27. Rh1
b6 28. axb6 Rxb6 29. Ra2 g6 30. Rha1 Kg7 31. Rd1 Rdb8 32. Rda1 Rb2+ 33. Kf1
Rxa2 34. Rxa2 Rb6 35. Ke2 Kh6 36. Kf1 Rd6 37. Ra3 f5 38. Kg2 fxe4 39. fxe4 Bd2
40. Kf3 Bb4 41. Rb3 c5 42. Kg4 a5 43. f4 a4 44. Rb1 exf4 45. Kxf4 a3 46. e5 Ra6
47. d4 a2 48. Ra1 Bc3 49. Rxa2 Rxa2 50. d5 Kg7 51. Ke4 Re2+ 52. Kd3 Rxe5 53.
Kxc3 Re3+ 54. Kd2 Rxh3 55. d6 Kf7 56. d7 Ke7 57. d8=Q+ Kxd8 58. Kc2 Rf3 59. Kb2
h5 60. Ka2 h4 61. Kb2 h3 62. Ka2 h2 63. Kb2 h1=Q 64. Ka2 Qg2+ 65. Ka1 Rf1# 0-1

[/pgn]

In the 10th game, I spent lot of time in the opening and middle game as the opponent was blitzing out and felt time pressure in the end. I knew that I could win that game if I had more time. But didn’t wanna make any blunders and went for draw. I crushed my opponent in the 11th round and feels really good. Thanks to my coaches Mesgen and Kostya.

Raj also gave a shout-out to Fabiano Caruana, who is deadlocked in his own World Championship match. "Of course, I’m rooting for Caruana. He’s a great positional player. I like his style of play. Best wishes to Fabi from me and team USA!"

Erick Zhao tied for first in the Open Under 10, earning silver on tiebreak. You can watch a video with Erick on chessable here, giving some insight into his preparation.

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Volkov, Maksim"]
[Black "Zhao, Erick"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.15"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.15"]1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. g3 d5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O d4 8. d3 a5
9. a3 e5 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Qc2 Nd7 12. Rad1 Nc5 13. Ne4 Ne6 14. h4 Qe7 15. Nfg5
h6 16. Nxe6 Bxe6 17. e3 Rad8 18. Qd2 f5 19. exd4 exd4 20. Rfe1 fxe4 21. Rxe4
Qd7 22. b4 axb4 23. axb4 Bf5 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Qf4 Nxb4 26. Bf1 b6 27. Ba3 Nc2
28. Bb2 Re1 29. Qd2 Rxd1 30. Qxd1 Nb4 31. Qb3 Nc6 32. Qa4 Ne5 33. Qa8+ Kh7 34.
Ba3 Bxd3 35. Bg2 Bxc4 36. h5 d3 0-1[/pgn]

In the Open Under 12, Nico Chasin tied for second through fifth with Arthur Guo, with Nico getting the bronze medal on tiebreak and Arthur placing fourth.

[pgn][Event "U12 World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[White "Guo, Arthur"]
[Black "Murzin, Volodar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2333"]
[BlackElo "2340"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Qc7 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Bg5 Be6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. Qxd5 Be7
15. c3 Kh8 16. Rad1 Na5 17. Ne1 g6 18. Nc2 Rad8 19. Qd2 Nxb3 20. axb3 f5 21.
Nb4 f4 22. Nd5 Qd7 23. f3 Bh4 24. Qe2 Rf7 25. Nb4 Rg8 26. Rd5 Be7 27. Nd3 Qe6
28. c4 g5 29. c5 Rfg7 30. Rd1 g4 31. Rd2 Qf6 32. Qf1 gxf3 33. Qxf3 Rg5 34. b4
dxc5 35. bxc5 a5 36. Rc2 Bf8 37. b3 h6 38. Kh1 Qe6 39. Ne1 Qe8 40. Qc3 a4 41.
Nf3 Rh5 42. b4 Kh7 43. Qd3 Bg7 44. b5 Qa8 45. Rd7 a3 46. Ra2 Qa4 47. Rxa3 Qb4
48. Rc3 Ra8 49. Rc1 Qb2 50. Qd2 Qxb5 51. Qd5 Qb2 52. Rg1 Ra1 53. h3 Qf2 54.
Rxg7+ Kxg7 55. Qd7+ Kf8 56. Rxa1 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "U12 World Cadet Championship"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[White "Shen, Shiyan"]
[Black "Chasin, Nico"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2187"]
[BlackElo "2189"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "China"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. e5 c5 5. c3 cxd4 6. cxd4 Qb6 7. Ndf3 Bd7 8. Bd3
Bb5 9. Ne2 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Qa6 11. Qxa6 Nxa6 12. a3 Bd8 13. Nc3 Nc7 14. O-O Ne7
15. Be3 Nc6 16. Nd2 f5 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Nb3 b6 19. Rac1 Kd7 20. f4 g6 21. Ne2
Nb5 22. Bf2 Rac8 23. Rc2 Nd6 24. Nd2 Nxd4 25. Nxd4 Bxd4 26. Bxd4 Rxc2 27. Bxh8
Rxd2 28. Rf2 Rd3 29. Rc2 Nc4 30. Kf2 b5 31. Ke2 Re3+ 32. Kf2 Rb3 33. Ke2 a5 34.
Bc3 b4 35. axb4 axb4 36. Bd4 Kd6 37. Rc1 e5 38. fxe5+ Nxe5 39. Rf1 Nc6 40. Bg7
d4 41. Rb1 Kd5 42. Kd2 Na5 43. Kc2 Re3 44. Rd1 b3+ 45. Kc1 Nc6 46. Kd2 Nd8 47.
Ra1 Nc6 48. Ra3 Re7 49. Bf6 Rf7 50. Bh4 Rb7 51. Bg3 Rb5 52. Bc7 Ke4 53. Bd6 Na5
54. Ra4 Kd5 55. Ba3 Nc4+ 56. Kd3 Ne5+ 57. Ke2 Rb6 58. Kd1 h5 59. Ra8 Nc4 60.
Rd8+ Ke4 61. Bc5 Nxb2+ 62. Ke2 d3+ 63. Ke1 Rc6 64. Re8+ Kd5 65. Bf2 Re6+ 66.
Rxe6 Kxe6 67. Kd2 Kd5 68. Kc3 Nd1+ 0-1[/pgn]

Evelyn Qiao took bronze in the Girls Under 8.

Evelyn Qiao, wearing sponsor Two Sigma jacket, Photo Grant Oen

Can you find the mate in two in her final game?

Show Solution

1.c6+! Kxd6 2. Nb5#

Many thanks to sponsor Two Sigma for their continuing support of US Chess. and our hardworking coaches led by Aviv Friedman (Head of Delegation), Robert Hungaski (assistant HoD), Andranik Matikozyan, Alex Lenderman, Armen Ambatsoumian and Kostya Kavutskiy.

Find full results on the links below.

Open Under 8 Open Under 10 Open Under 12 Girls Under 8 Girls Under 10 Girls Under 12