World Cadets and Youth Rapid Championship Finals Begin with 23 Americans

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The final stage of FIDE’s online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championship has begun and will progress through knockout brackets until world champions are declared on Tuesday, December 22. 

The event features ten separate 16-player knockout tournaments for Open and Girls sections U10-U18 and, as of Sunday, Americans remain alive in the quarterfinals of all ten brackets.

The US Federation began with 23 players in the final stage, including 16 who qualified from the selection stage earlier this month, 4 wild card selections, and 3 players who qualified directly for being ranked in the top-4 in the world for their age and gender section. Those three players are IM Carissa Yip, IM Annie Wang (both Girls U18) and IM Christopher Yoo in the U14 Open. 

The 23 American finalists mark the largest delegation from any participating federation.

Each match is two G/15+10 games with alternating colors and, if necessary, will play an Armageddon tiebreaker to advance a winner. The brackets may be viewed as follows: 

U10 Open 

U10 Girls 

U12 Open 

U12 Girls 

U14 Open 

U14 Girls 

U16 Open 

U16 Girls 

U18 Open

U18 Girls

The world championship event began with 1,380 players from 114 national federations and began with each continent running its own qualifying event to advance three players from each section in early December. The U.S. began with 41 players in the seven-round Swiss, with 17 qualifying for the finals. 

More information on the event, including live games and results, can be found on FIDE's event page.