World Youth Championships Underway in Italy

The 2023 FIDE World Youth Championships are underway in Montesilvano, Italy. The tournament features sections for under-18, under-16, and under-14 age groups in both Open and Girls divisions. Overall, 766 players are competing, including 27 Americans.

courtesy of the organizers

The top-ranked Americans in their respective sections are WGM Rochelle Wu (third in the Girls Under-18), WIM Iris Mou (fourth in the Girls Under-14) and FM Erick Zhao (16th in the Open Under-16).

Wu and Mou are both currently 2/2, and each have contributed a nice illustration of how tactics can flow from positional domination:

Zhao was held to a draw in his second round against untitled Argentinian Luciano Ariel Carrizo, when it was actually Carrizo who came close to scoring a nice strategic Najdorf victory.

The most noticeable upset so far occurred on board two of the Girls Under-18, when Jessica Hyatt held second-seeded FM Liya Kurmangaliyeva to a draw, despite having the black pieces and a 418-point rating deficit.

As far as upsets go, in the Under-18 Open, CM Ern Jie Anderson Ang held German FM Aleksandr Domalchuk-Jonasson to a draw in their first-round encounter, despite the Malaysian being outrated by exactly 300 points in a pretty expertly played Benko Gambit where he was never worse. (Editor's note: an earlier version of this article mistakenly reported that Ang represented the U.S. Thanks to reader Michael Takahashi for the correction.)

American CM Eugene Yoo had serious winning chances in his second-round game against Bulgarian FM Aron Pasti, but the Bulgarian eventually came out on top.

Games begin daily at 8:15 a.m. CST, except for a rest day on Sunday, November 19 and an early start at 2:45 a.m. for the final round on Friday, November 24. The tournament can be followed live on Chess24.com and Chess.com.