Xiong Crushing at World Juniors in India

Photo of Jeffery Xiong by Austin Fuller at STL Chess Club

Reigning US Junior Champion Grandmaster Jeffery Xiong is a point ahead of the field at the World Junior Championship in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India (August 7-22). Update: Xiong wins World Junior with a round to spare. Jeffery currently has 9/11 with two rounds to go. Here are his critical round 9 and 10 wins over two other top seeds, Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran) and IM Nasuta Grzegorz (Poland). Show these to your students who don't believe endgame study is important! Update:

[pgn] [Event "WJCC 1-10"] [Site "KIIT University"] [Date "2016.08.17"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Maghsoodloo, Parham"] [Black "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2576"] [BlackElo "2633"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:15:16"] [BlackClock "0:47:03"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 g6 3. Bb2 Bg7 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 c5 8. e3 d5 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Nc3 Qd7 11. d4 cxd4 12. Qxd4 Nc6 13. Qh4 Rad8 14. Rad1 Qc8 15. Nb5 a6 16. Nbd4 Qa8 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Qf4 Kg7 21. Ne1 Rd2 22. Qb4 Rxa2 23. Qxb6 Bd5 24. Qb4 Rb2 25. Qb6 a5 26. Qb5 e6 27. Bxd5 Qxd5 28. Qxd5 exd5 29. Nf3 Rxb3 30. Rd1 Rb5 31. Nd4 Rb6 32. Nc2 Rc6 33. Nd4 Ra6 34. Nb5 a4 35. Nc7 Rc6 36. Ne8+ Kf8 37. Nxf6 Rxf6 38. Rxd5 Ra6 39. Kf1 a3 40. Rd1 Ke7 41. Ke1 a2 42. Ra1 Kd6 43. Kd2 Kd5 44. Kd3 Ra3+ 45. Kd2 h5 46. h3 g5 47. g4 h4 48. Kd1 Ke4 49. Ke2 f6 50. f3+ Kd5 51. Kd2 Kc4 52. Kc2 Rxe3 0-1 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "WJCC 1-10"] [Site "KIIT University"] [Date "2016.08.18"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Black "Nasuta, Grzegorz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D70"] [WhiteElo "2633"] [BlackElo "2442"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:13:08"] [BlackClock "0:01:34"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. a3 Bd7 11. Nd2 Qc8 12. Nde4 Bh3 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. Nc5 Qc8 15. b4 Nd7 16. Nb3 e6 17. Bd2 Ne7 18. Rc1 c6 19. e4 Qc7 20. Bg5 Rad8 21. Qe2 Qb8 22. Rfd1 h6 23. Be3 e5 24. d5 cxd5 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 26. Rxd5 Nf6 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. f3 b6 29. Rc6 Rd6 30. b5 Qd8 31. Kf2 Qe7 32. Qc4 Rd7 33. a4 Qa3 34. Nd2 Kh7 35. Rc7 Rxc7 36. Qxc7 Qxa4 37. Qxf7 Qxb5 38. Qxa7 Nd7 39. Qa2 Qc6 40. Qc4 Qxc4 41. Nxc4 b5 42. Nd6 b4 43. Ke2 Bf8 44. Nc4 Kg7 45. Kd3 Kf6 46. Nb2 Bc5 47. Nd1 Bxe3 48. Nxe3 Ke6 49. Kc4 Nb8 50. Kb5 b3 51. Nc4 Kf6 52. Nd2 b2 53. Kc4 Nc6 54. Kc3 Nd4 55. Kxb2 g5 56. Kc3 h5 57. Kc4 Nc6 58. Kd5 Nb4+ 59. Kd6 Nd3 60. Nc4 g4 61. fxg4 hxg4 62. Ne3 Kg5 63. Ke6 Ne1 64. Kxe5 Nf3+ 65. Kd6 Nxh2 66. e5 Nf3 67. e6 1-0 [/pgn]