Team FIDE Wins Candidates Countries Youth Online Chess Tournament
The FIDE Candidates Countries Youth Online Chess Tournament was won by the team representing the International Chess Federation, closely followed by China. The tournament took place on April 18-19 on Chess.com.
It was an expected victory for "Team FIDE," which had three grandmasters while no other team had even a single GM. Isn't that cheating? 😉
Well, as it turned out, the victory wasn't so automatic. FIDE ended up in a tie for first place and only clinched a victory based on board points.
It all started with a surprising win for China against FIDE in the first round. If anything, this matchup revealed again how many young players in China might be underrated. It's great that they might be having more chances to play strong international players now that more online events are being organized.
| Bo. | Fed | Title | China | Rtg | vs | Fed | Title | FIDE | Rtg | 3½:1½ |
| 1.1 | Huang Renjie | 2422 | - | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2620 | ½ - ½ | |||
| 1.2 | Zhu Hengyi | 2202 | - | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2627 | ½ - ½ | |||
| 1.3 | Zhang Di | 2108 | - | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2558 | 1 - 0 | |||
| 1.4 | WIM | Ning Kaiyu | 2327 | - | FM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2364 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 1.5 | WIM | Song Yuxin | 2290 | - | WFM | Hernandez Gil, Ineymig | 2348 | 1 - 0 |
Here's the win by Zhang Di (untitled!) against GM Vincent Keymer. The young German player had a close to winning advantage earlier in the game but couldn't sustain it. In a slightly worse endgame, he slipped and lost a pawn, and then his opponent showed great technique.
Some of you might know Zhang, now 13 years old, from his appearance in the PRO Chess League last year, when he scored a 2345 performance for the Chengdu Pandas.
China lost to Russia in the second round and won its remaining matches to reach eight match points. FIDE reached the same number after winning in rounds two through five, but with two extra board points they won the competition.
Final Standings
| Rk. | Flag | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | MP | BP |
| 1 | FIDE | 1½ | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 20,5 | ||
| 2 | China | 3½ | 1 | 3½ | 5 | 4½ | 8 | 17,5 | ||
| 3 | Russia | 1 | 4 | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 7 | 14,0 | ||
| 4 | USA | 0 | 1½ | 2½ | 4 | 4 | 5 | 12,0 | ||
| 5 | France | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3½ | 2 | 6,5 | ||
| 6 | Netherlands | 0 | ½ | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | 0 | 4,5 |
Here's a nice win from GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the youngest GM among the world's top-10 junior players, against the 14-year-old French FM Timothe Razafindratsima.
Individual scores
| Bo. | Fed | Title | FIDE | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2620 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 2 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2627 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3,5 | |
| 3 | GM | Keymer Vincent | 2558 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 4 | FM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | 2364 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4,5 | |
| 5 | WFM | Hernandez Gil Ineymig | 2348 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3,5 | |
| Bo. | Fed | Title | CHINA | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | Huang Renjie | 2422 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2 | Zhu Hengyi | 2202 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3 | Zhang Di | 2108 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3,5 | ||
| 4 | WIM | Ning Kaiyu | 2327 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3,5 | |
| 5 | WIM | Song Yuxin | 2290 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 3,5 | |
| Bo. | Fed | Title | RUSSIA | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | IM | Murzin Volodar | 2465 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2,5 | |
| 2 | IM | Pogosyan Stefan | 2442 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 3 | |
| 3 | IM | Makarian Rudik | 2442 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3 | |
| 4 | WGM | Garifullina Leya | 2357 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 5 | Nur-Mukhametova Alisa | 2262 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3,5 | ||
| Bo. | Fed | Title | USA | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | IM | Hong Andrew | 2444 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2 | IM | Yoo Christopher Woojin | 2455 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2,5 | |
| 3 | FM | Shlyakhtenko Robert | 2342 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 4 | WFM | Samadashvili Martha | 2215 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | WIM | Wu Rochelle | 2028 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 3,5 | |
| Bo. | Fed | Title | FRANCE | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | IM | Maurizzi Marc Andria | 2433 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1,5 | |
| 2 | FM | Razafindratsima Timothe | 2336 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | FM | Boyer Mahel | 2294 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1,5 | |
| 4 | Tomasi Elise | 2030 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 5 | WFM | Sumarriva Paulin Laura | 2023 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | |
| Bo. | Fed | Title | NETHERLANDS | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts. |
| 1 | FM | Han Yichen | 2307 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | FM | Elgersma Onno | 2298 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 3 | FM | Van Dael Siem | 2293 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | Roebers Eline | 2066 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 5 | Huang Wendy | 1860 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 |
This team tournament was an initiative of the Chinese Chess Association and held in cooperation with Chess.com under the motto "Go world! Be chess smart against COVID-19!"
Teams were invited from the countries represented in the FIDE Candidates Tournament: China, U.S., France, Russia, and the Netherlands.
Each team consisted of three boys and two girls under 16 years old. The time control was 10 minutes with a two-second increment.
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Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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