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Erdogmus Clinches Double ChessKid Youth Championships Triumph

Erdogmus Clinches Double ChessKid Youth Championships Triumph

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
| 32 | Chess Event Coverage

13-year-old GM-elect Yagiz Erdogmus has added the Under 16 ChessKid Youth Championship 2024 title to the Under 13 title he won a week ago. The Turkish prodigy overcame fellow GM-elect Ivan Zemlyanskii 3-1 in the Final after Zemlyanskii had upset GM Abhimanyu Mishra in the Semifinals.  

Final Bracket


Semifinals:

Final:

Erdogmus 3-1 Woodward

Erdogmus is currently the world's youngest grandmaster, a claim-to-fame he snatched from his Semifinal opponent, U.S. GM-elect Andy Woodward, in April. Since then Erdogmus has turned 13, but not before he became the highest-rated 12-year-old in history. 


He's a rival of 10-year-old FM Faustino Oro as the biggest prodigy in chess right now, and he's been demonstrating his credentials in the ChessKid Youth Championships. He won the Under 13 Championship in impressive style a week ago, and now he's done the same against the even more formidable ranks of players 16 and under.

After winning his group with 8/10, he raced to a 2-0 lead against Woodward in the four-game Semifinal before going on to clinch the match, though his opponent put up a fierce fight. 


In the first game Erdogmus emerged with two extra pawns from a tricky opening, and when he managed to coordinate his undeveloped pieces, it was all over but the shouting.

In the second, however, Woodward looked sure to be able to hunt down the black king and level the scores, but somehow the monarch escaped.

As you can see, near the end Woodward, with a second or two on his clock, dropped a rook for no compensation.

That was unfortunate and left Erdogmus needing only a draw to clinch the match, which perhaps explained a decision that condemned him to a world of hurt—33.Nxg5?!

The problem for Woodward, however, was that he needed to win on demand a second time to force a playoff. Instead Erdogmus was in top form, finding an essential move in the opening that had, in fact, been played before—10...b5! 

He went on to give checkmate and book a spot in the final.

Mishra 1.5-2.5 Zemlyanskii

Erdogmus' expected opponent in the final was 15-year-old Mishra, who as a 12-year-old set the current record for becoming the youngest-ever grandmaster. In the end, however, his FM but GM-elect 13-year-old opponent pulled off an upset.  

The tense first game that ended in a repetition suggested how close things would be, while Mishra fell behind when he failed to move an attacked rook in a complicated Winawer French in the second game.

Mishra hit back in the third, and while his technique in converting a winning position was far from perfect, there was absolutely nothing wrong with his fighting spirit. He celebrated when his opponent lost on time in an already hopeless pawn endgame.

That left the scores level going into the final game, which was again a Winawer French. This time Zemlyanskii went on to score an impressively smooth win to book his spot in the final.

Erdogmus 3-1 Zemlyanskii

This battle of the 13-year-olds got off to a wild start when Zemlyanskii, with 40 seconds more on the clock, found the tricky idea 21...Nxg3!?, grabbing a pawn.

Despite the lack of time, Erdogmus navigated the complications well and later pounced to gain a winning edge, but by the final position Zemlyanskii had a chance to equalize. Instead he seemed to lose his connection and lose on time. 

That misfortune was shrugged off, however, as Zemlyanskii hit back, taking advantage of a flawed pawn sacrifice by his opponent in the following game. 

The four-game match had become a two-game match, but it was Erdogmus who regained the lead in game three, which featured an extremely tense standoff on the kingside. Erdogmus had just 24 seconds to his opponent's one minute and 42 seconds after the clever 22.Be4!, but in the end he handled the complications better.

Here are the final stages after 32.Qf1!, threatening Rf8+, made the outcome inevitable.

Zemlyanskii, therefore, had to win the fourth game on demand, but when he missed a chance to push d4 on move 10, things turned against him. Erdogmus rounded off the match in real style. 

The consolation for other ChessKids, and reason to fear for the chess elite, is that Erdogmus is soon likely to graduate to competing on a level footing in top events.

The biggest chess event on the horizon is the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz that starts Wednesday but sadly without world number-one Magnus Carlsen. 

 

How to review?

You can review the broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated events page. 

The live broadcasts were hosted by IM Irene Sukandar and FM Mike Klein.

The ChessKid Youth Championships are Chess.com's top events for the next generation of the chess elite. The two sections, for players under 13 and under 16, took place June 29-July 7. All games were played with the 3+1 time control, and the prize fund was $15,000.

Previous coverage:

    Colin_McGourty
    Colin McGourty

    Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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