’Tis the season — and the week — of great anticipation for children all over the world. And some of those children are not waiting until Dec. 25 to claim the presents under the tree.
The National K-12 Grade Championships drew nearly 1,400 entrants to Spokane, Washington, earlier this month. (An impressively large turnout, but somewhat below the 2,000-plus who flocked to the D.C. area for K-12 championships in recent years — just sayin’. …) The 13-grade tournaments produced a bumper crop of 38 champions and co-champs, Chess Life Online reports, with Texas kindergartener Zayn Shanmuganathan notching the gathering’s only perfect 7-0 score.
Among the notable local entrants, Maryland master Nitesh Cherukuri tied for first in the ninth grade section with New York NM Aditeya Das, and Virginia expert Will Moorhouse finished in a tie for fourth in the 10th grade competition.
NM William Safranek landed in a tie for first with fellow New York master in the stacked grade 12 competition, scoring wins in his final two games to finish at 6-1. His Round 6 victory in a Richter-Rauzer Sicilian over master Aritro Chakravarty featured a powerful demolition of Black’s usually hard-to-crack center.
Black gets into trouble keeping his king in the center for way too long, allowing Safranek to build up a powerful initiative: 11. Nb3 Qc7?! (0-0 12. Qg3 d5, protecting the king and seeking central counterplay, is much more in the spirit of this defense) 12. f4 e5 13. f5 h6? (losing more time while neglecting the king, when 13…a5 14. Kb1 a4 15. Nd2 0-0 16. Nc4 Rfd8 would put up tougher resistance; Black’s plan to castle on the queenside will have disastrous consequences) 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nd2, and White’s pieces are poised to take up dominating positions.
Chakravarty’s idea of giving up the d-pawn to ease White’s pressure fails in a big way, as the Black king finds himself badly exposed on the queenside after 16. Nc4 0-0-0 17. Nxd6+ Kb8 (see diagram; the desperate 17…Qxd6 18. Qxa6+ Kc7 19. Rxd6 Kxd6 also loses to 20. Rd1+ Kc7 21. Qa7+ Kc8 22. Na4) 18. Qxa6! — it turns out the White queen is not needed to guard the knight on d6 because Safranek has a clever pin up his sleeve.
It’s over on 18…Bxd6 (Bc8 19. Nxc8 Rxc8 20. Na4 Rcd8 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rd1 Rg8 [Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Qb7 24. Qxb7+ Kxb7 25. Ke2 wins prosaically for White with his two extra pawns] 23. Rd3) 19. Rxd6! Qxd6 20. Qb6+ Kc8 21. Nb5!, and Black resigned as 22. Na7 mate is threatened and 21. cxb5 22. Qxd6 costs him his queen.
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Another young player is moving ever closer to claiming a great prize of his own: 12-year-old Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro, who already broke the record for the youngest player ever to achieve the international master title, has just secured the second of the three norms needed to become history’s youngest titled grandmaster as well.
Oro’s tie for third in the recent Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli tournament in Buenos Aires pushed his International Chess Federation, known as FIDE, rating over 2500 and leaves him needing just one strong result to set the GM age record. U.S. GM Abhimanyu Mishra is the current record-holder, earning the title four years ago at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. Oro has until March of next year to set the new standard.
The Argentine phenomenon seems an old soul by chess standards, with a pragmatic approach to the game that belies his years. His third-place finish in the Magistral event included two wins and seven draws, just enough to secure the needed norm.
Of course, Oro can be entertaining and enterprising when the position calls for it, as in his nice win over Russian GM Savva Vetokhin at a tournament in Menorca, Spain, earlier this year. The early play features a lot of positional shadow-boxing in a Closed Ruy Lopez, but Oro as White comes out better in the first real skirmish after 13. Nd5 Be6?! (this proves an awkward post for the bishop; more consistent was 13…Nxd5 14. exd5 Nd4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Ra7 Bd7, with reasonable chances) 14. Bd2 Bf8 15. c4 bxc4 16. dxc4 Bd7 17. Bc3 Nxd5 18. cxd5 Ne7 19. Ba4!, smartly moving to trade off Black’s one good bishop.
Vetokhin’s risky decision to open up the position with 19…f5?! (more prudent was hunkering down with 19…c6) 20. exf5 Bxa4 21. Qxa4 Nxf5 leads White to launch a promising but speculative piece sacrifice just three moves later: 23. Ra6 Qe7 24. Bxe5!? dxe5? (unwisely taking the bait; the engines say Black’s best now was instead 24…Qf7! 25. Bc3 Rxe1+ 26. Bxe1 Ne7 27. Ra5 c5, and White’s b- and d-pawns are both under fire) 25. Rxe5! (Black is OK on 25. d6+?! Qf7 26. Qxf7+ Kxf7 27. d7 Rd8 28. Nxe5+ Kg8 29. Rae1 c5 30. Ra8 Rbxd7 31. Nxd7 Rxd7) Qf7 26. Rxe8 Qxe8 27. d6+ — the discovered check now arrives with extra force and the passed pawn will prove a crucial asset in the finale.
Black can’t patch all the holes in his leaky defensive dike and is swamped by his young opponent on 27…Kh8 28. dxc7 Ne7 (Qc8 28. Ra8 Qxc7 30. Rxf8+ Kh7 31. Qg8+ Kg6 32. g4, and the Black king is in a mating net in lines like 32…Qc1+ 33. Kg2 Ne7 34. Ne5+ Kg5 35. Qxg7+ Kh4 36. Nf3 mate) 29. Ne5 Rxb2 (Qc8 30. Nf7+ Kh7 31. Nd6 Qxc7 32. Qe4+ and wins) 30. Re6 Qc8 31. Rxe7!, ruthlessly eliminating any piece keeping Black’s game afloat.
Vetokhin packs it in after 31…Qf5 (Bxe7 32. Ng6+ Kh7 33. Nxe7) 32. Rf7! (White’s knight will be captured with check, but Black can no longer hold back the passer on c7) Rb1+ 33. Kh2 Qxe5+ 34. f4, and Black resigned ahead of such lines as 34…Qe1 35. Rxf8+ Kh7 36. Qd3+ g6 37. Qd7+ Qe7 38. Qxe7 mate.
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Quick notes: Just another reminder that the landmark 50th edition of the annual year-ending Eastern Open kicks off Friday at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The event traditionally attracts some of the country’s strongest grandmasters, and the watching is free. Check it out online at https://chessevents.com/event/easternopen. … Among those also getting an early Christmas present were chessplayers from Russia and Belarus. FIDE’s General Assembly last week voted to lift the ban on teams from those two countries competing in official international events, a ban first imposed in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Individual Russian and Belarus players had been allowed to play in international tournaments only under a neutral FIDE flag. There are reports the lifting of the ban may still face legal challenges.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Safranek-Chakravarty, 2025 National Grade 12 Championship, Spokane, Washington, December 2025
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. Qd3 Be7 9. O-O-O a6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Nb3 Qc7 12. f4 e5 13. f5 h6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nd2 Rf8 16. Nc4 O-O-O 17. Nxd6+ Kb8 18. Qxa6 Bxd6 19. Rxd6 Qxd6 20. Qb6+ Kc8 21. Nb5 Black resigns.
Oro-Vetokhin, Menorca Open, Menorca, Spain, April, 2025
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nc3 O-O 11. h3 h6 12. Re1 Re8 13. Nd5 Be6 14. Bd2 Bf8 15. c4 bxc4 16. dxc4 Bd7 17. Bc3 Nxd5 18. cxd5 Ne7 19. Ba4 f5 20. exf5 Bxa4 21. Qxa4 Nxf5 22. Qc4 Rb7 23. Ra6 Qe7 24. Bxe5 dxe5 25. Rxe5 Qf7 26. Rxe8 Qxe8 27. d6+ Kh8 28. dxc7 Ne7 29. Ne5 Rxb2 30. Re6 Qc8 31. Rxe7 Qf5 32. Rf7 Rb1+ 33. Kh2 Qxe5+ 34. f4 Black resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
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