In a rare double unlikely to be replicated, the new world chess champion is an 18-year-old grandmaster from the Indian city of Chennai, and the new world junior champion is, yep, an 18-year-old grandmaster from the Indian city of Chennai.
GM Dommaraju Gukesh of course made history last year by becoming the youngest official world champion ever, dethroning China’s GM Din Liren. But the Indian bench of young talent is broad and deep these days: GM Venkatesh Pranav — like Gukesh, 18, from Chennai, and insanely talented — captured the FIDE world junior title last month in what could be a breakthrough performance.
Sixteen-year-old Russian WIM Ann Shukhman, who has herself been rocketing up the ratings chart in recent months, took the junior girls title, a full point ahead of WIM Ayan Allahverdiyeva from Azerbaijan.
With teenage superstars like Gukesh already competing at the grown-ups’ table these days, the junior crown has lost a little of its luster. Then again, past holders of the title include such greats as the just-passed Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov, and Pranav’s own personal inspiration, former Indian world champ Viswanathan Anand.
The new world junior champ ground out some tough late-tournament wins to secure his half-point win over Slovakian FM Matic Lavrencic and Norwegian GM Elham Amar. But he conserved some energy with a lightning win earlier in the tournament against New York IM Nico Chasin, the top-scoring American in the event. Pranav as Black seeks out the sharpest lines in this tricky Queen’s Gambit Accepted line and gets a quick point when Chasin misses a powerful shot.
With 5. Nf3 e4!? (Bxb4+ 6. Nc3 exd4 7.exd4 Nf6 8. 0-0 resembles more traditional Queen’s Gambit play) 6. Nfd2 (Qb3!? Nh6 7. Nfd2 was an interesting alternative) Qg5!?, Black gets the unbalanced position he wants, although his queen winds up precariously placed after 7. Nxe4 Qxg2 8. Ng3 Qh3.
It’s White who loses the thread in the ensuing tactical dust-up: 11. f3?! (better was 11. Qa4! Bf3 12. d5!, and Black has to be careful to avoid such potholed lines as 12…Bxh1? 13. dxc6 b6 14. Be3 Bf3 15. Nb5 Rc8 16. Qb3 Bh5 17. e5 Ng4 18. Be6!! Be7 19. Bd7+ Kd8 20. 0-0-0, with a winning attack) 0-0-0 12. Be3? (there are times, they say, when the best way to refute a sacrifice is to accept it; Black gets a big attack but it’s still a fight after 12. fxg4 Nxd4 13. Bf1 Qh4 14. Be3 Bc5) Bc5!, putting a second bishop nominally en prise. This time, however, accepting the piece is out: 13. fxg4? Nxg4 14. Qf3 Nxe3 15. Qxe3 Nxd4 16. Qf2 h5 17. Rf1 h4 18. Nf5 Nb3 with a big edge.
Chasin’s king is trapped in the center and Pranav efficiently goes for the kill on 16. Nc3 f5! (opening more central lines) 17. Bg5 Rd7 18. d5 (Qf1 may have been White’s last chance to fight on, though on 18…Qxf1+ 19. Rhxf1 Nxd4 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Nxf5 Bxf5 22. Kg2, Black is a clear pawn to the good with two powerful bishops and should win) f4! 19. Nge2 Bc5+ 20. Ke1 Qg2 21. Rf1 Bh3, and White resigned. His bishop and rook both hang, and there’s nothing to play for after 22. Bxf4 Qxf1+ 23. Kd2 Qxf3 24. Kc2 Re8.
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At the other end of the age spectrum, we have a nice three-peat for the U.S. seniors, who captured the FIDE Senior 50+ World Team Championship, held this year in the Czech capital of Prague, for the third year in a row.
Starring for the American squad was Pittsburgh GM Alexander Shabalov, the reigning world individual senior champ, who took home a gold medal for his 6½-1½ score on Board 3 for the Yanks. Shabalov got to showcase his fabled attacking chops in a nice win over Kazakh GM Serikbay Temirbayev from the Black side of a Rubinstein Nimzo-Indian.
The big positional question in this line is whether White’s clunky but imposing pawn center will prove an asset or a target. White seems to dawdle in preparing that center to advance, allowing Shabalov to post his queen and knights in a menacing advanced position close to the White king. When Temirbayev does finally break in the center, he unfortunately grabs the wrong pawn.
Thus: 22. Bf2 Ngf4 23. e5? (d5 was the way to go, with White getting in some punches of his own in sharp lines like 23…Bd7 24. Kh1 Qg5 25. dxe6 Bxe6 26. exf5 Bxf5 27. Rxb6!, where it’s a draw by perpetual check after 27…Kh7 28. Ne4 Bxe4 29. Rxb8 Rxb8 30. fxe4 Rb2 31. Qf3 Rxf2 32. Qxf2 Ng3+ 33. Kg1 Nge2+ 34. Kh1 [Bxe2?? Nh3+] Ng3+) Qg5 — now the long diagonal remains open for the Black bishop and the White king now faces heavy fire.
There followed 24. Kh1 Ng3+ 25. Bxg3 (hxg3 hxg3 26. Bxg3 Qxg3 27. Re3 Kf7! 28. Kg1 Nh3+ 29. Kh1 Nf2+ 30. Kg1 Rh8, with 31…Rh1 mate on deck) hxg3 26. h3 Kf7!, and once the Black rooks join the party, Temirbayev’s defenses will have trouble holding.
There’s still a little bit of drama, as the engines say a Shabalov inaccuracy could have made the win a good deal harder: 28. Nb1 Rh4?! (Rxh3+! 29. gxh3 [Kg1 Rh1+! 30. Kxh1 Qh4+ 31. Kg1 Qh2 mate] Qh5 appears to win at once; e.g. 30. d5 Nxh3 31. Kg2 Rh8, and the White king is not long for this world) 29. d5 exd5 30. cxd5 Bxd5 31. exd6 Qh5 32. Kg1 Kg6, and now 33. c4! Bxc4 34. d7 Bxf1 35. d8=Q Rxd8 36. Qxd8 Bxg2 37. Qe8+ Kg5 38. Qd8+ lets White escape with a perpetual.
That’s easy for a computer to spot, but much harder for a hard-pressed player at the board. Black crashes through on the game’s 35. d8=Q? Rxd8 36. Qxd8 Nxh3+! 37. gxh3 Rxh3 38. Bxh3 Qxh3, and White resigns as his big material advantage can’t stop the coming checkmate: 39. Qh4+ Qxh4 40. Rg2 Bxg2 41. Kxg2 Qh2+ 42. Kf3 Qf2 mate.
A U.S. women’s 50+ team competed in the event, capturing a bronze medal behind women’s squads from the Czech Republic and China. A game between U.S. expert Natalya Tsodikova and Germany’s Peter Jeute offered one of those always-amusing “losing-by-resignation” games, this one coming after just nine moves.
In a trap-filled Scandinavian line, Jeute as Black falls for Tsodikova’s gambit after 6. Bd2 e6 7. Nd5 Qc5 (the only move; 7…Qa4?? 8. Bb5+! Qxb5 9. Nxc7+, forking king and queen) 8. Bb4 Qc6 9. Bb5 (see diagram), and Black makes the monumental error of resigning.
Yes, Black’s queen is toast, but the resulting position gives the second player plenty of reasons to play on: 9…Bb4+ 10. c3 Nxd5 11. Bxc6+ Nxc6 12. cxb4 Ndxb4 13. Ne2 Nxd3+ 14. Kf1 0-0-0 — White is still nominally up material, but her position is a mess, her pieces are out of play, and Black already has two minor pieces and two pawns for the lost queen. The computer engines even give Black a slight but distinct edge in the position.
As my late, great chess friend Richard O’Keeffe loved to observe: “Nobody ever won by resigning!”
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Chasin-Pranav, 62nd World Junior Championship, Petrovac, Montenegro, February 2025
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 Nc6 5. Nf3 e4 6. Nfd2 Qg5 7. Nxe4 Qxg2 8. Ng3 Qh3 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. e4 Bg4 11. f3 O-O-O 12. Be3 Bc5 13. Bd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bd6 15. Kf2 Be6 16. Nc3 f5 17. Bg5 Rd7 18. d5 f4 19. Nge2 Bc5+ 20. Ke1 Qg2 21. Rf1 Bh3 White resigns.
Temirbayev-Shabalov, World Senior 50+ Teams Championship, Prague, February 2025
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nf3 b6 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. a3 Bxc3 9. bxc3 d6 10. a4 Nc6 11. Nd2 Re8 12. Nb3 a5 13. Ba3 Ne7 14. f3 Ng6 15. Re1 h5 16. Bf1 h4 17. e4 Nh5 18. Bc1 f5 19. Be3 Qf6 20. Nd2 Rab8 21. Rb1 Bc6 22. Bf2 Ngf4 23. e5 Qg5 24. Kh1 Ng3+ 25. Bxg3 hxg3 26. h3 Kf7 27. Rb2 Rh8 28. Nb1 Rh4 29. d5 exd5 30. cxd5 Bxd5 31. exd6 Qh5 32. Kg1 Kg6 33. d7 Kh7 34. Re5 Bxf3 35. d8=Q Rxd8 36. Qxd8 Nxh3+ 37. gxh3 Rxh3 38. Bxh3 Qxh3 White resigns.
Tsodikova-Jeute, World Senior 50+ Teams Championship, Prague, February 2025
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 Bf5 6. Bd2 e6 7. Nd5 Qc5 8. Bb4 Qc6 9. Bb5 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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