Rank & File

“I’m sorry, but we are closed,” the
airline lady said, “Baggage check-in
stops an hour before the flight.”
“Could you please make an exception
for us? We are only two or three
minutes late. My daughter is representing
the U.S.A. in the World Youth
Chess Championship. Please help us.”
“OK, but please be quick.”
It was a late Friday afternoon, the
worst time to beat the LA traffic.
Our hired driver had arrived almost
45-minutes later than scheduled.
With the help of the airline counter
lady, my dad and I caught our flight
to Istanbul, from where we flew to
Thessaloniki, Greece, where the 2015
World Youth Chess Championships
were held. The flight from LAX to Istanbul
was comfortable, as the food
was pretty good, and the flight was
not full. Everything seemed under
control. That is, until we arrived in
Thessaloniki without our luggage.
After leaving our names and hotel
name to the luggage service office,
we took a two-hour bus ride in one
of the provided buses and arrived at
the tournament venue at 10pm local
time. (One of our bags arrived one
day later, and the second arrived two
days later.)
The tournament was held in a beautiful
resort by the Aegean Sea, at the
same place where the 2010 World
Youth Chess Championships were
held. The resort was a 1,763 hectares
property, containing two large hotels,
a private marina, a golf course, a vineyard,
and several beautiful beaches
and mountains. Olive trees covered
most of the mountains and lined the
sidewalks as well.
Every year, more players participate
in the World Youth Chess Championships.
This year, the two large hotels
near the playing halls were so crowded
that some delegations from other
countries were forced to stay outside
2015 World Youth
My Experience at the 2015 World Youth Chess Championships
of the resort.
My first-round opponent was a Canadian
girl who has the same last
name as me. I held the Black pieces,
misplayed the opening, and nearly
lost – but my opponent made a few
inaccuracies, allowing me to win. I
was lucky to win my first round game.
The day after, I held the White pieces,
playing against Yan Tianqi, from
China. This game was arguably my
favorite from the entire 11-round
tournament - I made few mistakes
and took advantage of my opponent’s
inactive pieces, winning without any
difficulties. The game, shown below,
began with the Classical Variation of
the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
World Youth Chess Ch. 2015
10.26.2015 E37
Round 2
Wang, Annie (2087) -
Yan, Tianqi (1799)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2
0–0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2
d5
Definitely not the main line. Most
common is 7...f5.
8.Nf3 Nd7 9.Bf4 c6?!
9...c5 9...c5 would have been a better
move; Black needs some space to develop
her pieces, and c7-c5 provides
that space.
10.dxc5 Ndxc5 11.b4 Nd7 12.e3.
10.e3 h6!?
I am not entirely sure why my opponent
played this. Perhaps she was
afraid of 11. Bd3, but that could have
been refuted with either ...f7-f5 or
just Ne4-f6.
11.Bd3 Nef6
see diagram
www.scchess.com Dec 2015-Jan-Feb 2016
By WIM Annie Wang
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lmq-trk+0
9zpp+n+pzp-0
9-+p+psn-zp0
9+-+p+-+-0
9-+PzP-vL-+0
9zP-+LzPN+-0
9-zPQ+-zPPzP0
9tR-+-mK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
Also not very good. Black needs to
keep his knight on e4 in order to retain
some resemblance of counter
play. 11...f5 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 I
am still better in this position, just
slightly less so than in the position
after the continuation in the game.
Black’s bishop is a big pawn, White
has an outpost on e5, and Black’s e4
knight, the only good piece in her position,
will soon be kicked away. 13...
Nd6 14.cxd5 exd5 15.0–0 Be6 16.b3.
12.0–0 dxc4 13.Bxc4 ....
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lmq-trk+0
9zpp+n+pzp-0
9-+p+psn-zp0
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+LzP-vL-+0
9zP-+-zPN+-0
9-zPQ+-zPPzP0
9tR-+-m+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
13.Qxc4! 13. Qxc4 was superior to
13. Bxc4, mainly because 13. Qxc4
prevents Black from pushing his
b7 pawn and developing his lightsquared
bishop to the a8-h1 diagonal.
13...Nd5 14.Bg3 Ne7 15.Bh4 Still preventing
...b7-b6. 15...a5 16.Qc2.
Rank & File 21