Talk:World Youth Chess Championship

Xu Yuanyuan
She won the U-16 in 1997 and U-20 in 2000, as is stated in her article. But my question is, could she not also be the 1995 U-14 winner also? This is credited to a Xu Xuun Yuan, who would be the same age as Xu Yuanyuan and whose name sounds incredibly similar. Any way to check this out? Brittle heaven (talk) 22:48, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * You are right, it is probably her. However, without any good sources (eg birthdate) this will be very hard to establish as all the sources I have give Xu Xuun Yuan. Chessbase megabase has only 11 games from Xu Xuun Yua, all played in the Wch U14 in 1995, and as so often, chessbase gets the gender wrong (indicated as male!). Just had a look at the tournament table and Ana Matnadze played in the same edition, she has an account on ICC (Sarakhatkhan). So perhaps we can ask her (I don't dare to ask her, because I have been asking her quite a few things in the past and I think she had enough of me bugging her). Voorlandt (talk) 16:59, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Also Iweta Rajlich played in that tournament (came shared second 7.5/11), so perhaps an email to her would help. Voorlandt (talk) 17:03, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Xu Xuun Yuan does exist on FIDE's records, but only by way of a distant mistake it would seem, as they have zero data, not even a birth year. Having checked out Ana Matnadze in Wiki Commons, no-one could blame you for bugging her a bit more! ... maybe I'll sign up for ICC one of these days. Brittle heaven (talk) 20:42, 5 April 2008 (UTC).
 * Ok I have done some more digging into this. First it seems that with the new FIDE website, she does have a record (I wonder why FIDE doesn't have full rating info since 1970)
 * Xu Xuun Yuan
 * Xu Yuanyuan
 * This looks like a serious blow to the theory. However, I have emailed Iweta Rajlich who written me back with this:
 * "In my private games database I have a record of 4 games with Xu Yuanyuan: 1. in 1995 in Brasil, 2. in Calicut in 1998 3. in 2000 in Armenia 4. in 2001 in Atheny. I notice that in official game database the only tournament, player with name: Xu Xuun Yuan, has ever been played was in 1995 in Brasil - 11 games. Very likely it is the same person."
 * Any thoughts? I am trying to get the email of Xu YuanYuan and ask her, but it wont be easy. Voorlandt (talk) 20:03, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
 * As I said previously, the Xu Xuun Yuan file at FIDE has no data and therefore looks like a distant mistake. But I guess it all hinges on a handful of games from 1995 (presumably these are some of them ). It seems very suspicious indeed and it sounds like Iweta Raijlich agrees. Would contacting Regina Pokorna be any easier? - she may recall who she played out those 98 moves with in Brasil in 1995 and may be able to compare her memory with the FIDE photo of Xu Yuanyuan, who I believe was born March 8, 1981? Other than that, it could be time to brush up on your Mandarin!!!—Brittle heaven (talk) 21:37, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry didn't notice that you said she had a FIDE record. Contacting Regina Pokorna seems like a good idea. I had no luck finding Yuanyuan's email. Chessbase has a bit info on Xu Yuanyuan in this article (with lots of pictures).
 * Well spotted with the Chessbase article—it looks like she and Skripchenko formed a friendship. Perhaps Skripchenko is another route to Xu Yuanyuan's email, but as she was assigned an interpreter, it's not that likely that they would stay in contact, I guess. Brittle heaven (talk) 10:10, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I noticed the recent revert and did a little digging – Xu Yuanyuan's personal website and Baidu Baike entry both claim that she won the U14 championship, and while neither qualifies as an RS, a Tsinghua University news article (republished by Xinhua) about her visit there in 2006 corroborates the assertion and could be cited. Cobblet (talk) 04:14, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Aha, excellent - thanks for that. We've all known that this was the case, but lacked any credible documentary evidence until now. I will therefore change it, and the addition of a sourced footnote will hopefully clear it up once and for all. I may also inform our friend at pl.wikipedia, where I noticed that his Polish chess magazine source was giving a similarly erroneous variant name. Brittle heaven (talk) 13:49, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Now corrected and a ref [1] attached. Could use some format tidying if anyone knows how. I'm out of practice it would appear. Brittle heaven (talk) 15:20, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Happy to help with this and anything else that would benefit from the ability to look at Chinese sources. Cobblet (talk) 18:40, 20 November 2016 (UTC)
 * That's good to know. And thanks again for sorting this one out. Brittle heaven (talk) 14:32, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Jorge Zamora
CHESS magazine Oct 1989, gives a full list of winners for the event in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, the list disagrees on the boys' U-12 winner - giving Marcin Kaminsky (POL), 8½ points. There are no 2nd / 3rd places given, so Jorge Zamora does not get a mention. Not sure how to resolve this one? Brittle heaven (talk) 20:23, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
 * The Nov 1989 issue repeats all this in much greater detail and Zamora is not in the top 4 - so I will change the winner to Kaminsky and add some notes. Brittle heaven (talk) 12:25, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for spotting this. It is my mistake. From
 * Jorge Sammour-Hasbun became the surprising winner of the ICC Dos Hermanas online tournament. Who? Many were wondering that of course. Sammour-Hasbun has been away from the game for ten years, but at some point he was a true prodigy. He won the world championship under 10 in 1988 and later also the Wch under 12, when his name was still Jorge Zamora. Jorge’s family emigrated from Palestina to America and there, at the age of 15 he already had a USCF rating of 2500. Amongst others he beat Gata Kamsky in those days. Read more...


 * I concluded he must have won the 1989 edition. Perhaps it was the 1990 edition? But we have another one for that year. So this needs further investigation! Voorlandt (talk) 15:00, 6 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Found a link that said he won it in 1990 Voorlandt (talk) 08:55, 16 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Hmm, Although this looks like new source, it is basically just a copy of the info from the old source; if you look carefully, some of the sentences are worded the same (note the old source has moved, but is just a click away). Nevertheless, I will have another look through CHESS to see if I can find any 1990 results, but I think I would have found them last time, if they existed. RegardsBrittle heaven (talk) 08:03, 17 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Surprisingly, I have now found two reports on the 1990 Youth Festival! And it still seems certain that Hasbun/Zamora didn't finish in the top three at Fond du Lac (in any age category). Again, I will write this one up for the main page when I get time. Brittle heaven (talk) 08:59, 17 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot for your work on this! It is very good news that you found these reports, but I am also really surprised. I suspected that he at least got second and lost on tie-break. He was born in 1979, so if it was not in 1989 and 1990, it can only have been in 1991 (in 1992 he would have been 13)? Voorlandt (talk) 10:01, 17 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Not Warsaw 1991; CHESS October 1991 confirms Kaminski winner at U14 and Leitao at U12 (on tie-break from Leko). I have also re-checked my notes on 1992 and they are correct, so Hasbun/Zamora's second win appears to be a 'phantom' occurrence! Brittle heaven (talk) 11:54, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for checking it. I am still surprised, as after he won the ICC tournament, he gave a radio interview, and I remembered hearing something like this: "I won the world U10 in 1988 (here he gave some more details) and later also the U12". I remember that his was particular vague about this U12. Anyhow, another one resolved! I did notice though that we don't have 1991 as Warsaw, were all editions played there? Voorlandt (talk) 18:23, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Me neither, that completely passed me by—somehow we got our World Y mixed up with our European Y. The latter is and should be Mamaia, whereas the former should be Warsaw, not Mamaia—I think pl.wiki has it correct. No, not all editions were held there, only the U10, U12 and U14 (similar to Fond du Lac 1990 - see my recent Notes entry - which was shared with Singapore). So no reason to suspect there is anything wrong with Guarapuava in 1991 for the U16 and U18. Brittle heaven (talk) 16:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Cadets
Browsing through a number of publications, I am coming to the conclusion that the early editions of this category (from Mestel onwards) were in fact under-18, not under-16. Unfortunately, I can't piece together the whole story, but looking at Brasilbase, you note that whilst these early editions sit above the under-16 results, they are not described as U-16 themselves. They have (I think) been put there because at some point, the "Cadets" category switched from U-18 to U-16, so the name is the common element, not the age group. Our article is therefore misleading as it titles all editions as U-16. Perhaps some more research is needed to fully clear this up, and discover when the crossover happened. Brittle heaven (talk) 20:23, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
 * From the intro:


 * The under 16 category has the longest history as youth championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 17 and was recognized in 1977 by FIDE as the World Championship for Cadets. Later the age limit was reduced to under 16, applicable at the start of the year the championship is played in.   This implies that some of the U16 are in fact seventeen, so that there is a large overlap with the age category before they changed the age category (and that is why I merged the cadets with the U16, as is also done here. If we would know the year it changed, we can perhaps put the cadets in a different subsection.


 * It would be really great to know when all the editions started officially for the first time. A poster from 1983 can be found here: (from this page ), which implies 1983 was the third edition of the U16. The numbering on brasilbase cannot be trusted imo.


 * This chessbase article has a bit on the history, which says that the cadets where merged with the U18 and first editions of U10, U12 and U14 where first played in 1987! One thing it mentions is the World Youth Chess Festival for Peace, and I think we should mention this is our article. Voorlandt (talk) 15:05, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Results from old twics
Because they are no longer online, I post them here for now, until the year is covered in the "notes" section.

1995 TWIC57: 11TH WORLD YOUTH CHESS FESTIVAL by Claudio Antonio Tonegutti
Place: CITY OF SAO LOURENCO - STATE OF MINAS GERAIS - BRAZIL Date: OCTOBER 17 TO 28, 1995. The 11th World Youth Chess Festival was realized in October, 17 to 28, at Sao Lourenco City, Brazil, by FIDE and Brazilian Chess Federation. Sao Lourenco is an agreeable resort inland the State of Minas Gerais and it is located 386 km from Belo Horizonte, the state capital, 290 km from Sao Paulo, and 275 km from Rio de Janeiro. Sao Lourenco has 30,000 inhabitants and the average temperature in the month of October is 25 Celsius degrees. The city has a wonderful mineral water park with a lake and hoots baths. This Festival covered the World Chess Championships under 10 (born on or after 01/01/85), under 12 (born on or after 01/01/83) and under 14 (born on or after 01/01/81), boys and girls, with the participation of representatives from the Federations affiliated which FIDE. The participation was very good, with 263 players from many countries.The players top placed in each category are : etc...

1996 TWIC104 XII World Youth Chess Festival
Cala Galdana Menorca in the Balearic Islands is the venue of the World Youth Chess Festival between 20th October and the 3rd November 1996. This FIDE event is endorsed by the United Nations and is an annual event. The competition has under 10,12,14,16 and 18 sections for both boys and girls. It will produce 10 Champions altogether. The events are 11 round Swiss events. The leaders of these events are not guaranteed to go on to be professional players but this year there were quite a number of quite well known figures playing in the tournaments. Probably the most interesting event was the Boys under 14 event with Etienne Bacrot as its star. He had a very good Olympiad and has recently beaten ex-World Champion Vassily Smyslov 5-1 in a match. Did he win? No in fact he came 5th a point and a half behind the winner after losing to him in last round game. He was level with Ganguly who beat a strong GM last year in India. The winner was Gabriel Sargissian who beat Ganguly and Bacrot on the way to the title. Azerbaijan and India seem to have quite strong junior programs in train, and China also has a few high profile names but not as many as might have been expected given their interest in chess. Alek Gershon won the under 16 section above a number of more highly rated players after winning an extremely odd game in the last round. The under-18 section Rafael Leitao from Brazil took the under 18 section. etc..

Some comments
One interesting fact is the numbering. So 1985 would be the first world youth chess festival? This would explain part of brasilbase numbering. Anyway, here is my best guess so far


 * 1977-1981 Cadets
 * 1981-1984 U16
 * 1979,1980,1981,1984 U14 as part of the 'World Infant Cup'

etc..
 * 1985 U14 ?? | U16                    ' World Youth Festival I'
 * 1986 U10 U12 U14 | U16               ' World Youth Festival II'
 * 1987 U10 U12 U14 U18 | U16           ' World Youth Festival III'
 * 1988 U10 U12 U14 U16 | U18           ' World Youth Festival IV'
 * 1989 U10 U12 U14 U16 U18 (finally!)  ' World Youth Festival V'

The big question to me is whether there were U10 and U12 sections in 1985. Also, if we are to believe brasilbase, some girls sections started later. In any case, I think we should split the World Infant Cup out. Voorlandt (talk) 20:07, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

1994 Goletiani?
All of the 4 sources (brasilbase, Delaire, xoomer, berry) state that Dorote Ivaniuk won the girls U14 event in '94. Even the sum up of this tournament in the article here says that Ivaniuk was the winner. Still Rusudan Goletiani holds the place in the table and in her article. Is that because Sam Sloan kept insisting that she won 3 Youth World Championships to have a stronger point in his accusations against the Executive Board whereas in fact she only won the U16? If he got the birthplace of Gashimov wrong in his statements he might have exaggerated when listing her titles. --Gereon K. (talk) 23:02, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

U16 78-79
Informant 27, page 253 lists a December 1978-January 1979 World Cadet Championship at Sas Van Gent won by Motwani (presumably Paul Motwani of Scotland) with 9/11, followed by Huergo and Short with 8/11, etc. Our article doesn't seem to mention this tournament at all. Informant 28, page 289 lists another World Cadet Championship (this one at Belfort), also an 11-round tournament, in July 1979. Our article does mention this tournament, saying that Marcelo Javier Tempone was the winner. Informant 28 gives "1-2. Tempone, Short 8, 3. Morovic 8, 4. Milos 7 1/2" etc. This implies that Tempone, Short, and Morovic all scored 8 points, and Tempone and Short were co-winners on tiebreak(?!) Sorry to be introducing confusion rather than clarity. . . . Krakatoa (talk) 02:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, I have resolved the confusion about two under-17 championships in 1979. A book by Nigel Short's father, David Short, called Nigel Short: Chess Progidy, confirms that there was indeed a World Cadet Championship in '78-'79 and another in Belfort later in '79. "Another win in a weekend tournament followed, and then it was the World Under-17 Championship in Holland. ... Nigel finished equal second and collected the bronze medal on tie-break." David Short, Nigel Short: Chess Progidy, Faber and Faber, 1981, pp. 145-46. ISBN 0-571-11860-7. "With the World Under-17 Championship of 1978 spilling over into 1979, two championships were held in six months. ... [S]ome unexpected results on the lower boards gave Tempone the title on tie-break countback. Nigel took the silver medal." Id. at p. 159. Bottom line: the 1978-79 Cadet (under-17) at Sas Van Gent, Netherlands should be added, with Motwani the winner; Tempone was indeed the winner at Belfort (on tiebreak), as given in the article; and we still don't know what happened at the 1979 under-14. Krakatoa (talk) 02:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * D'oh! Our article has Sas Van Gent 1978, won by Motwani (it was actually played in 1978-79, but that's a minor point. David Short's book indicates that it was considered "the World Under-17 Championship of 1978"). So my research has yielded nothing beyond what the article already had. Krakatoa (talk) 02:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Incomplete/Missing and Conflicting results
Here is a summary of all outstanding and conflicting results:


 * 1) Boys 1979 U14: Miroljub Lazic (brasilbase) or Saeed Ahmed Saeed? our wikipedia article [UAE Chess Federation] and  and  (the last one is a kind of newspaper). Any information for the U14 1979-1984 welcome.
 * I am very confused about 1979. I can't find the relevant issues of Chess Life & Review, unfortunately. Chess Informants 27-28 are the ones that have results from 1979. They don't seem to have the under-14 championship at all. Krakatoa (talk) 02:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * 1) Girls 1995 U14: Xu Xuun Yuan = Xu Yuanyuan (see topic on top of this page)?
 * OK, I can at least sow more confusion on this one. Chess Life, April 1996, page 69, gives the winner of the 1995 Girls' Under-14 as "Yuan Xu Xuun" of China, who scored 8-3. The second-place finisher (presumably on tiebreak) is given as Dana Reizniece of Latvia, also at 8-3. So "Yuan Xu Xuun" is presumably the same as "Xu Xuun Yuan", but with the first and last names flipped. Don't know about Xu Yuanyuan. Krakatoa (talk) 04:01, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * FIDE has a rating card for a female player from China named "Xu, Xuun Yuan". It also has a rating card for another female player from China named "Xu, Yuanyuan". The first player has no rating, no title, and no birth year given. The second player is a WGM, rated 2322, born in 1981. The birth year for the second player would work; she could have been under 14 at the time the tournament was played (or at some time in 1995; dunno how exactly they determine eligibility). As to whether the two players are the same (maybe she got married and changed her name?), I can't tell. Krakatoa (talk) 04:45, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, should have actually read the top of the page first. I see that you figured all of this out already. Krakatoa (talk) 04:48, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * 1) Girls 1986 U12:Winner missing, was there a tournament
 * 2) Boys and Girls 1985 U10 and U12: Was it ever played? What are the results?
 * 3) Girls U18 1987: winners missing
 * 4) We have U18 starting in 1987, any editions before that?
 * 5) Were there girls in U16 1982 and 1983 (for 1983 the answer seems yes )
 * Finally some good news, U16 was held in Dresden, Germany according to . In order not to lose the info, I repost it here: What Don Schultz found was mention of the 1981 World Championship for Girls Under-16, which was held in England. The significance of what Don found is that the 1981 event is not generally recognized as an official FIDE event. It was the 1982 event held in Dresden, Germany that is generally considered to have been the first World Championship for Girls Under-16. Susan Polgar did not win that one. Don Schultz found an official FIDE publication which listed the 1981 event, so is seems that FIDE recognized that one retroactively.  Now all we have to do is find the winner :) I post a question on the german wikipedia, they might know. Voorlandt (talk) 20:50, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Hopefully the Dresden lead is correct, but given that the other information in this source is totally inaccurate (1981 WAS the first World Girls U16 AND it was under the auspices of FIDE - all clearly stated in the CHESS Dec 1981 report and definitely NOT retroactive), I don't put a lot of faith in it! Sam Sloan was I believe, trying to disprove a statement of Susan Polgar's, even if he had to twist the facts a bit to do so. Brittle heaven (talk) 23:46, 26 August 2008 (UTC)


 * 1) Girls 1994 U14: Who won it Dorote Ivaniuk or Rusudan Goletiani CHESS magazine Vol 59. January p. 48 says Dorote. Rusudan had the same score 7.5/9, but there must have been some tie-breaker. However Szachista" nr 10/1994, str. 294 says it was Rusudan who won it.
 * This event and the other events at the 1994 World Youth Chess Festival for Peace are "covered" (if that is the right word) on pages 60-63 of the February 1995 issue of Chess Life (even though the tournament was half a year before, in August 1994). Unfortunately, author Jeremy Silman just tells us how the U.S. kids did, not who won any of the tournaments. :P Krakatoa (talk) 04:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I looked in Chess Informant, Volume 61, hoping I could get more information, but struck out again. The back of the book gives tournament results in the latter part of 1994. It lists a tournament in Szeged in August (116 players, 9 rounds), won by Tolnai with 8, followed by Groszpeter, Fis, Vratonjic at 7, etc. That apparently was a Swiss System tournament for adults, since it doesn't correspond to any of the tables in our article. I don't see anything on the World Youth Team. Sigh. Krakatoa (talk) 04:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * 1) Boys 1987 U14: Markovic, first name? Brasilbase has him now at Miroslav Markovic. When I originally made the list, I don't think brasilbase had him as a winner. Voorlandt (talk)
 * Sounds like they followed your lead ... hopefully they had some supporting info that indicated it was that Markovic. Brittle heaven (talk) 23:27, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
 * In the chessbase database, he is almost the only one that fits the profile (strong player and aged 14). It looks like brasilbase has guessed the fact that it is Miroslav. Brasilbase is constantly adding new results and references, but their source for 1987 U14 is the BCM, I have it too, and it only lists the Markovic without firstname as a winner!Voorlandt (talk) 09:11, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

That's it! Would be good to find first hand sources for these. Voorlandt (talk) 14:37, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Resolved Issues
1. I found conflicting winners for 1988 boys U10: Jorge Zamora  (he also won some U12, but we don't have him as such) or John Viloria
 * Resolved. This is thankfully as simple as it looks - they both won. CHESS magazine gives joint winners, Horge Hasbun (Zamora's name then - and should probably be used in the table) and John Viloria. If there was any tiebreak employed, it is not mentioned. Brittle heaven (talk) 10:21, 13 April 2008 (UTC), however there is, which says Viloria won the tiebreak.

2. Susan polgar U16 in 1981 or 1982? Note that both years have a link to her website...: 1981:, , (the first link is an interview with her parents, who say: n 1981 Zsuzsa played in the world U-16 Championship in westergate (England) and won it. She was only 12 then. ) 1982: , , , Susan Polgar
 * Resolved. I finally emailed Susan Polgar, and here is the reply: "I won the World Girl's Under 16 Championship in 1981 in Westergate, England. I was 12. I do not believe there was a World Youth at that time." So this means that the boys and girls were held at different locations! Voorlandt (talk) 17:02, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, August 24-30, 1981—this is in the Dec. 1981 CHESS magazine—in actual fact Susan has remembered the name of the school venue, the city is Chichester. I'll do a note for the article page, in view of the conflicting info out there on the net. Did you ask her who followed her as champions in '82 and '83? Brittle heaven (talk) 23:18, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I did ask her, but she didn't respond to that. Voorlandt (talk) 07:03, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

4. Conflicting results for 1982 U16 (both ref from chessgames): Zdenko Kozul ; Evgeny Bareev
 * Resolved. In view of and . The original source for Kozul is from a user from chessgames who writes "his is an interview with Kozul from Croatian newspapers, June 2003. English and Croatian are not my native languages, so excuse me if I made mistakes in translation." There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that Bareev won it, so I think this one is resolved. Voorlandt (talk) 08:46, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

5. Jorge Zamora won apparently an U12 tournament, which one was it? (see discussion on this page)
 * Resolved: (see higher, he didn't win any U12). Also see the Polish wikipedia U12 lists