The World Youth Chess Championships continued in Porto Carras with round 9 today. FM Steven Zierk (interview with him here) continued his good performance in the Open U18 section and after winning his round 9 game is now sharing the first position with GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, who drew GM Nils Grandelius. FM Angel Arribas Lopez moved into 3rd position with 7,0/9 a point behind the leaders, and GM Grandelius, IM Priyadharshan, FM Danilenko, FM Kanarek, and IM Christian Cruz are sharing 4th with 6,5/9.

WIM Narmin Nizami Kazimova, who had the biggest lead after round eight, 1,5 points ahead of competition in Girls U18, was defeated in round 9 by WIM Keti Tsatsalashvili. The rating favorite WGM Deysi Cori, the Indian star CM Kulkarni Bhakti, and the untitled Ukrainian surprise Anastasiya Rakhmangulova, also won their games, and together with Tsatsalashvili are just half a point away from the leader Nazimova, who is on top of the standings with 7,5/9.

Click here for the round 9 photo gallery












Poland is dominating the Open U16 group, currently with the first three places occupied by Polish players. Leader is FM Kamil Dragun with 8,0/9, followed by Marcin Krzyzanowski with 7,5/9, and Daniel Sadzikowski 7,0/9. Only FM Bukavshin is a direct threat to the leaders with 7,0/9, while there is a big group at 6,5/9 including the only GM of the group Jorge Cori.

The five way tie on top of Girls U16 after round 7 came to an end after exciting encounters in the group. WIM Danelia Mariam and WIM Nastassia Ziaziulkina won their games to emerge as leaders with 7,5/9. Yekaterina Ainutdinova, WFM Ghazal Hakimifard, and WIM Meri Arabidze are with 7,0/9, and five more players are with 6,5/9.









The leader after round 7 in the Open U14 group Tomas Laurusas lost his top standing in a direct match with Izzat Kanan Azar. IM Vaibhav Suri also equalized Laurusas’ points and now both of them are sharing second position together with Shiven Khosla and Roman Grib. The top seeded GM Richard Rapport finally recovered and after a win today is sharing 18th position, 1,5 points away from the leader.

WFM Dinara Saduakassova is a sole leader with 8,0/9 in Girls U14 after she won her match in round 9, while WFM Styazhkina and Lei Tingjie drew on board 2. Raana Hakimifard and Lei Tingjie share second place with 7,5/9, while the chasing pack of six players is with 6,5/9.





Troff Kayden lost his clear leader position from the round 8 in the Open U12 section. He was defeated by Wei Yi and now both share the top spot of the group with 7,5/9. They are closely followed by FM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Manuel Petrosyan, Volodymyr Vetoshko, and FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can, all with 7,0/9.

The untitled Ukrainian Iulija Osmak is maintaining the pole position in the Girls U12 group. She is top of the standings with 8,0/9, half a point ahead of the clear second WFM Mahalakshmi on 7,5/9. Four players are sharing 3rd position with 7,0/9 – WFM Li Zhuoling, WFM Anna Vasenina, Dorsa Derakhshani, and WCM Ivana Maria Furtado.

Jason Cao, Gupta Bhaskar, and Jeffrey Xiong are leading the Open U10 section. They are only half a point ahead of Cameron Wheeler, Konrad Drozdowski, FM Tommy He, and FM Amin Tabatabaei. In the Girls U10 section Alexandra Obolentseva and Anna Maja Kazarian are top of the group, half a point ahead of competition.

Kirill Shevchenko continues his stable performance and after a win in round 9 is sole leader of the Open U8 section. Li Yunshan is also sole leader in the Girls U8 section, and is just a step away from the gold medal as she has 1,5 advantage ahead of the chasing pack and there are only two rounds to the end of the record breaking World Youth Chess Championships in Porto Carras, Greece.