World Youth Chess Championship 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia
Daily on Chessdom.com we will be publishing a preview of an age group of the World Youth Chess Championship 2012. Today we start with the eldest of the participants, the group of participants boys and girls U18.
Top seeded player of the competition and only participant above 2600 ELO is the Grandmaster from Poland Dariusz Swiercz. He is already a proven young talent in the chess world, often participating in closed invitationals and strong opens. His first major success came with the bronze medal at the WJCC 2010, and just an year later he showed even better chess conquering the World Junior 2011. Now he is coming for gold in the youth categories as well.
His task will not be an easy one, there are 50 title players in his category this year. Closest by rating is FM David Anton Guijarro, the hope of Spain for the U18 category, but the list of players continues with seasoned youngsters such as IM Benjamin Bok (Netherlands), IM Karen Grigoryan (Armenia), GM Jorge Cori (Peru), IM Maxime Lagarde (France), GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (Armenia), all of them above 2500 ELO.
In the girls category top seeded is WGM Meri Arabidze. This year she was just 1/2 points away from sharing first at the World Junior 2012 and will certainly be looking for her gold medal in Maribor. Looking at ratings, WGM Arabidze with ELO 2391 has only one direct opponent – the world’s youngest WGM at her time WGM Alexandra Goryachkina with ELO 2384. All other opponents are at least 100 ELO points behind, but looking at the names everyone who follows youth categories in chess knows it will not be an easy task with WIM Lisa Schut, WIM Ghazal Hakimifard, WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, FM Daria Pustovoitova, WIM Marina Brunello, WFM Amalia Aranaz Murillo, Hanna-Marie Klek all aiming for the title.
Here are the lists of the U18 boys and girls categories at the World Youth Chess Championship 2012.
Official website / Preview / Live games
World Youth Chess 2012, participants boys U18
| GM | Swiercz Dariusz | POL | 2609 |
| FM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2550 |
| IM | Bok Benjamin | NED | 2530 |
| IM | Grigoryan Karen H. | ARM | 2524 |
| GM | Cori Jorge | PER | 2522 |
| IM | Lagarde Maxime | FRA | 2501 |
| GM | Gabuzyan Hovhannes | ARM | 2500 |
| GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | RUS | 2498 |
| GM | Bukavshin Ivan | RUS | 2494 |
| Predke Alexandr | RUS | 2491 | |
| IM | Forcen Esteban Daniel | ESP | 2473 |
| IM | Kovalev Vladislav | BLR | 2473 |
| FM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2470 |
| IM | Idani Pouya | IRI | 2470 |
| IM | Andersen Mads | DEN | 2461 |
| IM | Narayanan Srinath | IND | 2448 |
| IM | Mammadov Zaur | AZE | 2442 |
| IM | Zhou Yang-Fan | ENG | 2414 |
| Nagy Gabor | HUN | 2408 | |
| FM | Ferreira Jorge Viterbo | POR | 2402 |
| IM | Sochacki Christophe | FRA | 2402 |
| Bortnyk Mykola | UKR | 2387 | |
| FM | Makhmutov Rail | RUS | 2387 |
| FM | Drozdowski Kacper | POL | 2375 |
| FM | Petrosyan Tigran S. | ARM | 2366 |
| FM | Kriebel Tadeas | CZE | 2359 |
| Krzyzanowski Marcin | POL | 2357 | |
| Perez Robert M | USA | 2355 | |
| FM | Tomazini Zan | SLO | 2352 |
| FM | Mons Leon | GER | 2339 |
| Liu Chang | CHN | 2336 | |
| FM | Draskovic Luka | MNE | 2330 |
| Kozganbay Erkin | KAZ | 2325 | |
| FM | Ochsner Bjorn Moller | DEN | 2322 |
| FM | Leiva Giuseppe | PER | 2321 |
| FM | Boscolo Federico | ITA | 2320 |
| FM | Westerberg Jonathan | SWE | 2314 |
| FM | Druska Juraj | SVK | 2310 |
| FM | Nasanjargal Urtnasan | MGL | 2305 |
| FM | Apryshko Gleb | RUS | 2289 |
| Johansson Linus | SWE | 2287 | |
| Ben Artzi Ido | ISR | 2286 | |
| IM | Borisenko Viacheslav | UKR | 2285 |
| Lindgren Philip | SWE | 2265 | |
| Bernotas Arturs | LAT | 2261 | |
| FM | Bassan Remo | VEN | 2260 |
| FM | Sodikov Ilyas | KAZ | 2256 |
| Janzelj Tim | SLO | 2247 | |
| CM | Torres Rosas Luis Carlos | MEX | 2243 |
| Abhilash Reddy M.L. | IND | 2242 | |
| Pop Alexandru | ROU | 2239 | |
| Fisher William | USA | 2225 | |
| Stegariu Vlad-Ionut | ROU | 2223 | |
| Drnovsek Gal | SLO | 2216 | |
| Lapidus Mark | EST | 2215 | |
| Verstraeten Reinaert | BEL | 2211 | |
| Ahvenjarvi Jani | FIN | 2210 | |
| Ismailov Mukhit | KAZ | 2207 | |
| Rindlisbacher Jan | SUI | 2207 | |
| Jovanovic Bojan P | SRB | 2205 | |
| Patil Pratik | IND | 2197 | |
| Sofranov Velizar | BUL | 2191 | |
| FM | Siagodnik Anton | BLR | 2189 |
| Hasenohr Benedict | SUI | 2184 | |
| FM | Zavarce Oscar Enrique | VEN | 2183 |
| Naoum Spyridon | GRE | 2182 | |
| Matijevic Filip | SLO | 2169 | |
| Aleman Hernandez Andres | MEX | 2161 | |
| Navalgund Niranjan | IND | 2149 | |
| Guseynov Alihan | UZB | 2139 | |
| Skouvaklis Alexis | SUI | 2138 | |
| Yurtseven Melih | TUR | 2132 | |
| Klabis Rokas | LTU | 2126 | |
| Havas Janko | CRO | 2117 | |
| Jayasundara P K U M | SRI | 2081 | |
| Alarcon Careaga Gustavo | CHI | 2072 | |
| Mejak Severin | SLO | 2071 | |
| Maurizio Antonio | ITA | 2067 | |
| Kokotovic Aleksandar | BIH | 2062 | |
| Hiti Domen | SLO | 2061 | |
| Sathyanandha Saravanan | ENG | 2055 | |
| Brcar Ales | SLO | 2052 | |
| Kyrkjebo Erlend | NOR | 2048 | |
| Whitfield Craig M | ENG | 2040 | |
| Jovancevic Jovan | MNE | 2025 | |
| Meftahi Houssem | TUN | 2002 | |
| Ariunbuuvei Badamdorj | MGL | 1995 | |
| Verhelst Joris | BEL | 1987 | |
| Esenbek Uulu Bakai | KGZ | 1984 | |
| Villa Giorgio | ITA | 1983 | |
| Zaporojan Andrei | MDA | 1969 | |
| Van Den Heede Dorian | BEL | 1965 | |
| Ahmed Deda | ECU | 1935 | |
| Cmor Nino | SLO | 1902 | |
| Janzekovic Klemen | SLO | 1884 | |
| Lucovnik Tilen | SLO | 1883 | |
| Oberholzer Francois | RSA | 1854 | |
| Draskovic Davor | MNE | 1852 | |
| Menon Davin | WLS | 1848 | |
| Carrasco Cea Jherko | CHI | 1842 | |
| Bullen Alex | WLS | 1821 | |
| Oltian Vata | ALB | 1799 | |
| Gregory Sam | SCO | 1771 | |
| Copi Ambroz | SLO | 1729 | |
| Figueroa Calderon Gamaliel | PUR | 1584 | |
| Gjika Gent | ALB | 1563 | |
| Blium Benjamin | CAN | 0 | |
| Gariseb Immanuel | NAM | 0 | |
| Jolliffe-Byrne Govan | IRL | 0 | |
| Khairallah Joseph | LIB | 0 | |
| Ndurumo Samora Gakui | KEN | 0 | |
| Thuku Brian | KEN | 0 |
World Youth Chess 2012, participants girls U18
| WGM | Arabidze Meri | GEO | 2391 |
| WGM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | RUS | 2384 |
| WIM | Schut Lisa | NED | 2282 |
| WIM | Hakimifard Ghazal | IRI | 2274 |
| WIM | Nguyen Thi Mai Hung | VIE | 2269 |
| FM | Pustovoitova Daria | RUS | 2263 |
| WIM | Brunello Marina | ITA | 2253 |
| WFM | Aranaz Murillo Amalia | ESP | 2244 |
| Klek Hanna-Marie | GER | 2244 | |
| WFM | Chumpitaz Ann | PER | 2219 |
| WFM | Pujari Rucha | IND | 2204 |
| WIM | Varga Klara | HUN | 2200 |
| WFM | Baraeva Irina | RUS | 2173 |
| Severina Maria | RUS | 2173 | |
| WIM | Baraeva Marina | RUS | 2172 |
| WFM | Lach Aleksandra | POL | 2170 |
| WFM | Saranya J | IND | 2166 |
| WIM | Efroimski Marsel | ISR | 2162 |
| WIM | Enkhtuul Altanulzii | MGL | 2134 |
| Ibrahimova Sabina | AZE | 2117 | |
| Kurbonboyeva Sarvinoz | UZB | 2111 | |
| WFM | Asgarizadeh Minoo | IRI | 2106 |
| WIM | Montilla Jorcerys | VEN | 2096 |
| WFM | Real Pereyra Diana Carime | MEX | 2077 |
| Revo Tatiana | BLR | 2072 | |
| WCM | Leks Maria | POL | 2069 |
| WFM | Qiu Mengjie | CHN | 2065 |
| WCM | Matlin Anna | USA | 2064 |
| WFM | Gevorgyan Maria | ARM | 2058 |
| Krumova Ani | BUL | 2050 | |
| WFM | Ainutdinova Yekaterina | KAZ | 2039 |
| WCM | Narva Triin | EST | 2039 |
| WFM | Sop Selen | TUR | 2038 |
| Hapala Lisa | AUT | 2025 | |
| WIM | Jorquera Cabello Valentina | CHI | 2023 |
| Ivekovic Tihana | CRO | 2020 | |
| Gelip Ioana | ROU | 2016 | |
| Bayarmaa Bayarjargal | MGL | 2013 | |
| Neuhauser Salome | FRA | 2008 | |
| Anilkumar Akshaya | IND | 1999 | |
| Nonkovic Bogdana | SRB | 1996 | |
| WCM | Turkova Karolina | SVK | 1993 |
| Stark Saskia | GER | 1983 | |
| Bala Kannamma.P | IND | 1973 | |
| Lugo Lozano Luz Adriana | COL | 1961 | |
| Badamkhand Norovsambuu | MGL | 1920 | |
| Koselova Zuzana | SVK | 1916 | |
| Papathanasiou Elisavet | GRE | 1908 | |
| Bengtsson Jessica | SWE | 1905 | |
| Zpevakova Jana | CZE | 1905 | |
| Mendez Tovar Jessica Yissel | MEX | 1889 | |
| Morales Flores Monserrat | CHI | 1881 | |
| Yashchenko Olena | UKR | 1879 | |
| Vasiljeva Sofija | LAT | 1873 | |
| Delgado Ayala Maria Adriana | MEX | 1872 | |
| Santeramo Alessia | ITA | 1853 | |
| Forsa Elise | NOR | 1851 | |
| Juarez Leticia | ARG | 1822 | |
| WFM | Comas Colon Rinelly | PUR | 1817 |
| Lepeskaite Migle | LTU | 1803 | |
| Stepanyan Astghik | ENG | 1799 | |
| Orbezo Rosales Ximena Lucia | PER | 1792 | |
| WCM | Kruk Karina | IRL | 1786 |
| Protsyuk Svitlana | UKR | 1758 | |
| Raja Bhuvaneshwari | IND | 1717 | |
| Mahmutbegovic Nadina | BIH | 1706 | |
| Misiuk Ivona | LTU | 1685 | |
| Perera Panchali | SRI | 1674 | |
| Hervolj Manca | SLO | 1654 | |
| Senarath Kavindi | SRI | 1624 | |
| Carli Lara | SLO | 1619 | |
| Popadic Mirjana | BIH | 1598 | |
| Tuzi Bruna | ALB | 1598 | |
| Pereira Susana Martins | POR | 1571 | |
| Lee Melissa | CAN | 1565 | |
| Agulhas Tiffany | RSA | 0 | |
| Grobbelaar Jacqui | RSA | 0 | |
| WCM | Havenga Mirelle | RSA | 0 |
| Ruiz Olate Emily Andrea | CHI | 0 |
