The FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023 kicked off today at Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus in the Netherlands. The “smartest square kilometre in the world” is a fitting backdrop for the U16 team chess tournament, which brings together 252 players from 63 teams and 47 countries. The Olympiad is a 9-round Swiss tournament with a time control of 45 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1. Each team consists of four players, of which at least one woman player.
Opening Ceremony
This year, the Royal Dutch Chess Federation marks its 150th anniversary as the oldest chess federation in the world. The President of the Federation and WGM, Bianca de Jong-Muhren, expressed her enthusiasm during the opening ceremony, stating, “We managed to bring an international youth championship to the Netherlands, with a new international women’s top tournament as a bonus. We are going to make it an unforgettable event!” After the opening ceremony, she seamlessly transitioned to providing commentary alongside IM Stefan Kuipers.
The event’s opening was graced by Maes van Lanschot, Eindhoven’s alderman of sports and a chess enthusiast, who made the ceremonial first move alongside Yichen Han, the first board player from the Dutch team.
Round 1 results
The first round was a close affair on the top boards, as Australia put up a real fight against rating favourite Kazakhstan 1. After three draws, it was only decided by the Kazakhstani player’s win on the 4th board.
Another notable result was a tie between Turkey and Georgia. IM Ediz Gurel, who progressed to the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Baku, was held to a draw by Luka Kiladze, and Anastasia Kirtadze upset Eray Kilic as White in a nice Sicilian game. The local team, Netherlands 1, started with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory over Kazakhstan 5.
Results of top10 matches:
Australia 1 – Kazakhstan 1 1½-2½
China – The Netherlands 4 3½-½
Georgia – Turkey 2-2
The Netherlands 1 – Kazakhstan 5 3-1
Kazakhstan 4 – Hungary 1-3
Uzbekistan – Canada 2 4-0
Paraguay – Azerbaijan 0-4
France – Morocco 3-1
Canada 3 – Israel 0-4
Romania – South Africa 1 4-0
Text: Lennart Ootes
Photos: Lennart Ootes and Frans Peeters
