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Richard Wang of Canada ranked 32nd amongst 117 participants at the 2013 World Junior
I was just looking at that game on Chessbomb (via Susan Polgar's blog) and the final White move (Qd5+) is marked as a "weak move" by the automatic Houdini analysis and indeed is a huge blunder... however, the result shows as 1-0 (!) The scores are not yet posted on the tournament website, so perhaps there was a recording error? Will have to see.
After a resignation, the opponent often plays a ridiculous move. Houdini had Richard down 3.8 pawns when he evidently resigned. The official results can be found here:
Alexander Ipatov is endeavouring to establish some chess history here in his adopted home country, Turkey (he originally played for the Ukraine, then Spain). No player has ever won back-to-back WJCCs, albeit Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did win the event twice, in 2003 and again in 2005. Looking at past WJCC winners, there are some veritable chess legends amongst the mix, including World Champions Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Viswanathan Anand.
I doubt that he (or anyone in that tournament) would be naive enough to underestimate anyone...
I am sure the ratings of many of those players are way lower than their actual playing strength. It
could simply be that he has encountered several players who are far better than their rating.
It is difficult for Canadian kids ( no matter how good ) to compete on these world stages against well prepared international opponents.
The overseas travel, coaching/team issues, and chess environment in Canada is not all that conducive to creating international winners.
I would imagine when one is attending a highlight event like this and the wheels come off ( even just temporarily ), many of these kids
will question whether investing a great deal of time and effort into chess is worth it in a broader context. I would say in 95%++ of the cases
it isn't, only Richard and his Canadian circle of family/coaches/peers knows if he's an exception.
The recent improvements in Canadian tennis players on the world stage are instructive. I believe some have attributed it to the development of
tennis development centers where high quality instruction and good competition against peers occurred. These are the kind of steps that make
young people's investment in their chosen activity more practical and worthwhile. Chess is hard enough given that its often just not a very
practical area to be involved in as an adult, but too often Canadians have set up a mediocre environment for young people that wish to try.
Although in Richard's case, it appears he got much better then average support locally and hence might be why he's still out there competing
and in most events doing well. But I wouldn't blame any of these kids for deciding after such an event that chess, all things being considered,
isn't worth pursueing anymore.
I couldn't disagree more. Life isn't about overcoming unnecessary hardships.
What is unnecessary hardships in your opinion? I think any type of hardship that is encountered cannot be unnecessary since one has to spend time to actually want to plow through the hardship. Learning how to struggle and conquer and overcome hardships makes one's adult's life much easier in my opinion. There are always numerous tales of students in university going through nervous breakdowns because of exams or other stuff like that but I think if some of those students had to struggle a bit early in their life, a couple of exams every semester should seem to be quite harmless in comparison.
I don't understand what is the obsession with making kids into GMs and super-GMs. I'd rather have more elite Canadian quantum physicists than chess players any day.
I don't understand what is the obsession with making kids into GMs and super-GMs. I'd rather have more elite Canadian quantum physicists than chess players any day.
For example, playing chess never led to Hiroshima. Fortunately, men of sense understand, that we need elite players in different fields. And definitely I don't want to live in society of quantum physicists :)
I don't understand what is the obsession with making kids into GMs and super-GMs. I'd rather have more elite Canadian quantum physicists than chess players any day.
I don't understand it either. I taught my kids how to play chess and when I saw they weren't interested I took them for music lessons (I carried the large accordion), baseball, swimming and whatever else they wanted to do.
However, some kids are good at chess and have the ability to reach those goals you mentioned. Nothing wrong with that.
For example, playing chess never led to Hiroshima. Fortunately, men of sense understand, that we need elite players in different fields. And definitely I don't want to live in society of quantum physicists :)
Hi Bator,
How would you describe the chess environment you grew up in compared to that available to children in the GTA?
What is unnecessary hardships in your opinion? I think any type of hardship that is encountered cannot be unnecessary since one has to spend time to actually want to plow through the hardship. Learning how to struggle and conquer and overcome hardships makes one's adult's life much easier in my opinion. There are always numerous tales of students in university going through nervous breakdowns because of exams or other stuff like that but I think if some of those students had to struggle a bit early in their life, a couple of exams every semester should seem to be quite harmless in comparison.
Given that chess is a board game with limited potential for professional advancement, it is always debatable how necessary chess is as a competition. If we are to accept that chess as sport is of some value, and that trying to win at a World Junior level is a goal of organized chess in Canada, well then the development world that Canada has for its youth has to keep that goal in the picture. And what I am saying is that far more frequently then not it doesn't. CYCC for example emphasizes participation, with almost no reward for winners in the bigger picture.
I guess what I am saying is those who believe chess has some value as a competition and wish that Richard Wang and others will perform well had better ask why our development approach is so scattered, private, and inefficient. And often to the detriment to the young kids who decide they want to try at age 10 or 12 to follow this path. My own personal opinion has changed, I question the point of the whole exercise. It's not that I'm dead against the concept of chess as a sport, its that the way its designed in Canada is not healthy to that goal. So any parent with a talented kid should quite seriously be supportive of the Chess Challenges, school team events, any open event they find fun ( eg CYCC for many is fun ). And forget about the rest. There are plenty of alternatives out there to chess, and frankly the conditions that kids encounter in the more competitive chess events are wildly inconsistent and sometimes downright miserable considering the effort and work to qualify for that opportunity. That part of the story can't possibly be fully understood by casual players in Canada that don't attend the events themselves, and many parents just do their best to smooth over the hassles.
Back on topic, I believe Canada has had more then its fair share of talented young players, and many of them have performed well under pressure and won perhaps more then one might expect given their background. To say "winning is everything" and suggest the kids don't play well under pressure is simply wrong, its not a fair assessment of what is really going on. Its just another reason why chess might be the wrong area to participate in.
Last edited by Duncan Smith; Friday, 20th September, 2013, 02:52 PM.
So, Duncan, do you have any ideas for junior development? I doubt that many people think that junior development is going well, but what to change, what to encourage, and who is going to do it? The CFC (governors, office, and exec) is perpetually in "survival mode", and certainly has no energy for improvement.
It is an important topic/theme (Junior/Youth Chess) and it shall not be buried offtopic. If anybody will not start a new thread, I'll do later (though it may take time till Sunday/Monday)
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