2021 Super Final Champion: Third Time is a Charm!

An article by WIM Alice Lee, host of "Alice's Pawn Palace" (ChessKid username: powerofapoint) 

Alice won the Girls U-12 section of the 2021 FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final in December 2021. This is her third consecutive world cadet championship, after two previous World Cadet wins (Girl U-12 in 2020 and Girls U-10 in 2019).

The fight for the gold medal came down to the very last round. A win or
draw would secure me first place and 1000 Euros. A loss would knock me to
silver. My last round opponent, Anastasia Kirtadze of the Republic of Georgia, was a fast and dangerous opponent who had beaten me with the white pieces. She employed the sharp
King’s Indian Defense against me, an opening that created massive imbalances on the board and left little room for a draw.

I was one of six qualifiers for the U12 Girls section of the 2021 FIDE Online
Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final. For a second year in a row, the COVID-19
pandemic prevented FIDE from holding its World Youth and Cadets championships in person. Instead, FIDE used a multi-stage system to determine the 2021 World Youth Champions. Prior to the Super Final, FIDE held two qualifier events, the Online Rapid World Cup and the Grand Prix Series. As the World Cup winner for Girls aged under 12, I qualified for the Super Final.

For five days in a row starting from December 18th, I woke up at 8:30 AM, ate a bowl of cold cereal, set up my Zoom cameras, and played two rapid games against another girl from a different country, one as white and one as black.

 

Game 2: Nguyen vs. Lee. After 29.Qb5, what can Black do?

My first-round opponent was Vietnam’s Nguyen Huynh Mai Hoa. The first
game, which I played with white, went smoothly. I was able to win a pawn in the
endgame and convert it to a win. In the second game, I had a bad position out of
the opening, and she played well so I was losing in the middlegame. Fortunately
for me, I found a nice tactic (see above) which allowed me to win material and the
game.

My day two opponent, WCM Zarina Nurgaliyeva of Kazakhstan, destroyed
my perfect score. In the first game as white, I started a nice kingside attack and
found a tactic in the end to win. The second game was very shaky. I had a bad
opening and went into a losing middlegame. However, I was able to trade some
pieces into an endgame with an interesting material imbalance — I was down an
exchange but had 3 pawns. At some point, I was winning, but I let the game fizzle
to a draw. This draw dropped me to second place behind WCM Anna Shukhman of
Russia, who had a perfect 4/4. When I saw that, I looked like this: 

I didn’t have much time to look  because I had to prepare for my
third-round opponent, Victoria Merkulova of Russia, who was in third place with
2/4. My preparation worked out in the first game, as I got a pleasant opening and
was able to win two pawns and the game (see below). In the second game, she played
the Benko Gambit, giving up a pawn in the opening for compensation, which she
was not able to get. I converted the pawn advantage into a win in the endgame.
With these two wins, I took first place with 5.5/6, half a point ahead of Anna
Shukhman, who I was slated to play in the next round.

 

Game 5: Merkulova vs. Lee. How should Black respond after 10…g3?

I had played Shukhman in the final match of the World Cup back in August
and nearly lost, saving myself in an Armageddon match. In our first game of the
Super Final match, she surprised me with the Grunfeld. Her pieces were extremely
well coordinated, forcing me to find the best defensive moves and burn a lot of
time. I was up a pawn, but my position became lost. However, in a time scramble, I
was able to trade off more pieces and remain a pawn up. I then won a piece and the
game.

The second game was extremely interesting. Shukhman sacrificed her queen
to get a pawn on the 7th rank, a Knight, and very active pieces. I was completely
winning, but I blundered into 2 pins (both on the board at the same time), both
around my king, and I lost all my material back. Shukhman had a chance to win,
but it wasn’t easy to see, especially in time-trouble, and we drew.

I was at 7/8, 1.5 points ahead of Shukhman (5.5/8), and 3 points ahead of
3rd-4th places. I only needed 0.5/2 games to clinch first place, having head-to-head
tiebreaks over Shukhman. But Anastasia Kirtadze of Georgia made the task
difficult. In the first game, Kirtadze played reasonable moves very quickly, putting
me in severe time pressure. With my clock many minutes lower than hers, I ended
up making a quick blunder in the middlegame, losing an exchange and the game.
With Shukhman winning her round, I was only 0.5 points ahead of her going into
the final game. If I lost, she’d have a chance to win the tournament.

Kirtadze played the King’s Indian Defense, which I hadn’t prepared against,
and was blitzing her moves out extremely fast. Realizing that her strategy was to
put me in time pressure, I improved my time management and won in convincing
style (see below). This win gave me the third gold medal in the FIDE World Cadet
Chess Championships in as many years.

 

Figure 3. Game 10 of Lee vs. Kirtadze. White to play. There are many good moves, find the best one!

Many thanks to FIDE and the Georgian Chess Federation for giving me and
my chess-playing friends an opportunity to compete in a year when travel was not
universally possible. Next year maybe I’ll get to meet some of these talented chess
players over the board!