National Championship for Youth was organized at Bjørnsonhuset in Molde, with 241 participating children and young people. The participants were divided into eight different age classes, with U26 as the oldest class, and group G (born 2013) as the youngest class. The various classes had somewhat different playing setups, as the 4 oldest classes played 7 rounds, with the first two rounds as rapid chess and the remaining as long chess, while the 4 youngest classes played 4 rounds of rapid chess followed by 5 rounds of long chess. Stavanger had 13 participating players in the tournament, all of whom delivered very good performances, and participated and fought many hard matches in their classes. Some of these also managed to assert themselves at the very top of their classes, when FM Aksel Bu Kvaløy (2272) took 1st place in group C, while Shazil Shehzad took 2nd place in group B, Githiha Sathish (1304) took 2nd. place in group F, and Adam Statkiewicz (1169) took 2nd place in group G. Very strong performance by all four! Below you can read a little about these four, and the efforts of the other Stavanger players in the various age groups.
Group A
In group A, Gustav Hestholm was the only participant from Stavanger, and he ended up in 8th place with 4 points in 7 rounds. Gustav's points came after victories against Khaled Alkhatib (1356), Charlotte Schreiner and Emilie Lazareva (1510), as well as draws against Nikolai Osen Wernberg (1702) and Thomas Sekkingstad (1806).
Group B
In group B, Shazil Shehzad (2244) was the only representative from Stavanger. Shazil represents Smeaheia as a children's club, but is a member of Stavanger's adult club. Shazil was in this tournament second ranked after Saad Abobaker Elmi (2294), and also finished the tournament in second place behind the aforementioned Elmi. Shazil went undefeated through the tournament, and also held Elmi to a draw in round 6, but conceded one draw more than Elmi, thus finishing half a point behind. In any case, a very strong performance, in a field where the top 7 had over 2000 in rating. Shazil's points came after wins against Elma Selvik (1533), Lukas Dominik Gåsland (1646), Peder Marcus Aamodt (2020), and Eivind Grunt Kreken (2191), and draws against Eirik Strøm Austad (2015), Sindre Lyngsaunet Ytrestøyl (2026 ) and Saad Abobaker Elmi (2294). Shazil thus met 5 of the players among the top 7, and took a solid 3.5 points against these 5. Very well delivered by Shazil, who also secured a rating increase of 6 rating points.
Group C
In group C, it was Aksel Bu Kvaløy (2272) and Martin Holten Fiskaaen (2094) who represented the club, and did this in a very good way. Aksel's tournament was particularly impressive, as he went undefeated through the tournament and won the group by half a point ahead of the next player. Aksel started the tournament with three wins in the first three rounds when he won against Anna Blauhaut (1337), Jacob Tollefsen (1528) and Pantham Kaewpitakkun (1709). In round 4, however, he faced tough opposition, when he faced Martin with white pieces, only a few weeks after he lost to Martin in the EC for Ungdom. Both Martin and Aksel had 3 points after 3 rounds, and when they drew in round 4, both were undefeated after a half-played tournament. Aksel also continued his unbeaten streak after this, when in round 5 he won against second-ranked Nicolai Østensen (2111), which was a very important result in terms of securing the tournament victory. The last two rounds ended in a draw against Isak Vinh Brattegjerd (1944) and William Olsen (1835), which meant winning the class, half a point ahead of Nicolai Østensen. A great performance from Aksel, who has made a habit of delivering very good results in the NM for Youth!
As mentioned, Martin was one of only two players who managed to take points from Aksel, when these two played to a draw in the fourth round. Before this he had won against Mikkel Solbakken (1324), Matei Marin (1458) and Aron Haveland. After the game against Aksel, he continued with draws against William Olsen (1835) and Even Hetland (1636), before he unfortunately lost in the last round against Nicolai Østensen (2111). Martin thus ended the tournament with 4.5 points and a fine 7th place.
Group E
In group E, Jan Karol Statkiewicz (1333) and Hugo Chun Rong participated from Stavanger. Jan and Hugo took 5 and 4.5 points, and finished in 11th and 18th place. They both had some strong results, when Jan among other things won against Olav Haye Felvik (1376) while Hugo had a draw against Amandus Innset-Ekkje (1119) as one of his strongest results.
Group F
Group F was the group with the most Stavanger players, as 4 of the club's members participated. Here we had two girls who really participated and fought at the top, when Githiha Sathish (1304) took a strong 2nd place in the group, while Sophie Damiano (1260) ended up just behind in 4th place. Githiha secured 2nd place after a series of good results, which started already in the four rapid chess games where she took 3.5 out of 4 possible points after playing a draw against Aksel Gjersvik (1261), and won against Jakob Thomsen, Leander Muraas ( 1262) and Eirik Reigstad. A very good start, which she followed up in the long chess where she took 3.5 out of 5 possible points, with victories against club friend Sophie, Henrik Kaada (1304) and Halldor Olaves Grytten, as well as a draw against Fredrik Elsness (1202). Githiha's only loss in the tournament came against first place Eivind Ji (1588), who went through the entire tournament without losing a single point. A great performance by Githiha, who also enjoyed a rating improvement of 22 points!
Sophie, like Githiha, also had a very good start to the tournament, when she won 3 of the 4 rapid chess games, before she continued with 3 out of 5 possible points in the long chess. Her losses in the long chess also came against the 1st and 2nd places in the group, so it was by no means easy opposition. In the end, Sophie finished in 6th point, which kept her in 4th place and a rating improvement of 19 points. Also great delivered by Sophie!
Half a point behind Sophie came Alan Kizatbay, who finished in 10th place. Alan had a tough start to the tournament losing his first two games, but then bounced back strongly with 5.5 points in the next 7 rounds! The point behind Alan came Aleksandr Rabanal, who had a similar tournament development to Alan, as Aleksandr also had a tough start to the tournament, and stood with one point after the four rapid chess games at the beginning of the tournament. However, Aleksandr fought back, and with 3.5 points in the 5 long chess games, he finished with 4.5 points and a great 16th place.
Group G
Adam Statkiewicz (1169), Maxy Dolek and Archie Dolek from Stavanger participated in group G. Adam was the best placed player of these three, when he took 7th point and a very impressive 2nd place, only half a point behind the winner Noah Amundsen (1154). Adam also played a draw against Noah, thus showing that he was really on par with the winner of the class. The next Stavanger player on the list, Maxy, was also involved and marked the top match at the beginning of the tournament, when after 4 rounds he stood with a full pot, before in round 5 he drew against the only other player on the same score, William Olsen (1168) . Unfortunately, Maxy had a bit tougher time towards the end, and fell somewhat on the results list after some losses against very strong opposition at the end of the tournament, but anyway a very nice tournament also by Maxy! Maxy's brother, Archie, had a completely opposite tournament to his brother, as he had a very tough first half of the tournament, before then taking 3 points in the last 5 points, and among other things finishing with two wins in the last rounds. Also well delivered by Archie!
All results from the tournament can be found on the turneringsservice: Resultatlister (sjakklubb.no)
Pictures from the tournament can be found on Molde Chess Club's Facebook page: Molde Sjakklubb | Facebook