Game Of the Week!
Xiong vs. Aravindh - World Junior ChampionshipWilliam Lombardy, Mark Diesen, Yasser Seirawan, Maxim Dlugy, Ilya Gurevich, and Tal Shaked. To this list of American World Junior Champions we add Jeffery Xiong, who at 15, is the youngest clear winner in the 55 year history of the event. Xiong profited from a somewhat softer field than usual, as most of the top European players did not make the trip to Bhubaneswar, India. Nevertheless, his victory was extremely convincing, as he clinched first place with a round to spare, finishing a point clear of Vladislav Artemiev at 10.5 out of 13. Xiong understood that the Champion needs to pile up points, though he was generally able to do that without taking great risks. The one exception was his pivotal eighth round over Chithambaram Aravindh of India. This was a true barn burner, with caution thrown to the wind as both sides pursued mating attacks. No guts, no glory... Jeffery Xiong had the former and earned the latter.