The World Youth Championships in Antalya, Turkey just finished today. I haven't had time to follow this event much, but it's over if you want to check it out. If you find a link to a concise list of medal winners please post it. I've met a few of the American players at Garry's master classes in NY sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation. Since I'm used to thinking of the US as an import-dependent, talent-barren backwater in the chess ocean I remember being a little surprised at how enthusiastic Garry was about the prospects of a few of the American players. Our latest GM (elect?) is three times older than these kids, who, if you listen to Garry, could make up half the US Olympiad team in 2012. Names like Marc Arnold, Brian Luo, Darwin Yang, Ray Robson, and Daniel Naroditsky are already known from adult tournaments in the US and most did well in Turkey.
Naroditsky won gold in the under-12 with an easy final-round win. He tied on 9.5/11 with Ilya Nyzhnyk, the latest wunderkind (and Scrabble nightmare) from Ukraine. Nyzhnyk made a big splash earlier this year with a 2600+ performance while winning the Moscow Open B Section at 10 years old. While carrying a teddy bear. Naroditsky -- no word on his stuffed animal preference -- drew with Nyzhnyk in their 6th round game. Sarah Chiang was the USA's other medalist, taking silver in the Girls U-10. Congratulations to both! More at Chess Life Online. Anyone who attended please share your thoughts and experiences.
For the first time in a while, the top spots were full of Russians. They took medals in just about every category and more than one medal in several. But aren't most of them the same kids who have been finishing behind Indians and Chinese in these events for the past six years? Is this a new crop or were they just slower to develop at the competitive level? I get the feeling that the broad youth selection programs in India and China run out of gas in the training department and the depth of training experience in the former Soviet countries pushes through. Of course as we've seen in recent Olympiads, and as we're seeing in the World Cup now, it all tends to balance out if they make it to the GM level and have regular access to strong competition.
Mig, http://www.chess-results.com/Tnr8920.aspx?lan=1 is a pretty good site for the results of this tournament, although it has not yet been updated for the last rounds.
"For the first time in a while, the top spots were full of Russians. They took medals in just about every category and more than one medal in several. But aren't most of them the same kids who have been finishing behind Indians and Chinese in these events for the past six years? Is this a new crop or were they just slower to develop at the competitive level?"
Having grown up in an Eastern bloc country, I recall that the emphasis in teaching kids is to instill fundamentals and not to necessarily make them point-scoring machines. For example, one is forbidden to play the open sicilian as white before "mastering" the closed sicilian (and perhaps the Rossolimo). I'm sure there's much more to it than that, but this argument might also explain the rise of, say, Jakovenko and Alekseev.
If you're referring to Jesse Kraai, he got his GM title at the last FIDE congress.
I believe China's youth program which broadened around 1995 shrunk 90% around 2001. Unlike India which behind Anand's legendary adventures here chess has never taken off. So once the specialized programs die so goes the talent flow.
India's youth movements seems to steadily gain strength, though this year is more of Russia's resurgence as the uncontested adult and youth chess superpower.
Btw, China has never done well in the World Youth (or World Junior Championship), typically sending small, underpowered contingents. This year's medocrity is maybe its best showing.