NM Ryo Chen Wins ChessKid Youth SCC

NM Ryo Chen (USA) defeated CM Lev Zverev (Russia) On Saturday, July 31 to win the 2021 ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship! This is the most prestigious annual event on the ChessKid calendar, reserved for elite 10-and-under superstars from around the world.

Ryo is the defending champion, making him the first back to back winner. Congratulations to Ryo who will take home $1,000 for the finals ($1800 total) and lessons with a super-GM to b named later.

The match between these two prodigies started close with a draw but Ryo pulled away in the end with a score of 12.5 - 3.5. 

The bracket of how Ryo and Lev reached the finals.

How did Ryo Win?

Ryo used and mastered many of the concepts from the ChessKid videos. Here he is playing "old man chess" by correctly trading many pieces into a winning endgame. And here's Ryo using his hanging pawns that are also a snowplow to push his opponent's pieces back.

He also knows how to make a crushing battering ram! You may want to watch our main video on that one a second time because he used nearly the exact same one again, this time combined with deflection!

But he also knows the exceptions, even to advanced concepts. FunMasterMike explained that queen vs. rook pawn on the 7th rank should usually be a draw, but watch how Ryo correctly understood that if your opponent has a second pawn, the queen can win because of the absence of stalemate!

Ryo vs. Lev (below). White to move. It looks like White wins the pawn race with check while Black's pawn only makes it to h2. Still, that's a draw, right? No! The presence of the "extra" g-pawn actually hurts Black. See if you can work out why!

If you want to check your answer, or just need a little help, you can review the actual ending of the game here!

FunMasterMike (FM Mike Klein) and PlayfulSquirrel (IM David Pruess) were back to host this year's finals. For those that missed it, you can watch the broadcast below!

 

The finals with hosts FM Mike Klein and IM David Pruess.

Congratulations to all of the kids who participated in this years ChessKid Speed Chess Championship. Click here to read about the quarterfinals and semifinals!