Young Stars Global

Following the incredible success of the Young Stars program in America, a collaboration between the Saint Louis Chess Club and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, the Young Stars program has now gone global! Prodigies like Kayden Troff, Sam Sevian and Jeffery Xiong have been elevated to the rank of grandmaster, and in the case of Jeffery he is now grazing the 2700 mark.

The first session of the Young Stars Global program was held in Zagreb, Croatia from June 28 to July 1st. The camp was held in conjunction with the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, so the participants had a chance to see the elite of the chess world play next to them as they hope to reach that level in the future.

Garry Kasparov at the opening of the 2019 Croatia Grand Chess Tour, one of the highest rated round robin tournaments in the history of the game

The participants of the camp were:

IM Jonas Bjerre – Denmark
FM Jan Subelj – Slovenia – European u12 Champion
FM Oskar Oglaza – Poland
WGM Bibisara Assaubaeva – Kazakhstan
FM Maurizzi, Marc Andria – France
CM Robert Creanga – Romania
Simun Dumancic – Croatia

Students from the chess camp in Maribor, Slovenia organized by European Chess Academy in association with ECU and Kasparov Chess Foundation, visited the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb to watch the tournament and meet their hero Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov, here assisted by FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky, keeps his passion and intensity for chess, as the campers found it very quickly

Game analysis is a key part of these camps, and the students were asked to present some of their more noteworthy ones for assessment

Bibisara Assaubayeva, from Kazakhstan, is one of the talents the whole world has their eyes on

Work was done over the board, with computers, and sometimes with pen and paper. Marc Andria Maurizzi here uses a bit of everything!

Jonas Bjerre was the camp’s highest rated player, but even he had trouble with the fascinating pawn endgames

The students lined up after tough days of chess

Pictures courtesy of Lennart Ootes.

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