04 June 2021

Nepo's TWIC Debut

Continuing with Carlsen's 2021 Challenger (May 2021) the subject is, of course, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. His earliest mention in Mark Crowther's 'The Week in Chess' was TWIC 310, dated 16 October 2000. The young Nepomniachtchi appears to have had a definite liking for youth tournaments. Here are the events he played as reported by TWIC along with his final placing.

European Youth Championships:-
TWIC 310; 2000-10-16 : U10 1 (i.e. 1st)
TWIC 357; 2001-09-10 : U12 1-4
TWIC 414; 2002-10-14 : U12 1
TWIC 465; 2003-10-06 : U14 3-6
TWIC 568; 2005-09-26 : U18 11-18

World Youth Championships:-
TWIC 365; 2001-11-05 : U12 16-24
TWIC 420; 2002-11-25 : U12 1-2
TWIC 469; 2003-11-03 : U14 3
TWIC 523; 2004-11-15 : U18 15-27
TWIC 560; 2005-08-01 : U16 2-3

Russian Junior Championships:-
TWIC 384; 2002-03-18 : U20 11-19
TWIC 493; 2004-04-19 : U18 1
TWIC 540; 2005-03-14 : U20 8-9
TWIC 592; 2006-03-13 : U20 3-5

The date in the second column is the TWIC publication date. I expected to find considerable variation in the spelling of his name, but the only divergence was TWIC 365, which used 'Nepomniaschii'.

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