Praveen at the World Youth

Chukavin - Balakrishnan
Black to play and win.

I have annotated the game Chukavin - Balakrishnan, World Youth Chess Championship 2012 (PGN).  Praveen Balakrishnan, who has been a frequent visitor to the Kenilworth Chess Club, has been making quick progress -- leaping from A-player to National Master in less than a year's time. Playing at the World Youth Chess Championship in the Under-10 section, he struggled a bit against stiff competition. But he also played some very nice games, including a model attack from the Black side of a Classical Caro-Kann in his fourth round game against Kirill Chukavin of Estonia.  Also participating in the tournament was Aravind Kumar, who has also been to the club and is well known in NJ chess circles.

The World Youth just concluded, with former World Champion Garry Kasparov participating in the closing ceremony.  See reports at ChessBase (November 14 and November 16) for more details.  The final crosstable is available at Chess-Results.  Updated: There have since been more reports from ChessBase (November 21) and the US Chess Federation, which focused on the American team in "Medals in Maribor" and "Four Medals for USA."  IM Kayden Troff was interviewed for Salt Lake magazine.