Road to becoming the
World School Chess
Champion
Ognean Mihnea-Ionuț
Introducing Barátosi Iosif-Gavril,
Chess Professor
I studied Physical Education and
Sports
I achieved my second specialty in chess
in the 1990
Since 1996 I teach at the Târgu Mureș
School Sports Club
My main specialty is the selection and
the training of children, age 5-10.
Meeting the chess prodigy
Two and a half year ago, Ognean
Mihnea-Ionuț, a little boy of 5 years and
half came to the Sports Club together with
his grandfather, Truția Ioan, the one who
taught Mihnea the basic rules of chess at
the little boy’s insistence.
After a year and a half of trainings
and preparations at School Sports Club in Târgu Mureș and in Reghin and
attending chess competitions of all levels, we sign up for the World School
Chess Championship 2011.
The recipe for success
Mihnea trains 4 hours a day.
During holidays we practice
5 or 6 hours a day.
Each hour of practice comes with a
10 minutes break.
He also trains with the International
Master Barátosi Dániel.
At his father initiative, Mihnea
prepares periodically with the
International Master Mihai Ghindă.
Materials
The 3 most important publications
1.Viktor Vámos, Chess tactics for beginners, Caissa Chess Books, Kecskemét, 2004
2.Ligia Jicman,Şah şi mat!,Timişoara,2004,
3.David Gurgenidze,Perviie shahmatniie shagi,Tbilisi,2006
The lessons posted online on www.frsah.ro (Romanian Chess Federation website),
in the Specialist Corner.
-Mircea Pavlov’s lesson on “Ways to improve calculation in chess games”
-Mircea Pavlov’s lesson “Threat, important fighting weapon in chess games”
Materials from chess magazines such as
-ȘAH
-Gambit
-Timșah
-Magyar Sakkvilág
The three main publications were followed by exercises, problems, endgames, combinations,
model games and annotated games from the following books:
4.Koszorus Pál, Györkös Lajos, Combinations School, Pécs, 2000
5.Volodea Vaisman, O idee străbate deschiderile, Ed.Sport-Turism, 1984
6.Marius Ceteraş, Lecţii de şah pentru începători, Ed.Mediamira, Cluj-Napoca, 2007
7.Mircea Pavlov, Cooperarea tactică, Ed.Black and White, 1994
8.Mircea Pavlov, Cooperarea strategică între figuri, vol.I, Ed.Gambit, Bucureşti, 2000
9.Kállai Gábor,Szabolcsi János,64 kockára 64 teszt
10.I.G.M. Yuri Averbach, Ce trebuie să ştim despre finaluri,F.R.Şah,2010
11.Karsten Müller and Frank Lampert, Fundamental Chess Endings, Gambit books
12.Pavel Dobrinetski, Shcola shahmat-Ending, Novograd-Volinski,2010
13.Kállai Gábor, munkatárs Szabolcsi János, Megnyitások könyve, Tatabánya
14.Anatoli Mazukewitsch,Verflixte Fehler-500 Lehrreiche Minipartien, Sportverlag Berlin,1986
15.A.Roisman,400 Miniature parties
16.Constantin Ştefaniu, Secretele marilor maeştri-Fischer,Karpov, Gheorghiu, Ed.Sport-Turism, 1978
17.300 partide alese ale lui Alehin, Ed.Tineretului, Cultură fizică şi sport,1957
18.Aaron Nimzovich, My system
19.Sergey Ivashchenko, Chess School –The Manual of Chess Combinations, Moscow, 2007
20.Jesper Hall, Chess Training for Budding Champions –A unique self-training course in the essential of chess,
Gambit, 2001
21. Ing.Radu Chirilă, Primii paşi ai unui campion: Cristian Chirilă, Bucureşti, 2008
22. Elisabeta Polihroniade, Şahul pentru toţi
23. Elisabeta Polihroniade, Primii paşi în şah
24. Elisabeta Polihroniade, Campionii de şah ai lumii
25. Elisabeta Polihroniade, 64 de premii de frumuseţe
Openings and endgames
Focus on pawn and rock endings,
and combinations
Mihnea repertoire includes
-Italian Game,
-Two Knights Defense with 4.d4,
-Close Sicilian,
-French Defense,
-Phillidor (for white)
-Sicilian (Dragon Variation),
-Queens Gambit Declined,
-English Opening with 1…e5 (for black).
•
2011 –Mihnea’s year
2011 was Mihnea’s year. Before
departing for World School Chess
Championship he won every first prize in the
“Elisabeta Polihroniade” National School Chess
Contest –open, active, blitz and solving and
at only 7 years old he wins the National
Championship, group age 8.
On 13th March we signed-up for
the World School Chess Championship in
Poland, representing Romania and Târgu
Mureș School Sports Club
World School Chess Championship
Krakow, 2011
The World Championship was a
challenge for Mihnea, who encountered
strong opponents from Russia, Turkey,
Poland, Hungary and Sri Lanka.
World School Chess Championship
Krakow, 2011
He lost the first game, although he
had a winning position. After that, Mihnea
won all the remaining games, eight in total.
Every day, after the round was
over, we analyzed the game, search games
of future opponents or even prepare for 2
or 3 hours.
Game examples
Ognean Mihnea-Ionuţ (Romania) –Baylav Can (Turkey) [B 24]
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 d6 4.Bg2 e6 5.d3 Nf6
6.Be3 Be7 7.Nge2 0-0 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 Bd7
10.Qd2 Qc7 11.h3 Rac8 12.f4 Rfe8 13.Rf2 Qb6
14.b3 h6 15.g4 Nd4 16.Raf1 a5 17.Ng3 Nh7
18.g5 hxg5 19.fxg5 White now reveals the
powerful pair of rocks on f file.
19…f6 20.g6 Nf8
21.Bh6! (No collaboration between black pieces
and the attack is unstoppable.) gxh6 22.Qxh6
Qb4 23.Nh5 Ne2+ 24.Nxe2 Ng6 25.Qg7#
1-0.
A very good example of collaboration in attack
for White and lack of plan and coordination
for Black.
Game examples
Ognean Mihnea-Ionuţ (Romania) –Dylag Jan (Poland)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0
Be7 6.e5 Ne4 7.c3 dxc3? 8.Qd5! Double attack
on f7 square and on the knight in e4. In order to
prevent mate, Black must give up his knight in
e4.
8...0-0 9.Qxe4 cxb2 10.Bxb2 Nb4? 11.a3 Nc6
12.Bd3 g6 Forced. 13.Bc4! Re8? 14.Qf4!
attacking the f7 square and practically forcing
Black’s next move.
14...Rf8 15.Qh6 Re8 16.e6!! The strike that
kneels the black king. 16…dxe6 17.Qg7#
1-0
Recognition
For his results, Mihnea was included
in Top 10 Romanian Chess Players in
2011.
Three of his endgames from the
Junior National Championship games
in 2011 were included in
Florin Gheorghe Păunescu’s book,
Psihologia copilului şahist, Editura
Sfera, Bârlad, 2012 (a book about the
psychology of
children chess
players).
Thank you
for your attention!
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