Jon Speelman: Beware ferocious chess children
When facing a young, ambitious opponent, it’s best not to let them gain momentum. At the recent Hoogeveen Open, Surya Shekhar Ganguly learned this the hard way against Emil Frederick Schuricht, a German teenager who, despite being rated 2145, outplayed the Indian GM spectacularly on the dark squares. Meanwhile, young chess prodigies keep raising the bar – most notably 9-year-old Ethan Pang (pictured), who reached an impressive 2303 rating this month. | Photo: Lennart Ootes