2023-10-02 15:17:32
The player trained in Corsica and now a member of the Chartres club, already a Grandmaster, won the premier junior competition on Sunday October 1st in Mexico.
After eleven days of competition and a final down to the wire, Marc’Andria Maurizzi, 16, was crowned world chess champion in the under-20 category, Sunday October 1 in Mexico. Among the women, it was the Argentine player Candela Francisco, 17, who won.
“Marc’An” remained undefeated in his eleven games, with six wins and five draws. At only 16 years old, the member of the Chartres chess club is one of the youngest to win the world junior title: the record is held by another Frenchman, Joël Lautier who obtained this title in 1988 at the age 15. Marc’Andria also enters the very exclusive club of French people holding the supreme title, with Lautier, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 2009.
Marc’Andria Maurizzi ???????? is the FIDE World Junior Champion 2023, in the open category. He finished ahead of Arseniy Nesterov and Luka Budisavljevic -in this order- thanks to his better tie-break. The new Champion is one of the youngest ever to achieve the U20 title, at just 16… pic.twitter.com/zq3pRTLWc5
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) October 1, 2023
The best players in the category were, however, not present during the competition in Mexico, including the Franco-Iranian Alireza Firouzja, the Indian Dommaraju Gukesh, or the German Vincent Keymer. Among the world’s youth elite, only Hans Niemann was included, a chess prodigy suspected of cheating – without tangible proof for the moment.
The fact remains that Marc’Andria Maurizzi has added a new line to his already well-stocked list of achievements: European champion under 10 years old in 2017, under 12 years old in 2019, he obtained the title of international master at 12 years old the same year. Before being crowned in 2021 International Grandmaster – the highest distinction in chess – at just 14 years and 5 days old. Marc’Andria Maurizzi is the youngest French person to hold this title.
The one who is also a fan of football and FC Barcelona made his first plays in his native Corsica, at the age of 7. “Already when he was just starting out in chess, he had an understanding‚ he understood what was happening, he saw all the moves, which a beginner doesn’t have. […] I knew that one day he was going to be a grandmaster for sure, just faster than expected,” underlined Pierre-Francois Geronimi, the young player’s former coach, in a portrait produced in 2021 by France 3 Corsica.
With its new 16-year-old world champion, who joins Alireza Firouzja (20 years old) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (32 years old), in great form after his recent victory against the greatest player of all time Magnus Carlsen, France has today a bright future on the white and black squares.
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