Giri Scores 1st-Ever Victory For 'Stars,' Drops Only Loss To Alice Lee

GM Anish Giri defeated IM Alice Lee, IM Ryo Chen, GM Shreyas Royal, and GM Andy Woodward 2.5-1.5 in the third edition of Kids vs. Stars 2024, a simul where he played all four of them at the same time. Never before has the Star won a match in this series, and Lee picked up the only win for the Kids after the super-grandmaster hung a pawn.

Simul Results

Kids vs. Stars is a ChessKid series that pits established, titled players against promising, young talents. The Kids won the previous two editions, but this is the first time a grandmaster has participated. The Kids, as well, are the highest-rated they've ever been yet—with two grandmasters and two international masters. Royal was the oldest player on the Kids team, only 15 years old.

Giri had the white pieces on all four boards. As for the time control, Giri received 60 minutes plus a 15-second increment, while the Kids had a shorter time control of 10+15. The four games were played simultaneously, and the first side to reach 2.5 points won the encounter. While Giri has experience putting three kids to bed, he said taking on seven (with these four Kids added) was a new challenge.

"Normally, putting 3 kids to bed is my record, but I'll try now seven, put all seven of them down, so it's going to be a big challenge."

- Anish before playing four titled players in a simul. pic.twitter.com/0R7VILrPn9

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 15, 2024

The game against Royal was the first game to end—and it was a draw. After outplaying his opponent in an Italian Game and reaching a winning heavy-piece endgame, a single mistake in 36.Qg5? brought the evaluation back to equal. He had no choice but to settle for a perpetual check.

The second game, and Giri's first win, came against Woodward, the top seed. This game was decided quickly, and it was just an opening disaster in the Grunfeld Defense for the highest-rated kid. 

"I was very surprised that I beat Andy Woodward today," said Giri after the match, explaining that his match strategy was to play for a draw. "I thought he's a very mature player, and I didn't expect to beat him in a simul setting. Also, I wasn't going to try very hard." The original plan was to draw with Woodward "and then handle the other three," so this was a bonus point.

The one player who managed to defeat Giri is Lee, though how she won was a bit anti-climactic. Giri simply didn't see that 18...Bf8 was played, so when he played the blunder 19.Na4?? he realized only on the next move that he had hung a pawn for nothing. Lee converted without any issues.

Lee also explained that she still had the advantage (though not yet winning or anything like that) even if Giri found a better move. We'll never know if she would have been able to squeeze out the full point against the Dutch number-one!

With a second win in the final game against Chen, Giri took the match. The opening of this one was the most exciting, as Giri thought aloud before sacrificing his rook. He admitted that avoiding risk-taking is probably the better strategy, but he couldn't resist playing the move he thought is best.

"It would be quite stupid of course to take a risk in this situation because I'm a big favorite to do well if I don't do anything strange... but at the same time it's hard to resist from a move that looks like it could be the best move."

-Giri before he sacrifices his rook! pic.twitter.com/s1LxKF0z4T

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 15, 2024

The point of the sacrifice is that the queen would end up trapped on a1, after taking the rook. Black succeeded in freeing the queen but in return got his bishop trapped in its place. Giri went on to win with two knights against a rook, with some nice forking motifs to finish the match.

For the first time in Kids vs. Stars, experience has prevailed. The Kids will surely have something to say about that the next time...

Kids vs. Stars is an event in which the next generation of prodigies challenges established chess players and celebrities. On November 15, GM Anish Giri took on two GMS and two IMs in a clock simul where he had 60+15 and the kids had 10+15, with the winning side being the first to 2.5 points. 

Previous Coverage

• Anish Giri To Take On Four Young Prodigies Simultaneously In Next Kids vs. Stars
• Kids Prevail: Sivanandan, Radzimski Defeat Nemo, Kazarian
• Kids vs. Stars: Can The Young Guns Checkmate the Chess Masters Again?
• Kids Take 1st Victory: Atwell, Paragua Beat Nemo, Cramling