Replete with tradition, the Hastings congress was held for the 92nd time this week. It has been staged every year bar war years since 1920, at a historic venue where 10 world champions have played. The event’s peak years are long past but it has gained a new lease of life as the backing of Tradewise Insurance has augmented funds from its loyal borough council. Hastings 2016-17, which ended on Thursday, produced an exceptional individual result.

Hastings has always been a proving ground for young talent and this year it was Ramesh Praggnanandhaa, at 11 the youngest ever international master, who claimed attention. His games were featured daily on the congress website, which was transformed and upgraded from previous years, and it made online viewing a pleasure.

The Indian prodigy occasionally rode his luck at Hastings, but he remained unbeaten, recovered strongly to win from a dubious position in the final round, scored 6½/9 and finished with joint second prize, just half a point behind his countryman Deep Sengupta. It was his best performance yet and showed clear grandmaster potential.

He still has 14 months remaining to break Sergey Karjakin’s world record as the youngest ever GM at 12 years, seven months, but he has a rival.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, beat two GMs in a tournament when aged only nine. Last October, at 11 years 10 months, he scored the youngest ever GM result in stunning style at St Petersburg, where he totalled 7/9 including 4/6 against GMs. His victims included the Dutch GM Benjamin Bok, winner of the 2015 London Classic Open, and Brazil’s No1 GM, Alexander Fier, who competed at Hastings this week.

You would expect Uzbek officials to have made every effort to place their gifted young player at London Olympia, Hastings or Stockholm in December, the month of his 12th birthday, to give him the best chances for his required second and third GM norms, reach a 2500 rating and so win the race with his Indian rival to break Karjakin’s coveted record. Not a bit of it. Instead he was bizarrely diverted to the world schools under-13 at Sochi, where he duly cleaned up in the East European and Asian field with 8/9.

Time is running out for the Uzbek schoolboy. His IM title, though earned, is not yet ratified and his Fide rating of 2429 is still well short of the GM requirement of 2500. He is not entered for Tradewise Gibraltar, the world’s best open, which starts on 17 January, and it is unclear whether he will play in the next big event at Moscow Aeroflot in February.

The startling success of the two sub-teens incidentally highlights the growing importance of the world under-eight championship as a seedbed for major talents. Abdusattorov won it in 2012 and Praggnanandhaa in 2013, following on from America’s Awonder Liang who was the 2011 under-eight champion and went on to score his first GM norm last summer when barely 13.

Sergey Karjakin’s victory, on tie-break from Magnus Carlsen, at the world blitz in Doha was helped by this speedy win over the Ukrainian who had won the world rapid crown. The opening, a Sicilian Defence Richter Attack, is significant since Karjakin also used it in another decisive game, against Fabiano Caruana in the final round of the 2016 candidates. The result here is effectively settled in a single move when Ivanchuk errs with 14....c5? (f6!) after which the sacrifice 15 Bxh6! quickly leads to a winning attack.

Sergey Karjakin v Vassily Ivanchuk

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 a6 8 O-O-O h6 9 Nxc6 bxc6 10 Bf4 d5 11 Qe3 Bb4 12 Be2 O-O 13 e5 Nd7 14 h4 c5? 15 Bxh6! gxh6 16 Qxh6 Nxe5 17 Rh3 Bxc3 18 bxc3 Ra7 19 Rg3+ Ng6 20 h5 Qh4 21 Rg4 Qh2 22 Bd3 1-0

3476 1 Qa3! with the winning double threat of 2 Qd6+ Kc8 3 Ba6 mate and 2 Nxd7+ Rxd7 3 Qxf8+.