2012 U.S. Championships News
Gorti won the Girls’ Section with one round to spare, but there was still a lot of action in the last round in both sections!
U.S Girls’ Junior Championship
Akshita Gorti already won the tournament, but she arrived hungry for some more chess! She played Apurva Virkud, and even though she was Black she took the initiative early on with 11…Ba6! and 12…b5!. Virkud, however, fought hard and managed to hold, even though Akshita Gorti was trying hard to win her last game. A nice fighting game from both players, especially from Akshita, playing for a win even though the tournament was already decided!
Maggie Feng came second, as she managed to draw a difficult game against Bykovtsev. Emily Nguyen had a good chance for second place, but she had to console herself with a tied third place as she lost to Carissa Yip after her Queen got trapped in an equal position.
Thalia Cervantes also tied for third place, just like Annie Wang, but Emily Nguyen was awarded the third place due to better tiebreakers. Thalia won a nice game against Eswaran. Thalia Cervantes equalized early with Black, and she managed to slowly push her opponent off the board. A nice technical win from Cervantes!
The last game of the whole tournament was played by Annie Wang and Rachel Ulrich. Both of them played a fantastic fighting tournament, and their personal encounter wasn’t any different! Annie Wang played the famous Breyer variation, and even though she was initially slightly worse, after hours of play she took control of the game. Rachel Ulrich didn’t give up however, and fought hard until they reached a Queen endgame. After the long struggle Annie ran into a perpetual check, but one slip was enough and it seemed that Ulrich missed the draw. At that moment, Ulrich found the fantastic resource 80.g3+ Kf3 and comes the move of the tournament, Qf2!!, Kxf2 Stalemate! A wonderful display of the fighting spirit of the tournament!
U.S. Junior Championship
Everyone expected a swift finish with a dominating Troff, even though Liang was half point behind, Kayden seemed to be in position to become the U.S. Junior Champion.
Chandra although not the mathematical favorite to win it all, was the first to drop out of contention. He was facing Checa and needed to win to keep his winning chances alive. Chandra did manage to get a preferable position, but it was extremely difficult to convert the advantage into a win, and the players agreed to a draw after the repetition of moves.
That left the leader Kayden Troff, and his rival Awonder Liang to duke it out for the U.S. Junior Championship title.
Troff did not change his tactics, and played his usual lines, but his opponent Mika Brattain was very well prepared against Troff. Troff wasn’t prepared for this variation and was clearly in trouble and it was clear that Brattain won the opening phase. Meanwhile, Liang also had to get acquainted with a type of position he had not seen before. Michael Brown played the Berlin Defence, and an early d6. Liang did not seem to be familiar, so it was clear that there would be a long struggle! Hours later Mika Brattain played the courageous 16.d5!, which seemed to me to be the strongest and most natural. He followed it up with energetic play, centralizing his pieces with 18. Rad1! and 19 e5!, Troff was forced into defensive. At this moment Liang’s position wasn’t clear, but Brown seemed to be at loss and it was increasingly difficult to find plans for both sides!
Getting closer to time trouble, Mika Brattain launched his final attack, and it was just too strong, and even though Troff tried to defend it, the defensive front eventually collapsed and Mika Brattain won against Troff!
This was the golden moment for Liang, as a draw would force a tiebreaker match with Troff, but a win would mean the Championship Title! Liang doubled up on the ”e” line and after Brown’s inaccurate move 34…e4, Liang opened up the position with the powerful 34.f3!
At that moment it was clear, with precise play, Awonder Liang was going to win.
Precise he was, and after some nervy play from both sides, Liang broke through with the knight maneuver Ne2-d4-f5! putting decisive pressure on Brown’s position. Brown resisted heroically, but Liang was unstoppable and with confident play, he converted his advantage!
Liang, with this clutch win, won the 2017. U.S. Junior Championship!
Troff came second and Rufieng Li and Akshat Chandra tied for third. Akshat Chandra became third on account of his better tiebreaker. A great U.S. Junior Championship ended with a dramatic final. Troff and Akshat Chandra played good chess, but Liang proved to be the strongest, as he managed to win the most critical wins at the crucial moments! The Champions of the 2017 U.S. Junior Championships are Akshita Gorti and Awonder Liang.
We arrived at the most critical part of the tournament, so naturally there were high stakes and tension; mistakes could occur, but some flourish in these conditions and create brilliancies!
U.S Girls’ Junior Championship
Akshita Gorti went into the round with a one and a half point lead, but faced her tournament rival, Maggi Feng with White! Maggie Feng opted for a Stonewall Dutch, but Gorti was more versed in the nuances of the position. Gorti played 8.Qc2!, and Feng replied with the standard, but dubious 8…Nbd7. Gorti did not hesitate and she took on d5 and transposed into a favorable position, as Maggie Feng could not avoid the exchange of the dark-squared bishops.
Gorti had a nagging advantage, but one move spoiled it. After the inaccurate 22.Re7, Maggie found Kf8! and repetition was unavoidable, as otherwise White’s rook would get trapped. A disappointing result for Akshita Gorti, as at this point she could not have known that her draw, would clinch her the tournament!
Emily Nguyen was playing Rachel Ulrich, and even though White was pressing most of the time and she even got close to winning, after a lot of piece exchanges the position transposed into a drawn endgame! This means that Akshita Gorti has won the Girls’ Section with one round to spare!
There is still a fight for second and third place, so winning in the last rounds is extremely important! Thalia Cervantes and Annie Wang did just that, and they join the fight for the medals!
U.S. Junior Championship
Round 8 was the most dramatic round of the Open Section, as Troff is chased by Liang who is just half a point behind, while Chandra is a full point behind Troff.
Troff showed deep home preparation against Josh Colas, but then suddenly tiredness kicked in and one move almost cost him dearly; Troff was calculating the moves Bg6, and Be4 and did the classic mistake of making a third move instead! 22. g3 was immediately punished by Josh Colas with 22…Qa5!, and Troff had to find a way to save the game!
Meanwhile, the other big match between Chandra and Liang was unfolding. Chandra surprised Liang with the Reti, but after 2-3 counter surprises, Liang was the one caught in a trap; Black played 5…Ba6!? hoping for a fight, but Chandra cleverly transposed to classical Petrosian waters with the strong 6. Qb3! and Liang had to fight for the equality for the rest of the game. Fortunately for Liang, he managed to survive, even though Chandra had a moment when he could have won the game. Chandra played 33.Bxh5, believing that he would win a piece, but missed the strong defensive move 35…Qe4! which gave ample play for Liang to hold the position. Chandra should have played 32.Bf3 and then 33.Nd5! with decisive threats.
In Troff’s game, fortune did seem to favor the brave as he found the best way to put up a fight, and shockingly Troff had enough counterplay for the lost piece! Colas chose a safe continuation, but his move turned out to be slightly premature and Troff again had a chance to win!
The commentators, Tatev Abrahamyan, Alejandro Ramirez and Cristian Chirila, mentioned in the live coverage that the top three players of the Open Section only lost one game altogether!
Troff will have good chances going into the last round to win the tournament, but he will be facing Mika Brattain with Black, while Liang will be facing the in-form Michael Brown. Chandra will have a tough job, as he needs to win against Checa with Black, but that would still give him a theoretical chance to win the Junior Championship! Akshita Gorti, with her draw today against Maggie Feng, has already secured her title. Akshita Gorti is officially the Girls Junior Champion of 2017! The last round starts at 11 am CT, and we will find out, who will be the 2017 U.S. Junior Champion!
by Denes Boros
The seventh round started out slowly, but it provided many entertaining games, and also crucial ones!
U.S. Junior Championship
The big matchup of the day was between Checa and Troff. Checa prepared an Anti-Gruenfeld line, which was championed by Topalov, but Troff wasn’t surprised. He spent sometime remembering the variations, but he was fortunate enough to recall the nuances he had in his notes. After his critical move 17…Rd4!, it was Checa’s turn to equalize, which he did. The two sides agreed to a draw on move 30. Just like in the previous round, the draw by Troff gave chance to the rivals to catch up.
Akshat Chandra also had a chance to join the leaders, but Bovey Liu put up a heroic defence with White and managed to hold Chandra to a draw!
The fighting spirit was high this round, as everybody fought till their last breath! Brown beat Andrew Tang in an unusual Catalan game. Brown, however, was more comfortable with the resulting positions and won a knight after setting up deadly tactics along the a1-h8 diagonal. Meanwhile, Joshua Colas drew with Mika Brattain in a fighting game. Troff is leading the tournament, but Liang is a half point behind, and Akshat Chandra can also have a chance to claim the Junior Championship title!
U.S Girls’ Junior Championship
Gorti started the round with a full point lead over Emily Nguyen and Maggie Feng.
Gorti, in the 6th round, faced Bykovtsev with White. Gorti played today’s game with great ambitions, as she delved deep into the King’s Indian maze against Bykovtsev. Black, unfamiliar with the early Be3 and h3 lines, played the usual, a5 and Na6 moves. Gorti, however, did not waste time playing Nf3 and played 8. c5! instead. Bykovtsev tried but could not avoid the exchange of the white-squared bishops. From then on Gorti was clearly better, and it was a matter of time, till the Black position collapsed. Gorti started marching her d-pawn, with a decisive effect, and she won the game after move49. Akshita Gorti’s win meant that her rivals had to win order to keep up with her pace.
Maggie Feng did her best against Annie Wang and put a lot of pressure on her rival. In the end, however, she did not find the right continuations to capitalize on her advantage. This result leaves Maggie Feng and Emily Nguyen one and a half point behind Akshita Gorti.
Emily Nguyen had her chances, against Virkud, but after Emily Nguyen allowed the pieces to be exchanged, the game naturally steered toward a draw.
The best fighting game of the Girls’ Section belongs to Carissa Yip. She did not have an advantage in the opening, but with inventive play, she conjured up some play ( 15. b4!?) and won after a long fight against Eswaran.
Troff leads the Open Section with a half a point lead, while Akshita Gorti is dominating her section with a one and half point lead. There is two more rounds ahead, and the leaders are going strong, but anything is possible!
by Denes Boros
A dramatic round where rivals clashed in both sections!
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
The two big games of the Girls’ Section was between Annie Wang and Akshita Gorti, and Emily Nguyen and Maggie Feng.
Gorti was only a half point ahead of the field, so her game against her rival Annie Wang was crucial. It didn’t look great for Gorti at first, as Annie Wang managed to get a nagging advantage with White. Wang could have tried increasing her advantage with 20.Nb5! preparing a potential sacrifice on d6; instead, she played 20.a5!?, which let Gorti off the hook. Gorti then managed to reorganize and she slowly took control of the game. Annie Wang had one last chance with 25.Nxe5!, but after that Gorti was unstoppable.
Emily Nguyen against Maggie Feng started out as a Dutch Stonewall. Nguyen seemed to have slight pressure, but in the end it wasn’t enough, so the players agreed to a draw.
This draw and Gorti’s win stabilized the situation, as Gorti has a comfortable one point lead ahead of both Emily Nguyen and Maggie Feng!
It is clear that the fighting spirit is high in both sections as Bykovtsev-Yip featured a wild Fisher/Sozin variation, which was won by Yip with precise play; the game between Eswaran-Ulrich, won by Eswaran, was also a classical hybrid of the Bartel/ Keres Attack!
U.S. Junior Championship
Speaking of fighting spirit, it was clear that the players came here today to challenge, the leader, Kayden Troff!
Liang played the Nimzo-Indian as Black against Troff, but neither side could make any progress, and so a draw was agreed after move 30. This was a decent result for Troff as he stabilized his lead, but it was quite a disappointing result for Liang.
Kayden’s rivals Checa and Chandra were given a chance to sneak closer to the leader.
Checa had an unpleasant task in the opening against Mika Brattain. Suffering in a slightly worse position, he repeated moves, but Brattain, justifiably, avoided repetition. Then, out of the blue, Checa had an amazing attack with 24…Ng5 and after the move 26 b5, he played the near-decisive Bxg3! sacrifice. Checa was clearly winning after that point, but Brattain kept on fighting. Checa started to lose his grip, and that was enough for Brattain, who managed to draw the game after a long fight!
Chandra, the hometown favorite, was playing Michael Brown who had a decent showing in this tournament. Brown chose the deferred Steinitz against Chandra, but Akshat was very comfortable with the arising positions, and he slowly outplayed his opponent!
Ruifeng Li, even though not in contention for first place, played a wonderful tactical masterpiece against Bovey. Clearly in the style of Tal, he sacrificed a piece with 11.fxe6! and after 33. move he checkmated his opponent in a very convincing game!
Kayden Troff is clear first in the Open Section after round 6, he is followed by Checa, Liang and Chandra they are trailing him by one point. Akshita Gorti leads the Girls’ Section after 6 rounds and she is followed by Emily Nguyen and Maggie Feng, both one point behind her.
by Denes Boros
Round 5 started off with multiple heavyweight battles: Michael Brown against Ruifeng Li, Akshat Chandra against Andrew Tang, and in the Girls’ Section the leading Emily Nguyen faced her tournament rival, Akshita Gorti.
U.S. Junior Championship
Both Michael Brown and Chandra played a Catalan type of structure, and surprisingly both of them had a slightly better position against Ruifeng Li and Andrew Tang respectively.
Tang chose to force some complications, which favored Chandra; but, in time trouble, Chandra could not find his way in the complications. After the time control, both players agreed to a draw in an equal position.
In the other game, Brown had a slight advantage, but Ruifeng Li, with good strategic moves, gradually equalized. The live commentators, Alejandro Ramirez and Cristian Chirila, were expecting a draw around move 30, but Ruifeng had different plans! After some shuffling of pieces, Ruifeng sacrificed a piece with 38…Nxf4!? which was objectively dubious, but kept the game going. Brown wasn’t impressed and managed to stabilize his position. Brown could have collected the point with 54.Rc5! and Bc3!, but he inexplicably wasted precious tempi with 51.Kg2 and Kf3. Those two tempi was all that Ruifeng needed, and he comfortably forced a draw after starting a pawn-avalanche with the moves g5-g4!
The leader, Kayden Troff, faced Bovey Liu with black. Bovey Liu decided to avoid mainstream Najdorf theory, and played Bb5+. He did not manage to surprise Troff, as after the clever intermezzo, 14. dxe5 c4!, it was Troff who was calling the shots. After that, Troff soon captured the bishop-pair and a pawn and soon after, the game! Troff can be happy with his play as his nearest rivals Liang and Checa are trailing him a full point behind!
U.S Girls’ Junior Championship
The biggest matchup of the day was between Emily Nguyen and Akshita Gorti. Gorti was chasing Nguyen with a half point, so she had to do her best to catch up to Nguyen. They followed the game played by Wesley So against Duda, but Nguyen made the inaccurate move 10…e4 and followed it up with the dubious Qh4. Gorti took some time to find the reply, but after her accurate Bb5+, Nguyen’s position crumbled. Nguyen fought hard afterwards, but her position could not be saved. With this win, Gorti took the lead from Nguyen. In the Junior Championships, it’s important to keep on fighting as upsets can happen, and after accumulating some points here and there, you might find yourself on the top of the scoreboard!
Talking about big winners, Maggie Feng, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, didn’t give any chances to her opponent today! Maggie Feng was playing Thalia Cervantes and the opening featured the g3 Gruenfeld, which positions are well-known from the famous Karpov-Kasparov matches. Maggie Feng played extremely precise chess today, her moves 15. Qb3! and the prophylactic 16.Rc2! made a deep impression. Thalia Cervantes tried to untangle, but today Maggie Feng proved irresistible. Maggie Feng won the game on move 33, and now she is a mere half point behind Akshita Gorti!
Troff is leading the Open Section with a full point lead ahead of Liang and Checa, while in the Girls’ Section Gorti is half a point ahead of Nguyen and Feng. Tomorrow is a rest day, but play will resume Friday.
by Denes Boros
Looking at the pairings, I expected some deep home preparation from the players. I was surprised to see that the tournament spontaneously turned into a Carlsbad Theme Tournament instead!
U.S. Junior Championship
The first crucial matchup was between Ruifeng Li and Akshat Chandra but did not feature the Carlsbad structure. Surprisingly, it was the third time Ruifeng played 1. b3!?. He did quickly achieve a tangible advantage, after his unusual third move 3.Nf3! On the other hand, the hometown favorite, Akshat Chandra held on strong and managed to stabilize his position, and achieved a draw without many problems. A nice quality game from both players!
The second key matchup was played between Kayden Troff and Michael Brown. Brown came up with an novel plan in the Carlsbad, but he was still slightly worse against Troff. Black’s position was passive, but solid, so Troff went for an early flank attack, which was unfortunately for him slightly premature. Brown stopped Troff’s attack on the Queenside, and went for the counterattacking h5-h4! Soon Troff’s position became critical, but Kayden came up with some inventive attacking moves that confused Brown. Michael Brown could have won with 27…Rc8!!, but he opted for Nxe4 instead, which was losing, as Kayden’s king found a safe haven on d1 and mate was inevitable! A truly dramatic game, which was crucial for the Open Section’s standings!
Andrew Tang played a fighting game against Nicolas Checa. Tang essayed the London System, but Checa was well prepared and was never in real danger. Checa took over the initiative after the surprising 28…Qxd6!, he developed a devastating initiative. He won after 45 moves. Checa has shown very consistent chess so far, and now he is tied for second place!
U.S Girls’ Junior Championship
Gorti and Nguyen shared first place before the 4th round, so both players were eager to play some aggressive chess.
Emily Nguyen played Annie Wang, who opted for a setup already familiar to us: the Carlsbad Variation! Emily Nguyen, however, was more comfortable with the ensuing positions and won in style.
Gorti had to win to catch up with Nguyen, but faced a tough test facing Thalia Cervantes with Black. Thalia Cervantes had a nagging pressure, but then the position became extremely complicated for both sides. Cervantes was winning at one point in the last time control, but could not capitalize on her advantage in the end. The game ended in a draw after the 70th move.
The best fighting game was played between Bykovtsev and Ulrich. Both of them played exciting games, so the commentators were ready to see an interesting fight between them.
Bykovtsev again played her pet Fisher-Sozin line, but this time she faced 6…Qb6 instead of 6…Qc7 in the Najdorf. Bykovtsev decided to change the character of the position, and came up with the ambitious 18. Nb6!?. The idea did not seem completely sound, but Rachel Ulrich had some problems she needed to solve at the board. She did defend quite well until move 22, when she rushed to play the move Rb8. It was the first step in the wrong direction, as Tatev Abrahamyan pointed out in the commentary, 22…Rc8 would have been more precise overprotecting her pieces. After that, Bykovtsev could not be stopped, as she continued her onslaught with 23 e5! completely opening up the position; and, fter the elegant 25 Qxe5! sacrifice by Bykovtsev, Ulrich’s position became hopeless. Bykovtsev won on move 29.
After round 4, Kayden Troff is clear first with a point lead in the Open Section, while Emily Nguyen has a half point lead in the Girls’ Section.