2012 U.S. Championships News

by Denes Boros

A day after the opening ceremony, where players were given presents and some good advice from Tony Rich, the tournament director, the players were ready for the first round of the  2017 Junior Championships!

U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship

What a first round it was; Akshita Eswaran essayed the Benoni against defending champion Emily Nguyen, and Thalia Cervantes went all-out against Agata Bykovtsev, with the ultra-sharp Four Pawn’s Attack!

Emily Nguyen reacted well against Akshita Eswaran’s Benoni and gained the upper hand. Nguyen played 14. Qb3! targeting the weak Black Queenside, and after the inaccurate move 15…g5, she uncorked the typical Benoni break with 16.e5! and 17.d6! The rest was simple, and Emily Nguyen won her first round game!

The game between Thalia Cervantes and Agata Bykovtsev was one of the most intriguing games of round one. Thalia Cervantes, who came to the Junior Championship straight from the Pan American Championships, went all out against Bykovtsev. Bykovtsev, as she told Cristian Chirila after the game, thought that 14…b5!? was part of her preparation. In any case, it turned out to be slightly dubious, as Thalia duly accepted the pawn offer and produced the fantastic rook lift 20. Ra3! and 21. Rg3! gaining a sizable advantage! She was well on her way to win, when she captured the wrong piece. 32. Bd4! would have won, but she played 32.Bc5+ allowing Bykovtsev back into the game, and after another mistake by Cervantes, Bykovtsev took over!  It was a dramatic game, were Thalia Cervantes showed some powerful play in the middlegame, and Agata Bykovtsev, showed great fighting skills, which helped her bring the point home.  

”I expect blood!” exclaimed Tatev Abrahamyan in the live commentary with fellow commentator Alejandro Ramirez, right before the start of the round. Right she was, as the player’s from both section came with the same intentions; to win at all costs!

U.S. Junior Championship

Ruifeng Li, the heavy rating favorite of the Open section, played his trademark move 1.b3!? against Mika Brattain. Brattain, however, wasn’t impressed by Larsen’s famous move and built up a solid position against Li. After few hours of play, Li managed to gain some space on the Queenside, but that was compensated by Bratain’s counterplay on the Kingside. Li had a slightly better position, but after Mika Brattain’s 24…Nh8! it was increasingly more difficult to make progress. Ruifeng Li, conscious of his advantage refused the repetition of moves, but ran into a fantastic sacrifice 27…Nf4! by Brattain, and the tables turned! Brattain was calling the shots afterwards, but after missing several wins, the ever-resourceful Ruifeng Li managed to escape; with a perpetual check!

The most contested matchups based on ratings were between Troff - Tang and Brown - Checa.

Brown played an interesting sideline in the Slav against Checa, but even though both players avoided repetition multiple times, it still petered out to be a draw.

Troff against Tang was a different affair. Troff came with a very aggressive line, which was known from the famous game played by Carlsen and Aronian. Tang tried to surprise Troff with the freeing move 9…g5!?, but Kayden Troff was irresistible, and won a model game.

The hometown favorite Akshat Chandra, and the freshly-minted grandmaster Awonder Liang won their games fairly comfortably.

In the Open Section, Liang, Chandra and Troff are in the lead, while in the Girls’ Section; Emily Nguyen and Agata Bykovtsev are sharing first place with one point each.

by Cristian Chirila

One tournament ended and the other one continues tomorrow! The U.S. Women’s Championship declared its winner, and it is none other than the sensation of the tournament, Sabina Foisor! Sabina played a brilliant game and finished Virkud in style, while Nazi started well but failed to keep the pace and got slowly outplayed by the legend slayer, Jennifer Yu (she beat Nazi, Irina, and Anna). In the open section, it was a fairly quiet day, with Wesley So making a pragmatic decision and repeating moves in the opening. Onischuk drew his game with Kamsky with ease, while Var Akobian failed to stop Nakamura’s wrath and fell out of the tiebreak spot after an otherwise brilliant tournament. Tomorrow we have a bonus day of chess excitement, but first let’s get into today’s recap!

U.S. Championship

Naroditsky vs So

There’s not much to say about this game besides both players seemed content with a draw. Naroditsky mentioned he was slightly surprised by So’s Berlin, and decided against trying to break it. Wesley’s decision was obviously a pragmatic one, and only time will tell whether it was the right one. He is now heading into a head-to-head tiebreaker with Onischuk in which he will be the clear favorite (Nakamura gives him a 90% chance to win it).

Kamsky vs Onischuk

The two veterans have been comrades in the American chess circuit for many decades and have played each other countless times. Kamsky mentioned that it was particularly difficult to come up with a surprise weapon, as Onischuk is a master of opening preparation.

The players followed a long line of the Archangelsk and it seemed like Onischuk had the better chance at producing the shocker. Despite that, Kamsky soon showed why he is one of the most solid players to ever play in the U.S. Championship and quickly tamed the game with a sequence of precise moves. The players agreed to a fairly uneventful draw as soon as the rules allowed it, at move 30. Onischuk will face So in what will surely be his biggest challenge yet!

Nakamura vs Akobian

Beating Nakamura as black is something quite extraordinary, drawing him as black is something extremely difficult. Those were the two results that would have helped Akobian; unfortunately for him, Nakamura came into the game with a warrior’s mindset, no draws!

Despite that, Akobian’s preparation was once again very sharp and he managed to slowly outplay Naka in the middlegame. His biggest problem was once again his time management, and when the critical moment came, he was unable to make the right decision. Exchanging the queens was a clear mistake; instead, he should have kept the pressure with 26…Qa7! which would have gave him the initiative.

The endgame after the queen exchange was a very difficult one, and Nakamura did not forgive. With swift precision, Nakamura delivered and stole Akobian’s tiebreak ticket.

U.S. Women’s Championship

Paikidze vs Yu

Nazi came to the playing hall with great confidence and a wide smile on her face. No matter the results, she knew that her tournament had been a success and another title would be a historic achievement!

Her opening went smoothly and she soon found herself in the driver’s seat, but her 16.Nc3?! was inexplicable. There was no reason to remove the perfectly centralized knight; instead, she should have built her set-up around that powerful piece. After that, it was all an uphill battle, as the game always seemed to be one exchange away from complete simplification, something Nazi was trying to avoid at all costs as Sabina was always in a better position. White tried to keep the tension, but in doing so, she allowed her opponent to grab the initiative. Jennifer’s sequence of moves between move 30 and 40 seemed to be played by an elite grandmaster. Her impressive precision is surely something that will scare many of her opponents moving forward. The girl has a bright future!

Nazi was forced to resign and pass her champion’s torch to Sabina at move 51. In her post-game interview, she gave a candid description of the game, as well as her sincere congratulations to her friend and rival. Her attitude will surely earn her even more fans. Congratulations, Nazi!

Virkud vs Foisor

Once again, the explosive U.S. Women’s Championship is decided by a brilliancy! Sabina has been playing stellar chess all throughout this event. Her preparation has simply been outstanding, and if it wouldn’t have been for the accident against Krush, perhaps her championship victory would have already been sealed.

But that’s not how top competitions are being won, nobody runs away with a title! The grind, the suffering, the over the edge nervousness, it’s all part of competition at the highest level, in any field. Sabina once again came into the game with incredible opening preparation, and took swift advantage of her opponent’s early mistake (9.Bd2?). Her middle game play was technical and precise. Her expansion on the kingside was calculated and every single detail was taken into consideration before conducting the checkmate pattern!

But her impeccable game is not the story here. The story is that of an underdog that has been underestimated by many, which has been tried by the ruthlessness of life. An underdog that through pain, resiliency, and hard work overcame the odds and rewrote history on her terms. This is the story to be told, and Sabina is the admirable heroine of it! Kudos to you Sabina, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Chess Champion!