2012 U.S. Championships News

Jeffrey Xiong, 13, is playing in his third U.S. Junior Closed Championship in Saint Louis.

By Brian Jerauld

SAINT LOUIS (June 24, 2014) -- Experience is starting to pay dividends -- on the board and in the standings.

13-year-old IM Jeffrey Xiong, in his third Junior Closed Championship appearance, played with relaxed confidence on Monday despite leading a heavy mating assault through unclear waters. Xiong as white set the theme early with a 14. Nxe6 sacrifice, immediately exposing and launching siege on FM Arthur Shen’s uncastled king -- initiating a tension-filled game that demanded some act-like-you’ve-been-there posturing.

“Experience has been big,” Xiong said. “The first few times I played (in the Junior Closed), I haven’t been as comfortable and as confident as I feel now. Probably one or two years ago, I wouldn’t have been as confident in sacrificing a piece like I did in today’s game.”

Xiong was unrelenting in his pressure, however, finally breaking through with 32. Qh5+ as the first of seven consecutive checks on Shen’s king to collapse the black resistance.

The win sets Xiong (3.5/4) as the tournament’s first clear leader, with the Dallas star remaining undefeated and plus-3 after four rounds. Also winning on Monday was IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti (3/4), last year’s Junior Closed runner-up, who has now put together three consecutive victories -- the latest after cracking open a slight rook-and-pawn endgame advantage over IM Sam Sevian. Harmon-Vellotti’s win moves him into a second-place tie with GM Kayden Troff (3/4), who lost his share of the lead after Monday’s draw with IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy.

Xiong’s accelerated pace also breaks the three frontrunners away from rest of the pack, as a four-way tie for fourth sits a full point behind (2/4) the leader group.

Crosstable after Round 4

It is no longer a secret that Sevian (1/4) is having a rough tournament, now minus-three across four rounds after seeing breakdowns in all phases of his game -- this latest to Harmon-Vellotti in the form of an endgame collapse.

Normally a traditionalist to the main lines, Sevian as black managed an early surprise with 3. Nf6 and the Ruy Lopez-Berlin, immediately throwing Harmon-Vellotti out of preparation. Sevian was quick through his new line, earning the bishop pair at the expense of slow development.

The game stayed balanced throughout and brought little excitement to the middlegame, which several times offered lines into drawing endgames. As the game neared its finale, however, Sevian may have held the superior minor piece, but Harmon-Vellotti was able to fully isolate black’s remaining pawns with 23. exf6 -- and white’s f-, g- and h-pawn unit still dangerously in tact.

“I felt like the endgame was about equal, but as I looked at it more and more, I liked my position more and more,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “I think I just had more chances to play for a win; it was hard for (Sevian) to play, though I wasn’t sure exactly where he went wrong. Once he drops that f5 pawn, though, then I’m just winning after that. Two connected, passed f- and g-pawns are too strong.”

Indeed, Sevian’s 39. Kd5 in time trouble was a move to the wrong side of the board, setting up Harmon-Vellotti’s 40. Re5+. The move forked white’s king and f-pawn just at time control, leaving Sevian with ample time to look over his lost position. The game was played 62 moves, all the way to checkmate.

FMs Michael Bodek and Justus Williams played each other to a wonderful fighting draw, with both sides playing for wins -- and both players coming up just short of tempo to finish their attacks. Bodek’s shocking 2...g5?! from his game against Sevian a day earlier -- as “one of those moves you always want to play, but always talk yourself out of” -- showed that the 16-year-old was there for a fight over the board and not out of the book, and Williams was happy to oblige.

Bodek as white began in the Chekhover variation of the Sicilian, moving his queen early with 4. Qxd4, but then forfeiting the bishop pair with 6. Bxc6. White looked to load up on black’s backwards e6-pawn, but missed Williams’ 14...Nxe4 that forced some tactical liquidation.

“At first I was upset with myself for missing that tactic, as I thought I got nothing out of it, but then I realized I still had a slight pull on the position,” Bodek said. “I just felt like I had a big positional edge before Nxe4, and I felt like that all evaporated. But he had so many weak pawns on the kingside, I felt that if I could activate my pieces, I might be able to maintain a strong edge.”

Bodek was able to activate and begin an assault on the black kingside, but Williams stood stout, finding some liquidation and even winning a pawn with 29. Rxh4 -- though it left the black rook temporarily sitting out of the action. Bodek earned it back quickly, however, with a nifty 32. Rxe5 (32...fxe5? 33. Qxf5+ Qg6 34. Qxh4) and began to cramp the black king. Caught in time trouble, however, Bodek missed 37. g3, instead choosing to repeat moves with his queen to make time control. The decision allowed Williams back to 36...Rf4, laying attack on the f2-pawn and leaving Bodek just one tempo short of mate. The game drew after 50 moves.

“I was never in any risk of losing -- I could always perpetually check him,” Bodek said. “My king was safe, it just wasn’t safe enough for me to move my rook up and find that checkmate.”

Each round of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed will see its first move daily at 1:00 p.m. CT through June 29, with a rest day on Wednesday. The tournament will be streamed live on www.uschesschamps.com, with commentary, analysis and player interviews by GM Ben Finegold and FM Aviv Friedman.

GM Kayden Troff looks to be in top form through the first two rounds of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship.

By Brian Jerauld

SAINT LOUIS (June 22, 2014) -- Historically, the Sicilian defense may be known as one of the best-scoring responses to the 1. e4 attack. But not today.

In the second round of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, four out of five games saw black answering in the classic resistance, though white was able to smash through all but one. Saturday brought another decision-filled afternoon, with just a single draw -- the first of the tournament through 10 games -- as the Najdorf by FM Arthur Shen held up against FM Michael Bodek.

IM Jeffrey Xiong won against FM Josh Colas’ Sicilian to remain perfect through two rounds, and both IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy found their way through the line to earn their first points of the event.

Also remaining perfect and in front was GM Kayden Troff who, despite only two rounds into the event, looks to be in full stride. The tournament’s top seed won with swagger on Saturday, mauling his closest challenger by rating, IM Sam Sevian, in a lopsided affair that saw both an early advantage on the clock -- 40 minutes after 10 moves -- as well as one on the board. The loss leaves No. 2-seed Sevian scoreless in the event. Click here for a replay of the live play-by-play of the second round.

Rankings after round 2

In the day’s only non-Sicilian, Troff dropped 4. e3 as a surprise in a Queen’s Gambit, unbalancing Sevian early. After playing his Young Stars teammate “20 million times” between training games and event matchups, Troff said he was hit with the opening inspiration just the night before -- an idea he later confirmed in preparation thanks to a game between GMs Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian from the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

“It’s always a struggle -- you play someone again and again, and you both become very familiar with all the little things that you both do,” Troff said. “(4. e3) just kind of hit me last night: Maybe I could do this and take him out of what he knows, just by changing up the move order. The more I looked at it, the more it became a good idea.”

The early surprise leached gobs of time from Sevian, who dropped below 40 minutes from his original 90 as he thought on 11. Bc2 -- while the 30-second per-move increment had left Troff with more time than he began. Troff also earned himself a wonderfully harmonious position, while black’s queenside rook and bishop stayed awkwardly undeveloped; 17...Nh5 even put a knight on the rim.

“I think I went through a similar thing when we played here last year: I was black, and (Sevian) smashed me out of the opening -- and I think it was from not really fully knowing all of these subtle ideas,” Troff said. “That game went very similar to this one today: good position early and just winning a few moves later.”

After 20. Bd4, Troff’s time advantage had increased to nearly 70 minutes, as Sevian fell below 2 minutes and soon after began playing off the increment. Collapse was swift and thorough.

In a match pitting two first-day leaders, Xiong issued his own early surprise to FM Josh Colas with 3. g3 -- a not-so-popular line in the Sicilian with which Xiong said he was comfortably familiar.

White earned a decent advantage out of the opening, partially due to the awkward development of black’s dark-squared bishop, who moved three times in the first ten moves -- and again after Xiong’s 14. Nf6 helped escape a surprise attack on the white queen.

By the time Colas completed his laggy development with 17...Bd7, Xiong’s open-lane-filled position was ready for attack, sweeping his rook to the seventh rank and picking up a material advantage with 23. Rxb7.

“When (Colas) played 17...Bd7 right away, I felt I was in a clearly better position and was able to win quite handily,” Xiong said. “The endgame it went into was pretty comfortable -- I couldn’t relax just yet, but I felt that with precies moves, I should be able to get it.”

The endgame featured bishops of the opposite color and white’s advantage as a queenside rook pawn - a tough, but winnable, position made clearer after Colas dropped another pawn in time trouble.

In Saturday’s second matchup between first-day leaders, Ostrovskiy as white was able to outmuscle FM Justus Williams despite walking himself into an all-too familiar “playable disadvantage” -- a Taimanov variation that had recently brought Ostrovskiy a crushing loss in the Chicago Open.

Inspired by the game, Williams earned more than just equalization, but also a far-more pleasant position entering the middlegame as Ostrovskiy was left reacting against black’s plans.

“When we got out of the opening stage, it just became hard for me to formulate a plan -- my moves were just kind of responses to his ideas,” Ostrovskiy said. “Most of my moves were directed in that regard, then I finally found this idea in a pseudo-sacrifice with Nd5 that my opponent missed, which allowed me to go from a disadvantage to a sizable advantage.”

Opposite-side castling brought pawn storms to both wings, and Ostrovskiy’s 20. fxe5 kicked off some nifty tactical action that saw a white knight hop back-and-forth onto the black-controlled d5 square.

The tricks ultimately left white with a dangerous passer on d5, which became a monster after finding support from 33. c4 and the white bishop. Ostrovskiy liquidated toward their advance.

Each round of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed will see its first move daily at 1:00 p.m. CT through June 29, with a rest day on Wednesday. The tournament will be streamed live on www.uschesschamps.com, with commentary, analysis and player interviews by GM Ben Finegold and FM Aviv Friedman.