2012 U.S. Championships News

Day one of the Match of the Millennials is in the books and it looks like it is going to be a close match! In the under 17 section, after two rounds, the score is 4-4.In the under 14 section, after one round, the World team leads by a full point with 2.5-1.5. Overall, the World team has a full point lead over the U.S. team but there is still a lot of games to be played. The heroes of the day were Sam Sevian from U.S. and Aryan Chopra from India, both of whom scored two points for their teams.

Under 17 Section

The day started with the players in the U17 section facing off. The top player from the World team, Haik Martirosyan of Armenia and Jeffery Xiong of U.S. had a solid draw. Things were really looking up for team U.S.A. as Sam Sevian outplayed his opponent, Andrey Esipenko of Russia, in a sharp and tactical Benoni, an opening that is rendered dubious by many top players. The game between Anton Smirnov of Australia and Ruifeng Li of U.S.A. was also a peaceful draw. It all came down to the marathon game between John Burke of the U.S.A. and Aryan Chopra of India. After playing over 70 moves, Burke managed to break through his opponent’s fortress and even promoted one of his pawns to a queen while his opponent only had a bishop, a knight and two pawns. Normally, that is not enough compensation for the queen, but the players had little time on the clocks and Chopra  had a dangerous passed pawn, which gave him practical chances. Not sensing the danger, Burke kept pressing for a win instead of making a draw which would have clinched the win for team U.S.A. Unfortunately, his ambitions backfired as he blundered his queen, allowing the match score to even out to 2-2

In the second round of the day, the team score for the section remained the same. Once again, Sam Sevian saved the day by outplaying Haik Martirosyan most of the game and converting the full point. Jeffery Xiong was up the exchange but his opponent, Anton Smirnov, had enough compensation to hold the draw. Since each team has one reserve player, both teams decided to rest the players who lost in the first round. Alexey Sarana made his debut for the World team and played a 91 move marathon game against Ruifeng Li, which ended in a draw. The debutant for the U.S. team, Nicholas Checa, did not fair so well as he got a bad position out of the opening, sacrificed a piece to complicate the position, but did not manage to salvage the half a point necessary to win the match.

Under 14 Section

After the first hour of play, it looked as though the score of the match would 4-0 in the favor of the world team. Awonder Liang, the newly crowned U.S. Junior Champion, was suffering the whole game against Praggnanandhaa Ramesh Babu of India, but managed to escape with a draw in the endgame. Martha Samadashvili of the U.S. had a great position against Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria but made the mistake of exchanging the wrong pieces, eventually getting outplayed in the opponent. Luckily for her, Salimova ran out of time in a rook endgame which was headed towards a draw. Andrew Hong had a great attacking position and a winning strike, but instead played a series of incorrect moves, allowing his opponent not only to escape but to eventually win the game. Carissa Yip from team U.S.A. miscalculated in a sharp line and found herself in one of the most unusual imbalances in chess where she had two rooks while her opponent Bibisara Assaubayeva of Russia had three minor pieces. Eventually, Yip found herself defending with one rook against a knight and a bishop. After 102 moves, the two pieces overpowered the lone rook, forcing the American to resign, allowing the World team to win the match with 2.5-1.5.

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.