2012 U.S. Championships News
For more information, contact:
Nicole Halpin
314-309-0799
nhalpin@sainltouischessclub.org
For Immediate Release
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis hosts seventh consecutive Junior Closed tournament
SAINT LOUIS, June 16, 2016 -- The nation’s elite junior chess players are coming back to Saint Louis, the nation’s Chess Capital, this summer as the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) hosts the U.S. Junior Closed Championship July 7-18, 2016. The event is the most prestigious chess tournament in the country for junior players under the age of 21, and the 2016 lineup features the strongest field by rating for the U.S. Junior Closed to date.
“For students here in Saint Louis and students across the nation, it’s incredibly inspiring to see these top juniors compete,” said Tony Rich, Executive Director of the CCSCSL. “These players are proof that hard work, commitment and study can produce successful results. We are thrilled to again host these students during this prestigious chess event.”
Ten players are competing in the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship (invitational rating):
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GM Jeffery Xiong (2723)—Coppell, Texas
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GM Kayden Troff (2639)—West Jordan, Utah
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IM Ruifeng Li (2608)—Plano, Texas
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IM Akshat Chandra (2583)—Inselin, N.J.
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IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti (2527)—Boise, Idaho
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IM Michael Bodek (2523)—New Rochelle, N.Y.
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IM Awonder Liang (2515)—Madison, Wis.
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IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2508)—Brooklyn, N.Y.
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FM Michael Brown (2506)—Trabucco Canyon, Calf.
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FM Nicolas Checa (2502)—Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Players are competing for more than $20,000 in prizes, and the winner will also receive an automatic invitation to the 2017 U.S. Championship, the nation’s top invitational chess event. Two players from this year’s field, defending U.S. Junior Champion, Akshat Chandra, and Jeffery Xiong, competed in the 2016 U.S. Chess Championship.
The opening ceremony will take place Thursday, July 7 at the Chess Club and Scholastic of Saint Louis at 6:00 p.m. The round-robin tournament will begin on Friday, July 8 with the rounds starting daily at 1:00 p.m. CT.
Each round of the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship will feature live commentary from Grandmaster Ben Finegold and FIDE Master Aviv Friedman. Viewers can watch in-person at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis or online at www.uschesschamps.com.
Previous winners of the Junior Closed Championship include the legendary GM Bobby Fischer, as well as GM Larry Christiansen, GM Patrick Wolff, IM Joshua Waitzkin, GM Tal Shaked, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Robert Hess, GM Ray Robson, GM Sam Shankland and IM Akshat Chandra.
For more information, visit www.uschesschamps.com.
About The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.
Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.
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The 2016 Saint Louis Invitational ended with the same fighting chess seen throughout the whole tournament. The final round found FM Gauri Shankar needing a win to secure another IM norm as he faced off against FM Kostya Kavutskiy. As for the grandmaster norm tournament, IM Steven Zierk wanted to avenge his eighth round loss and pull even with IM Akshat Chandra for a share of first place.
IM Zierk played with the White pieces against GM Ben Finegold in a mainline Caro-Kann. Pressing for an advantage, Zierk sacrificed on h6 cracking open black’s kingside.
After the dust had settled, IM Zierk was able to trade queens in a winning endgame.
FM Gauri Shankar had the Black pieces against Kostya Kavutskiy. Although he battled, FM Kavutskiy was able to break through and get a winning attack against the Black king.
While none were able to earn a norm in either tournament, the participants enjoyed Saint Louis and the chance to play against strong opponents. We hope to see the participants again soon at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
As the 2016 Saint Louis Invitational winds to a close, the players with hopes of gaining their norms found difficulty in Round 8. Three players still had a chance to earn GM norms going into the round. IM Steven Zierk had the Black pieces against IM Ruifeng Li and needed to win to keep his chances alive.
IM Li's final move 21. Qa3 forked two of Zierk's pieces and ended the game on the spot.
GM Ben Finegold dashed IM Irine Sukandar's hopes for a norm with a dominating performance of positional chess. IM Sukandar also needed to win but was unable to find the right plans against GM Finegold's tricky move order.
U.S. Junior Champion and International Master Akshat Chandra had a chances to push for a win against Canadian IM Aman Hambleton. Chandra had the white pieces and an early advantage with an extra pawn. Even with the slight pull, Chandra was not able to convert the win in the endgame. The game ended in a draw.
FM Gauri Shankar continues to do well in the IM tournament. He won in round 8 against NM Carissa Yip playing a comfortable Marozcy position.
The 2016 Saint Louis Invitational, featuring both a GM and IM norm 10-player round robin, is more than halfway finished. Norm seekers in both sections have traded blows with their opponents and resulted in a very tight standings list. Each field’s norm requirement sits at 6.5 total points and still a few have the chance, if they finish well, to earn their norm.
In the GM norm field, IM Steven Zierk and IM Akshat Chandra have 3.5 points after 5 rounds and are undefeated co-leaders. IM Chandra has survived the gauntlet of grandmasters in the first half of the tournament and now needs to convert against his peers. The co-leaders find themselves needing 3 more points out of the last 4 games to earn their final GM norms—a tough task in this strong field. IM Irine Sukandar still needs 3.5 more points for a norm which will prove difficult. Finally, IM Aman Hambleton will have to play perfect chess to capture a norm as he needs to win his last four games.
In the IM section, those looking for norms have been met by a field intend on making each half-point hard to come by. IM Angelo Young has dominated the tournament so far with 4/5 points. His grinding play against FM Seth Homa in round 4 resulted in a long endgame win. IM Michael Brooks has also done well with 3/5 points. While a few still have very long shots to earn their norms, FM Gauri Shankar has 3.5 points after 5 rounds, and he will need to play extremely well to finish with enough points for his norm.
Here are some key pairings in the upcoming round:
GM Round 6 – IM Zierk vs IM Hambleton
IM Round 6 – FM Shankar vs IM Brooks
After round seven of the 2016 Saint Louis Invitational, three players are still in contention to earn a GM norm. IM Irene Sukandar, IM Akshat Chandra, and IM Steven Zierk all stand at 4.5 points with two rounds to go. That means each needs to win their final two games to achieve the norm. Round 7 saw IM Sukandar play against IM Zierk in a tactical battle. Sukandar with the white pieces was able to covert an exchange French after Zierk overestimated the strength of an advanced d-pawn.
It was a critical win for IM Sukandar of Webster University. If she had not been able to win, she would have lost her chance to earn a norm in this tournament. Additionally it sets up the possibility in the last round of a critical game between her and IM Chandra. That all depends on the results of round 8 starting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 12th.
Also in round seven, IM Awonder Liang secured a draw against IM Akshat Chandra in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. While earning a half-point, IM Chandra now has a tough road to the norm as he will need to win out to secure it.
The final two days of the 2016 Saint Louis Invitational will prove to be an exciting affair with three players still able to gain a norm. View game results and the standings all at http://www.uschesschamps.com/information-2016-saint-louis-invitational/r....
Final Results
Round Two Summary
Nakamura and So were leading the Ultimate Blitz Challenge going into the 2nd and final day of the event. The legendary Kasparov was trailing behind one point and seemed like he could pose some serious problems for the leaders if he could brush off the rustiness and avoid the blunders that plagued him all throughout the first day. Both Nakamura and So had a terrible start of the tournament but quickly picked their pace up and ranked up some important victories in order to regain the control.
The second day started with a full on revenge from So, who took the lead after he completely demolished Kasparov in a game that reminded the former world champion of the style of Paul Morphy.
In the press conference after the tournament, Kasparov stated that due to a very long night overwhelmed with negative thoughts due to his losses the previous days, he was extremely tired and could not fight effectively against the young titans.
The decisive moment came in the 15th round. So was facing Nakamura in the battle between the leaders, the crowd was ecstatic, Kasparov was slowly seeing his title chances evaporating…The players repeated a topical line of the Queen’s Gambit Decline and soon the position petered into an almost draw. But Nakamura had a different mindset, with a relaxed attitude and poised confidence he continued to play natural moves and slowly improve his position. Suddenly So started to err, he chose to march his king towards the center and completely missed a nice tactic that allowed Nakamura to collect an important pawn and swerve the game in his direction. So was forced to accept the defeat and Nakamura emerged as the sole leader. Despite So’s pressure, who kept his chances all the way until last round, it was Nakamura who cemented his victory with a composed performance in the last round against his main rival.
Who would have thought these players would be so energetic and full of intense chess stamina after such a long and exhausting U.S. Championship? Not many. Despite that, these chess warriors managed to bring their A game to the table and with it smash absolutely any viewership records. More than a hundred thousand people were watching this eventful masterpiece each day. The players, the production crew, the organization and everybody else involved in it, they knew a secondhand effort would not cut it, they had to offer the best chess event broadcasted live! And they did. The numbers don’t lie! The comeback of a legend…the battles of the current American kings…it was all there, and everybody around the world witnessed it!
Congratulations to Nakamura, So, Kasparov, and Caruana. Chapeau!
