2012 U.S. Championships News
GM Fabiano Caruana earned a win over French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Thursday afternoon, the Italian's second consecutive win of the tournament.
By GM Ian Rogers
Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana combined extraordinary opening preparation with accurate calculation to win his second consecutive game at the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, leaving the rest of the highest-rated field in history snapping at his heels.
Caruana may have been surprised by Vachier-Lagrave's Caro-Kann Defense, though he used the chance to employ some preparation done with his second, Vladimir Chuchelov, a few months ago -- readying for a game against Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
With 5...c5 and 6...Qb6, Vachier-Lagrave ventured into a super-sharp line of the Short Variation, but Caruana's 15.g4!?, followed by the equally remarkable 17.Rf2!, was new and unexpected. Vachier-Lagrave began burning time, falling an hour behind on the clock, though his reaction was adequate -- until 17...Nh6. Now Caruana was on his own, spending 13 minutes calculating through complications to find the only winning response: 18.Bd3!
The rest of the game was pure suffering for Vachier-Lagrave, short of time and presented with a variety of losing options. The Frenchman continued, despite being down a piece, but after 30 moves he had nothing for the lost material and resigned.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
The game of the day was expected to be GM Hikaru Nakamura's attempt to secure his first career victory against GM Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura had gone close to knocking over the World Champion with the White pieces twice already in 2014, but Carlsen had turned the tables and won both times.
Nakamura's Spanish Opening was met by the surprising 3...g6 -- a move which Nakamura himself had used to beat then-World Champion Viswanathan Anand in 2012. The American reacted along classical lines, leading the game into positions resembling a King's Indian Defence, though without a key pair of bishops.
Carlsen surprised both Nakamura and the commentators with the unusual idea 14...c6, playing on the side of the board where Nakamura was attacking. Nakamura's reaction led to a roughly equal position before Carlsen lashed out with 18...Nh5!!?, sacrificing one and possibly two pawns.
With 21.f6 and 24.Qb1! -- a move Carlsen had missed -- Nakamura maintained the balance, and soon the World Champion was forced to sacrifice a bishop to achieve perpetual check.
The result was reasonably satisfactory for both players: Carlsen has survived his first two games with the Black pieces and will benefit with the first move in five of his next eight games, while Nakamura has safely negotiated games against the tournament's two highest-rated players.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
GM Levon Aronian briefly regained his world number two ranking -- briefly being for about two minutes, until Caruana earned his second victory -- after winning a game against GM Veselin Topalov that looked almost hopeless for the Armenian after just 15 moves.
Playing White, Aronian faced Topalov's Slav with a well-known plan, but 9...Ne4!? sent him into a death spiral. The World No. 2 had spent only seven minutes before playing into a forced sequence, a series that ended with Aronian staring at 14...Bxd4! in disgust.
Aronian found a way to play on, sacrificing the exchange, and Topalov continued to allow counterplay. After black’s disastrous decision to castle queenside (instead of kingside), Aronian believed that he was close to winning, pointing out the cute variation 23...Kb7 24.Bxc6+! Kxc6 25.Qg2+ with a decisive attack.
Aronian admitted luck after he demonstrated the game to a crowd in the World Chess Hall of Fame but, lucky or not, the Armenian has moved into second place in the tournament, half a point behind Caruana. Topalov, meanwhile, is languishing on 0/2, blaming calculation errors for ruining decent positions against both Caruana and Aronian.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
World No. 8 GM Veselin Topalov expresses concern, while No. 3 GM Fabiano Caruana explores the possibilities during the first round of the 2014 Sinquefield Cup.
SAINT LOUIS (August 27, 2014) -- One of the strongest just got stronger.
Italian-American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana did some heavy lifting in the strongest chess tournament in history -- and pumped himself up to his max in the process. The 22-year-old got big with the black pieces in Wednesday’s opening round of the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, knocking down Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov after the recent Olympiad gold-medalist went astray in the middlegame.
The win gives Caruana the lead in the second annual American super tournament, and boosts his live rating to a highest-ever 2805.
The only other two players in the world above 2800 are with him at the host Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, though both GM Levon Aronian and World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen could only find draws in Wednesday’s first round. Carlsen spent considerable time sorting through French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s Scotch opening to earn his half point, while Aronian’s intentions were quickly defused by the Slav defense of American GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Round 2 begins Thursday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. local time, with Caruana looking to reach yet another peak against Vachier-Lagrave, who has lost just two games in 2014. Carlsen brings to the table an undefeated record against Nakamura, though the American played solid on his home soil against the World Champion in last year’s Sinquefield Cup. Topalov seeks a quick rebound Thursday afternoon against Aronian.
Round 2 Pairings:
| White | Black |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | GM Magnus Carlsen |
| GM Fabiano Caruana | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
| GM Levon Aronian | GM Veselin Topalov |
The 2014 Sinquefield Cup is a 10-round, double round robin tournament that runs through September 7, with each round beginning daily at 2:00 p.m. local time. Monday, September 1 will be a rest day. Every round will be broadcast live through www.USChessChamps.com, featuring analysis from the world-class commentating team of GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley, and WGM Jennifer Shahade.
Last year’s Sinquefield Cup, which featured Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura and American No. 2 Gata Kamsky, became the strongest tournament ever held on U.S. soil. The 2014 player field features six of the top-ten players in the world and averages a historical 2802 rating. The winner will take home $100,000.
GMs Hikarua Nakamura, Levon Aronian and World Champion Magnus Carlsen will return for the 2014 Sinquefield Cup.
SAINT LOUIS (July 29, 2014) -- The 2014 Sinquefield Cup will be the highest-rated tournament in the history of chess, bringing six of the world’s top-nine Grandmasters together at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
Last year, the inaugural super-tournament thrilled spectators as the strongest chess competition ever held on U.S. soil. For its 2014 encore, beginning August 27 to September 7, the tournament will be the strongest ever held on earth, its six players averaging a historical peak FIDE rating of 2802.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen, winner of the 2013 Sinquefield Cup, will return to defend his title against an expanded field. This year’s prestigious event will award $100,000 to its winner, part of a $315,000 total prize fund.
Returning with Carlsen is Armenia’s Levon Aronian and the United States’ Hikaru Nakamura, respectively the World’s No. 2 and No. 5 players. New challengers to the Sinquefield Cup include Italy’s Fabiano Caruana, Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov and France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
|
World Rank |
Name |
Age |
Country |
Rating |
|
No. 1 |
Magnus Carlsen |
23 |
Norway |
2877 |
|
No. 2 |
Levon Aronian |
31 |
Armenia |
2805 |
|
No. 3 |
Fabiano Caruana |
22 |
Italy |
2801 |
|
No. 5 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
26 |
U.S.A |
2787 |
|
No. 8 |
Veselin Topalov |
39 |
Bulgaria |
2772 |
|
No. 9 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
23 |
France |
2768 |
The 2014 Sinquefield Cup will be a six-player, double round-robin tournament, and will be followed by a bonus event titled “Ultimate Moves” to be held through Tuesday, September 9. Ultimate Moves will feature eight teams made up of a GM and an amateur player, where teammates alternate moves. Other special events for spectators are planned, and more details will be released through www.USChessChamps.com.
The 2014 Sinquefield Cup will feature live play-by-play and analysis from three different teams of grandmaster commentators. Online viewers worldwide will enjoy the daily live commentary stream hosted by the legendary team of GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley, as well as WGM Jennifer Shahade, on www.USChessChamps.com. Live spectators will have two additional options of GM-led commentary, both at the World Chess Hall of Fame and Lester’s Restaurant on the Central West End chess campus. A free meet-and-greet autograph session with the players will also be held before the tournament on Tuesday, August 26 at noon.
As a special compliment to the Sinquefield Cup, the WCHOF is presenting a brand-new exhibit titled A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer, featuring a rare collection of items that celebrate one of the best American chess players in history, and one of the best chess players ever.
Tickets to the 2014 Sinquefield Cup start at $15 per round, but discounted ticket packages are available at $65 for five rounds or $100 for all ten rounds of the event. For more information on the event, including the full schedule, ticket information and lodging details, visit www.USChessChamps.com.
Kayden Troff defeated Matt Larson in the final round to win the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship.
By Brian Jerauld
SAINT LOUIS (June 30, 2014) -- When in doubt, just win out.
GM Kayden Troff, the 16-year-old phenom out of Utah, has won the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship in clear first with an impressive 7/9 score, grabbing the national championship for players under 21 by finishing 1.5 points ahead of the field. For his efforts, Troff has won the top prize of $3,000, as well as an invitation to the 2015 U.S. Championship.
“I’m really excited,” Troff said. “This moment has come and gone a few times, where I’ve been excited before and missed. I have just always seemed to struggle in this tournament specifically -- for it to be official and done, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
In his fourth appearance in the Junior Closed, Troff entered as the tournament’s top seed and only grandmaster, ultimately tallying six wins across the 10-player, round-robin event. That is twice the amount of victories Troff has recorded in preceding Junior Championships, his previous-best score coming last year at 4.5/9.
And despite the strong finish, Troff’s new title was anything but certain until the end -- especially after his fifth-round loss to FM Michael Bodek knocked him down into a tie for third place entering the rest day.
“My loss to Michael was a tough moment to get through; it just changed everything,” Troff said. “Everything was going quite well for me before that, and it was just this sudden shift of momentum. Trying to come back from that was probably my hardest moment.”
Troff apparently found zen on the rest day, however, returning to win out the rest of the tournament in convincing fashion. To get back to the top, Troff was forced to go right through it: Both his sixth- and seventh-round opponents, IMs Luke Harmon-Vellotti and Jeffrey Xiong, were tournament leaders at the time. And though a late surge by Bodek brought him within a half-point, Troff handled his own fate just fine by taking down FM Josh Colas and then the feisty NM Matt Larson in the final two rounds. Troff’s impressive score comes out of an extremely hard-fought Junior Closed Championship that featured 33 decisions across 45 games -- and most of the draws were bitter fights to the end.
“I think this tournament makes a good statement on where the U.S. is headed in chess,” Troff said. “All these good players who all play so well, I have so much respect for them. Even Matt Larson, even though he was the lowest-rated by quite a bit, showed his guns and brought it to this tournament.
“Going in, even though people might have thought I was supposed to win this, once the tournament started I have to admit I was a little scared. Everyone was fighting, and even the draws were long and hard fought.”
Winning the national crown caps off an impressive month for Troff, who just earned his new grandmaster title at the Chicago Open and continues to grow as one of America’s ambassadors of chess. The 16-year-old is a promising member of the Young Stars - Team USA program partnership with the Kasparov Chess Foundation, which provides coaching and other support, and is partly responsible for padding more than 200 points to his rating over the last two years. Days before arriving in St. Louis for the Junior Closed, Troff and the Young Stars visited Washington D.C. for the second time to help promote the educational benefits of chess to Congress.
“This has all been so exciting; I’m grateful for it all,” Troff said. “Okay, I’m one of the top players in the country now, yet before all this started I was just some kid from Utah who was pretty good at chess. But I still feel that way: Just some kid from Utah who is pretty good at chess. I just want to work hard and keep it going; all of these opportunities and things that are happening around me, I can only be grateful.”
Bodek (5.5/7) finished in a tie for second with Troff’s fellow Young Star IM Sam Sevian, who scored 4.5 in his last five rounds after suffering three losses in his first four. Xiong (5/7), another Team Stars member, finished in clear fourth after the leading the tournament in its entirety, until Troff knocked him down in round 7.
Final Results
| Rank | Name | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Troff, Kayden W | 2494 | x | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7.0 |
| 2 | IM Sevian, Samuel | 2442 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 5.5 |
| 3 | FM Bodek, Michael H | 2389 | 1 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 5.5 |
| 4 | IM Xiong, Jeffrey | 2437 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.0 |
| 5 | IM Harmon-Vellotti, Luke | 2412 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | x | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 4.5 |
| 6 | IM Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr A | 2423 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 4.0 |
| 7 | FM Shen, Arthur | 2331 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| 8 | FM Williams, Justus D | 2278 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 3.5 |
| 9 | NM Larson, Matthew W | 2160 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | ½ | 3.5 |
| 10 | NM Colas, Joshua | 2247 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | x | 3.0 |
FM Michael Bodek is turning in a fantastic tournament performance and finds himself just a half point behind the leader, GM Kayden Troff, heading into the final round.
By Brian Jerauld
SAINT LOUIS (June 29, 2014) -- The 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship has been decisive in its theme, with victories claimed on four of five boards in each of the tournament’s last four rounds -- and today seems like another good day for a fight.
The final round of the national championship for America’s best players under 21 begins Sunday at 11 a.m. CST, with all of its matchups poised to deliver one last shock to the standings. At stake is the place-distribution of more than $10,000 in prizes as well as an invitation to the 2015 U.S. Championship for the winner, a bid that GM Kayden Troff (6/8) currently holds in his hand.
The tournament’s top seed retook control of the standings after round 7, with two rounds to go against the field’s two lowest seeds -- though there will be no walks through the park here. On Saturday, FM Josh Colas more-than questioned the leader, putting the grandmaster on the ropes before one fatal misstep by his king allowed Troff to desperately squeak past. And now today, Troff takes on tenth-seed NM Matt Larson, the event wildcard who has lived up to the moniker. Larson has scored all 3.5 of his points undefeated in the last six rounds -- two of those points from three opponents who outrate him by more than 300, including his win over IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy.
Yesterday’s foe now turns into a friend for Troff, as Colas faces the only player who can catch pace in the standings in FM Michael Bodek (5.5/8) on Sunday. Bodek has surged into clear second thanks to 3.5 points over his last 4 rounds, including a fifth-round win over Troff and yesterday’s outmuscling of IM Jeffrey Xiong in a battle for second place.
Also highlighting Sunday afternoon are two third- vs. fourth-place matches, decisions that could flip-flop positions in the standings. Xiong (4.5/8) and IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti (4/8) shared the tournament lead at its rest day, but since then both have fallen to each of the tournament leaders -- and now face each other to end their skids. Also battling over place is Ostrovskiy (4/8) against IM Sam Sevian (4.5/8), on a surge of his own with 3.5 points over the last 4 rounds -- and only one draw all tournament.
If needed, playoffs will be held at 5 p.m. CST on Sunday.
Crosstable after Round 8
| Rank | Name | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Troff, Kayden W | 2494 | x | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0 | |
| 2 | FM Bodek, Michael H | 2389 | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.5 | |
| 3 | IM Sevian, Samuel | 2442 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 4 | IM Xiong, Jeffrey | 2437 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 5 | IM Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr A | 2423 | ½ | ½ | 0 | x | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 4.0 | |
| 6 | IM Harmon-Vellotti, Luke | 2412 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | x | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.0 | |
| 7 | FM Williams, Justus D | 2278 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | x | 0 | 1 | 3.5 | |
| 8 | NM Larson, Matthew W | 2160 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 0 | ½ | 3.5 | |
| 9 | FM Shen, Arthur | 2331 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 2.5 | |
| 10 | NM Colas, Joshua | 2247 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | x | 2.0 |
Bodek has well earned clear second-place with two wins over the last two rounds, the first from a third-place battle with Harmon-Vellotti and then Saturday’s point over Xiong in a fight for second.
As black, Bodek’s Dragon Sicilian seemed to get off to a chunky start, stagnant on the queenside and castled toward white’s activity, bringing Xiong’s attack quickly. His sacrifice 11. h4-h5 opened up a dangerous lane towards Bodek’s king, and then 16. exd5 went to work on the center. Xiong began to pry away black’s defenders, and 19. Qc3+ f6 exposed the black monarch even further. But despite the precarious-looking position, Bodek reportedly found comfort on the next move.
“Out of the opening, I was really struggling at first, but I felt like Jeffrey released some of the pressure with (14. Bxg7),” Bodek said. “Still, I was really not happy with my position at the start, and it was very difficult for me to equalize. But at (20...) Bf5, I felt like I had done so.”
Despite its drafty position on g7, Bodek’s king stood safely on its ground and led a fantastic turnaround assault on white, not being chased until the desperate ending moments of Xiong’s game. Black put together a rook battery on the c-file to coordinate with his f5-bishop, pressure that Xiong released with 27. Rd8 that ultimately gave him control of Bodek’s back rank. Yet the black king still stood safe.
By the time Xiong was finally able to deliver check -- a lone strike at 32. Qg8+ -- Bodek’s pieces lay poised for attack. His 34...Bxc2 forced the action, and 35...Qe4-Qb4-Qe4 offered him the perpetual draw -- as well as pause for thought.
“I realized a draw is basically like giving the tournament away,” Bodek said, who now trails Troff by just a half-point. “So I just decided to go for the win. I figured I had good chances, why not? It’s better than taking a perpetual, then going home and just putting it into an engine.”
Bodek 38...Rc7+ kicked off a combination, ultimately winning white’s bishop and driving Xiong’s king into a hole. Bodek got into a tight spot of his own, cut off on the h-file by both the queen and rook, but all of white’s mating attacks were slow. His 45...Rb7 forced a faster threat, and Xiong bailed out with the hopes of perpetual check. It did not come.
“I don’t control my tournament fate, so all I can do is just play the game,” Bodek said of Sunday’s final round against Colas. “I would have played it for a win, even if I had just one point.”
The 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship will stream its final round live at 11 a.m. Sunday at www.uschesschamps.com, with commentary, analysis and player interviews by GM Ben Finegold and FM Aviv Friedman. If necessary, a playoff will be held at 5 p.m. CST.
IM Luke Harmon Vellotti fell to GM Kayden Troff in round 6, and then Troff followed that up with a victory over tourney leader IM Jeffrey Xiong (not pictured) in round 7.
By Brian Jerauld
SAINT LOUIS (June 28, 2014) -- For the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed, GM Kayden Troff decided to change up his tournament strategy -- on the only day he didn’t play chess.
The top seed of the event began his 2014 campaign claiming the expected headlines after taking an early lead in the standings, but then his focus seemed to waver. Back-to-back draws made him momentarily fall out of the limelight and then, literally, the worst: A loss to FM Michael Bodek -- and on the day before the break.
He needed a change.
“I’ve always said: Going into the rest day with a loss is just terrible -- just an entire day to sit around and think about it,” Troff said. “But this year, I turned it into a huge benefit for me. Clear my head, do some fun things and relax, try to come into the second part of the tournament as if it was a new tournament. I just wanted to try and start over.”
The reset button has been pushed. Troff (5/7) emerged from Wednesday’s rest day and walked straight into clear first, by using the most direct line possible: Stepping on literally everyone in his way. Troff has put together two consecutive victories, first over IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and then Friday on top of IM Jeffrey Xiong -- both of whom shared the tournament lead during the rest day.
His hard work up front places the onus directly on those who chase him, as Troff’s remaining two games in the round-robin format come against the tournament’s two lowest-rated players.
Meanwhile, after the seventh-round loss, Xiong (4.5/7) finds himself without a share of the lead for the first time all tournament -- and also finds himself immediately tested for his share of second place. Today Xiong takes the white pieces against Bodek (4.5/7), who has surged into a tie for second with 3 points over his last four rounds, including Friday’s win over Harmon-Vellotti in a third-place fight.
Friday afternoon delivered the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed it’s longest, yet most-exciting day of chess throughout, another to feature decisions in four out of five games. IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (3.5/7) joins a four-way tie for fourth after a slow and stubborn smothering of FM Arthur Shen in a 106-move, six-hour epic; and FM Justus Williams outmuscled FM Josh Colas in their latest chapter of the New York rivalry. The seventh round’s only draw came in a dramatic back-and-forth fight between IM Sam Sevian (3.5/7) and NM Matt Larson, the tournament’s lowest-rated player who has turned in 2.0 points against three of the tournament’s top-four seeds -- and still with a ninth-round meeting with Troff on Sunday.
Crosstable after Round 7
| Rank | Name | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Troff, Kayden W | 2494 | x | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.0 | ||
| 2 | IM Xiong, Jeffrey | 2437 | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | ||
| 3 | FM Bodek, Michael H | 2389 | 1 | x | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | ||
| 4 | IM Sevian, Samuel | 2442 | 0 | 1 | 1 | x | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3.5 | ||
| 5 | IM Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr A | 2423 | ½ | 0 | ½ | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 3.5 | ||
| 6 | IM Harmon-Vellotti, Luke | 2412 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.5 | ||
| 7 | FM Williams, Justus D | 2278 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | x | 1 | 3.5 | ||
| 8 | FM Shen, Arthur | 2331 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | ||
| 9 | NM Larson, Matthew W | 2160 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | ½ | 2.5 | ||
| 10 | NM Colas, Joshua | 2247 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | x | 2.0 |
Throughout the 2014 event, Troff had seen Xiong arrive daily and blast his opponents with opening over-preparation -- and he looked to remove that advantage early with 5. Nbd2 in a Catalan.
“From what I’ve seen from Jeffrey, especially in this tournament, is he prepares very specifically for his opponents,” Troff said. “I just wanted to avoid all that, take him out of his preparation with this Nbd2 move, which I’ve never really played. Maybe it’s not the best move, but to get someone out of their prep is sometimes more of a benefit than playing the best line.”
The strategy worked, with Troff’s gambit offer accepted at 5...dxc4, sending Xiong into fresh territory. Compensation for the sacrifice was apparent immediately, as white quickly developed while black stayed busy tending to a clog of queenside pawns. The awkward opening set a theme for the rest of Xiong’s afternoon.
As expected between two of the tournament’s highest seeds, both veterans to the annual Junior Closed event, the game’s mistakes were not centered around material loss but instead positional malfunctions. The players agreed Xiong’s troubles started with 11...Be7, a confusing move backwards and a vital loss of tempo in a position that already lagged behind. Troff was able to break open the queenside clog with his a-pawn, who helped recover the gambit plus one with 16. Qxc4. Black soon after sacrificed the exchange, but compensation was too little, too late.
Losing, Xiong went for broke with a late charge at white’s castled king with 22...f4 and began circling his remaining forces for an attack. But it was all technique for Troff, who traded off bishops and eventually black’s remaining rook. After a brief king walk, Troff found his way to a queen trade that sealed his advantage.
Promising to shake up the top of the standings even further was the third-place battle between Bodek and Harmon-Vellotti, a result that continued the momentum of both players headed in opposite directions. For a long while, however, Bodek’s victory was well in doubt.
Harmon-Vellotti got everything he wanted out of the opening, pushing black through a French Exchange and allowing 7. cxd5 without immediate recapture. Instead, black used the extra tempo to completely unpack his attack, using pins to issue early restraint on two of white’s minor pieces. Harmon-Vellotti reclaimed his material at 23...Nxd5.
The middlegame was a slow positional wrestle, one that Bodek began to lose on the board, but another that Harmon-Vellotti began to lose on his clock. In time trouble, Harmon-Vellotti won a pawn with 37...Bxb3, but overlooked a combination of white queen checks that dropped two of his own.
“I realized objectively I was worse, and all I was trying to do was prevent the knockout blow and avoid losing immediately,” Bodek said. “I was a lot worse, and I got a little lucky in a time scramble before the first time control, finding a trick that got me back into the game and gave me the edge.”
The queen-and-pawn endgame kept the match tense through its finale, though Bodek patiently saw his advantage through. He sacrificed his a-pawn to allow his passed d-pawn a sprint to the seventh rank, then thrust Harmon-Vellotti into zugzwang with 78. f4.
The 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship enters its final weekend, with two rounds remaining on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CST. The rounds will be streamed live at www.uschesschamps.com, with commentary, analysis and player interviews by GM Ben Finegold and FM Aviv Friedman.