by WGM Sabina Foisor
The 2022 U.S. Senior, U.S. Junior, and U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships kicked off today at the Saint Louis Chess Club. The event features 20 top junior and 10 top senior players in the country. The combined prize fund for all the events amounts to over $130,000. Along with winning the title, the winner of the Junior section is set to receive an invitation to the U.S. Championship later this year. Both the winners of the U.S. Junior and Girls’ Junior Championships will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship, jointly supported by US Chess and Dewain Barber.
In the Junior and Senior sections the top seeds, GM Awonder Liang and GM Vladimir Akopian were both upset by IM Justin Wang and GM Igor Novikov respectively. A nice novelty was played by GM Andrew Hong, who got a winning position after only 17 moves against IM David Brodsky. In the Girls event, the top seeds, WIM Alice Lee and WGM Jennifer Yu faced each other and after a hard fought game where the latter was pressing, a mistake in time trouble led to pieces being traded to a drawish rook endgame where a draw was agreed.
Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. Each event features a 10-player round-robin format, with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by an additional 30 minutes with a 30-second increment added from move one.
U.S. Senior Championship
Senior Results of Round 1
The game between Akopian – Novikov was certainly the biggest surprise of the day, as top-seed and ex-FIDE world championship finalist, GM Vladimir Akopian, went down in his debut at the US Senior Championship at the hand of GM Igor Novikov. In a sharp line of the English Attack in the Scheveningen Sicilian Defense, Novikov went for a somewhat risky e6 setup and entered a line in which Akopian has extensive knowledge and experience. Akopian chose a somewhat less critical line, but his extensive knowledge came handy as he soon obtained a winning position with an extra pawn.
Position after 19…Rxh6 . White saved the bishop and continued 20. Bg4.
From move 20 onward Akopian’s play seemed to have become too cautious and defensive. This gave Novikov the chance to repair some of the damages and achieve a subpar compensation for the pawn.
Position after 39…Kg8
On move 40, Akopian had a chance to seal the deal with 40.Qd7, but blundered 40.Nf5?? and with a following blunder on move 41 the top-seed found himself in a completely losing position where Black’s pieces overwhelmed White’s king defense in a matter of few moves.
After 41.Qf4 , Black continued with the beautiful 44…a3! after which White’s position collapsed.
Although a heartbreaker, it is too early to write-off GM Akopian if he keeps outplaying his opponents in the opening in such a one-sided fashion.
GM Novikov – focused on winning. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams
Senior Standings after Round 1
U.S. Junior Championship
Junior Results of Round 1
In the Junior section, there were 4 decisive results. The first game to surprise everyone was the one between GM Andrew Hong and IM David Brodsky. In a sharp well-known line of the Najdorf Sicillian, Andrew Hong came up with an interesting novelty : 15. Qf2!? The young GM, admitted in the post-game interview that the move was a home preparation that also included Black’s natural option of 17…f5 , which was in fact a blunder.
Position after 17. Bd3
The ensuing position after White’s brilliant rook sacrifice 21.h5!! is completely winning and Hong soon converted his massive advantage. This is the kind of start any player dreams of having and it seems that Hong got what he wanted for the first round of this event.
From here on it was just a matter of technique to convert the game for the young GM.
GM Andrew Hong (right) pre-game talk with GM Maxim Dlugy (left)| Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller
The big surprise of the round was the upset of top seed GM Awonder Liang, against IM Justin Wang. In a balanced position of the King’s Indian, as the players were approaching time trouble, unfortunately mistakes were made on both sides. Though Wang may have missed some opportunities to gain the advantage, after Awonder’s 37…Rf8?? Justin won the d6 pawn and soon cruised to victory.
Position after 37…Rf8??
IM Justin Wang during his game against the top seed GM Awonder Liang | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller
There were two other decisive games, GM’s Balaji Daggupati and Christopher Yoo won against NM Pedro Espinosa and GM Brandon Jacobson, respectively. Current US Women’s Champion and IM Carissa Yip held the youngest GM Abhimanyu Mishra to a draw.
Junior Standings after Round 1
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
Girls’ Junior Results of Round 1
The top seed players FM Alice Lee and FM/WGM Jennifer Yu played an interesting game, where the latter was pressing. Time trouble has been a factor in Jennifer’s decision making, as she missed a tactical idea that allowed Alice to escape with a draw.
Position after 32.Rc2, where Black should be winning after 32…Qd5 which leads to winning the f3 pawn and infiltrating in White’s territory. Instead the game continued 32…Qd2?? , which allowed 33. Rxc5 Qxd2 34. Qxd2 Rxd2
Position after 34…Rxd2 , where Alice found the saving move 35. Rc8! trades a pair of rooks leading into a drawn endgame.
WGM/FM Jennifer Yu during her Round 1 game | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller
Local favorite FM Thalia Cervantes, WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki and Ellen Wang all won their games taking the lead after the first round.
WGM/FM Thalia Cervantes before the start of Round 1 | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller
Girls’ Junior Standings after Round 1
The live coverage with grandmasters Alejandro Ramirez, Cristian Chirila and Yasser Seirawan continues tomorrow with Round 2 on Friday, July 8 at 12:50PM CDT on uschesschamps.com or our YouTube and Twitch.