2023 U.S. National Championships

by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

GM Abhimanyu Mishra became the 2023 U.S. Junior Chess Champion after drawing his last round game to reach 6.0/9 points, half a point ahead of four players who tied for second, GM Brandon Jacobson, GM Andrew Hong, GM Balaji Daggupati, and IM Arthur Guo.

by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

After drawing their games both GM Melik Khachiyan and IM-elect Alice Lee clinched national titles with a round to spare in the 2023 U.S. Senior and U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships. Their victory was secured after they both reached 6.5/8 points, with their key rivals no longer able to catch them in the standings.

by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

GM Melik Khachiyan continued his stellar performance with another win in the U.S. Senior, bringing his score to 5.5/6 and extending his lead to two full points ahead of the field. Meanwhile GM Abhimanyu Mishra survived a lost endgame to stay tied for the lead in the U.S. Junior, while IM-elect Alice Lee kept her lead intact with a win in the U.S. Girls’ Junior.

by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

GM Melik Khachiyan took the sole lead with 4.5/5 in the U.S. Senior after defeating his main rival GM Max Dlugy in today’s round. In the U.S. Junior GM Andrew Hong bounced back to share the lead with GM Abhimanyu Mishra and IM Arthur Guo, while IM-elect Alice Lee’s lead in the U.S. Girls Junior was cut to just half a point going into the rest day tomorrow.

The action definitely started to heat up during Day 3 of the 2023 U.S. National Championships, with top seed in the U.S. Senior, GM Vladimir Akopian, scoring an important victory over tournament leader Kaidanov. Meanwhile GM Andrew Hong maintained his lead in the U.S. Junior, while IM Carissa Yip won her first game of the event to move up the standings in the U..S Girls’ Junior.

Day 2 of the U.S. National Championships saw GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Melik Khachiyan both win their games to stay perfect in the U.S. Senior, while only GM Andrew Hong moved to 2/2 in the U.S. Junior. Somewhat surprisingly, all games in the U.S. Girls’ Junior were drawn, leaving IM-elect Alice Lee, FM Zoey Tang, and WGM Rochelle Wu in the lead with 1.5/2.

The 2023 U.S. Juniors and Senior Championships kicked off today with plenty of decisive action in all three events. In the Seniors, GM Melikset Khachiyan defeated top seed GM Vladimir Akopian to shake things up immediately, while former champions Kaidanov and Shabalov also started their campaigns with a victory.