Grandmasters Melik Khachiyan and Maxim Dlugy continued their excellent run in the 2023 U.S. Senior Championship, as they lead the event with 3.5/4. Meanwhile top seed in the U.S. Junior GM Abhimanyu Mishra took down tournament leader GM Andrew Hong, while IM Arthur Guo notched his third straight win. In the U.S. Girls’ Junior, IM-elect Alice Lee defeated fellow co-leader FM Zoey Tang to take the sole lead with 3.5/4.
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
Co-leaders Khachiyan and Dlugy continued their fantastic run in today’s round, as first Khachiyan outplayed GM Dmitry Gurevich on the Black side of an Accelerated Dragon:
Gurevich-Khachiyan: 18…f5! gave Black excellent counterplay on the kingside. | 0-1, 36 moves
So far so good for GM Melik. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Meanwhile Dlugy kept pace, scoring his third win in a row by defeating the reigning champion Shabalov in a bishop endgame:
Dlugy-Shabalov: 52.Ba4 was the final move, leaving Black in zugzwang.
A hat-trick for Dlugy! | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams
2023 U.S. Senior Championship – Standings after Round 4
U.S. Junior Championship
It was another round with all decisive games as tournament leader GM Andrew Hong lost a complex Winawer to top seed GM Abhimanyu Mishra, who at a critical moment sacrificed an exchange for long-term positional compensation:
Hong-Mishra: 19…Nfxd4!? led to a chaotic position after 20.cxd4 Qxd2 21.Nf7, which eventually turned Mishra’s way. | 0-1, 72 moves
With today’s win Mishra is now tied for the lead. | | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
The win allowed Mishra to overtake the lead with 3.0/4, but he was soon caught by Jacobson, who won a close rook endgame against Xu, as well as IM Arthur Guo, who won his third straight game in the tournament, defeating IM Justin Wang.
Wang-Guo: After 27…Nd3, Black had an overwhelming strategic advantage. | 0-1, 48 moves
A hat-trick for IM Arthur Guo as well! | | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
2023 U.S. Junior Championship – Standings after Round 4
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
The key matchup between the leaders Lee-Tang featured a Stonewall structure, with Lee managing to trade down into an advantageous endgame and begin putting pressure on both sides of the board. Tang wasn’t able to successfully defend and ended up giving up a pawn, after which Lee had a clear route to victory.
Lee-Tang: 37.Rxe8+! ended the game tactically, as after 37…Kxe8 38.Rb8+ White will trade rooks and end up winning the rook on h3.
After four rounds, Lee is a full point ahead of her nearest rivals. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Meanwhile top seed Yip drew from a very difficult position against Mangalam, while Yan-Wu saw both sides squandering a winning advantage, eventually ending up in a draw.
FM Ruiyang Yan | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship – Standings after Round 4
The 2023 U.S. Juniors’ and U.S. Senior Championships continue tomorrow, July 19th, starting at 1:15 PM CDT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Katerina Nemcova on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.