All three leaders won today as GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Hans Niemann, and IM Annie Wang started to pull away from the rest of their respective fields. While Niemann won quickly thanks to his superior play in the opening, Kaidanov and Wang had to work hard to grind down their opponents and earn the full point. With three rounds left to play no result is yet guaranteed, which means we are likely due for an exciting finale this weekend.
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
GM Gregory Kaidanov was the only player in his group to win today, defeating GM Alexander Fishbein in a long endgame struggle. Despite emerging from the opening, a Classical Sicilian, with an extra pawn and better endgame, Kaidanov’s winning chances were not so great due to the presence of opposite colored bishops. However his fortunes changed when his opponent allowed him to sacrifice his bishop for three pawns, leaving him with four pawns for the piece and a technically won endgame:
38. Bxe5! Allowed Kaidanov to exchange his bishop for three pawns, as after 38…fxe5 39. Rxe5 White was also able to win the pawn on h5, with a decisive advantage. 1-0, 51 moves
Another win for GM Kaidanov, who looks absolutely unstoppable with 5.5/6. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
All other games in the section were drawn, as GM Khachiyan missed a forced win against GM Novikov, and GM Shabalov squandered a decisive advantage against GM Christiansen, allowing Christiansen to stay within range of Kaidanov in the standings:
Standings after Round 6
U.S. Junior Championship
Things couldn’t have gone smoother for GM Niemann in the U.S. Junior, as his opponent mixed up his preparation out of the opening and walked into a difficult situation, losing a central pawn for little compensation. Further inaccuracies allowed Niemann to build up a decisive attack in the middlegame, thanks to the presence of opposite colored bishops:
26…Rd6! followed by 27…Rf6 gave Black a crushing attack on the dark-squares. 0-1, 34 moves
The win puts Hans at 5.0/6, while his nearest rival, IM Praveen Balakrishnan, just narrowly survived against IM Andrew Hong, saving a lost position in mutual time-trouble. Going into the final three rounds, Niemann will be a point ahead of Balakrishnan and GM John Burke, who will likely need to run the table in order to have a chance to overtake the lead.
GM Niemann continued his dominant performance, winning with Black with over an hour left on his clock. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller
Standings after Round 6
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
In the U.S. Girls’ Junior, top seed IM Annie Wang won again, defeating WCM Sheena Zeng in a long positional game as black, while the previous day’s co-leader, WCM Ruiyang Yan, could only draw against WCM Alice Lee.
After her shock loss in Round 4, IM Annie Wang has come back with two straight wins. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki continued surging with their third win in a row, after unleashing a spectacular rook sacrifice against WIM Rochelle Wu:
27. Rxf7!! gave White a powerful attack, although Black managed to keep the game going after 27…Kxf7 28. Qxh7+ Ng7 29. Rf1 Bf5, despite a big advantage for White. 1-0, 61 moves
Hat trick for WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki, who is now just a point behind first place. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
Standings after Round 6
Round 7 of the 2021 U.S. Juniors and Senior Championships will take place Friday, July 23rd, starting at 2:50 PM CDT. Catch all the action live with host Sharon Carpenter and grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan and Cristian Chirila on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.