124th Annual U.S. Open and Tournaments of State Champions Begin in Norfolk

The first of nine days is in the books for the 124th Annual U.S. Open in Norfolk, Virginia. This is the last year which will feature the "traditional" nine-day schedule, and 134 participants are celebrating (or mourning) the end of this tradition by competing at the one-game-a-day pace.

Saturday also saw the Weeramantry Blitz Tournament of State Champions and the first round of the five invitationals for state champions. Come Tuesday, we will know who is "champion of champions" for elementary, middle school, and high school, as well as for scholastic-aged girls and for seniors. More information about these invitationals can be found in yesterday's preview and this year's program.

The namesake of the Weeramantry Blitz — FM Sunil Weeramantry — at the opening ceremony (Photo by Caroline King)

Below are reports and game highlights from each of the five invitationals, as well as two games from the first day of the U.S. Open.

Irwin

The Irwin Tournament of Senior State Champions began with a separate opening ceremony from the four scholastic invitationals, but follows the same playing schedule as the other tournaments.

The participants of the 7th Annual John T. Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions are ready to start playing! #USOpenChess pic.twitter.com/nOgGEo4htc
— US Chess (@USChess) July 27, 2024

In the first round, there were no "full" upsets, but four players did manage to hold draws against opponents out-rating them by over 300 points. This included Bryan Lilly (WI) holding GM John Fedorowicz (NY) to a draw on board three.

Bryan Lilly (R) held GM John Fedorowicz to a draw in the opening round of the Irwin (Photo by Caroline King)

Otherwise, it was business as usual, with defending champion IM Nikoloz Managadze (NJ) winning on board two and top-seeded IM Igor Khmelnitsky navigating a ferocious attack on board two:

The competition is already heating up, with the top eight boards featuring battles between players both rated at least 2200.

Denker

The 40th Annual Denker Tournament of High School Champions marks an end of an era, as it is the final year of the U.S. Chess Trust's 40-year commitment to the longest-running tournament of champions. US Chess is grateful to the Trust for all of its support for the Denker over the years.

The Denker is also celebrating a new era, as Dewain and Sue Barber announced during yesterday's opening ceremony that they are endowing the tournament going forward.

In similar fashion to the Irwin, there were no upset victories in round one of the Denker, with only three games ending in a draw. This is not to say the games were not close, sharp, or interesting. Below is John Drippe (KS)'s duel in the Open Sicilian against FM Sharvesh Deviprasath (TX):

Masters are also facing off in the second round, with FM Terry Luo (DE) already held to a draw on board six at the time of writing.

Haring

The results from the first round of the Haring Tournament of Girls State Champions were even more "chalk," with only one draw among the 24 games, and 23 victories for the higher-rated player. Congratulations to Sarah Elizabeth Peter (AL) for holding Irene Jao Fei (IA) to a draw, which this Midwestern author can attest firsthand is no easy feat.

A couple of familiar faces sit atop the Haring, with FM Zoey Tang (front left) and WFM Megan Paragua (rear left) playing on boards one and two (Photo by Caroline King)

On the top boards, two players are coming fresh off the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, with FM Zoey Tang (OR) on board one and WFM Megan Paragua (NY) on board two. Below is Tang's instructive victory, busting open a dry London with the black pieces.

At the time of writing, Tang has already won her second-round game, and Paragua appears to be in good position to do so as well.

Barber

The Barber Tournament of Middle School Champions saw the biggest upset in round one, with Linus Quinn Wannamaker (ID, 1730) defeating Roshan Sethuraman (AZ, 2223) in a big victory for the small states!

The three highest-rated players out-rate their closest competitors by a considerable margin, with IM Eric Liu (TX, 2446), FM Brejesh Chakrabarti (FL, 2350), and FM Bryan Xie (CA-S, 2337) all winning their first round.

But it wasn't easy, with several games taking a shape similar to Chakrabarti's game below:

It will be interesting to see who, if anybody, will be able to take points off the aforementioned trio of titled players. If not, we might be in for a mini-Round Robin of sorts in tomorrow's rounds.

Rockefeller

In another victory for the smaller states, Ananya Wadhwa (KS, 1815) held Kevin Wang (DE, 2140) to a draw, but the higher-rated player won the other 24 games in the first round of the Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary School Champions.

Top-seeded Ted Wang (front right) faces off against Leo Le-Tran, and second-seeded Lev Shangin (rear right) demonstrated great patience in his first-round win (Photo by Caroline King)

Ted Wang (WA) is the only player rated over 2200 in the field, but Lev Shangin (NY), defending champion John Abraham (KY), and Santhosh Ayyappan (NJ) are all in the 2100-2200 range. Below is Shangin's slow, grinding win over his Virginian opponent:

At the time of writing, Shangin has already given up a draw in round two, and Abraham does not have an advantage on board three. Wang has already won on board one.

Weeramantry

A trio of familiar names from the last couple years of the National High School Championships ended up atop the open section of the Weeramantry blitz.

With the beginning of the Weeramantry #Blitz event, the 124th #USOpenChess festivities are underway! pic.twitter.com/soIr31I4FY
— US Chess (@USChess) July 27, 2024

IM Max Lu (CT) took first place on tiebreaks over FM Terry Luo (DE) after they each finished with 7/8 scores. IM Gus Huston (NY) was clear third with 6½/8. Overall, it was an auspicious start for the Denker favorites! Results from all sections of the Weeramantry can be found here.

IM Max Lu finished first on tiebreaks in the Weeramantry Blitz Tournament (Photo by Caroline King)

Open

Part of the fun of playing one of the last few "true opens" is the opportunity to play hundreds of points up in early rounds. With many of the GMs and IMs electing to play shorter schedules, Julian Proleiko (MO, 2354), was the highest-rated player in the traditional schedule, ahead of six other players rated at least 2200.

Julian Proleiko tops the standings of the traditional schedule (Photo by Caroline King)

A number of the games broadcast from the top boards turned out to be rather instructive. As is often the case, the higher-rated player has a much richer understanding of the thematic plans, pawn breaks, and desirable trades coming out of the opening. But chess is seldom so easy. In both of these games, the lower-rated player had some resources to shake things up despite the higher-rated player's grasp of the position.

The second round of the tournaments of state champions is currently underway in Norfolk, with live commentary available on Twitch and YouTube from WGM Sabina Foisor and Gopal Menon. A replay of last night's commentary is available here. The third round of the invitationals begins at 7:00 p.m., EDT, along with the second round of the U.S. Open.

The Weekend Swiss continues today, and the U.S. Open Scholastic will be held today, as well. Those making their way to Norfolk should remember that the daily U.S. Open Quads begin tomorrow, for those looking to get some extra games in.

Quick Links:

Main event page

Round-by-round coverage

Pairings page

Live games on uschess.live

US Chess Twitch channel

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