2019 U.S. Masters Kicks Off in North Carolina

Over 85 players have descended upon Greensboro, North Carolina to participate in the 2019 U.S. Masters Chess Championship. 22 GM’s, 19 IM’s and 21 other FIDE titled players are battling for $27,000 in guaranteed prizes as well as FIDE norms in the 9 round "super swiss." This is the eighth year that organizer Dr. Walter High and his wife Ms. Karen High, have organized this tournament in Greensboro. The tournament is held in Greensboro due to generous contributions from city leadership, including Parks and Recreation as well as chess philanthropists in the area. New to the tournament this year is an additional $1,000 prize endorsed by the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP). Players can expect a very accommodating experience at this event. The Embassy Suites hotel is near the airport and features all-suite rooms with cooked-to-order breakfast. The organizer also supplies a hospitality room in the evening where players can find drinks, snacks and of course blitz chess. Starting Friday, the event will turn into quite the chess festival as the North Carolina Open will begin. The NC Open features a $12,000 guaranteed prize fund and hails about 200 players from all over the region. The U.S. Masters is led by a group of seven Grandmasters rated over 2600 FIDE: Dariusz Swiercz, Hrant Melkumyan, Lazaro Bruzon Batista, Yaroslav Zherebukh, Kamil Dragun, Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Daniel Naroditsky. Women are represented quite well at this years Masters with current US Women’s Champion, FM Jennifer Yu, headlining. Recent Stanford graduate and well known chess streamer, GM Daniel Naroditsky returned to competitive play with a relatively simple win over Senior Master Deepak Aaron:

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US Masters"]
[Date "2019.08.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Daniel Naroditsky"]
[Black "Deepak Aaron"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2610"]
[BlackElo "2297"]
[PlyCount "45"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 dxc4 6. Na3 Bxa3 7. bxa3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Qd5 9. Bb2 Qe4 10. Qd1 Qf5 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxc4 e5 13. d3 Re8 14. e4 Qh5
15. Rc1 b6 16. f4 Qh6 17. fxe5 Nh5 18. Qf3 f6 19. g4 b5 20. Ne3 Nxe5 21. Bxe5
Rxe5 22. d4 Rg5 23. h4 1-0

[/pgn]

The first round was not without upsets. GM Yaroslav Zherebukh was taken down by upstart Abhimanyu Mishra, who recently became the youngest player to ever earn an IM norm!

[pgn]

[Event "US Masters Championship"]
[Date "2019.08.22"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mishra, Abhimanyu"]
[Black "Zherebukh, Yaroslav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2304"]
[BlackElo "2631"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Ne7 7. Nbd2 h6 8. Nb3
Bg6 9. Bd2 Nf5 10. a4 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. c4 Rc8 13. Rc1 b6 14. cxd5 cxd5 15.
Bc3 Nb8 16. Qd2 Nc6 17. Ra1 Rb8 18. axb6 Qxb6 19. Na5 Nb4 20. Ra4 h5 21. Rfa1
Rfc8 22. Nb3 Nc6 23. Nc1 h4 24. h3 Bh5 25. Nxh4 Bxh4 26. Bxh5 Be7 27. Bg4 Nh6
28. Be2 Nf5 29. Bd3 g6 30. Ne2 Nh4 31. Qf4 Kg7 32. g3 Nf5 33. Kg2 Rh8 34. Qg4
Rh5 35. h4 Bxh4 36. gxh4 Rxh4 37. Qg5 Nxe5 38. Bxf5 Rh2+ 39. Kg3 exf5 40. Ra6
Rbh8 41. Nf4 1-0

[/pgn]

On behalf of the tournament organizer, I would like to thank Cahyono (Chacha) Nugroho for providing Chessstream Support, and our three tournament directors Korey Kormick, Rudy Abate and Thad Rogers (not pictured).  

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Follow the Games, Pairings and Standings on Chessstream Other sites to watch the U.S. Masters games: Chess24 Chessbomb Follow Chess Official Website for the Event Peter Giannatos is a FIDE Master from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the Founder and Director of the Charlotte Chess Center, the 2019 US Chess “Chess Club of the Year."