2024 U.S. Junior, Girls' Junior, and Senior Championships Begin with a Bang

Round one of the U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior, and Senior Championships kicked off yesterday with some strategically beautiful wins, huge upsets, and some of the most creative chess I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, 12 of the 15 games ended up with a decisive result!

This trio of tournaments is possibly my very favorite event in all of American chess, and as it’s my first year not playing in one of the two Junior sections (holding out for the Senior in a few decades, I suppose!) I’m very happy to bring to CLO the highlights from the first round!

SENIOR

Starting strong with the Senior: I always enjoy watching this section of the Championships, having worked with a few of the participants in my own chess career. Great players aren’t always necessarily great trainers, but great trainers are great players (as we see today!).

The defending champion, Melik Khachiyan, got off to a hot start this year (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Defending champion GM Melik Khachiyan demonstrated excellent technique in a queen-and-pawn endgame against GM Jessie Kraai.

GM Alex Shabalov, another former champion, showcased an interesting opening idea in the topical Caro-Kann Advanced. After the exchange of several minor pieces, he undertook a nice attack on GM Julio Becerra Rivero’s king, utilizing just the pawns and the heavy-hitters.

GM Larry Christiansen (my first coach!!) won an extremely sharp game against GM Joel Benjamin (another one of my early coaches!!). Benjamin missed an interesting chance to seize the advantage in the early middlegame, and afterwards, Christiansen’s aggressive play paid off and he converted a nice endgame.

Vladimir Akopian (R) delivered an artful strategic victory (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Another tournament favorite, GM Vladimir Akopian, had a very clean and beautiful win against GM Igor Novikov. The knights danced around the dark squares in the endgame, Black got to play … g5 twice(!!), and White’s pawns eventually fell.

Meanwhile, IM Douglas Root and GM Gregory Kaidanov agreed to a draw after a solid Queen’s Gambit Declined fizzled out into an equal rook endgame: the only non-decisive result in the Senior thus far.

GIRLS’ JUNIOR

In the Girls’ Junior section, WIM Iris Mou upset the tournament favorite IM Alice Lee in a pawn-grabbing Catalan.

Iris Mou (L) pulled off an upset over the defending champion in round one!

Lee — Iris Mou (L) pulled off an upset over the defending champion in round one!

It seems that Lee was caught off-guard and possibly misremembered her lines; she was unable to regain the pawn and Mou converted convincingly.

Another upset occurred with newcomer Jasmine Su neutralizing WFM Rachael Li’s sharp Smith-Morra Gambit. Li drummed up some play on the queenside, but Su defended quite accurately and took advantage of a tactical oversight to finish up. Here’s the end of the game:

Zoey Tang (L) gave Megan Paragua a warm welcome in her Girls' Junior debut (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

FM Zoey Tang entered a sharp position against WFM Megan Paragua straight out of the opening; both sides had chances, but finally, Tang dispelled Paragua’s counterplay and entered a winning endgame.

FM Rose Atwell won a pawn early in the opening against WFM Chloe Gaw, but Atwell misplayed and Gaw forced a nice repetition by nearly trapping Black’s queen.

Rose Atwell fell just short of punishing her opponent's pawn-grabbing ways (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Pawn-grabbing is yielding some mixed results so far, but at least it’s bringing us exciting chess!

Finally, WIM Omya Vidyarthi played some solid attacking chess out of the opening, but failed to spot a mate in the endgame. WFM Yassamin Ehsani held on to the half-point afterwards.

JUNIOR

The Junior Open section ultimately stole the show today with a brilliancy by GM Chris Yoo.

Chris Yoo kicked off the tournament with a spectacular victory (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

In a nearly dead-equal position, arising from an exchange Caro-Kann, Yoo showcased some truly inventive chess to win with the black pieces against GM Arthur Guo.

Another tournament favorite, GM Andrew Hong, capitalized on a strategic mistake from IM Jason Wang early in the opening and ended up dominating on the light squares in a sharp game.

GM-elect Andy Woodward won an exciting game in a Sicilian Najdorf against GM Balaji Daggupati’s English Attack; in typical fashion, an early Nc3-d5 exchange left a pawn to anchor the white knight on c6. But Black played accurately, picked up the d5-pawn, and converted nicely.

IM Brewington Hardaway’s debut in the Junior Championship started with a clean win against Nicholas Landan.

In his first U.S. Junior game, Brewington Hardaway made his mark (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Though playing quite well, under the pressure of some strategic weaknesses, Landan blundered significant material.

Justin Wang at the drawing of lots (well, hats) at the opening ceremony (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Finally, IM Justin Wang executed a very clean win from the white side of a sharp Semi-Slav after IM Jason Liang stumbled in the opening.

One of my favorite parts of watching commentary is the commentators picking their players to win. So, to partake in the tradition myself: GM Chris Yoo, IM Alice Lee, and GM Larry Christiansen are my predicted champions.

I also asked a second opinion from Junior alum and ex-Champion, GM Awonder Liang, who offered GM Chris Yoo (honestly, after that game…can’t even fault him for the same pick), FM Zoey Tang, and GM Vladimir Akopian. Of course, it’s far too early in the event to say anyone with certainty. But the one sure thing is that we’ll be treated to some very inspiring chess over the next ten days.

Quick Links

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Replay all games on Chess.com: Senior / Girls' Junior / Junior

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