2024 U.S. Senior Women's Championship Begins in Utah

Editor's note: This article will be updated with more photos, and a selection of interviews can be found here.

Return to Utah

The 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship began Friday night, December 13, in Murray, Utah. For five of us participating in this year’s championship, Utah reminds us of past U.S. Women’s Championships. WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia won the 1999 U.S. Women’s Championship in Salt Lake City, a tournament where WIM Olga Sagalchik finished tied for third and fourth and WIM Beatriz Marinello tied for 6th through 8th places. Ten players participated.

Shernaz Kennedy and I (Alexey Root) are also on a return chess visit to Utah. In 1981, Kennedy and I played in the U.S. Women’s Championship in Brigham City, Utah, about an hour’s drive from the site of this year’s championship. I finished 10th (of 12 players) and Kennedy finished fourth. In 1981, the playing site was the Intermountain Indian School and the June weather was warm. In 2024, there is snow on the ground at the hotel playing site, TownePlace Suites.

Seated (from L): Beatriz Marinello, Shernaz Kennedy, Anjelina Belakovskaia, Alexey Root, Carla Naylor. Standing (from L): Julie O'Neill, Jayashree Sekar, Mary Kuhner, Brenda Nardi, Natasha Christiansen, Olga Sagalchik, Natalya Tsodikova. C Mike Mulford

Starting at 12:30 p.m., when participants socialized over a catered Chick-fil-A lunch, the hotel’s lobby was chess central. In one corner, WGM Sabina Foisor interviewed participants for US Chess. In the meeting room adjacent to the lobby, Fox 13 Salt Lake City filmed the chess boards and conducted interviews. Later, the cameraman captured footage from the start of round 1. The Fox report aired around 9:20 p.m., during the 9 p.m. news broadcast. KSL News and ABC 4 also covered the championship.

Sabina Foisor and Ranae Bartlett during the pre-tournament interviews. (Photo by Alexey Root)

Special guests spoke at the 6 p.m. opening ceremony. Stephanie Pitcher, Utah State Senator, shared her own experiences as a chess player. She said that bringing chess events to Utah complements Utah hosting the Winter Olympics in 2034. Michael Mulford, Chair of US Chess Senior Committee, stated, “This tournament matters to seniors.” Mulford donated a “US Chess Women” coffee mug to each participant and will donate upset prizes at the closing ceremony, scheduled for 8 p.m. on Sunday (or earlier if all games are finished).

Standing to the left of O'Neill: Stephanie Pitcher, Ranae Bartlett, Maureen Grimaud. Sabina Foisor is standing in the back right, and Karen Pennock is standing on the far right. Photo courtesy Mike Mulford

Ranae Bartlett, US Chess Executive Director, thanked Maureen and David Grimaud for their “undying support of girls and women in chess.” David Day, former member of the US Chess Executive Board and Utah Chess Association Treasurer, acknowledged the Utah Chess Board members in attendance. Board member Matt Crossette provided, and is running, the DGT boards for this championship.

WGM Sabina Foisor shared that the Romanian Chess Federation once told her mom, then in her 40s, that she was too old to be competitive in chess. Foisor emphasized that women of all ages are important to chess. Foisor said she would be nice to the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship players in her commentary, available on the US Chess Twitch channel (the first round can be rewatched here). International Arbiter Karen Pennock expressed her delight at being the Chief TD for this championship.

Family Affair

At the helm of the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship is Maureen Grimaud, co-chair of the US Chess Women's Committee. Supporting her endeavor, and also on site, is her husband David Grimaud. Precision Tune Auto Care, which has stores in Murray and in nearby South Salt Lake and Kearns, is sponsoring the championship. David said that, once Maureen decided she wanted the championship to happen this year, the choice was between Columbia, South Carolina, and Salt Lake City. The latter city had better airport connections for the players, so they picked Utah.

The championship’s Chief TD Karen Pennock and Pairing Chief Enrique “Kiki” Huerta are married. They have joined forces at other national championships too. At the opening ceremony for the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, Saint Louis Chess Club Director Tony Rich said, “Fun fact, Enrique and Karen are husband and wife. Both are international arbiters and both are national tournament directors.”

Round 1

Results

Editor's note: Digital Editor JJ Lang will be summarizing the rounds and annotating games for this event, as our correspondent will be busy with her own games!

Friday's round saw four decisive games out of the six, including three wins for players with the black pieces. Defending champ WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia got off to a strong title defense with an impressive kingside pawn storm against Julie O'Neill's Grand Prix attack in the Sicilian.

WIM Beatriz Marinello essayed an excellent French Defense against WCM Natasha Christianesen, as White's "big center" became first an isolated d-pawn and, then, nothing but two strong black pawns.

WFM Natalya Tsodikova was the only player to win as White, defeating Brenda Nardi in an Italian Game where Tsodikova was rewarded for being more comfortable with the mounting tension in the center:

Finally, the most tense game of the round was Jayashree Sekar's upset victory over WIM Shernaz Kennedy. The unorthodox game had the players departing from the masters game database after only three moves apiece, with Kennedy rushing out to a space advantage. But, as in every previous game, the turning point revolved around tension between the pawns. Despite White having castled queenside, weaknesses on her kingside gave Black a promising initiative until she refocused attention against White's king.

A back-and-forth duel emerged from there, with Kennedy looking to be in the driver's seat. According to Root, who was seated next to this game, Kennedy's body language with 33. Qxe5 suggested she believed she was firmly in control now, having overlooked Sekar's intermezzo.

WCM Mary Kuhner held WFM Olga Sagalchik to a draw on board two, and Root drew as Black against Carla Naylor in one of those games where most of the calculation occurred off the board. Both games are below, with Root's notes on her own game:

Pairings for Round 2. 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship

The second round begins at 11:00 a.m. MST, with live commentary on our Twitch again with WGM Sabina Foisor. Pairings are below:

Note: ratings shown are invitational ratings, a combination of current/peak US Chess ratings, FIDE ratings, and other factors detailed here.