2024 U.S. Senior Women's Championship, Day 2: Upsets, Long Games, and Quick Bites

After two days and three rounds, WFM Natalya Tsodikova leads the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship with a perfect score. In round 1, as White, Tsodikova defeated Brenda Nardi. In round 2, as Black, she defeated the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Champion WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia. In round 3, as Black, she won against Jayashree Sekar.

Defending champion Anjelina Belakovskaia (L) lost her second-round game against Natalia Tsodikova. Tsodikova now leads the tournament entering round 4 (Photo by Alexey Root)

Meet the Queen of Upsets

A newcomer to the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, Jayashree Sekar won the upset prize in round 1 and again in round 2. Each time, she earned a $50 gift certificate to US Chess Sales. The upset prizes were donated by Mike Mulford, Chair of the US Chess Senior Committee.

Karen Pennock presents Jayashree Sekar with one of her two (so far!) upset prizes (Photo by Alexey Root)

Before round 1, Jayashree Sekar was interviewed by KSL.com and by Sabina Foisor. More interviews by Sabina are available on the US Chess YouTube channel.

While Sekar was losing round 3 to Tsodikova, I interviewed her husband, Sekar Srinivasan. He told me that Jayashree began playing chess with a friend in middle school. Then she moved on to more serious games, at the Soviet Cultural Academy in Chennai, India. After graduating from college in Chennai, she entered into an arranged marriage with Sekar Srinivasan, who also had graduated from college in Chennai. They have two children, a son and a daughter.

Jayashree Sekar and her husband/designated chauffeur Sekar Srinivasan (Photo courtesy David Grimaud)

Sekar Srinivasan moved to the U.S. to work in informational technology. Jayashree followed. They lived for seven years in Greenville, South Carolina, where Jayashree attended the Greenville Chess Club. For the last 15 years, they have lived in Atlanta, Georgia. For 13 years, Jayashree taught chess for Kid Chess. Now Jayashree is concentrating on playing chess rather than on teaching the game.

Sekar Srinivasan refers to himself as Jayashree’s designated chauffeur, having driven her to tournaments in several states, including Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. Jayashree is one of the more active senior women players, having played 551 US Chess events since 2002.

Below is Sekar's second-round upset, annotated by JJ Lang:

Long Games and Quick Bites

On Friday, December 13, Maureen Grimaud bought Chick-fil-A lunches for the championship’s participants. TownePlace Suites, where the championship is being held, serves breakfast. A couple hours after round 2 began on Saturday, December 14, at 11:00 a.m. Grimaud bought lunches from Café Zupas and set them on a table in the lobby, for players to grab as they finished their games.

My round 2 game, a draw as White against WFM Olga Sagalchik, lasted until 3:15 p.m. Our 73-move-long game was the last to finish in round 2. With the third round starting at 4:00 p.m., I didn’t have much time to enjoy my chickpea and vegetable soup and mangoberry salad. Below is the game, with annotations by JJ Lang:

In round 3, I lost in 24 moves, as White, to WIM Beatriz Marinello. Sagalchik defeated WCM Natasha Christiansen in the longest game of round 3. It was 80 moves long and finished after 8 p.m. On Saturday, in total, Sagalchik played 153 moves of chess, which took more than 8 hours. Again, annotations are JJ's:

Entering the final day, Tsodikova leads all scorers with a perfect 3/3 score. Four players trail her with 2/3 scores: Sagalchik, Marinello, Belakovskaia, and Sekar.

Below is Tsodikova's fine second-round victory over the defending champion, with notes by JJ:

Play resumes today at 10:00 a.m. MST, with live commentary from WGM Sabina Foisor on the US Chess Twitch channel.

Quick Links

More information: Preview on Chess Life Online

Day 1 Recap by WIM Dr. Alexey Root

Games broadcast on Chess.com

Live commentary with WGM Sabina Foisor on Twitch

Past coverage: Reports from the 2023 U.S. Women's Senior Championship