Akopian Wins U.S. Senior Championship Playoff

GM Vladimir Akopian defeated GM Alexander Onischuk 3–1 in the U.S. Senior Championship playoff earlier this afternoon at the Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC).

Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes.

Akopian led for most of the tournament, but a strong 3½/4 finish from Onischuk saw him catch the leader in the final round. The players split a pair of rapid games, and Akopian won both blitz games to clinch his second title in three years.

In the first rapid game, Akopian seemed prepared in a slightly slow variation of the Slav Defense, only to immediately drift in the ensuing complications. But he created enough counterplay to claw back and eventually land a decisive blow.

Onischuk had to win on demand as Black next, and he managed to do it. Onischuk managed to get an imbalanced position out of the opening and, after some energetic moves, wrestled the initiative away from Akopian for good.

In the first blitz game, Akopian came close to an advantage as White a few times before finally finding a tactical sequence that would have won. But, in a mutual time scramble, Akopian talked himself out of the win! Onischuk equalized and soon was playing for a win himself, before hanging a piece to a tricky intermezzo. All of this in the span of 30 seconds, no less.

Once again, Onischuk had to win on demand, but at least this time he had the white pieces. Akopian chose the Nimzo Indian Defense, albeit a particularly solid line with lots of theoretical underpinnings. He seemed well on his way to neutralizing Onischuk's play completely, but then a couple of impatient moves gave Onischuk an advantage again. We appeared to be on our way to a third playoff match, but then Akopian started pushing his f-pawn: