All Races Remain Tight in 2025 National Championships

Coming off the rest day, the 2025 Junior, Girls’ Junior, and Senior National Championships were competitive at the top of the standings, and, despite some decisive results, clarity at the podium remained elusive after Monday’s sixth round.

In both junior sections, the top two players in the standings squared off. But, unfortunately, both games ended in draws. Meanwhile, players from the upper-middle part of the pack managed to grab full points. With this swing, both GM Kirk Ghazarian and WGM Zoey Tang have joined GM Andy Woodward and FM Megan Paragua atop their respective leaderboards.

In the Senior Championship, the fact that there are still six players within one point of GM Vladimir Akopian (4/6) comes as a relief to many chess fans following Akopian’s lopsided domination of last year’s tournament. GM Larry Christiansen (3½/6) and GM Joel Benjamin (3/6) both have yet to face Akopian, and, as such still control their own destinies to a degree.

Junior: Mishra – Woodward a draw, Ghazarian moves up

In the Junior, GM Brewington Hardaway surprised his former high school teammate IM Nico Chasin and cruised to an easy victory after trapping Chasin’s queen in the middlegame. In the post-game interview, Hardaway claims this is the first time he’d ever played 1. Nf3 in a FIDE-rated event. With that performance, we may have witnessed the end of what may later be referred to as Hardaway’s youthful 1. e4 era. Regardless, Hardaway now improves to a 4/6 score and a tie for third only a half-point behind the two co-leaders.

Ghazarian and Park smiles before the round

Kirk Ghazarian (L) and Evan Park chatting before play resumed (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

GM Kirk Ghazarian also went with 1. Nf3, but his game with FM Sharvesh Deviprasath turned into a positional grind before the young GM traded into a winning endgame. With the win, he joins GM Andy Woodward atop the standings with a 4½/6 score.

Andy Woodward is no longer in sole first, but surviving an attacking line against one's Najdorf is always a welcome result (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

At the top of the table, the game between Woodward and Abhimanyu Mishra got off to a hot start, as Mishra opted to play 6. Bg5 against Woodward’s Najdorf. Both players mixed up a bit of theory and ended up in a dynamic battle, but Mishra ultimately settled for a draw in time trouble despite Stockfish’s favorable view of White’s position.

Round 7 will see Andy Woodward play Brewington Hardaway, with big implications for the final standings of the tournament.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

Girls’ Junior: Tang joins Paragua with third consecutive win

The story in the Girls’ Junior was much the same as that in the Junior. The game between FMs Ruiyang Yan and Megan Paragua was set to determine first place, but a closed Sicilian with an early queen trade wasn’t enough for White to play for a win despite a small edge out of the opening.

Paragua was unable to extend her lead against Ruiyang Yan, but remains tied for first after yesterday's draw (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Zoey Tang, in contrast, won her third consecutive game to join Paragua atop the leaderboard (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Meanwhile, WGM Zoey Tang put together a convincing win over tailender WFM Laurie Qiu. Both Tang and Paragua are now tied for first with 4½/6 scores ahead of their seventh-round meeting.

Outside of the marquee matchups, Rachael Li managed a win over WIM Chloe Gaw to propel herself into the running with a 4/6 score. Additionally, WGM Rochelle Wu managed a win over WIM Iris Mou, and FM Rose Atwell drew with Jasmine Su.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

Senior: Shabalov joins trio of players a half-point behind Akopian

By far the story of a sixth round rife with draws was the inspired play of GM Alexander Shabalov. IM Timothy Taylor, fresh off his upset against GM Maxim Dlugy, continued his promise of employing off-beat openings, this time electing to try a Dutch-style 1. … f5 setup against Shabalov’s 1. Nf3. Shabalov’s response, after a few natural developing moves, was the ambitious 4. b4!?

Game of the day? Alexander Shabalov (L) put on a clinic against Tim Taylor's Dutch (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

From this out-of-the-box position, Shabalov managed to gain a crushing attack, winning the game in 28 moves. Taylor was so impressed he allowed the GM to put mate on the board.

Every other game in the section ended peacefully. GM Larry Christiansen took an early threefold repetition against GM Joel Benjamin in a Rossolimo Sicilian, GM Vladimir Akopian ended up aborting an attack in the Italian in favor of liquidation against GM Alexander Goldin, and GM Gregory Kaidanov traded queens early in a Keres Attack against GM Igor Novikov’s Scheveningen Sicilian. GM Maxim Dlugy managed to grab a one pawn advantage over Alex Fishbein out of the opening, but eventually gave it back, allowing the game to lapse into equality.

The highlight of round 7 will likely be the battle between Christiansen and Akopian in the most significant game for the standings.