Another Decisive Day in the Books After Junior, Girls' Junior, and Senior Championships

The second round of the U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior, and Senior championships followed the pattern of the first: much excitement culminating in more than half the games ending decisively. It was a step down from yesterday’s 12, but there were eight decisive games today with the black pieces scoring the majority of wins.

SENIOR

Usually after two rounds these Round Robin tournaments will leave just one player on a perfect score, and in the Senior, that honor goes to the top seed, GM Vladimir Akopian.

Akopian is in top form so far (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Showing why he once held a spot in the world’s top 10, Akopian scored a nice victory with the black pieces against GM Alexander Shabalov whose fireworks fell to solid defense and precise counterattacking.

After holding off GM Igor Novikov’s slight initiative and earning the draw, GM Larry Christiansen slotted himself into sole second place with a 1½/2 score.

The other two wins were bounce-back victories from players who lost on Tuesday with GM Julio Becerra Rivero and GM Jesse Kraai joining the logjam of players with a ½ score.

In his first U.S. Senior championship, it only took Becerra two rounds to record his first win (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

In particular, Becerra Rivero’s victory against reigning U.S. Senior champ GM Melikset Khachiyan was almost flawless.

GIRLS’ JUNIOR

The Girls’ Junior section is possibly even more tight knit than the Senior. With half the field tied for first, it’s gearing up for a very close tournament where everyone has their chances.

A topsy-turvy draw with missed chances for both sides between WIM Iris Mou and FM Zoey Tang saw them both maintain their spots atop the table.

They were joined before long by FM Rose Atwell, who scored a strong technical win against WIM Omya Vidyarthi, and WFM Chloe Gaw, who dispatched WFM Rachael Li.

After having a promising position yesterday, Atwell is officially "on the board" after a fine victory (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Below are Atwell’s display of her understanding of the dominance of the bishop over the knight in the endgame, and Gaw’s demonstration of how tactics flow from the superior position.

Of the many newcomers in the 2024 U.S. Girls' Junior, Chloe Gaw (R) is having quite a showing (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Pre-tournament favorite IM Alice Lee stabilized with a draw against WFM Yassamin Ehsani, although it didn’t come easily. The only untitled player in the field, Jasmine Su, drew her game to join the four other co-leaders with 1½/2.

JUNIOR

In stark contrast to the Girls’ Junior, the Junior action has produced not one but two perfect scores in IM Justin Wang and GM Christopher Yoo.

While Yoo won a largely technical middlegame where he was never in danger against Nicholas Ladan, Wang looked to be falling to IM Brewington Hardaway’s vicious attack for a large portion of the game.

Justin Wang did not have an "easy" day of work, but a win is a win (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Only precise defense followed by a scintillating counterattack clinched the full point and a share of the lead.

A very accurate draw between GMs Andy Woodward and Arthur Guo saw Woodward place himself in the “chaser” spot behind the two leaders, while IMs Jason Liang and Jason Wang navigated severe complications to make a stabilizing draw to staunch the bleeding both suffered in round one.

Daggupati essayed an impressive victory to bounce back from his loss in round one (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

On the other hand, GM Balaji Daggupati scored a convincing bounce-back victory against GM Andrew Hong with the black pieces placing both of them back on an even score heading into the remainder of the tournament.

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