"Championship Sunday" at 2021 K-12 Grade Championship

It’s Sunday morning in at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, and today is the day that champions will be made.

There are two rounds left at the 2021 K-12 Grade Championship, and with five rounds under our belts, everything is still to play for. The sixth round begins at 9am (Grades 2-12) Eastern Sunday morning, while the seventh and final round kicks off at 1pm (Grades 2-12) Eastern. Individual and team titles will be awarded in 13 grade sections after today’s games.

Games from the top boards will be simulcast on uschess.live, and both rounds will see live commentary from GM Elshan Moradiabadi and WGM Sabina Foisor on Twitch.

Saturday Results

Saturday’s game of the day was undoubtedly Donald Johnson’s upset win over IM Arthur Guo in the Grade 10 Championship. Johnson’s 21. c4!! shut down Black’s attack, allowing him to turn to the destruction of Guo’s king protection.

[pgn][Event "Grade 10 Championship"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2021.12.04"] [Round "5"] [White "Johnson, Donald"] [Black "Guo, Arthur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2226"] [BlackElo "2474"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Qf3 O-O 10. O-O-O b5 11. g4 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Bc8 14. Bd3 a5 15. Nd2 Qc7 16. h4 Ba6 17. Bf5 a4 18. h5 Nd7 19. g5 a3 20. b3 Rac8 $2 {[#]} 21. c4 $1 bxc3 22. Ne4 c2 23. Rd2 f6 24. g6 $1 h6 25. Be6+ Kh8 26. Bxh6 f5 (26... gxh6 27. g7+ Kxg7 28. Qg3+ Kh8 29. Qg6 $18) 27. Bxg7+ Kxg7 28. h6+ Kh8 29. g7+ Kh7 30. Bxf5+ Kg8 (30... Rxf5 31. Qxf5+ Kg8 32. Rg1 $18 {[%cal Gh6h7]}) 31. Qg4 Nb8 (31... Nb8 32. Qg6 {[%cal Yg6h7]} (32. h7+ Kf7 33. Qg6#)) 1-0 [/pgn]

Johnson will play either Gus Huston or Maximillian Lu in Sunday morning’s sixth round. Huston and Lu drew in Round 5.

[pgn][Event "Grade 10 Championship"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2021.12.04"] [Round "5"] [White "Lu, Maximillan"] [Black "Huston, Gus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "2418"] [BlackElo "2239"] [Annotator "Hartmann"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. b3 b6 9. Qd3 Bb7 10. Bb2 c5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. e4 Bb7 14. d5 exd5 15. exd5 Bf6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Rfe1 Rae8 18. Nd2 Ne5 19. Qe2 Qd8 20. f4 $2 (20. Nc4 ) 20... Nd7 $2 (20... Nc6 $1 21. Qf1 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Nb4 {[%csl Gd5]}) 21. Qd3 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Re8 23. Rxe8+ Qxe8 24. Ne4 Qe7 25. d6 Qe6 26. Kf2 h6 27. Bf3 Kf8 28. Kg2 Qd5 29. Qxd5 Bxd5 30. Nc3 Bxf3+ 31. Kxf3 Nf6 32. Nb5 Ke8 33. Nxa7 Kd7 34. a4 Kxd6 35. h3 h5 36. g4 hxg4+ 37. hxg4 g6 38. g5 Nd5 39. Nb5+ Ke6 40. Ke4 f5+ 41. gxf6 Nxf6+ 42. Kf3 Kd5 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Brewington Hardaway enjoyed a nice king hunt in his Round 5 win over Ronak Hiwale. This leaves him in sole possession of first place in the Grade 7 Championship with two rounds to play.

[pgn][Event "Grade 7 Championship"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2021.12.04"] [Round "5"] [White "Hardaway, Brewington"] [Black "Hiwale, Ronak"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C71"] [WhiteElo "2322"] [BlackElo "1871"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. d4 b5 6. Bb3 exd4 7. Bd5 Bb7 8. Nxd4 Nge7 9. O-O Rb8 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Re1 Bb7 12. Bxb7 Rxb7 13. Qf3 Rb6 14. Nc3 c6 15. Be3 Rb7 16. Rad1 Rd7 17. a4 f6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Ne2 Kf7 20. Nd4 h5 21. Bf4 Qe8 22. Qb3+ Kg6 23. Qe6 Qd8 24. Re3 Kh7 25. Rh3 Kg6 26. Rdd3 h4 27. Nf5 Rh5 28. Nxh4+ Kh7 29. Qf7 Nc8 30. Qxh5+ Kg8 31. Ng6 Ra7 32. g4 Ne7 33. Nh8 Ra1+ 34. Kg2 Ng6 35. Qh7# 1-0 [/pgn]

Newly minted expert Megan Paragua showed her strategic skills in her victory over Jashith Karthi. Paragua is also alone at the top of the Grade 4 Championship with a perfect score of 5/5.

[pgn][Event "Grade 4 Championship"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2021.12.04"] [Round "5"] [White "Karthi, Jashith"] [Black "Paragua, Megan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "1584"] [BlackElo "2009"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "128"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Be2 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 c5 11. Bb5 a6 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. Na4 Qb5 14. Bg5 c4 15. Qc2 Rfe8 16. Nc3 Qd7 17. Ne2 h6 18. Bh4 Ne4 19. Bxe7 Rxe7 20. Ne5 Qd6 21. Ng3 Nxg3 22. hxg3 b5 23. Rfd1 Rc8 24. Qe2 b4 25. b3 Rec7 26. Qf1 f6 27. Nf3 a5 28. Kh1 Ba6 29. Qg1 cxb3 30. axb3 Rc2 31. Rxc2 Rxc2 32. Rc1 Qc6 33. Rxc2 Qxc2 34. Qa1 Qxb3 35. Qxa5 Qc4 $2 (35... Bd3 $19) 36. Qd8+ (36. Nd2 $1 $11) 36... Kh7 37. Qd7 Bc8 38. Qf7 Qc2 39. Nh4 b3 40. f3 b2 41. e4 b1=Q+ 42. Kh2 Bd7 43. Qxd7 Qb8 44. Qf5+ Kg8 45. Qe6+ Kh8 46. Ng6+ Kh7 47. Qf7 Qcc8 48. Nf4 Qe8 49. Qxd5 Qbb5 50. Qxb5 Qxb5 51. d5 g5 52. Ne6 Kg8 53. Nd4 Qd3 54. Nf5 Kh7 55. Ne7 g4 56. d6 Qxd6 57. Nf5 Qd3 58. Nh4 Qe2 59. Kg1 Qe1+ 60. Kh2 h5 61. Nf5 gxf3 62. gxf3 Qf2+ 63. Kh3 Qxf3 64. Nh4 Qh1# 0-1 [/pgn]

Complete pairings and standings for all sections are available at the tournament website.

Sunday's Events

After a full day of side events on Saturday, including the Friends and Family tournament (won by Arvind Jayaraman — congrats!), a very busy Sunday sees more blitz action with GM Max Dlugy and more fun in the Girls Club.

New members of the Trophies Plus All-America Team will be recognized at 8:50am in Gatlin B/C/D, immediately preceding the start of Round 6.

At 10am, there is a Town Hall Meeting in the Girls Club (Gatlin E4), followed by a tandem simultaneous exhibition with WGM Jen Shahade and WIM Carolina Blanco in the same location.

GM Max Dlugy will continue taking on all comers in blitz for two hours in Gatlin A beginning at 2pm. He will also join the livestream in the morning to assist GM Elshan Moradiabadi and WGM Sabina Foisor with their analysis.

Awards will be handed out at approximately 4:30pm for Grades K-3 in Panzacola F3/F4, while Grades 4-12 winners will pick up their hardware beginning at approximately 5pm in Gatlin B/C/D.