Denker, Barber, Haring, and Senior Winners are in!

Today’s update focuses on the four Invitationals at the U.S. Open – the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the Dewain Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions, the Ruth Haring National Girls’ Tournament of Champions, and the National Senior Tournament of Champions. The 120th U.S. Open is ongoing, with Round 4 of the Traditional Schedule to be played tonight, and Round 1 of the Six-Day starting as well. We’ll pick back up with the Open tomorrow, but today, it’s all about our Invitational winners. – John Hartmann

After four days and six rounds of exciting chess, we have winners in each of our four Invitational events here at the 120th U.S. Open. Three players tied for first place in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions: Ben Li, Emily Nguyen, and Bryce Tiglon. All three scored 5/6 to share first place honors, but due to superior tiebreaks, it appears that Tiglon takes the $5,000 scholarship to the school of higher learning of his choice. The scholarship is provided by the US Chess Trust.

Li and Tiglon drew in the last round to reach 5 points, while Nguyen had to defeat Aydin Turgut with the Black pieces to join them in shared first place.

[pgn] [Event "2019 Denker"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.08.06"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Turgut, Aydin"] [Black "Nguyen, Emily"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2382"] [BlackElo "2278"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Nbd2 a5 8. a4 O-O 9. Re1 Re8 10. h3 Be6 11. Bb5 Ba7 12. Nf1 Bd7 13. Ng3 Ne7 14. d4 Ng6 15. Bc4 Bc6 16. Qb3 Rf8 17. Bd2 exd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. cxd4 d5 20. Bb5 Bxb5 21. Qxb5 dxe4 22. Qxb7 c5 23. Bc3 cxd4 24. Rad1 Rb8 25. Qa7 e3 26. Rxd4 exf2+ 27. Kxf2 Nd5 28. Kg1 Ngf4 29. Ne4 Qh4 30. Kf1 Nxg2 31. Kxg2 Nxc3 32. Nf2 Qg5+ 33. Rg4 Qd5+ 34. Kg1 Rxb2 35. Qe3 Qd2 36. Qxd2 Rxd2 37. Rc4 Nd5 38. Rc5 Nb6 39. Rxa5 Ra2 40. Re4 Rc8 41. Ra6 Nd5 42. Rd4 Ne3 43. Re4 Rc1+ 44. Kh2 Rxf2+ 45. Kg3 Nd1 46. Rd6 Rc3+ 47. Kh4 g5+ 48. Kh5 0-1 [/pgn]

There was a two-way tie at the top of the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions, with Robert Shlyakhtenko and Jason Wang both at 5/6. Shlyakhtenko has the better tiebreaks, and so he also takes home a $5,000 scholarship to the school of higher learning of his choice. This scholarship is provided by the Dewain Barber Foundation.

Both Shlyakhtenko and Wang were at 4/5 entering the round, and had to defeat the two players at 4.5, leapfrogging them into the top spots.

[pgn] [Event "2019 Barber"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.08.06"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Wang, Jason"] [Black "Peng, Shunkai"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2388"] [BlackElo "2379"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd2 a6 8. a3 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Ne4 10. Qc2 Re8 11. Rc1 Qd6 12. Bd3 Nxc3 13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. bxc3 dxc4 15. Ng5 Qe7 16. h4 Nd8 17. f4 Qf6 18. g4 Bd7 19. Be4 Kg8 20. h5 Qh6 21. Kf2 Bc6 22. Rcg1 Rf8 23. Rh3 a5 24. Bh7+ Kh8 25. Bg6 Kg8 26. Ke1 Be8 27. Bh7+ Kh8 28. Be4 Bc6 29. Bxc6 Nxc6 30. Nxf7+ Rxf7 31. g5 Qh7 32. Qxh7+ Kxh7 33. g6+ Kg8 34. gxf7+ Kxf7 35. Rhg3 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "2019 Barber"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.08.06"] [Round "6.5"] [White "Shlyakhtenko, Robert"] [Black "Poliannikov, Danila"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A65"] [WhiteElo "2394"] [BlackElo "2283"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. Ng3 a6 9. a4 h5 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Bg5 Nbd7 13. Qd2 Qa5 14. f4 Nh7 15. Bh4 Qb4 16. Kh1 Ndf6 17. f5 Qd4 18. Qf4 Qe5 19. Qd2 Qd4 20. Qf4 Qe5 21. Qe3 Qd4 22. Qc1 Qe5 23. Bf3 Bd7 24. Nge2 b5 25. Bg3 Qe7 26. axb5 axb5 27. Rxa8 Rxa8 28. fxg6 fxg6 29. e5 Ne8 30. e6 Bc8 31. Nf4 Qg5 32. Be4 b4 33. Bxg6 bxc3 34. Bf7+ Kh8 35. Ng6+ Qxg6 36. Bxg6 cxb2 1-0 [/pgn]

Fresh off her solid performance in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, Martha Samadashvili is our 2019 Haring National Girls’ Tournament of Champions victor. She too earns a $5,000 scholarship to the school of higher learning of her choice, and this scholarship is funded by Robert and Barbara Schiffrin.

Samadashvili drew with Alice Lee, who finished third in the Haring, to clinch her title in the final round of play.

[pgn] [Event "2019 Haring"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.08.06"] [Round "6.10"] [White "Samadashvili, Martha"] [Black "Lee, Alice"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2270"] [BlackElo "2084"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 d6 6. c3 a6 7. Bf1 Nf6 8. h3 O-O 9. d4 Nd7 10. Be3 b6 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Rc1 Rb8 13. a3 b5 14. a4 b4 15. Nc4 Na5 16. cxb4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 cxb4 18. Bd3 h6 19. Nd2 e5 20. d5 Nb6 21. a5 Nc8 22. Nc4 f5 23. f3 f4 24. Bf2 g5 25. Nb6 Nxb6 26. Bxb6 Qf6 27. Qe2 h5 28. Qf1 g4 29. hxg4 hxg4 30. Kf2 Rbc8 31. Ke2 Qe7 32. Kd2 Qd7 33. Rxc8 Rxc8 34. Rc1 Rxc1 35. Qxc1 gxf3 36. gxf3 Qh3 37. Qf1 Qg3 38. Be2 Kf7 39. Bf2 Qh2 40. Bg1 Qg3 41. Bf2 Qh2 42. Bg1 Qg3 43. Bf2 Qh2 44. Ke1 Bf6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Last but not least, Shelby Getz is this year’s winner of the Senior Tournament of Champions. Getz scored 5.5/6 to win by a full point over John Fedorowicz, Enrico Sevillano, and Ronald Burnett, all of whom finished with 4.5 points.

Getz entered the round with a half-point lead over the field, but he left nothing to chance with this win over William Schill. Perhaps 1. a3 will become a new opening fad?

[pgn] [Event "2019 Senior"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.08.06"] [Round "6.7"] [White "Getz, Shelby"] [Black "Schill, William"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2381"] [BlackElo "2290"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. a3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. Bh6 Nbd7 7. Bxg7 Kxg7 8. Nf3 c5 9. e3 Qc7 10. O-O-O e6 11. h3 a6 12. g4 b5 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Bg2 Nb6 15. Qd4 Qxd4 16. Nxd4 Bb7 17. g5 Nfd7 18. Nb3 Rad8 19. h4 h6 20. f4 Nc4 21. Rhe1 hxg5 22. hxg5 Rh8 23. e4 Ndb6 24. Nc5 Ba8 25. exd5 Rh2 26. Be4 exd5 27. Nxa6 Rc8 28. Bd3 Nxa3 29. Re2 Rxe2 30. Bxe2 Na4 31. Rd3 Nxc3 32. Rxc3 Rxc3 33. bxc3 f6 34. Nc7 Bc6 35. Ne6+ Kg8 36. gxf6 Bd7 37. Ng5 Nc4 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Kd2 Bf5 40. Ke3 Bxc2 41. Kd4 1-0 [/pgn]

The Senior Championship also featured "age-class" prizes. Winners were Shelby Getz for the +50 category, John Fedorowicz for +60, Constantine Xanthos on tiebreaks for +70, and Klaus Pohl for +80.