A Fitting End to a Fine Event

There’s a very different feel to the U.S. Juniors (and now Seniors) than is found at the U.S. Championships. It’s not that one is more serious than the other, not exactly. And it’s not quite that the junior and senior players are less serious, because let’s be clear: every single one of the thirty players here at the Junior, Girls, and Senior Championships is utterly, deadly serious about their chess. What’s different, I think, is the camaraderie and bonhomie. Our top players are all business when playing in the Open and Women’s Championships. Many, if not most, are active professionals, fighting for an impressive cash purse and World Cup bids. They show up at the Club, they play their games, and it’s then back to the hotel to rest and prep for the next day. Photos from the three Championships this week in Saint Louis paint a different picture with the junior and senior players. They come in to play with and against their friends, having built relationships on Olympiad teams and scholastic championships, in group texts and Goichberg swisses. They hang around in the Club basement after their games end, kibitzing and carousing, laughing and ‘Puzzle Rushing.’ This is a seriousness leavened with the levity of youth and the wisdom of experience. This is a seriousness that knows for all of the competitiveness intrinsic to high-level chess, our game is just that – a beautiful, maddening, absolute rabbit-hole of a game.

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To the traditional Junior and “newish” Girls’ Junior Championships, US Chess and the Saint Louis Chess Club this year added a third event. The 2019 U.S. Senior Championship, open to players 50 and above, gave some of America’s ‘more seasoned’ champions the chance for another day in the sun. Having the juniors and seniors in the same place made for fascinating contrast, in terms of openings, playing style, and particularly in the post-game interviews for the livestream. I had chance to watch quite a few of them as I worked on my round reports, and what stood out to me, more than anything, was the difference in how the juniors and seniors analyzed their games. The seniors talked in broad strategic themes, identifying weaknesses, pawn breaks, ideal endgame schemata. Concrete variations were situated in broader insights. Meanwhile the juniors machine-gunned rapidfire analysis, line after line after line. This is a generalization, of course, but the generational gap, the difference between the pre-computer and post-engine worlds, showed itself in stark contrast. I hopped an early-morning flight from Omaha to Saint Louis to witness the final day action, arriving at the Club with about 20 minutes to spare. If you can make the trip, do so. Watching events like these on the livestream is awesome (in the traditional sense of the word), but there is no substitute for getting to walk up those stairs and see elite players ply their trade. The Juniors, Girls, and Seniors each played in one of the three ‘halls’ on the second floor of the Club. The Juniors and Girls were all socializing before the round began. Hans Niemann was talking about something being ‘money well spent,’ and Jennifer Yu was over on the Girls side, huddled with her friends. For their part, the Seniors were seated, serious faces all around, looking like adults who know the importance of prize money and mortgage payments. With both Carissa Yip leading the Girls Championship and Alex Shabalov leading the Senior by a full point heading into the round, most of the attention was focused on the Junior Championship, where Nico Checa and Awonder Liang were tied at the top of the table. The thought was that Shabalov and Yip would draw quickly, ensuring their titles, while Checa and Liang would have to play their games with one eye on each other’s boards. Shabalov quickly fulfilled his end of the bargain, carefully working his way to a draw against Jaan Ehlvest in just over the minimum 30 moves. This earned him $12,000 for first place in the Senior Championship.

[pgn]

[Event "2019 U.S. Senior Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.07.20"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E95"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Re1
Re8 9. Bf1 a6 10. Rb1 exd4 11. Nxd4 c6 12. Bf4 Ne5 13. h3 Bd7 14. Qd2 Qc7 15.
a3 Nh5 16. Be3 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Be2 Nf6 19. Rbd1 Qb7 20. Bf4 d5 21. Bxe5
Rxe5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Ndxb5 Be6 24. Nd4 Nxc3 25. bxc3 Rxa3 26. Bf3 Rxe1+ 27.
Qxe1 Bxd4 28. cxd4 Qd7 29. Qe5 Ra8 30. d5 cxd5 31. Bxd5 Bxd5 32. Qxd5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Yip had to do a bit more work to earn her second Girls’ Junior title. Playing Black against Emily Nguyen, Yip found herself in a worse position in the middlegame, but managed to work her way back to a draw… even if it looked a little dicey at times!

[pgn]

[Event "2019 U.S. Girls Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.07.20"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Nguyen, Emily"]
[Black "Yip, Carissa"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A40"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 O-O 5. g3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bg2 Nb6 8.
O-O Nc6 9. d5 Na5 10. Qc2 c6 11. dxc6 Nxc6 12. Rd1 Qe8 13. Qe4 e5 14. Qh4 Qe7
15. Qxe7 Nxe7 16. Be3 Nc6 17. Nb5 e4 18. Nfd4 Nc4 19. Bxe4 Nxe3 20. fxe3 Bh6
21. Nxc6 Bxe3+ 22. Kg2 bxc6 23. Bxc6 Rb8 24. Rd3 Bh6 25. b3 Rb6 26. Nxa7 Bf5
27. e4 Rxc6 28. exf5 Rc2+ 29. Kh3 Ra8 30. Nb5 Bg7 31. f6 Bxf6 32. Rf1 Raxa2 33.
Rxf6 h5 34. Kh4 Rc5 35. h3 Rxb5 36. Rd7 Re2 37. Rdxf7 Re4+ 38. g4 Re8 39. Ra7
hxg4 40. Rxg6+ Kh8 41. hxg4 Rxb3 42. Rc6 Rb1 43. g5 Rh1+ 44. Kg4 Rg1+ 45. Kh5
Rh1+ 46. Kg4 Rg1+ 47. Kh5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

For her efforts, Yip received a $3,000 first prize and a $10,000 scholarship to the college of her choice from the Dewain Barber Foundation and US Chess. This left the matter of the Junior Championship, where Nico Checa had Black against Hans Niemann, and Awonder Liang played with White against Andrew Tang. By 2pm – the round started early at 11am to accommodate a potential playoff and closing ceremony – Checa had drawn with Niemann, opening the door for Liang to take the title by winning against Tang.

[pgn]

[Event "2019 U.S. Junior Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.07.20"]
[Round "9.5"]
[White "Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Black "Checa, Nicolas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A06"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. d4 b5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bd3 e6 8. a4 b4
9. Ne2 Nc6 10. b3 Bd6 11. Bb2 Bb7 12. O-O O-O 13. Ng3 a5 14. Rc1 Ne7 15. Ne5
Ba6 16. Bxa6 Rxa6 17. Qd3 Ra8 18. Qb5 Rb8 19. Qa6 Ra8 20. Qb5 Rb8 21. Qa6 Qb6
22. Qxb6 Rxb6 23. Rc2 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Nxc8 25. Rc1 Ne7 26. Nd3 Kf8 27. f3 Ke8 28.
Kf2 h5 29. Nf1 Rc6 30. Rxc6 Nxc6 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Andrew Tang, however, had other ideas. He managed to get a winning position before missing an equalizing shot on move 35, one that Liang grabbed like a life preserver. Their game was drawn at about 2:35pm, setting up a playoff between Checa and Liang at 5pm.

[pgn]

[Event "2019 U.S. Junior Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.07.20"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Liang, Awonder"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C60"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 Bg7 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bc2
d6 9. h3 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. Re1 Re8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bd2 Na5 15. Qc1
Kh7 16. b3 b4 17. Na4 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Nxe4 19. Bxb4 c5 20. Bxa5 Qxa5 21. Qc4 Nd2
22. Nxd2 Qxd2 23. Red1 Qf4 24. Rd3 Ra7 25. Rf1 cxd4 26. Nb6 Qf5 27. Rdd1 Qc5
28. Qa4 Re2 29. Nc4 d5 30. Nd2 Qc2 31. Nf3 Rxf2 32. Rxf2 Qxd1+ 33. Kh2 Qc1 34.
Qa5 Qf4+ 35. Kg1 Rc7 36. Ng5+ Qxg5 37. Qxc7 d3 38. Rxf7 Qe3+ 39. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

It is a bit of a shame that the playoff overshadowed some of the outstanding games played in the final round. The last two games to finish, for instance, made for terrific TV. Could Larry Christiansen find a way to convert against Joel Benjamin? Would Veronika Zilajeva mate Rachael Li with bishop and knight within 50 moves? (The answer to both questions, by the way, was yes.) Still, I think it fair to say that attention downstairs at the club waned a bit as we waited the two hours for the playoff. Club regulars banged out blitz games. Staff members gave lessons. And I spent a bit of time with two young players from New York, whom I tortured with mate in twos. Luc Cacciatore (9) and his brother Max (“almost 7”) are competitive and ambitious. Studying with Coach Angel (Lopez) and Coach Shawn (Martinez) from Impact Coaching Network – the same outfit that helped Tani Adewumi reach such famous heights this spring – the boys play tournaments almost every weekend, their mom told me, and they just finished a camp in NYC with Sam Shankland. The boys challenged me to blitz, but discretion being the better part of valor, I demurred, preferring to challenge them to solve some mate in twos. “This’ll be easy!,” the boys boasted. They were wrong. Here’s an example of the cruelty I inflicted upon these brave young lads. It’s the position shown in the picture above.

[pgn]

[Event "(Original)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pervakov, Rezvov, Tkachenko"]
[Black "#2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2p5/2Kp1N2/8/8/pB1k2p1/p7/Q1B3N1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "190519"]
[SourceDate "2019.05.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.05.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Ne4 Kxe4 (1... d5 2. Nc5#) (1... g2 2. Nf2#) 2. Bc2# 1-0

[/pgn]

Soon Luc and Max were bounding up the stairs to watch the remaining games, having heard my admonition “don’t move the pieces to solve it!” one time too many. I grabbed a chair and a coffee, fired up my laptop, and got ready for the playoff to begin. I wasn’t alone. Mysteriously, almost imperceptibly, friends and fans filled the first floor of the Saint Louis Chess Club as Checa and Liang began to play. Rex Sinquefield appeared, taking his customary seat right in front of the big screen. Veronika Zijaleva sat right behind him. Behind me was the "circa-1976 Junior Spartakiad” team of Max Dlugy, Jaan Ehlvest, and Alex Yermolinsky. As things turned out, and as CLO readers already know, Liang won both rapid games to win the tiebreak, giving him the title of U.S. Junior Champion for the third consecutive year. With this comes a seat in the 2020 U.S. Championship, a $6,000 first prize, and a $10,000 scholarship courtesy of the Dewain Barber Foundation and US Chess. With the tournament finally over, the first floor emptied just as quickly as it had filled. The players rushed down the street to the Closing Ceremony for dinner and age-appropriate beverages. And then? https://twitter.com/IMCryptochess/status/1152714588225515520 Age against youth. Experience against energy. And always, always, always bughouse. A fitting end to a fine event. I'm very much looking forward to next year’s edition.

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US Junior/Senior/Girls Quick Links:  Official STL Chess Club YouTube Live on uschesschamps.com  Pairings & Results US Junior Pairings & Results US Senior Pairings & Results US Girls