Google Chess All Day: the 119th US Open is Underway

They were all traveling on the same day that more people than ever before in history were seeing chessboards and pieces. https://twitter.com/USChessWomen/status/1022844167779758080 On Friday, the ubiquitous Google Doodle displayed king, rook, knight, and pawn—celebrating chess by remembering second Women’s World Chess Champion Lyudmila Rudenko—while a new young crop of potential future champs crowded into planes and vans on their way to Middleton, Wisconsin. The US Open Chess Championship, with all its heritage and innovation, began on Saturday. It’s remarkable how the event, dating back to 1900, has kept up with the times while preserving its heritage. This year two new events helped kick off the main event. US Junior Champ opens with a simul

First up was a new simultaneous exhibition. GM Awonder Liang, the 15-year-old wunderkind fresh from his second US Junior Championship title in St. Louis, led off the activities with a simul against 23 players who would in a few hours play in one of the junior invitationals—the GM Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the Dewain Barber Tournament of K-8  Champs, and the National Girls Tournament of Champions. Liang, a Madison native, handled his task smoothly as the local NBC camera rolled for the evening news. In the end, Liang gave up only one loss, when Tinh Son Nguyen, representing Utah in the Denker, popped down a knight fork on queen and rook and went on to hold the win the Exchange up. The honor of the very last game going went to Amanda Lossef, representing D.C. in the Barber. Nguyen and Lossef earned bookstore rewards. Liang is competing in the US Open, which, besides a $50,000 projected prize fund, offers a spot in the US Invitational Championship. Happily for some of the other top players competing, Awonder has already secured his spot with his US Junior Champs victory. New Senior Invitational

The other new attraction was the Senior Tournament of Champions, modeled after the three junior invitationals—all six-round Swisses that begin on Saturday and end on Tuesday, allowing the opportunity for contestants to then join the US Open’s six-day schedule. GM Alex Fishbein (New Jersey) tops the leaderboard of 42 competitors in the Senior. Fishbein is a direct link to the progenitor of all four invitationals. Back in 1985, he won the very first Denker championship (then the only junior invitational at the US Open). He’s one of 14 Denker “graduates” who went on to make GM. This year it’s a father-son event for the Fischbeins. Alex’s son Mitch is playing in the Denker. Ages in the Senior range from Fishbein, who comes in at the minimum 50, to 81-year-old NM Klaus Pohl (South Carolina), who at seven survived the WWII firebombing of his native Dresden. Ratings mirror that age spread, with players ranked from GM to C-player. GMs besides Fishbein include Enrico Sevillano (S. California), GM Alonso Zapata (Georgia) and Michael Rohde (New York). https://www.instagram.com/p/Blwb7K4H4SK/?taken-by=us_chess Two FMs and 17 NMs make it a punishing gauntlet. But beware the hungry Expert! First-round spectators always keep an eye out for the shaping up of a top-board upset. Round 1 of the senior gave them one. Expert Brian Lilly was Wisconsin’s alternate. (The home state gets one.) And since there would have been an odd number of contestants without him, he was in. He immediately made the most of his opportunity!

[pgn] [Event "US Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lilly, Bryan"] [Black "Sevillano, Enrico"] [Result "*"] [ECO "B15"] [PlyCount "105"] [SourceDate "2018.07.28"] [TimeControl "6000+1130"] [WhiteClock "0:10:54"] [BlackClock "0:51:19"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bg7 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. O-O a6 10. Bxc6 {10} Qxc6 11. Bf4 e6 12. Qd3 Ne7 13. Ne2 h5 14. c3 h4 15. Be5 f6 16. Bf4 Nf5 17. g4 {Bobby Fischer reminded us that you had "to give squares to get squares." Here White gives too much. Impatient to oust the black knight from its promising post, Lilly opens up the h-file against his own king before Black has castled. Thus GM Sevillano will choose the queenside for his royal residence--and leave the h-rook on its now-menacing home square.} hxg3 18. fxg3 e5 19. dxe5 fxe5 20. Rae1 O-O-O 21. Bg5 Bf6 {Diagram [#] An unusual slip by the GM. Instead, 21. ... Qb6+ and ... Rd7 kept the advantage.} 22. Rxf5 $1 {Lilly has a sharp eye for a rare opportunity!} gxf5 ({Capturing the enemy bishop would minimize the damage, when Black would be down a pawn but up 400 points in a wide-open position. GM Sevillano took time for a substantial think after 22. Rxf5! obviously surprised him. So his doubling down wasn't the result of a knee-jerk reaction to a shocker.} 22... Bxg5 23. Rxe5 Bf6) 23. Qxf5+ Rd7 24. Qxf6 Rdh7 25. Qxc6+ bxc6 26. Bf6 Re8 27. g4 Kd7 28. Ng3 e4 29. g5 a5 30. Nf5 Rb8 31. Re2 c5 32. Kg2 a4 33. Kg3 Ke6 34. Kg4 Rhb7 35. c4 d4 36. Rxe4+ Kd7 37. Re7+ Kc6 38. Be5 Rg8 39. Re6+ Kd7 40. Rd6+ Ke8 41. Rc6 Rd7 42. Rc8+ Rd8 43. Ng7+ $1 Kf7 {Diagram [#]} 44. Rc7+ Kg6 45. Rc6+ (45. Nf5 $1 {wins immediately with the threat of a problem-like Nh4 mate!}) 45... Kf7 46. g6+ Ke7 47. Bf6+ Kd7 48. Rxc5 Rb8 49. Rd5+ Kc6 50. Bxd4 Rb4 51. Rc5+ Kb7 52. Rb5+ Rxb5 53. cxb5 {1-0} *[/pgn]

Younger champs vie for scholarships

The Denker Championship attracted 48 state representatives. IM Advait Patel (Oklahoma) is top seed. But it’s a power-packed event also including IMs Joshua Sheng (S. California), Praveen Balakrishnan (Virginia) and eight FMs— including US Junior Girls Champ Carissa Yip (Massachusetts) and 4^th-place finisher Maggie Feng (Ohio), as well as WIM Emily Nguyen (Texas). Will we have our first female Denker winner since Abby Marshall (Virginia) became the first in 2009? Top prize is a $5,000 College scholarship sponsored by the US Chess Trust.

Fifty young champs began the Barber Championship. FM Shunkai Peng (Oregon) is top-rated, just ahead of FMs Anthony Bi He (Washington) and Arthur Guo (Georgia). Altogether, the K-8 event features four FMs, WFM Nastassja Matus (Minnesota) and two NMs. Top prize is a $5,000 College scholarship sponsored by the US Chess Trust.

WFM Martha Samadashvili (New York) tops the list of 44 entries into the NGTOC. Altogether, the group includes three WFMs, two WIMs, and three WCMs. Top prize is a $5,000 scholarship funded by Robert and Barbara Schiffrin. The winner will also qualify for the 2018 World Youth or World Cadet Championship, if the player is eligible to join the US Chess delegation. She will also be seeded into the US Girls Closed Championship, if she qualifies, and will also receive a scholarship and prizes. The first round of the Barber offered a no-holds-barred upset-battle on Board 1, with 1900-player Max Egan (Indiana) showing respect but no quarter for FM Shunkai Peng. The result was a draw. But that was no fault of either player!

[pgn] [Event "Barber"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.07.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Egan, Max"] [Black "Shunkai, Peng"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B90"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 h5 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Kb1 Rc8 12. f4 b5 13. f5 Bc4 14. Bd3 Qc7 15. Rc1 O-O 16. h3 Rfd8 17. g4 d5 18. exd5 b4 19. d6 Bxd6 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 a5 22. Qg2 Nf6 23. gxh5 Nxe4 {Diagram [#]} 24. Rhg1 $5 Bf8 25. Qxe4 a4 26. f6 Bd5 $2 (26... axb3 {keeps the game in dynamic equilibrium. Perhaps then:} 27. fxg7 bxc2+ 28. Ka1 Bxg7 29. Bh6 f5 30. Qxf5 Ra8 31. a3 {but not} (31. Rxg7+ Qxg7 $1) ) 27. Rxg7+ Bxg7 28. Qg4 Kf8 29. Qxg7+ (29. Bc5+ Ke8 30. fxg7 {would win quickly for White.}) 29... Ke8 30. Nc5 Qd6 31. h6 {This apparently promising move ultimately leads to a draw.} (31. Qg8+ Qf8 32. Rg1 Rxc5 33. Bxc5 Qxg8 34. Rxg8+ Kd7 35. Rxd8+ Kxd8 36. Bxb4 {should win for White despite the opposite-color bishops.}) 31... Rxc5 32. h7 Kd7 33. Bxc5 (33. h8=Q Rxh8 34. Bxc5 Qxc5 35. Qxh8) 33... Qxc5 34. h8=Q Rxh8 35. Qxh8 Qc4 36. Rd1 Qxa2+ 37. Kc1 a3 38. bxa3 Qxa3+ 39. Kd2 Qc3+ 40. Kc1 Qa3+ 41. Kb1 Qa2+ 42. Kc1 Qa1+ 43. Kd2 Qd4+ 44. Ke1 {1/2-1/2. Both players deserve praise for a a rock-'em-sock-'em fight, reminding us that draws can be fascinating.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

There’s still time to enter the main event! The 119^th Annual US Open Championship offers three different schedules. Only the nine-day has begun. It’s called the “Traditional” schedule, although 12-days was the tradition for many years—but fewer and fewer had the time for such a chess stretch. There’s also a six-day schedule that starts on Tuesday, and even a four-day option starting on Thursday. Currently, the top-rated is GM Alexander Ipatov in the Open. About 300 players are so far signed up. There’s plenty of room left in the very inviting playing room, where all the contestants play together in the historic event. You still have time to join them! The US Chess Championship is a National Championship organized and played under the auspices of US Chess. Find the live game link here, and join in the conversation on twitter.com/uschess using the hashtag#USOpenChess.  Look up info, results and pairings here, and learn more about our twitch streaming Monday-Tuesday nights here.