Halfway Home at the 2019 National Elementary

We've reached the halfway point at the 2019 National Elementary (K-6) Championship, and Round Four is underway.

While the ratings favorites have, by and large, won the games they need to win in the first three rounds, there has been no shortage of draws and upset wins. Here’s a rundown of the standings in each of the four Championship sections, along with some of the key upsets. K-6 Championship 11 players have perfect scores in this 146 person field: Vyom Vidyarthi, Alexander Rutten, Zoey Tang, Harry Le, Abinav Rajiv Mundayat, James Oh, Armen Andranigian, Avi Kaplan, Yesun Lee, Aghilan Nachiappan, and Regan Pearl. The top three seeds have all suffered upsets, and sit further down on the leaderboard.

Second seeded Jason Liang was held to a draw in round two.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.10"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Quan, Jake Taylo"] [Black "Liang, Jason"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "1703"] [BlackElo "2263"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bf5 5. O-O e6 6. c4 b5 7. cxb5 cxb5 8. Bf4 Nc6 9. Nc3 a6 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Nh4 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qd3 Be7 14. g4 Bg6 15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. Rfd1 O-O 17. a3 Na5 18. e4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 Nc4 20. Qe2 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Bd6 22. Bxd6 Qxd6 23. d5 Rce8 24. b3 Na5 25. b4 Nc4 26. Qf3 Qe5 27. dxe6 Rxe6 28. Bd5 Rf6 29. Qb3 Nb6 30. Rc5 Qe2 31. Rf1 Rd8 32. Rc2 Qe5 33. Bg2 Nc4 34. Qc3 Qf4 35. Re2 Qb8 36. a4 Rfd6 37. axb5 axb5 38. Rfe1 Kh7 39. Re7 R6d7 40. Qf3 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Top seed Ming Lu was forced to scramble for his draw in round three.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Underwood, Toshi"] [Black "Lu, Ming"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "1884"] [BlackElo "2266"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. a3 Nge7 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Bb2 b5 10. Nbd2 ({If} 10. Bxb5 Nxe5 {as in the game.}) 10... a5 11. Bxb5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxb5 13. a4 Bd7 $6 (13... Bc4) 14. b5 $1 {Now the Bishop on d7 looks a bit silly.} Qb6 15. Ndf3 (15. O-O $1 Nxd4 $140 $4 16. Nxd7 Kxd7 17. Nc4 $1 $18) 15... Bb4+ 16. Kf1 $6 (16. Nd2 $1 Nxd4 17. O-O $40) 16... f6 17. Nd3 Bd6 (17... Nd6 {with the idea of ...Nc4}) 18. Rc1 Ke7 19. g3 (19. g4 $5 Nh6 20. Nc5) 19... Rac8 20. Kg2 Rc4 21. Qb3 Rhc8 22. g4 Nh6 (22... Nxd4 $1 23. Nxd4 Rxd4 24. Bxd4 Qxd4 {and the bishops and central pawn mass make up for the exchange.}) 23. h3 Nf7 24. Ba3 e5 $2 25. dxe5 fxe5 26. Ndxe5 Nxe5 27. Nxe5 Rf8 28. Bxd6+ Qxd6 29. Nxc4 dxc4 30. Qxc4 Be6 31. Rhe1 (31. Qc7+ Qxc7 32. Rxc7+ $18 ) 31... Rxf2+ $1 32. Kxf2 Qh2+ (32... Qh2+ 33. Ke3 Bxc4 34. Rxc4 Kf6 {and only White can win this.} (34... Qxh3+ $2 35. Kd4+ Kf6 36. Kd5)) 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Round three also saw Yesun Lee take down third seed Evan Park.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Lee, Yesun"] [Black "Park, Evan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1879"] [BlackElo "2245"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r4/p4pk1/1p2qrpp/2pp4/4n3/2PRPN1P/PP3PPQ/5RK1 b - - 0 27"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] {Park has a great position after Lee's adventures in the London (Opening) went a bit awry. But how he takes things a bit too far.} 27... Rxf3 $6 {Too aggressive.} (27... Re8) 28. gxf3 Ng5 29. Qg3 Nxh3+ 30. Kg2 Ng5 31. Rh1 (31. Rfd1) 31... Qf6 32. Rhd1 h5 $2 (32... d4 $5) 33. Rh1 $6 (33. Rxd5 $1 h4 34. Qg4 {and Black's attack is history.}) 33... c4 (33... d4 $1 34. cxd4 Rd5 {with counterplay}) 34. Rd2 b5 35. Rdd1 a5 36. Rh4 b4 37. Rhd4 {Now Lee has the right idea.} bxc3 38. bxc3 Ne6 39. Rxd5 h4 40. Qh2 Rxd5 41. Rxd5 h3+ 42. Qxh3 Qxc3 43. Qg4 Qb4 44. a3 Qb3 45. Rxa5 c3 46. Qb4 Qc2 47. Ra8 Qd3 48. Rc8 Qf5 49. Qxc3+ f6 50. Qc6 Ng5 51. Qc7+ Nf7 52. Rb8 Qg5+ 53. Kf1 Qd5 54. Rb7 Qd3+ 55. Kg2 1-0 [/pgn]

K-5 Championship There remain twelve perfect scores in the 175 player K-5 Championship: Jayden Lee, Erick Zhao, Rohan Padhye, Brian Tay, Jed Sloan, Jack Yang, Jayden Lang, Caden Qiao, Andrew Feng, Cooper Ho, Ronit Chandra, and Henry He.

Here too upset draws and wins have not been uncommon, beginning with Rex Zhu’s draw against third seed Ronen Wilson in round one.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.10"] [Round "1.9"] [White "Zhu, Rex"] [Black "Wilson, Ronen"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D13"] [WhiteElo "1470"] [BlackElo "2041"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. Nf3 e6 7. e3 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9. Bb5 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Re1 Rfd8 12. a3 Rac8 13. Rc1 a6 14. Bd3 b5 15. b4 Na7 16. Qd2 Rc7 17. Rc2 Rdc8 18. Rec1 Bc6 19. Ne5 Nd7 20. Nxd7 Rxd7 21. Ne2 Re8 22. Rc5 Rc7 23. Qc2 g6 24. e4 dxe4 25. Bxe4 Bxe4 26. Qxe4 Rec8 27. g3 Rxc5 28. Rxc5 Rxc5 29. dxc5 Qc7 30. Nd4 e5 31. Ne2 Nc6 32. Nc3 Qd7 33. Qd5 Qxd5 34. Nxd5 a5 35. bxa5 Nxa5 36. Nc3 Kf8 37. Kf1 Ke7 38. Nxb5 Kd7 39. Nd6 f5 40. Ke2 Kc6 41. Nf7 Nc4 42. Kd3 Kxc5 43. Kc3 e4 44. Kb3 e3 45. fxe3 Nxe3 46. Ng5 h5 47. Ne6+ Kd6 48. Nf4 g5 49. Nxh5 g4 50. a4 Nf1 51. Kb4 Nxh2 52. Kc4 Nf1 53. Kb5 Kc7 54. Kc5 Nxg3 55. Nxg3 f4 56. Ne2 f3 57. Ng3 Kb7 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Fourth seed Troy Cavanah had to work hard for his draw against Dylan Yu in round two.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.10"] [Round "2.9"] [White "Yu, Dylan"] [Black "Cavanah, Troy"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B21"] [WhiteElo "1583"] [BlackElo "2033"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 d6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Qe2 a6 9. Rd1 Qc7 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Rac1 O-O 12. Bb3 Qb8 13. e5 Nh5 14. Bg5 dxe5 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16. Nxe5 Nf4 17. Qe3 Neg6 18. Nxg6 Nxg6 19. Rd2 b5 20. Rcd1 Bb7 21. Rd7 Nh4 22. f3 Nf5 23. Qe2 Bc6 24. Rxf7 Rxf7 25. Qxe6 Qb6+ 26. Kh1 Nh6 27. Bd5 Rd8 28. Bxc6 Rxd1+ 29. Nxd1 Qc7 30. Be8 Qd8 31. Bxf7+ Nxf7 32. Ne3 Kf8 33. h3 Qe8 34. Qxe8+ Kxe8 35. Kh2 Kd7 36. Kg3 Ne5 37. b4 Ke6 38. f4 Nc6 39. a3 a5 40. bxa5 Nxa5 41. Kf3 Kd6 42. Ke4 Kc5 43. Kd3 Nb3 44. g4 Nd4 45. Ke4 Ne2 46. f5 Kd6 47. g5 Nc3+ 48. Kd3 Nb1 49. g6 hxg6 50. fxg6 Nxa3 51. Nf5+ Ke5 52. Nxg7 Kf6 53. Ne8+ Kxg6 54. Ke4 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

K-3 Championship 16 players are at 3-0 in this 180 person field: Alex Zhang, Anjaneya Rao, Xan Meister, Omya Vidyarthi, Nikash Vemparala, Carter Ho, Daniel Yan, Jasper Ho, Neeraj Harish, Nate Ziegler, Samuel Qin, Yiding Lu, Aliana Fausto, Rafi Andranigian, Nicholas Bear, and Aaradhya Panda. Most of the top players have come through the first three rounds unscathed in the K-3. One notable exception is top seed Andrew Jiang, who lost in round three with an mistake right before move forty.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "3.11"] [White "Jiang, Andrew"] [Black "Bear, Nicholas"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1889"] [BlackElo "1531"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r4/6n1/1k5p/R2p1pp1/2pP4/2P2PP1/2N2K1P/8 w - - 0 39"] [PlyCount "3"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 39. Rc5 $4 Ne6 {and the rook is trapped!} 40. Ke1 0-1 [/pgn]

New York Primary Champ Tani Adewumi, who came to national prominence earlier this year, sits at 2-1 in the K-3 Championship section.  Adewumi lost in round one to Otto Restelli, but won in rounds two and three, and is working his way back up the pairing sheet. K-1 Championship At 181 players, the K-1 is the largest of the four Championship sections, and a whopping 17 players are at 3-0 as the fourth round of play begins: Krishna Kishore Rallabandi, Sanjeev Ganga, Alexander Braun, Vihaan Jammalamadaka, Kyle Wang, Connor Wang, Leo Yang, Bryson Wolf, Oliver Ohly, Maxwell Meister, Mason Li, Jack Guttman, Jack Judy, Ren Lutfiyya, Samant Sen, David Figelman, and Albert Shi.

No games are available from this section. In other news… There’s always more to a US Chess Scholastic National than just the main events. Grandmaster Mackenzie Molner presented a lecture entitled “Reacting to a Threat” this morning.

A scholastic meeting is underway in the Presidental Boardroom A as this goes to press.

And the Girls Club is in full swing!

The livestream with WGM Katerina Nemcova and IM Eric Rosen kicks off tonight with analysis of the round five action. Check out our Twitch channel – twitch.tv/uschess – for all the fun! Note: all photos courtesy of Betsy Zacate /www.zacatedesign.com

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