Inside Story: Tarjan on the Larry Evans Memorial and the Next Generation

Editor's note: This story first appeared in the June 2023 issue of Chess Life Magazine. Consider becoming a US Chess member for more content like this — access to digital editions of both Chess Life and Chess Life Kids is a member benefit, and you can receive print editions of both magazines for a small add-on fee.

Atwell moments before her first grandmaster scalp (courtesy of the subject)

The 2023 Larry Evans Memorial was held from April 7-9 at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada. The organizing team lead by Jerry Weikel was dealt a wildcard just before the new year when the original playing site canceled their contract. But co-organizer Fran Weikel had an ace up her sleeve and worked out a deal with Circus Circus just in time.

This was a nice event for me personally. Taking two byes and winning my four other games, I finished clear first. It helped that I avoided being paired with the other two GMs in the field — Melik Khachiyan and Sergey Kudrin — but there was a reason for that: The youngsters were nicking them left and right!

Kids today have no respect for their elders, but the author managed to avoid the same fate as his colleagues (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Playing on first board in the fourth round were two of America’s most talented juniors, FM Ruiyang Yan and newly-minted national master Rose Atwell. As one of the tournament directors pointed out before the round, this was (surprisingly) the first time in the history of the tournament that first board was held down by two females.

Atwell had a particularly good tournament, defeating Kudrin and Yan, and drawing with Khachiyan. The win over Kudrin was, I’m told, her first grandmaster scalp.

Below are Atwell's own notes to her win against Kudrin and Tarjan's notes of his win over Atwell.