Jeffery Xiong playing against Nicolas Checa at the US Junior Closed. Photo: Austin Fuller
Congrats to GM Jeffery Xiong, the 2016 US Junior Champion. Xiong finished the
ten-player round robin held from July 7-18 at the Saint Louis Chess Club with 6.5/9, a half point ahead of his nearest rival, Awonder Liang, who was clear second with 6/9. Play through a few key games below and see a
full report on uschesschamps.com by GM Robin van Kampen.
[pgn]
[Event "2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship"]
[Site "Chess Club and Scholastic Cen"]
[Date "2016.07.17"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Harmon-Vellotti, Luke"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2527"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "1:08:17"]
[BlackClock "0:32:06"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Rd1 Bc6 10. Nc3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Nc6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Bg5 Rb8 14. e3 Nd5
15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Ne4 a5 17. Nd2 c5 18. Nxc4 cxd4 19. Rxd4 Qc5 20. Rc1 Rb4 21.
Ne5 Qxc2 22. Rxc2 Rxd4 23. exd4 Rb8 24. Nc6 Rb6 25. Nxa5 Rb4 26. b3 Rxd4 27.
Nc6 Rd1+ 28. Kg2 Ra1 29. Nd4 Kf8 30. Nb5 Rb1 31. Nxc7 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]
[pgn]
[Event "2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship"]
[Site "Chess Club and Scholastic Cen"]
[Date "2016.07.17"]
[White "Liang, Awonder"]
[Black "Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:34"]
[BlackClock "0:01:37"]
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 e4 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bg5 Nbd7 8. Qb3
Bd6 9. Nh3 h6 10. Bf4 Nb6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Nb5 Qe7 13. Nxa7 Bxh3 14. Bxh3 Nc4
15. Qb5+ Kf8 16. Nc8 Qc7 17. Qb4+ Kg8 18. Ne7+ Kh7 19. O-O Rhe8 20. Nf5 e3 21.
fxe3 Nxe3 22. Nxe3 Rxe3 23. Rac1 Qe7 24. Qxe7 Rxe7 25. Bf5+ Kg8 26. a3 Rxe2 27.
Rf2 Re7 28. Kg2 Ne4 29. Rfc2 g6 30. Rc8+ Rxc8 31. Rxc8+ Kg7 32. Bg4 Nd2 33. Bf3
Nxf3 34. Kxf3 Kf6 35. Rc5 Ke6 36. Rb5 Kd6 37. Rb6+ Kc7 38. Rf6 h5 39. h4 Kd7
40. a4 Kc7 41. b4 Kd7 42. a5 Kc7 43. b5 Kd7 44. Kf4 Re4+ 45. Kg5 Rxd4 46. Rxf7+
Kc8 47. b6 Rg4+ 48. Kf6 Rxg3 49. Rc7+ Kb8 50. Rg7 Rf3+ 51. Ke5 Rf5+ 52. Kd6 Rf8
53. Kxd5 Kc8 54. Rxg6 Rf4 55. Rg8+ Kd7 56. Rg7+ Kc8 57. Rc7+ Kb8 58. Rh7 Kc8
59. Rh8+ Kd7 60. a6 1-0[/pgn]
