The Kings and Queens of America: U.S. Championships Kick Off in St. Louis

Every year, a dozen each of America’s top men and women flock to the Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC) to play in the U.S. Championships, an invitational round-robin filled with long battles and intense calculations. With new players emerging and old players improving, it is more competitive than ever to vie for a spot in America’s premier invitational tournament. This year’s field may be one of the strongest yet, with nine of the 12 players in the open section boasting a FIDE rating of over 2650 and over half of the players in the women section with a 2300+ FIDE rating.

Anna Zatonskih looks to ride the momentum from her Cairns Cup victory earlier this year (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

For over a decade, the U.S. Chess Championships have been hosted by the SLCC. According to former World Junior champion GM Jeffrey Xiong — who is playing in the Championships for the eighth year now — the conditions are some of the best he’s ever played in. Mid-game, players enjoy the serene atmosphere of the playing hall and are offered a variety of food choices. The generous space on and between boards gives players plenty of room to move around and enter the perfect thinking pose. With an afternoon start time, friendly single round days, and two rest days, the two-week invitational tournament gives America’s most talented players the best opportunity to showcase their full potential.

Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield with the traditional starting bell (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

SLCC has hosted the tournament for 15 years now, but the U.S. Championships is a long-standing tradition, dating all the way back to 1936. Many winners of this competitive tournament are now legendary names engraved in every chess player’s heart. It was in the 1963-1964 championships that Bobby Fischer, whose famous (and so-far unmatched) 11–0 record at the U.S. Championships has caused the Fischer prize to be named after him: a $64,000 bonus for a perfect scorer.

Sam Sevian has had a number of successful results both online and in-person as of late, and jumped out to an early lead today (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

With a whopping 10 out of the 12 games drawn today, only one person from each section remains in contention for the Fischer prize: GM Sam Sevian of the open section and IM Nazi Paikidze of the women's section.

Sevian actually broke records for youngest expert, national master, IM, and GM on his way up, and his victory against GM Ray Robson, who recently won the 2023 Prague Masters, showcases great technique in sharp positions. A French Defense quickly devolving into chaos saw both kings being stripped of their shelter and bombarded by the enemy heavy pieces. However, a nice tactic by Sevian allowed him to bring his own king to safety and acquire a decisive two pawn advantage.

Two-time U.S. Women’s Champion Paikidze kept the audience at the edge of their seats in her game against former U.S. Junior Girls champion FM Ashritha Eswaran. Starting with the thrust g2-g4 in an equal position, Paikidze promoted a second queen and marched her king all the way up to h4 after being chased by Eswaran’s queen-and-knight duo.

Nazi Paikidze is one of several former champions looking to add to her trophy case this year (courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Eswaran kept up the pressure, blowing up the pawn cover of Paikidze’s king, but the king walk was ultimately successful and after sacrificing the second queen, Paikidze emerged a piece up. Not a bad show for the first round!

Although the players dedicate countless hours of practice to climb to the top, many of them do so while leading busy outside-of-chess lives. GM Andrew Tang, who earned his qualification spot by winning the U.S. Open with a convincing 8/9 after clinching a must-win last round with the black pieces, graduated from Princeton University earlier this year. The famous Twitch bullet and blitz streamer is now working at a busy job in New York and is taking time off to play in what he calls an opportunity of a lifetime.

Andrew Tang took a break from bullet to teach a lesson in defending rook endgames (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

In Tang’s game against former U.S. Champion GM Sam Shankland, Shankland’s strong a-file pressure and bishop pair in an equal, queenless middlegame forced Tang into a pawn down rook endgame. However, Tang showed great endgame technique by sacrificing his passed b-pawn and creating a fortress down two pawns. It’s not every day that one sees two connected passers frozen in their tracks!

WGM Jennifer Yu — the current U.S. Women’s Champion — is also a student at Harvard University, and her busy school work schedule, often extending past midnight, doesn’t stop her from playing great chess. Yu’s balance between chess and schoolwork helps keep her mind fresh after tough games and helps her persevere through long tournaments.

Reigning champion Jennifer Yu (L) faced a tough challenge from Tatev Abrahamyan (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Yu’s first round match saw her with the white pieces against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, three-time runner up in the U.S. Women’s Championships, and although the game ended in a draw, the first player was constantly pressing in an opposite side castling King’s Indian. Experience the intensity of their opposite-colored bishops fight below:

Also simultaneously thriving in the school world and chess world is FM Ruiyang Yan, who is playing in the tournament while in the notoriously busy junior year of high school. Yan has had a great run this summer, placing second at the U.S. Junior Girls and defending her Haring Invitational Tournament champion for the third consecutive time. Her “Homework is the best prep” philosophy appeals to many scholastic chess players around the nation.

Ruiyang Yan is the wildcard in this year's event, but don't count her out! (courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Although starting out as the rating underdog, a few precise blows in a same-side castling Sicilian gave her a massive three-on-zero pawn majority and a large advantage against third-rated junior girl, WGM Thalia Cervantes. An intense endgame ensued, with Cervantes’ exchange against Yan’s passed pawns, but the rook eventually stopped the pawns and the game ended in a draw. Here is the creation story of the pawn mass:

A common advice for a chess player is to “keep their knife sharp,” and IM Carissa Yip definitely took that advice to heart. The 2021 U.S. Women’s Champion has had a busy run, playing at the World Open, U.S. Junior Girls, and FIDE Women World Cup, and just a few days ago returned from the World Junior Girls in Mexico after tying for first place. Yip, who first played in the U.S. Championships at age 12, says that the one-game-a-day schedule helps her balance work and rest, especially for long tournaments like these.

There was no chance of a 'grandmaster draw' in Krush versus Yip, which was easily one of the most captivating games of the round (courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

A strong round one pairing against eight-time U.S. Women Champion GM Irina Krush didn’t deter the duo from putting up a spectacular fight, with Yip playing a notoriously sharp King’s Indian. Amusingly, Krush’s active f2-f4 and g2-g4 thrusts snowballed into a massive kingside attack with the white pieces, which is normally where black attacks, and White eventually won an exchange there. However, Yip defended tenaciously along the open g-file and soon found an inroad into the white camp. The chaos settled peacefully though, with the opposite-colored bishops' endgame sealing the draw. See Black’s counterattack below: the last chaos before the calm:

With the abundance of draws for round one, I predict that we may run out of perfect scorers in as early as round two, and almost definitely by round three. The question is, how long will our sole leaders GM Sam Sevian and IM Nazi Paikidze lead for, and how many chasers will be on their tails? Stay tuned for future rounds, and tune in at 1:20pm CST daily to watch the live broadcast and commentary of the games!