Krush on Sunday in Orlando: "Everything to Lose"

Max Lu, who recently became the youngest US Chess master ever.

It's difficult to defend the position of top seed. Everything to lose, and little to gain is basically how it goes. When you win, you just confirm your ranking, but any slip up is already a disappointment. Some top seeds held on to their positions going into the final day, while others relinquished their seats by the stage. First grader Ronen Wilson (rated an incredible 1600!) and fourth grader Maximillian Lu (2170) are still on perfect scores, as is fifth grader Daniel Hung (2094). Of course, five rounds is not enough to determine a leader in most sections, and there are still many perfect scores. I will go out on a huge limb and predict that Maximillian Lu will keep control of his section :) Today I saw his game and it just seemed like he is able to create good positions.

Aristo Liu is pictured here during a critical moment of his round 5 game against Collin Le. Liu managed to win to reach 4.5/5 points and will face the only perfect score in the 7th grade section, Vincent Baker, on Sunday morning.

I took a walk around the lake looking for the alligator, but found some birds and the swimming pool instead. The walk confirmed that this really is a great venue, a point of view that several parents concurred with. Enjoy some chess highlights below and look out for the final report.

This was a game between two seventh graders, which reached a rare endgame of rook versus three connected passed pawns. It looked like Black should win this as the pawns are not so advanced yet. But next time I saw it....

[pgn] [Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.12.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Continuation"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7r/5k2/6PP/5P1K/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]{White's position has markedly improved! In fact, it looks like White has just
made 5 moves for free (h5,h6,f5,g6,Kh5) while Black has only succeeded in
putting the rook passively in front of the pawns. The passive positioning of
the rook doesn't allow Black to really use the power of this piece. Now it
looks as if White has enough counterplay.} 1... Kf6 2. g7 $4 {wrong pawn!} (2.
h7 $1 Ra8 3. Kh6 {Black cannot move the rook off the eighth rank, while g7 is
coming. Black has to be careful not to lose.} Rb8 4. g7 Rb3 5. g8=N+ Kxf5 6.
h8=Q Rh3+ 7. Kg7 Rxh8 8. Kxh8 {and a draw results.}) 2... Ra8 {and we can only
assume Black won, as the pawns are not going anywhere, and White is basically
in zugzwang. Note how in this variation the White king is deprived of an
active square (as on h6). Black will bring the king back to f7 to control g8
and then free the rook for active measures.} *
[/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.12.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "An Absolute Beauty"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r5kr/pp4pp/2n5/2qp1B2/4nN2/2PQ4/P5P1/4RK1R w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "9"]{This position occurred in one of the middle sections, perhaps fifth or sixth
grade.} 1. Be6+ Kf8 {I don't know what happened after this; White has numerous
promising continuations, but I wonder if White found:} 2. Rxe4 $1 dxe4 3. Rxh7
$3 {with the point} exd3 (3... Rxh7 4. Ng6+ Ke8 5. Qd7#) 4. Ng6+
Ke8 5. Rxh8+ Qf8 6.Rxf8#*
[/pgn]