National HS: The Main Event Begins

The 2019 National High School Championship is underway tonight, with Round 2 being played as this goes to press. THE MAIN EVENT Most of the top boards came through Round 1 unscathed in the Championship section, although there were more than a few draws. Blitz Champ and Championship fourth seed IM Bryce Tiglon was held to a draw by Hemachandra Rambha, of whom we will have more to say shortly!

[pgn] [Event "2019 High School K-12 National Champion"] [Site "Schaumburg, Illinois, United "] [Date "2019.03.15"] [White "Tiglon, Bryce"] [Black "Rambha, Hemachandra"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B38"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Bd7 10. h3 Rc8 11. Qd2 a5 12. Rfd1 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. Qe3 Nd7 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. b3 Nc5 17. e5 Ne6 18. exd6 exd6 19. Qg3 Qf6 20. Rxd6 b5 21. Rad1 b4 22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. R6xd5 Nf4 24. R5d2 Rcd8 25. Bf1 Rxd2 26. Rxd2 Re8 27. f3 Re3 28. Qf2 Qg5 29. Kh2 Qe5 30. g3 Qc3 31. gxf4 Rxf3 32. Qd4+ Qxd4 33. Rxd4 Rxf1 34. Kg3 Rg1+ 35. Kf3 Rh1 36. Rd5 Rxh3+ 37. Kg2 Rh5 38. Rxh5 gxh5 39. Kg3 Kf6 40. Kh4 Kf5 41. c5 Ke6 42. Kxh5 Kd5 43. Kh6 Kxc5 44. Kxh7 Kd4 45. Kg7 Kc3 46. Kxf7 Kb2 47. f5 Kxa2 48. f6 a4 49. bxa4 b3 50. Kg8 b2 51. f7 b1=Q 52. f8=Q Qg6+ 53. Kh8 Qh5+ 54. Kg8 Qg4+ 55. Qg7 Qxa4 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Among other leading players, WGM Jennifer Yu could only draw against Rishi Narayanan, and both Christopher Shen and Sahil Sinha were also nicked for half points by Marissa Li and Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran respectively.

[pgn] [Event "2019 High School K-12 National Champion"] [Site "Schaumburg, Illinois, United "] [Date "2019.03.15"] [White "Narayanan, Rishi"] [Black "Yu, Jennifer"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D19"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. e4 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bh5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Qe3 Be7 15. Ng5 Bxg5 16. Qxg5 Qxg5 17. Bxg5 Nb8 18. Rfc1 Nc6 19. Be3 Rac8 20. Rc3 Nb4 21. Rac1 Rxc3 22. Rxc3 Nxd3 23. Rxd3 Rc8 24. Bd2 f6 25. Rc3 Rxc3 26. Bxc3 fxe5 27. dxe5 Be8 28. a5 Kf7 29. f4 Kg6 30. Kf2 Kf5 31. Ke3 Bb5 32. Bd4 a6 33. Kf3 h5 34. h4 Ba4 35. g3 Bb5 36. Bc5 Bc6 37. Bd4 Bb5 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "2019 High School K-12 National Champion"] [Site "Schaumburg, Illinois, United "] [Date "2019.03.15"] [White "Li, Marissa"] [Black "Shen, Christopher"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E94"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. f3 c6 11. Qd2 d5 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. exd5 Nb6 14. Bf2 Nfxd5 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Bf1 Ba4 18. b3 Bd7 19. Rac1 Rac8 20. Qb4 Qg5 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Nb5 Bf8 23. Nd6 Rc6 24. Qb5 Qxb5 25. Nxb5 Bc5 26. Nxa7 Bxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Rc2+ 28. Kg3 Rxa2 29. Nb5 Be6 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Nd4 Bd7 32. Rb8 Bc8 33. Nb5 Ra8 34. Rxa8 Nxa8 35. Nd6 Nb6 36. Nxc8 Nxc8 37. Kf4 Kf6 38. Ke4 Nd6+ 39. Kd5 Nf5 40. Ke4 Ke7 41. g3 Kd6 42. Bc4 f6 43. Bg8 h6 44. Bf7 Ne7 45. f4 g5 46. fxg5 fxg5 47. h4 gxh4 48. gxh4 Nc6 49. Kf5 Ne5 50. Bg8 b6 51. Kf6 b5 52. Kg7 Ng4 53. Kg6 Ke5 54. Bf7 b4 55. Kh5 Kf5 56. Be6+ Kxe6 57. Kxg4 Ke5 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

SCENES FROM THE PLAYING HALL IM Eric Rosen is roaming the tournament site, taking pictures for CLO and Chess Life. He sent in these candids from the playing hall.

MORE THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH While “the play’s the thing,” there was a lot more going on in Schaumberg today than just the tournament itself. The Girls Club, hosted by new US Chess Women’s Program Director and WGM Jennifer Shahade, is open to all female players along with their families and coaches. Today GM Jeffery Xiong stopped by for a meet and greet, and Shahade was on hand for analysis and a lecture.  

Both Shahade and WIM Carolina Blanco will participate in simuls in the Girls Club on Saturday, and WCM and Utah State Representative Stephanie Pitcher will join the Club via livestream. Not to be outdone, GM Vladimir Georgiev gave a 19 board simul in the morning, and then was available for “All Comers” blitz in the afternoon. Hemachandra Rambha was one of two players to defeat the Grandmaster, an auspicious omen that portended his draw against Tiglon. Niko Pompe, a sixth-grader from Illinois, also earned a win against the GM.

NM and US Chess Executive Board member Ryan Velez gave the first of his three Educational Seminars. Friday’s session, titled “My First Tournament,” was well-attended and well-received.

THE LIVESTREAM GM Mesgen Amanov, a Chicago resident, leading scholastic coach, and CLO author, will team with WGM Shahade for a livestream from Schaumberg beginning with Round 5 (Saturday, 7pm CST). Amanov and Shahade will cover the top boards, and special guests may drop in. Be sure to tune in to twitch.tv/uschess to catch all the action and join in the comments!

BE SOCIAL! Keep up with everything that is going on at the National High School here at CLO and on US Chess social media: Standings, pairings, etc.: http://www.uschess.org/results/2019/hs/ Live game coverage: http://www.uschess.live/ Livestream on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/uschess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/us_chess/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/USChess Use the hashtag #HSChessChamps for your posts and tweets!