Race Tightens with Two Rounds To Go at the U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior, and Senior Championships

From a “numbers” perspective, round seven’s impact on the standings of the 2024 U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior, and Senior championships was gentle, at best.

In the Senior, GM Vladmir Akopian kept his 1½-point gap ahead of the pack, IM Alice Lee and FM Rose Atwell increased their co-lead in the Girls, and GM Christopher Yoo maintained his (albeit dwindling) lead in the Junior.

Despite the consistency at the time, the games were far from dull, and we were treated once again with a bloodbath of a round, featuring eight decisive games out of 15. Some highlights include: White winning a game in the Senior with a king on e4 in the middlegame, a miracle perpetual queen trap save in the Junior, and GM Yasser Seirawan’s hand-selected “hot potato game” of the day in the Girls’ Junior that featured multiple plot twists, passed pawns, and promotion tactics.

Senior

One of the most exciting games in the Senior occurred between two of the tail-ends: GM Igor Novikov and IM Douglas Root. Not only did the game end with a king on e4 in the middlegame, but it began as a sharp battle right from the start, when the first player opted for a rare variation against Black’s King’s Indian Defense.

An ambitious King's Indian from Douglas Root saw him chase White's king into the center, but it wasn't enough! (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Instead of castling his king to safety like most chess textbooks recommend, Novikov buckled up for the ride and uncorked a daring bishop sacrifice (also the best move!) on move 12, opening the kingside and committing his king to the center. Sensing the danger, Root declined the sacrifice, drumming up counterplay on the f and g-files and exposing the first player’s disconnected rooks and stranded king. However, even with Novikov’s king being forced to f3 and then e4, his centralized pieces and superior minor piece prevailed.

The other decisive game of the Senior was between GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Jesse Kraai, which started off more peacefully with a Nimzo Indian Defense and same-side castling. But that didn’t last long! Things quickly heated up as Kraai sacrificed a pawn and unleashed a dangerous attack.

It happens to everyone: Gregory Kaidanov's blunder came just after equalizing against Jesse Kraai (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

With both black knights menacingly circling around Kaidanov’s king, it seemed like a “knightmare” for the first player, but precise, dynamic defense by Kaidanov led to an Exchange sacrifice, a promotion tactic, and a chaotic situation of mutually exposed kings.

Then, disaster struck on move 39: an unfortunate oversight of a mate allowed Kraai to clutch the victory and join the tie for second with a 4/7 score.

Tournament leader Vladmir Akopian kept his 1½-point lead after a draw against GM Melikset Khachiyan with the white pieces. After a “copycat” start in the Petroff defense, Akopian opted for the solid option, peacefully returning the pawn, liquidating, and transitioning into an equal endgame.

The other two games ended peacefully. GMs Alexander Shabalov and Joel Benjamin drew their game, as did GMs Larry Christiansen and Julio Becerra Rivero in a pure bishop endgame and a bishop-versus-knight endgame, respectively. With 4/7 scores, Rivero and Benjamin stay in the chase pack.

Girls’ Junior

In the Girls’ Junior section, both tournament leaders have caught fire. Starting out with a humble “plus one” score of 3/5 going into the rest day, both IM Alice Lee and FM Rose Atwell pulled further ahead of the field by each producing yet another win. This was the third victory in a row for Lee and the second in a row for Atwell. The duo are now neck-and-neck going into the final two rounds, but their round seven wins came in very different ways.

In Lee’s game against Jasmine Su, things started peacefully, with both players opting for a solid kingside fianchetto and quickly castling. A draw was all but certain until Su pressed forward with an aggressive pawn push, trying to undermine the first player’s slightly compromised kingside.

After a slow start (by her standards), Lee has been all smiles during her three-game winning streak (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

However, Lee kept her cool, utilizing tactics to emerge a pawn up in the endgame. Su defended stubbornly, activating her queen to set up a perpetual, but with exemplary technique, Lee tucked her king to safety, escorting her pawn home and scoring the full point. With this victory, the top seed and defending champion stays in the shared lead with 5/7.

In stark contrast, Atwell’s win over WFM Yassamin Ehsani was closer to an action movie than a chess game. Throughout the game, sharp positions and eventual time trouble left the spectators and commentators on the edges of their seats. Fittingly, it also won commentator GM Yasser Seirawan’s label for the “hot potato” game of the day, speaking to the fact that all three results were in play throughout.

Even though Lee keeps winning, Rose Atwell isn't going anywhere! The pair are still tied with only two rounds to go (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

A deceptively peaceful London System showed its nuances when Atwell launched an aggressive attack that started on the queenside but quickly pivoted to the kingside. When Ehsani discovered a resource to perpetually attack Atwell’s queen, the second player responded by counterattacking Yassamin’s queen! The position transformed from mutual en prise queens to mutual passed pawns, and the commentary room was analyzing lines with as many as three queens! Atwell eventually prevailed in this roller-coaster of a game, her pawn promoting just a tempo before Ehsani’s. With this victory, the returning invitee has gone from finishing tenth last year to fighting for the championship this year.

The remaining decisive game in the Girls’ Junior was again a battle between two New Yorkers: the 11-year-old WFM Megan Paragua and wildcard WFM Chloe Gaw, who are both making their debut in the event. Demonstrating strong theoretical knowledge, the duo traded queens in style to reach an equal endgame. The game seemed to be petering out to a draw until Paragua ambitiously grabbed a dangerous pawn and unleashed a devastating exchange sacrifice. Gaw defended resiliently, but two connected passers in a rook endgame was enough for the first player to convert.

The other two games in the Girls’ Junior ended peacefully. Indeed, both WIM Iris Mou’s game against WFM Rachel Li and FM Zoey Tang’s game against WIM Omya Vidyarthi demonstrated extreme precision throughout the whole game. Everyone involved in the two draws had an accuracy of over 97%.

Junior

The games in this round of the Junior Championship were as packed with excitement as one would expect from looking at the results. We saw a clever knight maneuver to trap a piece, an instructive rook endgame showing the complexities in even a two-versus-one same-side endgame, and an out-of-the-blue save against a deadly attack. The standings are closer than ever, with leader GM Christopher Yoo separated from the chasing duo of GM Andrew Hong and IM Jason Wang by just one half-point.

Christopher Yoo still leads the Junior, but after running into stubborn resistance in his game against IM Justin Wang, his lead has shrunk to a half-point (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

GM Andrew Hong won the longest game of the round against IM Jason Liang, lasting a whopping 106 moves. As if that is not tedious-sounding enough,, over half of these moves were within a tense rook endgame!

Andrew Hong (L) realized he was going to be at the board for a long time, eventually eking out an impressive victory in a theoretically drawn rook endgame (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

After Hong emerged with a slight pull in an advance Caro-Kann, he soon won a pawn in a rook endgame and was pushing for the win. However, Liang had his fundamental endgames down to a crisp, and knew that an outside-passed pawn with rook in front was usually a draw. The resulting two-versus-one same-side structure looked even more drawish, but a tricky series of checks from Hong dangerously sidelined the second player’s king, eventually allowing him to hide from the side checks and pick up the pawn for the win. With this win, Hong jumps to 5/7, joining the chaser pack.

Another exciting game was between GM Balaji Daggupati and NM Nicholas Ladan, which initially looked promising for Ladan after a strong opening landed him play against a weak isolated queen's pawn. However, Daggupati quickly recognized the weakness of the deceptively outposted d3-knight, tucking away his own knights to g1 and f3 to ensnare the trapped cavalry. Daggupati netted an extra piece and soon, an extra point.

The last decisive game of the round featured GM Arthur Guo against IM Jason Wang, and the ending of this one came as a shock to both the viewers and the commentators. Guo was in the driver’s seat for much of the opening and middlegame after seizing the bishop pair and launching a quick attack on the black king, but solid defense by Wang led to a relatively balanced final position:

Then suddenly, the result was posted, and instead of displaying a draw, it read “0-1” on the broadcast. As Wang later clarified, an unfortunate mental lapse from the first player caused him to touch a rook which would have cost decisive material. With this point, Wang joins the chaser pack with 5/7.

Although ending in a draw, the fight between GM-elect Andy Woodward and IM Brewington Hardaway was a great display of ambitious chess. After sacrificing first an Exchange and then a knight for the attack, Hardaway was on the verge of winning. But, despite being down two pawns in the final position, Woodward revealed a rare “queen trap draw.” by endlessly chasing Hardaway’s queen for a three-fold repetition.

It can be easy for one to look at the engine and point out how Hardaway could’ve won, but moves like 37. …Kh6! and 37. …Qf8!, giving away a whole knight, are such hard moves to find over the board, especially with just two minutes on the clock.

With just two rounds to go, we are only days away from crowning this year’s champions. Will anyone catch GM Vladmir Akopian in the Senior? Will IM Alice Lee or FM Rose Atwell remain sole leader in the Girls’ Junior, or will they both continue their winning streaks and force a playoff? Who will emerge victorious in the contentious fight to the top in the Junior? Anything can happen in the last two rounds of a chess tournament, so don’t miss the action! Tune in at 1:20 PM CDT today to watch the penultimate round.

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