Saturday Night in Schaumburg

It’s Saturday night in Schaumburg, and round five is well underway at the 2019 National High School Championship. Only four players remain perfect with 4/4 in the Championship: GM Nicolas Checa, FM and defending champion David Peng, FM Nikhil Kumar, and NM Zachary Tanenbaum. Kumar has White against Checa in round five, while Peng takes the White pieces against Tanenbaum. Readers should head to the US Chess Livestream at twitch.tv to keep up with their latest moves. GM Mesgen Amanov and WGM Jennifer Shahade are calling the action.

Nicolas Checa is America’s newest GM, having been awarded his title at the FIDE Board meeting at the World Teams in Kazakhstan earlier this month. He showed his Grandmaster technique in round four, grinding down NM Aydin Turgut in a long, instructive ending.

[pgn] [Event "2019 HS Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.03.16"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Checa, Nicolas"] [Black "Turgut, Aydin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E17"] [PlyCount "130"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 a5 8. Bg5 d6 9. Qc2 h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nc3 Nd7 12. Rad1 Re8 13. e4 e5 14. Nd5 exd4 15. Nxd4 Nc5 16. Nf5 Bxd5 17. cxd5 Qd7 18. Nd4 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Re7 20. Rd2 Rae8 21. Rde2 Qb5 22. Re3 Qb4 23. a3 Qd4 24. Rd1 Qa4 25. Qxa4 Nxa4 26. b3 Nc5 27. b4 Nd7 28. Rc3 axb4 29. axb4 Nf6 30. f3 Ra8 31. Bf1 g5 32. g4 Nh7 33. Rdc1 Ra7 34. h4 Kg7 35. h5 Nf6 36. Kf2 Kf8 37. Bb5 Kg7 38. R3c2 Kf8 39. Rd1 Kg7 40. Rdd2 Ra3 41. Ra2 Rb3 42. Rdb2 Rxb2+ 43. Rxb2 Nd7 44. Ra2 Ne5 45. Ra8 Kh7 46. Ke3 Kg7 47. Be2 Kh7 48. Rc8 Kg7 49. Kd4 Kh7 50. Kc3 Kg7 51. Kb3 Kh7 52. Ka4 Kg7 53. Kb5 Kh7 54. Ka6 Kg7 55. Rb8 Kf6 56. Rb7 Rd7 57. Ka7 c5 58. Rxd7 Nxd7 59. b5 Ke7 60. Kb7 f6 61. Kc7 c4 62. Bxc4 Ne5 63. Be2 Nd7 64. Kc6 Nc5 65. Kxb6 Kd7 1-0 [/pgn]

UPDATE: Checa has defeated Kumar in the fifth round as this story goes to press. He is at 5/5 going into Sunday’s play.

[pgn] [Event "2019 HS Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.03.16"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Kumar, Nikhil"] [Black "Checa, Nicolas"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D11"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bf5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5 Nbd7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. g5 Ne4 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. h4 Qa5+ 13. Bd2 Bb4 14. Bg2 Ne5 15. b3 Bxd2+ 16. Qxd2 Nd3+ 17. Ke2 Qxd2+ 18. Kxd2 Nxf2 19. Rhf1 Ng4 20. Bxe4 Rxh4 21. Rh1 Nh2 22. Kd3 Ke7 23. Rag1 Rah8 24. Rg2 Nf3 25. Rf1 Ne5+ 26. dxe5 Rd8+ 27. Bd5 exd5 28. cxd5 Rxd5+ 29. Kc3 Rh8 30. Rgf2 Rf8 31. Rd2 Rxd2 32. Kxd2 Rd8+ 33. Kc3 Rd5 34. Rg1 Ke6 35. e4 Rd7 36. Rh1 Kxe5 0-1 [/pgn]

Tanenbaum’s round four victory over Jacob Furfine featured intense attacks on both kings and a sharp tactical finish.

[pgn] [Event "2019 HS Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.03.16"] [Round "4.5"] [White "Tanenbaum, Zachary"] [Black "Furfine, Jacob"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B80"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r1k2r/1b3ppp/p2ppbP1/7P/1q1NPP2/2NQ4/1PP5/2KR3R w k - 0 22"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 22. e5 $1 dxe5 23. Nxe6 $1 Qe7 (23... fxe6 24. Qd7+ Kf8 25. Qf7#) 24. gxf7+ Qxf7 (24... Kxf7 25. Qf5 {and if} Qxe6 26. Rd7+) 25. Qh3 Rc6 26. f5 Bc8 27. Nd5 Bxe6 28. fxe6 Bg5+ 29. Kb1 Qf2 30. Qb3 Qa7 31. Qa4 1-0 [/pgn]

Blitz Champ IM Bryce Tiglon is working his way back from a first round draw, and his quick win in round four against Zak Cancio shows why he remains a force to be reckoned with. Will his “Swiss Gambit” work? We’ll find out tomorrow!

[pgn] [Event "2019 HS Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.03.16"] [Round "4.8"] [White "Tiglon, Bryce"] [Black "Cancio, Zak"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C04"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. c4 (6. Bd3 f6 7. Ng5 $5 Ndxe5 8. dxe5 fxg5 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Bxg6+ Kd7 11. c4) 6... f6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb5 a6 $6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. O-O fxe5 11. dxe5 Nc5 12. Nd4 Bd7 $2 (12... Ne6 $16) 13. Qc2 (13. f4 {now may be better, but White's doing well either way.}) 13... Qh4 14. f4 $1 Rb8 15. N2f3 Qd8 16. e6 Nxe6 17. Re1 Bb4 18. Nxe6 Qf6 19. Bd2 (19. Nxc7+ Kf8 20. Nxa6 $18) 19... Bxe6 20. Qxc6+ Kf7 21. Bxb4 (21. Rxe6) 21... Rxb4 22. Ng5+ 1-0 [/pgn]

CLO's photographer IM Eric Rosen has been busy this weekend, and here are some of today's best candids.

Round six starts tomorrow at 9am, and the seventh and final round kicks off at 2pm. US Chess will have live coverage on the Twitch stream, where Grandmasters Jeffery Xiong and Vladimir Georgiev are expected to appear. GM Var Akobian may also drop by. Feel free to join in the discussion! IMPORTANT LINKS 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! LINKS TO SECTION STANDINGS Championship Standings: Individual Team U1900 Standings: Individual Team U1600 Standings: Individual Team U1200 Standings: Individual Team U800 Standings: Individual Team Unrated Standings: Individual Team