Tie-Breaks Loom With Two Rounds Remaining in National Championships

If any viewers were hoping for a clear frontrunner to emerge after seven rounds, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The leaders of the pack keep drawing, and the players just behind them keep winning crucial games. The result, in all sections, is a traffic jam at the top.

In the Girls’ Junior, there’s now a three-way tie for first between WFM Rachael Li, WGM Zoey Tang, and FM Megan Paragua, all with 5/7 points. Breathing down their necks, however, are FM Ruiyang Yan (4½/7), WIM Iris Mou (4/7) and Jasmine Su (4/7).

The picture in the Junior Championship isn’t much clearer. GMs Andy Woodward and Kirk Ghazarian are still tied for first with 5/7 points, while GMs Brewington Hardaway and Abhimanyu Mishra are each right behind them with 4½/7 points.

But if we call the youngsters’ sections a traffic jam, we’d have to call the Senior Championship a 20-car pileup. Following round seven, there are seven players within a single point of first place. GM Vladimir Akopian is alone atop the podium with 4½/7, but GMs Joel Benjamin and Alexander Fishbein won big games to join fellow GMs Larry Christiansen and Alexander Goldin in a four-way tie for second only a half-point behind Akopian. Plus, GMs Alexander Shabalov and Igor Novikov still have outside chances at 3½/7. All this considered, it seems likely that each of this year’s National Championships could head to tie-breaks.

Junior Championship: Status quo at the top

In the Junior section, the potential first place matchup between Woodward and Hardaway got off to a hot start, as Hardaway attempted the line 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5!? against Woodward’s flexible opening play. But, as ambitious as the game began, the players quickly began trading pieces and ended the game peacefully.

IM Nico Chasin managed the only decisive game of the round, beating IM Evan Park, but Chasin is unfortunately a bit too far behind in the standings to have a reasonable chance of making the podium. Ghazarian held a draw against IM Justin Wang to maintain his share of the pole position, while Mishra managed the same against IM Grayson Rorrer. Toward the bottom of the standings, IM Sandeep Sethuraman and FM Sharvesh Deviprasath also drew. Round 8 will see a clash between Mishra and Hardaway, and it will also give Nico Chasin a chance at spoiling Ghazarian’s tournament.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

Girls’ Junior: Rachael Li joins leaders

The story of the Girls’ Junior more-or-less mirrored what happened in the Juniors. The top two players, WGM Zoey Tang and FM Megan Paragua, played a back-and-forth Rossolimo Sicilian that eventually settled into a draw.

Another win on Tuesday saw Rachael Li's ascension up the leaderboard continue, and she now joins Megan Paragua and Zoey Tang in a tie for first (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Unfortunately for Paragua and Tang, their draw left the door open for the players directly behind them. WFM Rachael Li put together a very convincing win over WGM Rochelle Wu in a Closed Sicilian where Wu stumbled a bit out of the opening.

In the other decisive games, Mou managed a win over FM Rose Atwell with an outside-the-box treatment of the French, and WFM Laurie Qiu managed to score her first win (over WIM Chloe Gaw). For their part, Yan and Su kept themselves in the running with a draw. This will hopefully help her retain some confidence following a disappointing performance. With this many players at the top, it’s impossible to pick a marquee matchup for the 8th round. Any combination of finishes is still possible.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

Senior Championship: Who can catch Akopian?

In the Senior Championship, GM Joel Benjamin put together a convincing win against IM Timothy Taylor’s daring 1. f4 to keep himself within a half-point of Akopian before their round 8 showdown.

With his convincing takedown of Tim Taylor's Bird's Opening, Joel Benjamin joined the group of four players only a half-point behind Akopian (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

The other decisive contest, GM Alex Fishbein’s win over GM Alexander Shabalov, was an odd Sicilian with an early … Qb6. Shabalov’s commitment to playing offbeat openings proved costly however, and Fishbein scored his first-ever win against the Latvian-American.

Akopian managed to hold a draw against GM Larry Christiansen on the top board, just barely holding onto first place. In the other games, Goldin drew GM Gregory Kaidanov and and GM Igor Novikov drew GM Maxim Dlugy, but tragedy struck in the latter game. In the endgame, Dlugy blundered mate-in-three but Novikov, in time trouble, missed it! A win would have made Novikov the fifth player in the second-place logjam. All eyes will be on Joel Benjamin in round 8 as he has the White pieces against defending champion Vladimir Akopian.