U.S. Open Day Two: Big Day in Grand Rapids

38 years ago in 1985, the first Denker Tournament of High School State Champions was held: a melting pot for strong chess players all over the nation. Since then, multiple other tournaments emerged like flowers in a blossoming garden, including the Barber Tournament for Middle School Champions, the Haring Tournament for Girls Champions, the Irwin Tournament for Senior Champions, the Rockefeller Tournament for Elementary Champions, and the Weeramantry tournament for Blitz Champions. With one (and occasionally two) representatives per state, these invitational tournaments ensured that there was a rich diversity among the players, and the players not only played for themselves, but also for their state!

The room where it happened (photo John Hartmann)

This year’s tournaments were held at the beautiful Devos Place in Grand Rapids, MI, and many players may have passed by multiple U.S. states and the beautiful Lake Michigan along their commute. After an eventful round one to kick off the event, day two was projected to heat up significantly, and rounds two and three certainly did not disappoint. With many of the top seeds beginning to clash, there were many exciting games and quite a few upsets.

Round Two

Denker

The Denker section featured multiple boards with masters on both sides, but most of the top players survived! In James L Nguyen (TN) – IM Arthur Guo (GA), Guo whipped up a nice attack from the Black side of a closed Ruy Lopez, opening up the kingside and never looking back.

Arthur Guo (pictured here in round three) leads the way after day two (photo Daniel Day)

Another notable game was the battle between FM Terry Luo (DE) and Advaith Vijayakumar (WA), where both sides demonstrated incredible accuracy. Although the players ultimately agreed to a draw under mutual time pressure, the game was far from boring; a seemingly stale endgame featuring the bishop pair against the knight pair quickly spiraled out of control into a pawn race, with both sides’ pawns reaching as far as the seventh/second rank. The speed at which the pawn race opened up serves as a testament to how dynamic chess can be!

The five players over 2400 who won their first game still had perfect scores going into round three: IM Arthur Guo (GA), IM Evan Park (PA), IM Maximillian Lu (CT), FM Gus Huston (NY), and FM Sharvesh Deviprasath (TX). They are accompanied by FM Vishnu Vanapalli (NC) and FM Zoey Tang (OR). Also springing to a 2/2 score were Aarush Vinod and Levon He, who both triumphed over their master opponents, FM Rushaan Majahan and Alan Song, respectively.

For the first two rounds at least, Alex Karns (MT) has certainly been the dark horse; after taking down a master in the first round, he held IM Jason Wang, the top seed, to a draw. With nine players on 2/2 and multiple 1½-pointers, the tournament has only started, and with everyone still in contention, a very exciting round three is guaranteed.

Barber

The Barber section saw multiple 2000+ players play each other for round two, and with so many expert and master players clashing, it was natural that an upset would occur. In a wild opening exchange between Henry Deng (CA-N) and Kaustabh Kodihalli (ID), with a whopping three total sets of doubled pawns, Kodihalli managed to steer a Rossolimo Sicilian towards a favorable endgame, controlling the only open file. With a rook on the second rank, the second player seized the advantage and converted with deadly precision, not giving white any chances back into the game.

With this win, Kodihalli joined the group of leaders alongside Jesse Ren (MI), Eric Feng (MA), Ronen Wilson (VA), Jasmine Su (CT), Sihan Tao (CA-S), Narayan Venkatesh (NJ), Yiding Lu (WA), and FM Erick Zhao (PA). Although he took a bye in round one, rating favorite FM Brewington Hardaway (NY) is also still in contention with 1½ points, after scoring a win in round two. After two rounds, only two 2200+ rated players sit with a perfect 2/2, but with four rounds left, this is still anyone’s tournament.

Haring

The Haring Tournament of Girls Champions saw no upsets in round two, but a few of the top boards were held to a draw. In Aradh Kaur (WI) – Esther Jou (CA-S), multiple minor pieces were traded in the opening, and although the first player amassed an advantage in the middlegame with a few precise piece maneuvers, Jou was able to survive an exchange down position by implanting her bishop on a powerful outpost.

Sahana Aravindakshan (NJ) and WCM Chance Nguyen (VA) were also held to draws by Celina Zhou (MO) and Lacey Wang (CT), leaving only seven players with a perfect 2/2 score.

FM Ruiyang Yan (CA-N), the rating favorite and last year’s Haring champion, just came from the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship a few days ago, where she achieved an impressive second place finish with 6/9 points. Her second-round battle against Irene Jiao Fei (IA) started off with a massive pawn chain, giving Fei more queenside space and Yan more central space, but the rerouting of white’s unopposed dark squared bishop was enough for Yan to decisively break through in the center and secure the win.

There were only three other experts with 2/2: Asha Kumar (NC), Megan Paragua (NY), and WFM Nastassja Matus (MN), and with many of them about to face each other soon, the perfect score pool is growing smaller every round.

Irwin

Similar to yesterday, the Irwin Tournament of Senior Champions, with many experienced chess veterans, saw multiple upsets. One of the top board encounters, IM Ronald Burnett (TN) –Thomas J Sloan (MI), ended in as little as ten moves, when Sloan pulled off an opening trap that decided the game on the spot. In a bolt from the blue, the second player sacrificed his queen out of nowhere and a rare smothered mate motif appeared on the board.

Thomas Sloan (pictured here in round three) unleashed the fiercest tactic of the day in his second-round win against IM Ron Burnett (photo Daniel Day)

J Timothy Sage (MA) and James Altucher (GA) both pulled off upsets over their master opponents FM Javier Torres (FL) and Wilson K Gibbins (OR), respectively, to leapfrog into the perfect score group. GM John Fedorowicz (NY) was also held to a draw by Mike Sailer (SC), leaving GM Jesse Kraai (MD) as the only one of the four grandmasters in the field on 2/2 points.

Nikoloz Managadze has played enterprising chess to reach the top of the Irwin standings after day two (photo Daniel Day)

Entering round three, Kraai and IM Nikoloz Managadze (NJ) are at the front of the standings. Managadze’s king looked exposed for much of his game against Cotreau, but the result was never in doubt, as the first player seized two pieces for a rook and remained in the driver’s seat until the end.

Rockefeller

The Elementary tournament’s players are all under twelve years old, but there are so many experts and likely soon to be masters! Round two was no different from the first, with many upsets and exciting games. Two of the players around expert rating, Alex Haoning Chu (NC) and Vihaan Pendse (MN) were upsetted by Aastik Grover (NV) and Oliver Ohly (KS). However, the dark horse of the Elementary tournament so far certainly seems to be Yi Sun, who defeated the only titled player in round one, CM Eshaan Hebbar (NJ) and also drew Glenn Zhang (CA-S) in the second round, despite being over 300 points lower in rating.

Andrew Jing remains perfect after two days in the Rockefeller (photo Daniel Day)

The top duo Aiden Q Liu (CA-N) and Andrew Jing (DE) look solid, with both players emerging victorious in a piece-up endgame. Jing’s game against Michael Deng (MD) looked a bit scary towards the end with mutual passed pawns, but the first player didn’t flinch as his knight gobbled up all the threatening passers.

Round Three

With the evening round starting at 7 p.m. EDT, many players played deep into the night, with games regularly approaching or even passing midnight.

As expected, the action for the midpoint round of the tournament did not disappoint.

Denker

In the Denker section, IM Maximillian Lu and FM Sharvesh R Deviprasath continued to entertain the audience with their creative opening choices. While in round one, they both opted for 1. a3, they opted for a b3-system for this round, likely catching their opponents off guard.

Maximillian Lu likely realizing that he and Deviprasath will have to play 1. c3 tomorrow (photo Daniel Day)

Even though they gave their opponents a head start in control of the center, they both achieved solid results, with Deviprasath drawing against third seeded IM Evan Park and Lu scoring the full point against Aarush Vinod. See how Lu’s queenside fianchetto start snowballed into a big advantage:

IM Arthur Guo, the leader from last round, continues his lead with a victory against FM Zoey Tang.

Zoey Tang (L) played a classic Exchange sac in the Classical Sicilian against Guo, but wasn't quite able to hold on in the endgame (photo Daniel Day)

After Tang uncorked an exchange sacrifice in an open Sicilian, the game veered towards an equal endgame where Black’s pawn and superior structure compensated for the lost exchange, but Guo was able to both break in decisively with his rooks and stop the passed pawns in time.

Joining Lu and Guo as the only other perfect scorer is Levon He, who sprung to three points after prevailing over Advaith Vijayakumar in a tough King’s Indian battle. The three-pointers are followed closely by a large horde of players sitting at 2½/3, including: FM Gus Huston, FM Sharvesh Deviprasath, FM Vishnu Vanapalli, IM Evan Park, Nicholas De La Colina, and FM Terry Luo.

Barber

In the Barber section, the top players remained solid, with no upsets on the first few boards.

Erick Zhao leads the Barber after three rounds (photo Daniel Day)

FM Erick Zhao’s game against Jasmine Su was balanced for the whole opening and a majority of the middlegame, but Zhao discovered some nice geometry with his queen, utilizing a clearance, a discovered attack, and a fork, which proved enough to win a rook and the game.

The other tournament leaders from the last round, Eric Feng and Ronen Wilson, also picked up wins to continue their perfect scores, triumphing over Narayan Venkatesh and Yiding Lu, respectively. Jesse Ren, the only other master with a perfect score before the round, was held to a draw by Sihan Tao in an almost perfectly played Catalan by both sides. It is rare to see such a balanced game, and it is likely that both players could be happy about their accurate play!

Going into day three, we have three perfect scorers: Feng, Wilson, and Zhao, followed by four players on 2½/3 points: Jesse Ren, Sihan Tao, Andrew Jiang, and rating favorite FM Brewington Hardaway.

Haring

In stark contrast from the first two rounds, the Haring was full of surprising results in round three. Jwalanthi Ram triumphed over Megan Paragua, the latter being one of the youngest players in the Haring and a fast rising star.

Jwalanthi Ram scored a nice upset over rising star Megan Paragua in round three of the Haring (photo Daniel Day)

A balanced opening and middlegame quickly turned sideways as white’s passed pawn ran away a tad too fast. Sacrificing even the queen in its journey, White’s pawn was determined to make a touchdown, and its arrival on the coveted eight rank decided the game.

In Asha Kumar – FM Ruiyang Yan, the players both showcased strong understanding of the Queen’s Gambit Declined pawn structure, ending in a basically flawless draw. As Former World Champion Smyslov once said, “I will play 40 good moves. If you play 40 good moves, we will draw.” However, the players in question fought for a staggering 96 moves, trading all the way down to a five piece ending before peacefully shaking hands.

Asha Kumar's third place finish in the 2022 Haring (ahead of several U.S. Girls' Junior participants) was a surprise, but today she showed it was not a fluke (photo Daniel Day)

Asha Kumar's third place finish in the 2022 Haring (ahead of several U.S. Girls' Junior participants) may have been a surprise, but today she showed it was not a fluke (photo Daniel Day)

Two other perfect scorers from round two, WFM Nastassja Matus and Lilian Wang, also drew, leaving only two players on 3/3. Along with Ram, Sanjana Remesh is the other perfect scorer after three rounds, after she got the better of the King’s Indian middlegame against Sahana Aravindakshan. Next round the two three pointers will face, and the players from the 2½/3 group will vie for a chance at catching the leaders.

Irwin

The seniors’ round three looked solid, with the top seeds doing what they are best at: staying at the top! Both tournament leaders from the last round: Jesse Kraai and Nikoloz Managadze, won with the Black pieces. Managadze looked like he was struggling to regain the lost pawn after the Benko Gambit, but he pulled off a last minute comeback to win a key pawn and the game. Although the exchange French isn’t exactly the most winnable opening, Kraai pulled it off, after opposite castling ended disastrously for the first player:

The game between the two other 2/2 scorers, James Altucher and Karl Dehmult, ended in a perpetual check after a wild kingside attack by Dehmult in the middlegame.

He wasn't even in the top half of the pre-event standings, but Georgia's James Altucher is only a half-point behind the leaders after three rounds (photo Daniel Day)

This draw leaves Kraai and Managadze as the only three-pointers going into round four, making for a highly anticipated matchup between two of the top seeds of the tournament.

"Fed" leads the pack of players chasing Kraai and Managadze (photo Daniel Day)

Close behind them is a pack of 2½-pointers, including GM John Fedorowicz, who squeezed a win in a tough opposite-colored bishops endgame by making two connected passed pawns. See the close endgame below:

Rockefeller

In the Elementary Championship, the usual duo continued their streak. Aiden Q Liu and Andrew Jing both won with the Black pieces in a King's pawn opening. Jing’s game against Shawn Xu is a great example of how to convert a queenside space advantage from the Black side of the Ruy Lopez. Despite all the queenside pawns being traded at the end, a queen for a rook is simply too much to defend against.

Liu and Jing are joined by John Abraham, whose victory over Aastik Grover also puts him at a perfect 3/3. Yi Sun, our dark horse from the first two rounds, continues his non-losing streak with another 200 point upset draw. He’s now the only player in the top 10 with an under-1600 rating. Entering the second half of the tournament, we have 7 players above 2½, and it is still anyone’s tournament.

The Open

The U.S. Open is the ultimate test of chess endurance. With most open events lasting five or six days, the classical schedule of the tournament lasts a whole nine days with its leisurely one round a day pace. While the first four rounds won’t be broadcast, the top games will start to be broadcast after round four, and that’s also when the schedules will begin to merge, combining groups of players into one large section!

GM Dmitry Gurevich is awaiting his next victim in the traditional schedule (photo Daniel Day)

So far, after two rounds, the top players still remained solid, with all 1-pointers above 2200 winning their games and landing themselves on a perfect 2/2. Entering the third round, only 24 of the 150+ players still have 2/2, and by the fourth round, when broadcasting starts, we are expecting to see many master-versus-master games.

Kostya Kavutskiy of Chess Dojo fame is generously offering free private lessons every night at the U.S. Open (photo Daniel Day)

With three rounds completed now, the invitationals are in full swing! Tomorrow’s rounds four and five will be crucial for setting up the standings before the final round. Will we have a new leader? Will we have a clear leader or multiple co-leaders? Will we have a perfect scorer? Meanwhile, the U.S. Open is just getting heated up, with two of the nine rounds completed. In two days, the different schedules will start merging, adding to the fun!

The mark of security (photo John Hartmann)

Tune in at twitch.tv/uschess to watch live commentary of the tournaments today at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT with commentary by WGM Sabina Foisor and GM Kayden Troff.

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