Wu, Shen, and Balakrishnan Win $5,000 Scholarships in Norfolk

Three young champs took a bite out of future college tuitions by scoring $5,000 scholarships at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel as the U.S. Open Junior Championships finished their sixth and final rounds on Tuesday. Diminutive Rochelle Wu (Alabama) was standing tall at the end of the National Girls Tournament of Champions, finishing as the only clear first in the three prestigious junior tournaments of state champions. The 11-year-old thus captured a $5,000 college scholarship donated by Richard and Barbara Schiffrin. Each of the three championships offers a $5,000 college scholarship as first place, with tiebreaks deciding if necessary. But there are also six cash stipend prizes in each event provided by the U.S. Chess Trust, along with Upset and Best Game prizes. Each U.S. state (Northern and Southern California count as separate states) may designate one player to represent it in each of the three events.

Wu finished 5.5/6, allowing a draw only with Saithanu Avirneni (Georgia) in round five. Top-seeded Annie Wang (Southern California), the only NM in the event, was upset in round two by Meghana Bhanuprasad (Maryland). But Annie fought back to finish in clear second with 5.0. Marissa Li (Illinois), Sanjana Vittal (New Jersey) and Anupama Rajendra (Wisconsin) tied for 3^rd-5^th with 4.5. All six girls at the top went home with stipends from the U. S. Chess Trust. Ratings in the NGTOC ranged from Wang’s 2296 to 542. Girls from grades K-12 are eligible to represent their states. Here is a marathon win from Wu over World Schools Champ Naomi Bashkansky:

[pgn] [Event "Denker, Barber & NGTOC"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.07.31"] [White "Wu, Rochelle"] [Black "Bashkansky, Naomi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C72"] [WhiteElo "2082"] [BlackElo "2034"] [PlyCount "165"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:22:03"] [BlackClock "0:02:20"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. h3 h6 9. Be3 Nge7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Bb3 Qe8 12. Nbd2 Kh8 13. Rad1 b6 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Ne1 f5 16. f4 Ra7 17. Nd3 exf4 18. Nxf4 g5 19. Ne6 Bxe6 20. Bxe6 f4 21. Bf2 Ng6 22. Bb3 Nce5 23. Bd4 c5 24. Bxe5 Nxe5 25. Nc4 Nxc4 26. Qxc4 Ra8 27. Rd6 f3 28. Qd5 fxg2 29. Rxf8+ Qxf8 30. Kxg2 Rb8 31. e5 Qe7 32. Re6 Qc7 33. Qd6 Qxd6 34. exd6 Rd8 35. d7 Rxd7 36. Re8+ Bf8 37. Rxf8+ Kg7 38. Rf2 b5 39. Kg3 c4 40. Bc2 a5 41. Be4 b4 42. cxb4 axb4 43. Rc2 Rd4 44. Kf3 Kf6 45. Re2 h5 46. Bc2 g4+ 47. hxg4 hxg4+ 48. Kg3 b3 49. axb3 cxb3 50. Be4 Ke5 51. Bh7+ Kd5 52. Re3 Kc5 53. Rxb3 Kc4 54. Rc3+ Kb4 55. Bc2 Kb5 56. Bf5 Kb4 57. Re3 Rd2 58. b3 Rd1 59. Kxg4 Rd2 60. Kf4 Rb2 61. Be6 Rb1 62. Ke4 Rb2 63. Kd3 Rb1 64. Kc2 Rh1 65. Re4+ Kc5 66. Kb2 Kb5 67. Bd7+ Kc5 68. Rc4+ Kb6 69. Ka3 Rh7 70. Ba4 Ka5 71. b4+ Kb6 72. Rc6+ Kb7 73. Re6 Rh3+ 74. Bb3 Rg3 75. Ka4 Rg4 76. Ka5 Rg7 77. b5 Rd7 78. Bc4 Rd8 79. Re7+ Kb8 80. Ka6 Rd6+ 81. b6 Rd8 82. Bb5 Re8 83. Rxe8# 1-0[/pgn]

 

Four senior masters finished in a tie for 1^st-4^th with 5.0 in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions. Praveen Balakrishnan (Virginia) went undefeated and topped the pack on tiebreaks, and so qualified for the $5,000 college scholarship provided by the U.S. Chess Trust. Defeating one of the co-champs in round five surely boosted his tiebreaks:

[pgn] [Event "Denker, Barber & NGTOC"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.07.31"] [White "Balakrishnan, Praveen"] [Black "Tiglon, Bryce"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2478"] [BlackElo "2442"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:00:55"] [BlackClock "0:00:32"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2 Be7 9. f3 O-O 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. Rg1 Nb6 13. g5 Nh5 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Bd7 16. Nc5 dxc5 17. d6 Bf6 18. gxf6 Qxf6 19. Bxc5 Nf4 20. Be3 Ne6 21. Bh3 Rfd8 22. Bb6 Rf8 23. Kb1 Rab8 24. Bc7 Ra8 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Rg3 f5 27. Rdg1 Rf7 28. h4 Re8 29. h5 f4 30. Rg5 Qf6 31. Ba5 Re6 32. Qd5 Re8 33. Bc3 Be6 34. Qc5 Bf5 35. R5g2 Qe6 36. Re2 Qd7 37. Rxe5 Rd8 38. Re2 b4 39. Qxb4 Re8 40. Reg2 Bh3 41. Rxg7+ 1-0[/pgn]

Edward Song (Michigan), Bryce Tiglon (Washington), and George Li (Illinois) shared the top stipend prizes with Balakrishnan. Tiglon defeated Song earlier in the event.

[pgn] [Event "Denker, Barber & NGTOC"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.07.31"] [White "Tiglon, Bryce"] [Black "Song, Edward"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C85"] [WhiteElo "2442"] [BlackElo "2411"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:17:30"] [BlackClock "0:00:58"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Nd7 8. Nbd2 f6 9. Nc4 Nc5 10. Nh4 Be6 11. b3 Qd7 12. Ne3 g6 13. Bb2 O-O-O 14. Qe1 Bf7 15. g3 Ne6 16. f4 exf4 17. gxf4 c5 18. Rd1 Rhe8 19. Nhg2 Nd4 20. Qf2 f5 21. e5 Kb8 22. Rd2 Nc6 23. Rfd1 Nb4 24. d4 cxd4 25. Bxd4 Qc8 26. c4 Be6 27. Nd5 Nxd5 28. cxd5 Bxd5 29. Ba7+ Ka8 30. Rxd5 Rxd5 31. Rxd5 b6 32. Bxb6 Qb7 33. Rd7 Qxb6 34. Qxb6 cxb6 35. Kf1 g5 36. Ne3 Kb8 37. Nxf5 Bf8 38. fxg5 Bc5 39. e6 Rf8 40. Rf7 Rxf7 41. exf7 Kc8 42. g6 1-0[/pgn]

Meanwhile Song defeated his friend and #1 seed Craig Hilby in the final round to be co-champ.

Sungho Yim (Illinois) and Ryan Sowa (Rhode Island) also won stipends for finishing 5^th-6^th. US Chess ratings in the Denker spread from 2504 to 1138.

Christopher Shen (Ohio) and Justin Wang (Texas) both notched up undefeated 5-1 results in the Barber Tournament of High School Champions. Their head to head battle was drawn.

[pgn] [Event "Denker, Barber & NGTOC"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.07.31"] [White "Wang, Justin"] [Black "Shen, Christopher"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "2330"] [BlackElo "2307"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:39:51"] [BlackClock "0:19:42"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Bb3 Bd7 13. g3 O-O-O 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Nf3 Qc7 17. Qe2 Bc6 18. Ne5 Bd5 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. Qxg4 f5 21. Qe2 Rhe8 22. c4 Bc6 23. c5 Kb8 24. Rad1 Be4 25. Bc2 Bxc2 26. Qxc2 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Rd8 28. Re1 Qc6 29. Qc3 Rd7 30. Qe5+ Ka7 31. Qxe6 Rd1 32. Qe2 Rxe1+ 33. Qxe1 Qxc5 34. Qd2 g6 35. b3 Qe5 36. Kg2 Qe4+ 37. f3 Qe5 38. h4 Kb6 39. Kf2 Kc6 40. Kg2 h5 41. a4 b5 42. axb5+ Kxb5 43. Qd3+ Kb6 44. Qd8+ Kb5 45. Qd3+ Kb6 46. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

With better tiebreaks by a nudge, Shen went home with the $5,000 college scholarship donated by Dewain Barber himself through the U.S. Chess Trust. Wang shared the top stipend prizes. Owen McCoy (Oregon), Aydin Turgut (Illinois), Justin Chen (New York), Jason Yu (Washington), and Pieter Heesters (Maryland) all scored 4.5 to share 3^rd-6^th place stipends. Ratings in the Barber ranged from 2330 to 813. NTD Jon Haskel flawlessly directed all three events with help from NTD Brian Yang. Frank Johnson made sure the top boards were broadcast live. All three events are sanctioned by US Chess.

About 35 of the juniors chose to play even more chess by joining the U.S. Open Chess Championship, being held at the same location, in its six-day schedule. After all, they’re here—and just getting started. Top seeds in the Denker Craig Hilby as well as champions Praveen Palakrishnan and Bryce Tiglon  all have perfect 3-0 scores in the six day. They are joined by last year's NGTOC Champ Jennifer Yu. At the time of writing, five Grandmasters are tied for first in the traditional schedule of US Open: Yaroslav Zherebukh, Evgeny Postny, Alexander Lenderman, Sergey Erenburg and Angel Lopez Arribas. Follow results and standings here, games here, and look for Al Lawrence's next update on Friday.