2019-07-14

2019 U.S. Junior, Girls' Junior and Senior Championship Recap – Round 1


by Josh Friedel 
Yesterday the U.S. Junior, U.S. Junior Girls, and U.S. Senior Championships kicked off at the Saint Louis Chess Club. This is the first year all three events are taking place at the same time in the same location. The first round didn’t disappoint, as there were many exciting battles in all three sections.
U.S. Junior Championship

The U.S. Junior began with an eclectic mix of positional and tactical struggles. IM Brandon Jacobson got an overwhelming opening advantage as White against IM Hans Niemann, and finished off the game with fancy tactical play, including the move 27. B6! Temporarily sacrificing a queen. 
GM Nicolas Checa had slight positional pressure in an endgame against Atulya Vaidya, but the bottom seed was defending quite well.  Unfortunately for him, his 40th move Bd5 allowed Nicolas to trap his awkward rook on b5, and Atulya immediately had to resign.

The game between GM Andrew Tang and IM Joshua Sheng looked balanced for a long time. Joshua grabbed a pawn on h4, and while Andrew probably had ways to get good compensation, he failed to prove anything. After that things went from bad to worse, and Sheng reeled in the point quite convincingly.

Defending champion GM Awonder Liang converted a rook and knight endgame against IM Craig Hilby.  Hilby had his chances, but in the end Liang proved too mighty a foe. WGM Jennifer Yu took an exchange by grabbing a rook on a8, and afterwards was duly punished by GM John Burke.  
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WGM Jennifer Yu got a little too greedy against GM John Burke
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
The girls section saw White knights capturing rooks on a8 in two separate games. This worked quite poorly for 9-year-old Rachael Li, who dropped too much material in her quest to take the rook and lost in short order to WIM Agata Bykovstev.  To be fair to Rachael, Agata was putting her under some pretty strong pressure before she went after the rook. The risk paid off for WIM Rochelle Wu, however, who won an extremely complex fight against WIM Emily Nguyen. It looked dubious at first, but Emily allowed Rochelle to capture her queenside, and eventually those pawns won the game for White.

Defending champion FM Carissa Yip scored a nice positional win against bottom seed Veronika Zilajeva.  Particularly sweet was her move 20 Bb5, which secured her a strong knight against a bad bishop. WIM Thalia Cervantes had some chances as black against Ruiyang Yan, but opposite colored bishops proved to be too big an obstacle to overcome, and they drew their game after a long struggle.

Finally, WFM Martha Samadashvili drew a long game with FM Maggie Feng. It looked like Maggie was putting Martha under pressure in a lengthy struggle, and perhaps even could have pressed more in the final position, but in the end could find nothing better than delivering a perpetual.  
Defending Champion Carissa Yip won a nice positional game against Veronika Zilajeva
U.S. Senior Championship
When you think of the U.S. Senior Championship, sharp and exciting play may not be what first leaps to mind, but that is exactly how the first round began.  3-time US Champion Larry Christiansen destroyed the kingside of Jaan Ehlvest and won in convincing style in a mere 14 moves. Alex Yermolinsky seemed to be pressing against Igor Novikov, but was unable to generate any serious chances, and the game was drawn after 33 moves.

Alex Fishbein and Maxim Dlugy played down a theoretical line of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted where Black sacrifices the exchange. It looked like Maxim, playing Black, allowed Alex to simplify the game too much. In what appeared like a dead lost ending, however, Alex went astray and allowed Max to draw.

Alex Goldin got a promising opening position where he had a lot of extra space, which later transformed into a queen against rook and bishop advantage. Joel found pesky ways to defend, but in the end his position proved impossible to hold, and Goldin took the full point.  
WGM Jennifer Yu got a little too greedy against GM John Burke
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
The girls section saw White knights capturing rooks on a8 in two separate games. This worked quite poorly for 9-year-old Rachael Li, who dropped too much material in her quest to take the rook and lost in short order to WIM Agata Bykovstev.  To be fair to Rachael, Agata was putting her under some pretty strong pressure before she went after the rook. The risk paid off for WIM Rochelle Wu, however, who won an extremely complex fight against WIM Emily Nguyen. It looked dubious at first, but Emily allowed Rochelle to capture her queenside, and eventually those pawns won the game for White.

Defending champion FM Carissa Yip scored a nice positional win against bottom seed Veronika Zilajeva.  Particularly sweet was her move 20 Bb5, which secured her a strong knight against a bad bishop. WIM Thalia Cervantes had some chances as black against Ruiyang Yan, but opposite colored bishops proved to be too big an obstacle to overcome, and they drew their game after a long struggle.

Finally, WFM Martha Samadashvili drew a long game with FM Maggie Feng. It looked like Maggie was putting Martha under pressure in a lengthy struggle, and perhaps even could have pressed more in the final position, but in the end could find nothing better than delivering a perpetual.  
Defending Champion Carissa Yip won a nice positional game against Veronika Zilajeva
U.S. Senior Championship
When you think of the U.S. Senior Championship, sharp and exciting play may not be what first leaps to mind, but that is exactly how the first round began.  3-time US Champion Larry Christiansen destroyed the kingside of Jaan Ehlvest and won in convincing style in a mere 14 moves. Alex Yermolinsky seemed to be pressing against Igor Novikov, but was unable to generate any serious chances, and the game was drawn after 33 moves.

Alex Fishbein and Maxim Dlugy played down a theoretical line of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted where Black sacrifices the exchange. It looked like Maxim, playing Black, allowed Alex to simplify the game too much. In what appeared like a dead lost ending, however, Alex went astray and allowed Max to draw.

Alex Goldin got a promising opening position where he had a lot of extra space, which later transformed into a queen against rook and bishop advantage. Joel found pesky ways to defend, but in the end his position proved impossible to hold, and Goldin took the full point.  
Alex Yermolinsky checking out his position against Igor Novikov from another angle
Round two starts today at 1pm.  Tune in at 12:50pm central time for live commentary by GMs Robert Hess, Jesse Kraai, and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan.
Alex Yermolinsky checking out his position against Igor Novikov from another angle
Round two starts today at 1pm.  Tune in at 12:50pm central time for live commentary by GMs Robert Hess, Jesse Kraai, and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan.
Watch all the action LIVE at
USChessChamps.com

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