Three U.S. Nationwide Championships completed on Thursday in St. Louis and none of them wanted playoffs. GM Vladimir Akopian had secured victory on the U.S. Senior Championship with a spherical to spare, after which GM Christopher Yoo received the U.S. Junior Championship, and IM Alice Lee the U.S. Ladies’ Junior Championship, a day later.
Three months earlier than the “foremost” U.S. Championships, the competitions for juniors, ladies and seniors had been held concurrently on the Saint Louis Chess Membership. It’s “considered one of our favourite trio of occasions we host as a result of you’ll be able to see a spectacular demonstration of chess from each confirmed legends of the game and tomorrow’s superstars,” stated Tony Wealthy, Technical Director of the Saint Louis Chess Membership in anticipation of those tournaments.
Every was an all-play-all with teams of 10 gamers and the full prize fund was over $135,000. The want of the primary arbiter Chris Chicken was granted: every event had a transparent winner after 9 rounds so he did not want an additional day of labor to help with playoffs.
My favourite pics from day 8 on the US Senior, Junior & Ladies Junior Championships. One Champion down, two extra to be topped. Congrats to Vladimir Akopian on profitable the Senior Champs! 🏆 Private want – no playoffs please! 🤞
📷 @LennartOotes & Crystal Fuller@STLChessClub pic.twitter.com/wd6ypyznqI
— Chris Chicken (@ChrisBirdIA) July 25, 2024
U.S. Junior Championship: Yoo Wins Undefeated
The U.S. Junior Championship featured a powerful subject of recent and returning prodigies, with 5 of the gamers at the moment ranked throughout the top-50 juniors on this planet. The group had 4 grandmasters: in addition to winner Yoo (who additionally received in 2022) these had been GMs Andrew Hong, Arthur Guo, and Balaji Daggupati. There was additionally 14-year-old IM and GM-elect Andy Woodward, who confirmed his power with a wonderful shared fifth place.
Yoo’s rating within the group was secure and constant, with attracts towards the gamers who completed in second to fourth locations, and wins towards all opponents beneath that. It should have been inspiring to begin with a horny, attacking victory towards considered one of his foremost rivals:
Yoo, who’s from Dublin, California, scored one other good win within the fifth spherical. Can you discover the decisive tactic?
U.S. Junior Championship: Lee Simply Forward of Atwell
Final 12 months’s winner did it once more. 14-year-old Lee is considered one of America’s most promising rising stars because the youngest feminine participant in American historical past to earn the title of IM. Her greatest rival within the event was FM Rose Atwell, who completed simply half some extent behind and solely misplaced to the event winner. The youngest participant was the one 11-year-old WFM Megan Paragua.
Along with her win, Lee as soon as once more certified for the upcoming U.S. Girls’s Championship — the place she actually belongs, after ending in third place final 12 months. This is her necessary win towards Atwell from spherical three:
U.S. Senior Championship: Akopian Wins Undefeated
The U.S. Senior subject as soon as once more boasted some legendary chess gamers, together with each winner of the event since its inception, together with GM Melik Khachiyan (2023), GM Alex Shabalov (2019, 2022), GM Gregory Kaidanov (2021), and GM Joel Benjamin (2020).
The highest prize of $20,000, nonetheless, was snatched by 52-year-old Akopian, who resides in Glendale, California today. With a 4.5/5 begin he had already taken a 1.5-point lead, and by spherical eight he had clinched the event. With a draw within the closing spherical, Akopian remained undefeated, like Yoo.
A key recreation was his win over runner-up GM Jesse Kraai, which reminded this creator of a few of GM Anatoly Karpov‘s finest video games: lengthy maneuvering directed by a positional benefit, and ending it off with a pleasant tactic. GM Rafael Leitao supplied annotations:
If ever the time period “bouncing again” was applicable, it was for Kraai on this event. After his loss to Akopian, the grandmaster from Baltimore, Maryland, completed with 4 straight wins to seize the $13,000 examine for second place. This is his sharp and topsy-turvy victory over Kaidanov:
How one can rewatch?
The 2024 U.S. Nationwide Championships occurred July 16-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. All three occasions had been a 10-player round-robin. The time management was 90 minutes for 40 strikes adopted by half-hour for the remainder of the sport plus a 30-second increment beginning on transfer one. The full prize fund was over $135,000.
