U.S. Chess Championships 2014: Armageddon Looms

Hello chess friends, here's the penultimate-day update by Brian Jerauld from the U.S. Chess Championships 2014:

SAINT LOUIS (May 19, 2014) -- The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as a “vast, decisive conflict or confrontation.” The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis agrees.

Armageddon will hit Saint Louis on Tuesday, as the 2014 U.S. Chess Championships spill into overtime for one final day of reckoning. Both tournaments have gone fully around-the-robin, seeing 11 rounds of play in the U.S. Championship and 9 rounds of play in the U.S. Women’s Championship - but America’s top chess talent refuses to stop fighting.

Six players entered Monday’s finale with mathematical chances to win the national title, though when the day was done, nothing had added up to a decision. Each tournament finished regulation in a three-way tie for first place, triggering a playoff on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET, to settle the score.

Alex Lenderman drew Varuzhan Akobian in the final round of regulation at the U.S Championship. The two will play an Armageddon game to determine who faces reigning champ Gata Kamsky for the title. Image Credit: Lennart Ootes

U.S. Championship leaders Varuzhan Akobian and Aleksandr Lenderman, tied entering the last round, faced off against each other in round 11 with the winner promised the crown - though neither could wrestle the other to a decision. Their draw opened up Tuesday’s playoff, but not just for the two of them: In a nightmare scenario, reigning four-time champion Gata Kamsky caught pace with the leaders at the finish line, and with momentum. After eight frustrating draws and just two wins this tournament, Kamsky’s eleventh-hour mauling of Josh Friedel on Monday was a startling announcement that the champion still had plans to fight for his throne, despite earlier declarations that the national title was up for grabs.

Similarly in the Women’s Championship, another third wheel has hitched a ride into the playoffs. Tatev Abrahamyan - forever the outsider looking in on the U.S. Women’s title - caught pace with leaders Anna Zatonskih and reigning champion Irina Krush, who both failed to find wins in Monday’s final round. Both Krush against Viktorija Ni, and Zatonskih against Katerina Nemcova, narrowly escaped with draws from losing positions, while Abrahamyan convincingly smashed through Camilla Baginskaite with a Nimzo to join the knot in front. Krush and Zatonskih have combined for the last nine women’s championships, while Abrahamyan seeks her first.

The perfect combination of wins and draws has brought a three-way tie for first in both title races, forcing a playoff on Tuesday to decide the 2014 national champions. In a wonderful storyline, the playoff day will feature the introduction of a candidate to challenge each reigning champion, as both Kamsky and Krush lead by tiebreaks. The two remain the only unbeaten players in each tournament.

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Logjam Atop Leaderboards at U.S. Chess Championships 2014

Hello chess blog friends, the U.S. Chess Championships 2014 is heading towards its exciting conclusion, reports Brian Jerauld: 

SAINT LOUIS (May 18, 2014) -- Irina Krush has decided to play this one out.

Only one round remains in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Championship, though for a moment, it wasn’t entirely clear the extra day would be needed. The five-time reigning champion Krush
skidded into the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis on Saturday afternoon, having just suffered three straight draws and falling a full point behind the leader’s pace.

Sobering the mood even more was the woman who sat in front of her - both in the standings and now across the board: Anna Zatonskih, Krush’s enemy No. 1 and a four-time champion herself, ready to call it halves on their decade-long rivalry.

Irina Krush stayed cool under pressure in a must-win showdown against her main rival Anna Zatonskih. Image Credit: Lennart Ootes.

And like everyone else, Krush could do the math: Saturday was win or go home.

But she answered the call in Monday’s round 8, taking early advantage as white and spending the rest of the 75-move thriller slowly squeezing out any hope for a draw. The result knots the two in first place with 6/8, and also allowed Tatev Abrahamyan (5.5/8) into the fold after her win over Ashritha Eswaran.

Monday’s round 9 will settle matters: Zatonskih takes white against Katerina Nemcova (4.5/8), Krush defends as black against Viktorija Ni (3/8), as does Abrahamyan against Camilla Baginskaite (1.5/8). If necessary, a playoff is scheduled for Tuesday. The women’s tournament takes a scheduled rest day Sunday.

There is also a share for the lead atop the U.S. Championship, as time dwindles away with two rounds remaining. Varuzhan Akobian entered Saturday in clear first by a full point but never got comfortable in his eventual loss - his first of the tournament - to Sam Shankland.

Akobian stays in first with 6/9, though now shares the position after Aleksandr Lenderman caught pace after materializing a surprising win from a drawn-looking position against Daniel Naroditsky. Reigning champion Gata Kamsky - unbeaten, yet only at +1 through 9 rounds - picked up another draw with Mackenzie Molner and now trails a half-point behind the leaders in third place (5.5/9). Also in third place is 2013 U.S. Open winner Josh Friedel, the lowest-rated player in the field who has quietly turned in 3.5 points across the last 4 rounds to enter the fray.

The final two rounds of the U.S. Championship promise a web of matchups between the four leaders, including Sunday’s headliner between Akobian and Kamsky.

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Akobian, Zatonskih Create Space; 2014 U.S. Women’s Title On the Line

Hello chess friends, the round after a rest day in a chess tournament is usually quite interesting - will the overnight leader extend lead or lose rhythm? What happened at the U.S. Chess Championships? Read report by Brian Jerauld to find out more!

SAINT LOUIS (May 17, 2014) -- Rest days are meant for relaxation and preparation, a chance to collect one’s self and focus on the finish line. It’s a time to tighten up your stride for the home stretch.

But nobody got the memo in Saint Louis.

GM Varuzhan Akobian has pushed his lead to a 

full point with just three rounds to go in 

the U.S. Championship. Image Credit Lennart Ootes.

The 2014 U.S. Championships, hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, returned from its break for one of the most chaos-driven rounds since the tournament began. In an afternoon that began with Camilla Baginskaite’s instant resignation after a touch-move snafu on move 15, picking up her a-pawn out-of-order instead of first tending to her double-attacked knight, the majority of Friday’s games followed a similar theme of head-scratching play amidst bruising back-and-forth drama.

Timur Gareev and Alejandro Ramirez settled on a fairy-tale draw that featured a two-pawn gambit in the opening, a crushing pendulum-swing of an attack in the middlegame and a magic recovery in the endgame. Tatev Abrahamyan fell horribly behind early in a Grunfeld, yet outmuscled Viktorija Ni in an endgame to win back her half-point.

But despite the methods, both U.S. Championship leaders, Var Akobian (6/8) and Anna Zatonskih (6/7), increased their respective leads entering the final weekend while their closest chasers fell away.

Irina Krush (5/7) struggled to her third consecutive draw, falling a full point behind Zatonskih and setting up a do-or-die match for Saturday afternoon, another chapter in the duo’s epic decade-long rivalry. Akobian gained ground after reigning U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky was fearlessly attacked to a draw by U.S. Junior champion Daniel Naroditsky.

None of America’s 22 best players made better use of their rest day than Aleksandr Lenderman. Lenderman was the early leader of the U.S. Championship, but he was headed in the wrong direction with just a draw over the last three rounds after suffering a shocking loss to Sam Shankland in round 6, and then getting rolled by Kamsky the following afternoon. The promise of the black pieces against bend-but-never-break Alex Onischuk loomed large through a rainy rest day.

But Lenderman found a reset button.

“My approach was to try and completely forget about what happened through the first half of the tournament,” Lenderman said. “Approach like it is a new tournament. (Onischuk) never loses - but he does sometimes … it could happen, and I figured today he’s going to try and battle against me because I lost two games in a row. He was going to try and pressure me, so I knew I would get more chances than maybe I would normally get; and I was pretty optimistic that if I had a good mindset, then I would have my chances.”

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U.S. Chess Championships 2014: Akobian, Zatonskih in Front; Reigning Champs Trail on Rest Day

Hello chess friends, there's no going away from the U.S. Chess Championships 2014 even on the rest day. Big excitement happening with the leads swinging so, here's the report by Brian Jerauld:

SAINT LOUIS (May 15, 2014) -- The show, for the moment, has been stolen.

After the bloodiest day yet - eight fought-out decisions across 11 games and another nail-biting escape with a draw by reigning women’s champion Irina Krush - both U.S. Championship races have new frontrunners as the tournaments turn down the home stretch.

Varuzhan Akobian (5/7), the No. 4 seed seeking his first national crown, turned in his third quality win in a row Wednesday, leaving him in sole possession of first place of the 2014 U.S. Championship, unbeaten through seven rounds. Also without defeat is reigning champion Gata Kamsky (4.5/7), who trails in clear second after knocking down previous tournament leader Aleksandr Lenderman. Four players share a tie for third with 4 points.

In the women’s competition, Anna Zatonskih now leads with 5/6 after waiting out Camilla Baginskaite, who hung herself in a 102-move rook-and-knight vs. rook endgame late Wednesday evening. Reigning champion Irina Krush (4.5/6), who had entered the day tied with Zatonskih, lost pace with a draw against Alisa Melekhina after barely making time control for the second day in a row. Krush sits alone in second place, with Iryna Zenyuk (4/6) in clear third.
Both tournaments enjoy a rest day on Thursday.

Follow all the action live at www.uschesschamps.com/live.

Akobian had treaded water with four straight draws through the U.S. Championship’s opening, leading some to question his long-term tournament strategy. The critics have been silenced after his third consecutive victory - two of them with the black pieces, including Wednesday’s impressive stand against Ray Robson.

“I had been trying, but sometimes you can try really hard and it just wasn’t working out,” Akobian said of his drawing start. “In those openings, I was just not getting the positions I like to play.
“But winning as black is very important in this kind of field. You think maybe a draw is a good result, but whenever you have the opportunity, you have to play for a win.”

Akobian found yet another opportunity up front on Wednesday after equalizing early in a Catalan. Robson opened with a surprise, but not much: His 1. d4 may have strayed from his own tradition, but it played right into Akobian’s wheelhouse - a lifelong d4 player.

Robson has already lost twice in these U.S. Championships and 19. Bh3 coupled with 21. Ng5 showed that the 20-year-old was now shifting tournament gears toward aggression, though the attack ultimately left the f3 square weak. After exchanging minor pieces, Akobian picked up a free pawn there with 25...Qxf3.

The advantage was good enough to hold through the endgame, especially after Akobian’s 46...g5 put Robson’s remaining army in a near-state of zugzwang.

Lenderman was looking strong as tournament leader, collecting three wins through the first four rounds, but has since gone ice cold with just a draw over the last three. Not favorable is the schedule: He drew the black pieces against reigning champ Kamsky, and is slated as black again against Alex Onischuck after the rest day. The two are tied in third with 4/6.

On Wednesday, the veteran knocked Lenderman out of preparation early in a King’s Indian Attack, setting up a positional battle early to take the 22-year-old on in the middlegame, later stating: “Once you feel that a guy is in great form, you take a cautious approach. You don’t go in swinging right from the opening.”

The move 11. h4 a5 started sprints up the board from opposing wing pawns, though toward much different results: Lenderman only earned space and a frozen queenside after 12...a4, while Kamsky earned a vicious nail into black’s position with 13. h6.

Kamsky’s 16. Nxd4 aimed to stack black’s d-file, though its opening of the c-file became the focus of Lenderman’s middlegame initiative. By move 30. Kh2, however, the white fortress was looking sharp and the h6 nail dangerous; Lenderman’s weakness on the d-file finally fell at 32. Nxd4.

Kamsky closed with technique, liquidating the minor pieces and relieving the queenside. His pawn advantage turned into a downhill a-file passer.

“Alex has been a hard-working guy, slowly improving over the last four or five years,” Kamsky said of his opponent. “I remember that all of my games with him were really tough, and the way he played here, the way he just took off in the start like that, was no surprise to me. I’m sure he is still going to leave his mark, as long as he doesn’t take these two losses badly. He just has to forget about these games and just start the tournament anew.”

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