Daniel Naroditsky is US Junior Chess Champion 2013

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

SAINT LOUIS (June 24, 2013) -- On Sunday, IM Daniel Naroditsky went clutch to win his final game of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, breaking a tie with FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and earning the crown in clear first – proving, once again, that slow and steady wins the race.

Naroditsky finished with 6.5/9 after going directly for the win with the black pieces in round 9 against Robert Perez, while Harmon-Vellotti was stalled with a draw to FM Jeffrey Xiong. FM Sam Sevian’s last-round win over WFM Sarah Chiang completed a tenacious come-from-behind effort – four wins and two draws to close the tournament – but he was ultimately only able to catch Harmon-Vellotti to tie for second at 6.0.

“It was quite grueling – especially being the favorite coming in, where the pressure is on and everyone expects you to win every game,” Naroditsky said. “I just tried to stay calm and tranquil in every moment.”

All said and done, it comes as no shocker that Naroditsky became this year’s champion. The California 17-year-old was a three-time veteran of the tournament and the highest-rated player in this year’s field, at 2494. What comes as a surprise is how he did it.

In an often dramatic and decisive tournament that featured sharp play and homerun swings nearly every afternoon, each of Naroditsky’s games instead plodded along at a careful and steady positional pace. Offering an array of polished openings throughout, he kept his opponents in constant speculation as to which game they would play: One that spent 50 moves battling slowly over the smallest of advantages – or one that could be just as quickly traded down to a draw in 20. His methods earned him four wins and five draws, the only unbeaten player through the tournament.

By the end, his approach looked systematic – drawing against the top five finishers and collecting full points from the bottom four. He never once fell lower than second place, yet also never led the field by more than half a point. The closest game he wore as a loss came after a winning position against FM Yian Liou, who finished in sixth place, narrowly slipped away into a draw. It allowed Harmon-Vellotti to catch pace for the last round; Naroditsky had been in clear first and the draw left him rattled, vowing to return on Sunday to win at all costs against Perez.

Read more »

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Round 8: Daniel Naroditsky, Luke Harmon-Vellotti Tied heading into Final Round

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

SAINT LOUIS (June 23, 2013) -- IM Daniel Naroditsky of California and FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti of Idaho met in round 2 of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed in a game that fizzled into an uninspiring draw. And after quickly trading his way down to an opposite-colored bishop snoozer, Naroditsky admitted that the draw was more for practical reasons.

“At some point, it’s important to make a prudent decision. You don’t always have to go all-in,” he said at the time. “Sometimes the decision is not justified, sometimes it is. We’ll just see how it goes for the rest of the tournament.”

Reckoning day is here. In every round since that day-two rendezvous – which left them tied for second – Naroditsky and Harmon-Vellotti have never left a half-point from each other, and they’ve never left the top of the standings. The two have see-sawed back and forth with the lead in every round, continuously re-climbing over the other’s draw with another win.

Now they find themselves tied at the top, left with one final round to justify every decision over the past ten days. Naroditsky faces Robert Perez, who shared the lead at the tournament’s halfway point but has since cooled against the higher ranks, while Harmon-Vellotti defends against FM Jeffrey Xiong, who has held his own since a slow start with draws against most of the field. Both front runners have the black pieces.

Naroditsky was in the driver’s seat as clear leader entering Saturday’s round 8, but suffered a frustrating draw as white against FM Yian Liou. The half-point allowed Harmon-Vellotti to catch pace at 5.5/8 with his subsequent win over Perez.

Read more »

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Round 7: Unbeaten Daniel Naroditsky Leads with Two Rounds to Go

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

SAINT LOUIS (June 22, 2013) -- Though three players emerge in the endgame of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship – IM Daniel Naroditsky, FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and FM Samuel Sevian – their lines to get here couldn’t have been any different.

Naroditsky entered as the tournament’s highest-rated player and has played like it. The California 17-year-old has written books on positional chess and complex endgames, but at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis his openings have been varied and sound, making him equally hard to prepare for as he is to play against.

Daniel Naroditsky

As the last player standing without a loss, his approach to the tournament has been systematic. Drawing with the top-four players and manufacturing full points out of the lower half of the rankings, he has mixed solid play with just a little bit of luck – just enough to squeak out of a quasi-uncomfortable position or two to earn a draw. His 5.0/7 puts him in clear first entering the weekend, with his final two rounds against FM Yian Liou (3.0) and Robert Perez (4.0).

Harmon-Vellotti, on the other hand, has been the magician of the week. Excuse Boise, Idaho, for making the 14-year-old seemingly come from nowhere (Idaho’s next-strongest player is an Expert) but he made quite an introduction for himself when he knocked off IM Kayden Troff in the first round in Saint Louis.

Since then his play toward this tournament endgame has been flashy and dramatic, once pulling a rabbit out of a hat in a losing position against IM Victor Shen (4.0) in round 5 – and then bringing a dead rabbit back to life in a completely lost position against WFM Sarah Chiang (0.5) in round 6. The magic ran out in Friday’s round 7, however, when an otherwise struggling Liou knocked down Harmon-Vellotti with a taste of his own medicine: sacrificing three pawns and beating him from behind.

Harmon-Vellotti sits a half-point behind Naroditsky, with his final two matchups against Perez – who may find trouble taking down both Naroditsky and Harmon-Vellotti to help his own fortunes, but could certainly become the tournament spoiler with just a draw – and FM Jeffrey Xiong (3.0).

And here comes 12-year-old FM Samuel Sevian, the current U-12 World Champion out of California. Sevian, who once held the record as both the youngest Expert and the youngest National Master in U.S. history (both records were recently broken by Awonder Liang), became the youngest-ever competitor in the U.S. Championship last May – where he lost just two games, one of them to Troff.

Sarah Chiang

Sevian sat in clear eighth place after three rounds this week in Saint Louis, mustering up only two draws against Perez, Liou and Xiong – who have otherwise been donating points to the tournament front runners. He appeared to be headed for the proverbial bump in the road.

Instead, Sevian has been chewing up the top talent with unbelievable calculation and accuracy in a furious comeuppance. He first served a loss to Harmon-Vellotti, clear leader at the time in round 4, and then drew with Naroditsky, who was leading in round 5. And after a convincing win over FM Atulya Shetty (2.5), Sevian’s triumph against Troff on Friday – which swapped the two from second-to-third in the standings – was a strategically rich beauty.

Sevian’s 3.5 points from the last four rounds ties him with Harmon-Vellotti in second place, a half-point behind Naroditsky. In today’s round 8 matchup, he takes white against a calm-and-collected veteran of the U.S. Junior Closed, IM Victor Shen (4.0), who has given fits to every opponent in a solid tournament thus far. Chiang is on Sevian’s plate in Sunday’s final round of the ten-player round robin.

Of course, the ridiculously tight field of this year’s Junior Closed has been serving up shockers in its entirety, and the final weekend’s endgame should follow the same path. Troff, Shen and Perez are tied for third with 4.0, all within range of Naroditsky and each with matchups that promise to ruin somebody’s day.

In Friday’s round 7, Naroditsky earned his point from Chiang in straightforward fashion and Shen again battled through time pressure for a win over Shetty, while a draw with Xiong has Perez continuing to slip pace after leading through five rounds.

Sevian might have taken the word ‘rematch’ a little too seriously. After losing as white to Troff last May in the U.S. championship, Sevian decided to try, try again on Friday by proceeding right down the same line as before – 11 moves – until Sevian altered them into a seemingly improved line at 12. Rad1.

“I don’t think he prepared against it,” Sevian said with a smile. “It was a surprise. Usually people don’t repeat what they play.”

From there, Troff’s response of b4 shifted a white knight to the rim, where he quickly set up his bishop and queen to feast on the immobile piece. But it would ultimately prove bait, as the knight’s sacrifice kicked off a magnificent attack by Sevian, who swung his pieces to the kingside for a sudden and gripping attack on Troff’s monarch, becoming exposed and limited to one tight corner by 17. … Kh8.

The tactically rich middlegame saw Troff desperately defending the a1-h8 diagonal, with Sevian in constant threat of mate to usher further weakness in black’s position. His 24. Be6 was ripe with tactic, earning him at least the exchange, as was the follow-up 25. Qf5, which threatened mate and ensured Troff’s rook would be taken with no exchange at all. Sevian reoffered an exchange sacrifice at 28. Rxf6, unhinging another five-move combination to earn it right back. With a three-pawn advantage in the endgame, Sevian could afford to sacrifice one at 39. f5 in order to simplify and rapidly hurl the match into endgame.

Harmon-Vellotti had pulled out so many victories while down significant material in this tournament that Liou decided to see what he was made of on the other side of the coin: ahead with material. As white, Liou ambushed Harmon-Vellotti’s French defense in a game that got combative early with 7. Ng5 – a defended square.

While it did thoroughly destroy the black kingside and Harmon-Vellotti’s options for castling, the fight saw consecutive sacrifices of white’s e-, b- and f-pawns. But with each precious tempo Harmon-Vellotti spent in collecting Liou’s front line, black slowly fell behind in development and let white dominate several important lanes – all centered around a king that lay helpless in the center.

With a three-pawn advantage, Harmon-Vellotti looked to close the game down early with 18. Qg5, threatening mate and offering the queens off the board. But Liou attacked black’s open weaknesses, first recollecting a pawn with 18. … Qxh7+, followed by a quick swing of white’s minor pieces to trap the black queen. 23. Bf5 brought a just reward from excellent tactical work. (Brian Jerauld/official website)

Watch live commentary with GMs Ben Finegold and Yasser Seirawan today at 1 p.m. CT at www.uschesschamps.com/live.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Round 6: Harmon-Vellotti Leads Again

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

SAINT LOUIS (June 21, 2013) -- As if Luke Harmon-Vellotti didn’t get enough cake from his sixth-round match versus WFM Sarah Chiang, he got to eat it, too, when Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura helped analyze the game afterward.

During his off day from the Tal Memorial in Russia, America’s No. 1 “called in” to the live stream of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship – or, more accurately, chatted with commentator GM Ben Finegold – to help evaluate several of Harmon-Vellotti’s lines from his sixth-round match versus Chiang.

And through several variations, he kept coming up with the same suggestion for the 14-year-old pride of Idaho: Resign. Resign. Resign.

But Harmon-Vellotti found light at the end of the darkest of tunnels on Thursday, where a small slip-up by Chiang – perhaps her first of an otherwise fantastic game – allowed him in for a desperate 11th-hour checkmate. The full-point puts Harmon-Vellotti back in clear first with 4.5/6, after a draw for IM Daniel Naroditsky and a loss for Robert Perez, both who shared the lead entering round 6. The day also featured important wins for both IM Kayden Troff, who moves into a second-place tie with Naroditsky at 4/6, and FM Samuel Sevian, whose 2.5 points over the last three rounds have him tied for third at 3.5/6.

Despite the three-way share of the lead on Thursday morning, Harmon-Vellotti looked to have the most comfortable schedule to close the round-robin tournament, with matches still to play against three opponents in the tournament’s lower half of the rankings. But Chiang, struggling in tenth place with just a half point, had clear intentions of spoiling his visit to Saint Louis. As black, she offered an early twist to the Classical Nimzo-Indian to stay hyper-aggressive in the opening, beckoning the white queen out for early harassment.

Though at the expense of a ruined pawn structure, including an isolated c-pawn and pawns stacked on the f-file to expose her king, Chiang’s immediate pressure made Harmon-Vellotti lag behind in time – both on his clock and on the board, where an uncomfortably late castle cost him a pawn at 15. … Bxe2. Chiang mugged another pawn with 22. … Qxb2, creating a downhill passer on the c-file and all but foreshadowing the upset.

Harmon-Vellotti’s only meager attack was to charge ahead with his g- and h-pawns, which did more to expose his already weak king than mount much of an attack. But he sacrificed one – dragging his material disadvantage down even further, now three pawns behind – in a desperate attempt to open the h-file and set up a battery.

And then Chiang slipped. Her clear path to victory was stalled only by the need of a brief safe spot for her king, which she could have found on 32. … Kg8 but instead pushed f5 with thoughts of an escape route. Harmon-Vellotti pounced quickly with a pin, exchange and discovery-filled tactical slam to earn checkmate.

“This was the only game where the opening has done any good for me – he played right into it,” said a dejected Chiang. “I very clearly knew I was better, in a winnable position, and I was just trying to take it one move at a time. But near the end, I thought my way down to six minutes; I should have slowed it down even more. If I had just moved my king back [to g8], he had nothing, and I’m queening.”

Perez shared the lead entering Thursday but faced a grueling road ahead, still with matchups against both Harmon-Vellotti and Naroditsky, as well as the round 6 skirmish with second-place Troff. As black, Perez defended with the Czech Benoni and pushed into an extremely closed board, unaided by an early knight trade with 13. Nxb5 axb5.

Read more »

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Round 5: Logjam Atop Leaderboard

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

SAINT LOUIS (June 19, 2013) -- Still, no one can find distance in the standings at the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. Wednesday marks the players’ rest day after Tuesday’s round 5 pushed the nine-game round-robin tournament past its halfway point. But despite a finish line that now looms, seven of ten players still sit within a point of each other, now with three tied atop the standings at 3.5/5 points.

California IM Daniel Naroditsky, the field’s highest-rated player, was the sole leader entering Tuesday and has yet to lose a game this week at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. But his fifth-round draw against FM Sam Sevian slowed the pace, and wins from both FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and FM Robert Perez brought them both up to speed. Harmon-Vellotti’s come-from-behind shocker over IM Victor Shen made it two wins and a draw against the field’s three top-seeded IMs; and Perez has shrugged off a slow start to the tournament to notch three straight victories, including Tuesday’s turnaround matchup versus FM Yian Liou.

After an outstanding opening that found Shen up two pawns, including one passed on the sixth rank, he did everything he could to let his solid position slip away against Harmon-Vellotti – and he eventually got his wish. The game transposed to a Queen’s Indian, with Shen grabbing a solid foothold in the center and prepping his bishops for dominance. But Harmon-Vellotti’s 12. … Qf6 was very suspicious, begging for Shen’s 13. Bc3 response. The move showed Shen’s position clearly winning, with an advantage in development, a better dominance of space and several tactical opportunities brewing. He quickly converted it to a material advantage.

But after wrecking the black queenside, Shen found trouble re-coordinating his pieces and was never able to find traction behind his three passed pawns, including two connected. Meanwhile, Harmon-Vellotti slowly pieced together a harmonious defense and let Shen sink into time pressure.

“That was going into a winning endgame [for Shen], so I just tried to make it as complicated as possible,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “And then he blundered in time trouble.”

Indeed, with under five minutes on his clock and eight more moves until time control, Shen offered up 32. Rxb5 with tactical eyes. But Harmon-Vellotti defied the play with 32. … Rbxb6, ultimately releasing nearly all of white’s pressure and gathering the d6 passer. Even still with winning chances, Shen struggled to find any continuance, and Harmon-Vellotti wreaked havoc on the white king with his remaining knight and rook. The move 57. … h5 kicked off a race to queen – one that Shen actually won, but left him positionally inferior.

“[Shen] was winning all the way down to [53.]Kg1,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “I think if he had gone Ke1, he would have won.”

Perez performed his own climb out of a dark position thanks to an outstanding endgame and some fantastic work with his king. The game progressed through an unusual line of the Sicilian, but one Liou was up to the task of pressing. For more than 20 moves, he kept Perez on the defensive and looked primed to push solid queenside space into an advantage.

Read more »

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Round 3: Daniel Naroditsky Clear First

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

SAINT LOUIS (June 18, 2013) -- Nobody is safe on top of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. After a third round that saw two perfect-score front-runners fall with the white pieces, Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis was more of the same for the leader. FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti entered atop the standings with 2.5/3 points, but he fell in glorious fashion to FM Samuel Sevian in round 4. The full-point victory was one of four on the day, with only one draw in the round between IM Victor Shen and FM Jeffrey Xiong.

The standings remain tight, with seven of the ten players still within one point of each other, entering round 5. Calfornia 17-year-old IM Daniel Naroditsky now sits atop the leaderboard on the proverbial hot seat and, with two wins and two draws in four rounds, is the last player in the field without a loss. Four players sit in a tie for second place, a half-point behind Naroditsky with 2.5 points.

Not 20 moves into Naroditsky’s game versus FM Atulya Shetty, things looked to be headed into a dead draw, which would have created a six-way tie for first place. Shetty gave fight with the French defense, producing an isolated queen’s pawn. It was one Naroditsky was up to the task of blockading, but unfortunately it was black’s only slight weakness.

Read more »

US Junior Chess Championship 2013 Begins in St Louis

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

The 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship is the top tournament event in the United States for players aged 20 and younger. It will feature 10 of the country's strongest up-and-coming chess players, and it is scheduled to be held at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, from June 13th through June 23rd.

The U.S. Junior Closed Championship is exciting on a number of levels. Not only do spectators get the opportunity to see the nation's rising stars go head-to-head for the title, these young players also typically put on a fantastic show, playing swashbuckling chess that is full of aggressive attacks, wild swings, brilliancies, blunders and innovative play on both sides of the board.

With an invitation to the 2014 U.S. Championship on the line, these players come to Saint Louis ready to fight for a shot at the title.This marks the fourth consecutive year that the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. The format will be a standard 10-player round robin, and live play-by-play commentary will be presented each day by GMs Yasser Seirawan and Ben Finegold.

Meet the Field
No.TitleNameRating*Invitation Method
1. IM Daniel Naroditsky 2538 Rating
2. IM Victor Shen 2511 Rating
3. NM Robert Perez 2510 Rating
4. IM Kayden Troff 2505 Rating
5. FM Jeffrey Xiong 2483 Rating
6. FM Yian Liou 2469 Rating
7. FM Sam Sevian 2467 Rating
8. FM Atulya Shetty 2446 Wildcard
9. FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti 2434 Wildcard
10. WFM Sarah Chiang 2238 U.S. Open Invitation
* Based on the April USCF ratings list.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel