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Re: U. S. Junior Closed Championship 2016
U.S. Junior 2016
July 17, 2016
Round Nine
The final round with the usual commentators - Finegold, Friedman and Ramirez.
Awonder Liang is playing against Ostrovskiy. A win guarantees him second place. Jeffery Xiong already has first place sewed up. He is playing Luke Harmon-Vellotti and I thought it would be great if they both had dressed in baseball caps and hoodies but only Luke is that way.
Ben says that after 17…c5, if Karpov were watching, he would like White’s position as would Onischuk but Ulf Andersson would agree to a draw.
Aviv says that, for those viewers who do not know, Ulf Andersson was a player of the 70s and 80s. [born 1951 in Vasteras, Sweden] He was famous for taking advantage of small pluses in the endgame to win. He is inactive in tournament play now but often takes part in one-minute chess on the Internet.
Aviv says that when he worked with the Corus Tournament in the Netherlands, he had both Andersson and Ljubomir Ljubojević in to do lectures and they were absolutely amazing in evaluating a position and in their chess understanding.
Furthermore, Ljubojevic, from the former Yugoslavia and now living in Spain, was a master of languages and once gave a lecture for him completely in fluent Dutch.
Aviv is a firm believer in knowing the history of the game. He said that he was once talking about Viktor Korchnoi to one of his students and she didn’t know who that was, although she had heard of Karpov. Her age was still a single figure, but he gave her a homework assignment to find out who Korchnoi was anyway!
Aviv tells a few Lev Polugaevsky stories for young viewers and ends off by saying that one of the greatest fears of masters and grandmasters was to have black against Polugaevsky because you were guaranteed suffering!
There is a reference to The Simpsons, which both guys know. They resemble Comic Book Guy, actually. Bart is depressed and he asks his sister Lisa this question:
Bart: Hey, Lis, what do you call those guys in chess that don't matter?
Lisa: Well, a blockaded bishop is of little value, but I think you're referring to a pawn.
Bart: Right, I am a pawn.
________
Online Comments
- This Awonder kid is something else..
- Awonder should be in the same class as Iran's Firouzja and Uzbekistan's Abdustarrov
- In days of yesteryear Rubinstein would be torturing some guy in the Troff-Brown ending and eventually winning as black
- why wasn't Sevian playing in the event?
_______
Jeffery agrees to a draw and wins the tournament.
He says in his postgame interview that he flies to China tomorrow to play in the Chinese League. He will play in the League Division A 23-26 July, 2016 in Jiaxing.
After that, he is playing in India in the World Junior. The FIDE World Junior Chess Championships 2016 (for boys & girls under 20) will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India from 7th August to 22nd August, 2016.
He was impressed by the fighting spirit of all players in the U.S. Junior and especially by Awonder who had nine great games.
The prizes are: First $6000, Second $4000, Third $3000, Fourth $2000, Fifth $1500, Sixth $1200, Seventh $1000, Eighth $800, Ninth $600 and Tenth $500.
And the winner plays in the U.S. Chess Championship next year!
_______
The games:
U.S. Junior 2016
St. Louis, Mo.
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Xiong, Jeffery – Harmon-Vellotti, Luke
E05 Catalan, Open, Classical Line
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Rd1 Bc6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nc6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Bg5 Rb8 14.e3 Nd5 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.Ne4 a5 17.Nd2 c5 18.Nxc4 cxd4 19.Rxd4 Qc5 20.Rc1 Rb4 21.Ne5 Qxc2 22.Rxc2 Rxd4 23.exd4 Rb8 24.Nc6 Rb6 25.Nxa5 Rb4 26.b3 Rxd4 27.Nc6 Rd1+ 28.Kg2 Ra1 29.Nd4 Kf8 30.Nb5 Rb1 31.Nxc7 1/2-1/2
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Troff, Kayden – Brown, Michael William
D38 QGD, Ragozin Variation
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Rc1 c6 8.a3 Bd6 9.e3 Nf8 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Be7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.d5 Ng6 14.dxc6 Qe7 15.Qc2 O-O 16.Bd3 bxc6 17.O-O Bg4 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Be4 Rfc8 20.Rfe1 Bxf3 21.Bxf3 a5 22.b3 Rab8 23.Re3 Ne5 24.Be4 g6 25.a4 Rb4 26.Qc3 Kg7 27.h3 c5 28.Bf5 Qxf5 29.Qxe5+ Qxe5 30.Rxe5 c4 31.bxc4 Rxa4 32.c5 Rb4 33.Re7 Rc6 34.Rc3 Rb5 35.Rf3 1/2-1/2
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Bodek, Michael – Li, Ruifeng
B53 Sicilian, Chekhover Variation
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.c4 e5 8.Qd3 Qc7 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.O-O Ng6 11.Rd1 Be7 12.Bg5 f6 13.Be3 Bg4 14.Bd2 O-O 15.h3 Be6 16.Rac1 Qb7 17.b3 Rad8 18.Qe2 h6 19.g4 Qd7 20.Kh2 Rf7 21.Be3 Qc8 22.Rg1 Bf8 23.Qc2 Rc7 24.Qb1 Kf7 25.Rcd1 Be7 26.Nd2 Rh8 27.f3 h5 28.Kg3 Nf4 29.Rh1 g5 30.Bxf4 gxf4+ 31.Kf2 Qa6 32.Qd3 Qb6+ 33.Ke2 Rcc8 34.Rdg1 Rh6 35.Kd1 Rch8 36.Qf1 Bd8 37.Qg2 Qe3 38.Kc2 Ba5 39.Ndb1 hxg4 40.hxg4 Bb6 41.Rxh6 Rxh6 42.Rh1 Rxh1 43.Qxh1 Kg7 44.Qd1 Bd4 45.Qe2 Kg6 46.Qxe3 Bxe3 47.Kd3 Kg5 48.Nd2 Bxd2 49.Kxd2 Kh4 50.Ke2 Kg3 51.Nd1 d5 52.cxd5 cxd5 53.Nf2 Kg2 54.b4 d4 55.Nd3 Bc4 56.a4 Bxd3+ 57.Kxd3 Kxf3 58.a5 Kg2 59.b5 f3 0-1
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Chandra, Akshat – Checa, Nicolas
D11 QGD Slav, 3.Nf3
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.f3 Bh5 9.c5 Qc7 10.Bf4 Qc8 11.g4 Bg6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.fxe4 Nd7 16.Bg3 Be7 17.Bg2 e5 18.Bf1 exd4 19.Bc4 O-O 20.O-O Nxc5 21.Bxf7+ Kh7 22.Qd1 Ne6 23.e5 Ng5 24.Bb3 Rxf1+ 25.Kxf1 c5 26.Bd5 Qd7 27.Bg2 d3 28.Kg1 c4 29.Rc1 Rc8 30.Kh1 Qd4 31.h4 Ne4 32.Bxe4 Qxe4+ 33.Kh2 Bc5 34.Qe1 Be3 35.Rd1 Qxg4 36.Qf1 c3 37.bxc3 Rxc3 38.Rxd3 Rc2+ 0-1
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Liang, Awonder – Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr
A20 English (reversed Sicilian)
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.d4 e4 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.Qb3 Bd6 9.Nh3 h6 10.Bf4 Nb6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Nb5 Qe7 13.Nxa7 Bxh3 14.Bxh3 Nc4 15.Qb5+ Kf8 16.Nc8 Qc7 17.Qb4+ Kg8 18.Ne7+ Kh7 19.O-O Rhe8 20.Nf5 e3 21.fxe3 Nxe3 22.Nxe3 Rxe3 23.Rac1 Qe7 24.Qxe7 Rxe7 25.Bf5+ Kg8 26.a3 Rxe2 27.Rf2 Re7 28.Kg2 Ne4 29.Rfc2 g6 30.Rc8+ Rxc8 31.Rxc8+ Kg7 32.Bg4 Nd2 33.Bf3 Nxf3 34.Kxf3 Kf6 35.Rc5 Ke6 36.Rb5 Kd6 37.Rb6+ Kc7 38.Rf6 h5 39.h4 Kd7 40.a4 Kc7 41.b4 Kd7 42.a5 Kc7 43.b5 Kd7 44.Kf4 Re4+ 45.Kg5 Rxd4 46.Rxf7+ Kc8 47.b6 Rg4+ 48.Kf6 Rxg3 49.Rc7+ Kb8 50.Rg7 Rf3+ 51.Ke5 Rf5+ 52.Kd6 Rf8 53.Kxd5 Kc8 54.Rxg6 Rf4 55.Rg8+ Kd7 56.Rg7+ Kc8 57.Rc7+ Kb8 58.Rh7 Kc8 59.Rh8+ Kd7 60.a6 1-0
Final Standings
1. Xiong 6.5
2. Liang 6.0
3. Li 5.5
4. Harmon-Vellotti 5.0
5. Brown 5.0
6. Chandra 4.5
7. Checa 4.0
8. Troff 3.5
9. Ostrovskiy 3.5
10. Bodek 1.5
_______
Ben and Aviv thank the 11 people (including themselves) who are responsible for the television/Internet production.
U.S. Junior 2016
July 17, 2016
Round Nine
The final round with the usual commentators - Finegold, Friedman and Ramirez.
Awonder Liang is playing against Ostrovskiy. A win guarantees him second place. Jeffery Xiong already has first place sewed up. He is playing Luke Harmon-Vellotti and I thought it would be great if they both had dressed in baseball caps and hoodies but only Luke is that way.
Ben says that after 17…c5, if Karpov were watching, he would like White’s position as would Onischuk but Ulf Andersson would agree to a draw.
Aviv says that, for those viewers who do not know, Ulf Andersson was a player of the 70s and 80s. [born 1951 in Vasteras, Sweden] He was famous for taking advantage of small pluses in the endgame to win. He is inactive in tournament play now but often takes part in one-minute chess on the Internet.
Aviv says that when he worked with the Corus Tournament in the Netherlands, he had both Andersson and Ljubomir Ljubojević in to do lectures and they were absolutely amazing in evaluating a position and in their chess understanding.
Furthermore, Ljubojevic, from the former Yugoslavia and now living in Spain, was a master of languages and once gave a lecture for him completely in fluent Dutch.
Aviv is a firm believer in knowing the history of the game. He said that he was once talking about Viktor Korchnoi to one of his students and she didn’t know who that was, although she had heard of Karpov. Her age was still a single figure, but he gave her a homework assignment to find out who Korchnoi was anyway!
Aviv tells a few Lev Polugaevsky stories for young viewers and ends off by saying that one of the greatest fears of masters and grandmasters was to have black against Polugaevsky because you were guaranteed suffering!
There is a reference to The Simpsons, which both guys know. They resemble Comic Book Guy, actually. Bart is depressed and he asks his sister Lisa this question:
Bart: Hey, Lis, what do you call those guys in chess that don't matter?
Lisa: Well, a blockaded bishop is of little value, but I think you're referring to a pawn.
Bart: Right, I am a pawn.
________
Online Comments
- This Awonder kid is something else..
- Awonder should be in the same class as Iran's Firouzja and Uzbekistan's Abdustarrov
- In days of yesteryear Rubinstein would be torturing some guy in the Troff-Brown ending and eventually winning as black
- why wasn't Sevian playing in the event?
_______
Jeffery agrees to a draw and wins the tournament.
He says in his postgame interview that he flies to China tomorrow to play in the Chinese League. He will play in the League Division A 23-26 July, 2016 in Jiaxing.
After that, he is playing in India in the World Junior. The FIDE World Junior Chess Championships 2016 (for boys & girls under 20) will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India from 7th August to 22nd August, 2016.
He was impressed by the fighting spirit of all players in the U.S. Junior and especially by Awonder who had nine great games.
The prizes are: First $6000, Second $4000, Third $3000, Fourth $2000, Fifth $1500, Sixth $1200, Seventh $1000, Eighth $800, Ninth $600 and Tenth $500.
And the winner plays in the U.S. Chess Championship next year!
_______
The games:
U.S. Junior 2016
St. Louis, Mo.
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Xiong, Jeffery – Harmon-Vellotti, Luke
E05 Catalan, Open, Classical Line
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Rd1 Bc6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nc6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Bg5 Rb8 14.e3 Nd5 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.Ne4 a5 17.Nd2 c5 18.Nxc4 cxd4 19.Rxd4 Qc5 20.Rc1 Rb4 21.Ne5 Qxc2 22.Rxc2 Rxd4 23.exd4 Rb8 24.Nc6 Rb6 25.Nxa5 Rb4 26.b3 Rxd4 27.Nc6 Rd1+ 28.Kg2 Ra1 29.Nd4 Kf8 30.Nb5 Rb1 31.Nxc7 1/2-1/2
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Troff, Kayden – Brown, Michael William
D38 QGD, Ragozin Variation
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Rc1 c6 8.a3 Bd6 9.e3 Nf8 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Be7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.d5 Ng6 14.dxc6 Qe7 15.Qc2 O-O 16.Bd3 bxc6 17.O-O Bg4 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Be4 Rfc8 20.Rfe1 Bxf3 21.Bxf3 a5 22.b3 Rab8 23.Re3 Ne5 24.Be4 g6 25.a4 Rb4 26.Qc3 Kg7 27.h3 c5 28.Bf5 Qxf5 29.Qxe5+ Qxe5 30.Rxe5 c4 31.bxc4 Rxa4 32.c5 Rb4 33.Re7 Rc6 34.Rc3 Rb5 35.Rf3 1/2-1/2
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Bodek, Michael – Li, Ruifeng
B53 Sicilian, Chekhover Variation
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.c4 e5 8.Qd3 Qc7 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.O-O Ng6 11.Rd1 Be7 12.Bg5 f6 13.Be3 Bg4 14.Bd2 O-O 15.h3 Be6 16.Rac1 Qb7 17.b3 Rad8 18.Qe2 h6 19.g4 Qd7 20.Kh2 Rf7 21.Be3 Qc8 22.Rg1 Bf8 23.Qc2 Rc7 24.Qb1 Kf7 25.Rcd1 Be7 26.Nd2 Rh8 27.f3 h5 28.Kg3 Nf4 29.Rh1 g5 30.Bxf4 gxf4+ 31.Kf2 Qa6 32.Qd3 Qb6+ 33.Ke2 Rcc8 34.Rdg1 Rh6 35.Kd1 Rch8 36.Qf1 Bd8 37.Qg2 Qe3 38.Kc2 Ba5 39.Ndb1 hxg4 40.hxg4 Bb6 41.Rxh6 Rxh6 42.Rh1 Rxh1 43.Qxh1 Kg7 44.Qd1 Bd4 45.Qe2 Kg6 46.Qxe3 Bxe3 47.Kd3 Kg5 48.Nd2 Bxd2 49.Kxd2 Kh4 50.Ke2 Kg3 51.Nd1 d5 52.cxd5 cxd5 53.Nf2 Kg2 54.b4 d4 55.Nd3 Bc4 56.a4 Bxd3+ 57.Kxd3 Kxf3 58.a5 Kg2 59.b5 f3 0-1
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Chandra, Akshat – Checa, Nicolas
D11 QGD Slav, 3.Nf3
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.f3 Bh5 9.c5 Qc7 10.Bf4 Qc8 11.g4 Bg6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.fxe4 Nd7 16.Bg3 Be7 17.Bg2 e5 18.Bf1 exd4 19.Bc4 O-O 20.O-O Nxc5 21.Bxf7+ Kh7 22.Qd1 Ne6 23.e5 Ng5 24.Bb3 Rxf1+ 25.Kxf1 c5 26.Bd5 Qd7 27.Bg2 d3 28.Kg1 c4 29.Rc1 Rc8 30.Kh1 Qd4 31.h4 Ne4 32.Bxe4 Qxe4+ 33.Kh2 Bc5 34.Qe1 Be3 35.Rd1 Qxg4 36.Qf1 c3 37.bxc3 Rxc3 38.Rxd3 Rc2+ 0-1
Round 9, July 17, 2016
Liang, Awonder – Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr
A20 English (reversed Sicilian)
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.d4 e4 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.Qb3 Bd6 9.Nh3 h6 10.Bf4 Nb6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Nb5 Qe7 13.Nxa7 Bxh3 14.Bxh3 Nc4 15.Qb5+ Kf8 16.Nc8 Qc7 17.Qb4+ Kg8 18.Ne7+ Kh7 19.O-O Rhe8 20.Nf5 e3 21.fxe3 Nxe3 22.Nxe3 Rxe3 23.Rac1 Qe7 24.Qxe7 Rxe7 25.Bf5+ Kg8 26.a3 Rxe2 27.Rf2 Re7 28.Kg2 Ne4 29.Rfc2 g6 30.Rc8+ Rxc8 31.Rxc8+ Kg7 32.Bg4 Nd2 33.Bf3 Nxf3 34.Kxf3 Kf6 35.Rc5 Ke6 36.Rb5 Kd6 37.Rb6+ Kc7 38.Rf6 h5 39.h4 Kd7 40.a4 Kc7 41.b4 Kd7 42.a5 Kc7 43.b5 Kd7 44.Kf4 Re4+ 45.Kg5 Rxd4 46.Rxf7+ Kc8 47.b6 Rg4+ 48.Kf6 Rxg3 49.Rc7+ Kb8 50.Rg7 Rf3+ 51.Ke5 Rf5+ 52.Kd6 Rf8 53.Kxd5 Kc8 54.Rxg6 Rf4 55.Rg8+ Kd7 56.Rg7+ Kc8 57.Rc7+ Kb8 58.Rh7 Kc8 59.Rh8+ Kd7 60.a6 1-0
Final Standings
1. Xiong 6.5
2. Liang 6.0
3. Li 5.5
4. Harmon-Vellotti 5.0
5. Brown 5.0
6. Chandra 4.5
7. Checa 4.0
8. Troff 3.5
9. Ostrovskiy 3.5
10. Bodek 1.5
_______
Ben and Aviv thank the 11 people (including themselves) who are responsible for the television/Internet production.
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