US Senior

[Hans Jung]

A lot of fun to watch. The greats of the past are now veterans. Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, Max Dlugy, Kaidanov, Alex Shabalov, Ehlvest are duking it out.

[Hans Jung]

Larry Christiansen leads 2-0. Im looking forward to some scintillating attacks by him.

[Hans Jung]

The Yermolator takes off Larry Christiansen! I expect a good article about it soon.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2019...stiansen_Larry Max Dlugy got his first win in style against Larry Christiansen. At first I thought it was sure checkmate but Larry's king had amazing escape options but he still lost. After 7 rounds Max got his first win?? - he must not have been sleeping well. For sure he will get a good nights sleep after this one.

[Hans Jung]

If you saw the field at the beginning how many of you would have picked Alex Shabalov or Gregory Kaidanov. Both are tied for first after 7 rounds.

[Wayne Komer]

U.S. Senior 2019

July 19, 2019

Round 3, July 13
Yermolinsky, Alex – Christiansen, Larry
A40 Queen’s Pawn, Keres Defence

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Ne7 6.e3 f6 7.Bf4 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d6 9.Qc2 g5 10.Bg3 Qd7 11.c5 Nbc6 12.cxd6 cxd6 13.Nd2 Nf5 14.Be2 O-O-O 15.e4 Nxg3 16.fxg3 Kb8 17.O-O Rhf8 18.Rf2 Qc7 19.Qd3 Ne7 20.Raf1 f5 21.exf5 exf5 22.Bf3 d5 23.Bd1 h6 24.Re1 Rf6 25.Ba4 Bc6 26.Bb3 Bb7 27.Rfe2 Nc8 28.Re5 f4 29.gxf4 gxf4 30.Nf3 Qg7 31.Qd2 Rf7 32.Re8 Rxe8 33.Rxe8 Bc6 34.Re6 Bd7 35.Re1 Rf5 36.Re5 Rf6 37.Bxd5 Nd6 38.c4 Bh3 39.Kf1 Bg4 40.c5 Bxf3 41.Bxf3 Nc4 42.Re8+ Kc7 43.cxb6+ Kd7 44.Qe2 Ne3+ 45.Rxe3 fxe3 46.bxa7 1-0

Position after White’s 37.Bxd5




Round 7, July 18
Dlugy, Maxim – Christiansen, Larry
D02 Queen’s Bishop game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nd2 d5 6.Ngf3 Bd6 7.Bg3 O-O 8.Bd3 b6 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.Rd1 Re8 11.e4 Be7 12.e5 Nh5 13.a3 a5 14.Nf1 g6 15.Ne3 Qc8 16.h4 Ba6 17.Bh2 Bxd3 18.Rxd3 Ng7 19.Ng4 Nf5 20.h5 cxd4 21.cxd4 gxh5 22.Nf6+ Bxf6 23.exf6 Kh8 24.Bf4 Rg8 25.Ng5 Rxg5 26.Bxg5 h4 27.Qh5 Qg8 28.Rh2 Ncxd4 29.Bxh4 Rc8 30.Bg5 Qg6 31.Rdh3 Qxh5 32.Rxh5 h6 33.Bxh6 Kh7 34.Be3+ Kg6 35.Rh6+ Nxh6 36.Rxh6+ Kf5 37.Bxd4 b5 38.Kd2 b4 39.axb4 axb4 40.b3 1-0

Position after 20.h5

[Brian Profit]

Hi Hans!
I would have bet on Shabalov. He is the only one who is an active player still, even though Benjamin has been more active in the last year. The rest are semi-retired so maybe not in truly playing form.
Brian

[Victor Plotkin]

Actually, Shabalov would have been my first choice. Some reasons:

1. He is one of the youngest here.
2. He plays a lot, probably more than anyone else from this tournament. For seniors, the more you play the faster your rating goes down.
3. I remember, he was on board 1 for USA team at World Team Senior-2018 in Germany (above Benjamin, Ehlvest, Yermo and Kudrin) and was the main reason why USA won that event. Our team played against them in the last round. Shabalov won a very good game against David Cummings, while Behjamin and Ehlvest drew against myself and Ian Findlay. Kudrin beat M.Barron on board 4.

All these factors together should give him something like 30% chances to win this tournament, more than anyone else here.

[Hans Jung]

Thanks guys for your input.

[Hans Jung]

So Gregory Kaidanov's results are exceptional. After round 7 tied for first with no losses and he will turn 60 later this year.

[Hans Jung]

Apparently first time in St Louis the US Senior has impressive prizes. First prize is 12000 and substantial prizes for everyone. Just noticed that.

[Victor Plotkin]

Canadian Senior starts in 2 weeks with slightly smaller prize fund.

[Wayne Komer]

U.S. Seniors 2019

July 19, 2019

Round Eight

What happened here?

Round 8, July 19
Ehlvest, Jaan – Benjamin, Joel
C47 Four Knights, Iosellani-Glek variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 Bc5 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.f4 Nfg4 7.fxe5 Bf2+ 8.Ke2 Bd4 9.Nb5 Nf2 10.Qe1 Bb6 11.d4 Nxh1 12.Be3 a6 13.Nc3 d6 14.exd6 Qxd6 15.Nd5 Bg4+ 16.Kd2 c6 17.Nxb6 Qb4+ 18.Kd3 Qxb6 19.b3 f5 20.e5 Bf3 21.Kd2 O-O-O 22.c3 c5 23.Kc2 cxd4 24.cxd4 Kb8 25.Kb2 Be4 26.d5 Qc7 27.d6 Qd7 28.Qb4 Rc8 29.Qb6 Rc2+ 30.Ka3 Kc8 1/2-1/2

From the EC Forum:

Jaan Ehlvest blunders a piece on move 5

- For those still unaware, after 5....Ne5 the "customary" 6 d4 is unplayable because of 6.....Bd4!

- Seen it before. Also seen someone fall for it with 4.a3 g6 5.Bc4 Nxe4?? etc.

Chessbomb kibitzers:

- How times goes by. This man (Ehlvest) played draw with peak Kasparov and won Reggio di Emilia in head of Karpov and Ivanchuk

- Was world # 5

[Hans Jung]

The Yermolator takes off another first place contender Kaidanov! and Shaba won in rd 8. Going into the last round it looks very likely that Shabalov will win the championship. Good prediction Brian and Victor.

[Hans Jung]

Alex Shabalov wins the US Seniors.