A trio of champs: Yoo, Lee, Akopian claim U.S. national chess titles

The U.S. has a generation-spanning trio of new champs as the U.S. Senior, Junior and Junior Girls Championships were all decided at the Chess Club of St. Louis last week.

GM Vladimir Akopian picked up his first American senior title in style, dusting a field that included such veterans as GMs Joel Benjamin, Alex Shabalov and Gregory Kaidanov and clinching the title with a round to spare with an undefeated 7-2 score.

It was a closer battle in the two junior events, but top-seeded GM Christopher Yoo held off IM Justin Wang to take the junior title, also at 7-2, and thus booked a berth in the next U.S. national championship. In the Junior Girls section, top-seeded IM Alice Lee bounced back from a Round 1 upset at the hands of expert Iris Mou (which we ran in this space last week) to claim the crown by a half-point over a dogged FM Rose Atwell, with Mou another point back in third.

Yoo got off to a confidence-building start in St. Louis with a tough Round 1 victory against GM Arthur Guo, a tricky Caro-Kann Exchange line that quickly produced complex play.
With both sides eyeing kingside attacks, Yoo as Black gets in the first real shot on 21. Qd3 Re4 22. Qd1 Qd7!, offering a very modern exchange sacrifice to try to get one of White’s best pieces — the bishop on c2 — off the board.

When White declines the offer, the rook suddenly takes a left turn to join the kingside assault. After 23. Nd2 (Bxe4!? dxe4 24. Nd2 f5 is roughly equal, but Black’s position looks a lot more fun to play) Rh4 24. Nf3 (see diagram; now 24…Re4 likely heads for a draw by repetition, while 24…Rh5?! 25. Bd2 Rd8 26. Qf1 f5 27. Rae1 poses no problems for White) Rxh3!? 25. Qd3 (gxh3 Qxh3 forces White to find the tricky 26. Bc1! to keep the balance; bad would be 26. Rd2?! Re8 27. Qf1 Qxf3 28. Qg2 Qh5 29. Qh1 Qxh1+ 30. Kxh1 g5 31. Bf5 h5, with a clear edge for Black) Rxf3! (White’s threat was 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Bf5) 26. gxf3 Qh3 27. f4 (Qh7+?! Kf8 28. Qh8+ Bg8 29. f4 Qg4+ 30. Kf1 f5, and White has trapped his own queen in the corner).
 White’s last move has slowed down the Black attack, but at the significant cost of blocking in his own dark-squared bishop.

But there’s still plenty of play in the position, and Black nearly throws away his edge in the ensuing complications: 27…Qg4+ 28. Kh2 (Kf1 Bh5 29. Rae1 Qh3+ 30. Kg1 Bf3 and wins) Nb4?! (tempting but not the strongest; powerful was simply 28…Re8 29. Rg1 Bxf4+ 30. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 31. Kg2 Rxe2 32. Qxe2 Nxd4) 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Qh8+ Bg8 31. f3 (Bh7 falls just short after 31…Kf7 32. Ree1 Nc6 33. Rg1 Qh5+ 34. Kg2 Bxh7 35. Qxh7 [Qxa8 Be4+ 36. Kf1 Ne7 37. Qxb7 Bd3+ 38. Kg2 Qe2 39. Rae1 Be4+ 40. Kg3 Qf3+ 41. Kh2 Qh5+ 42. Kg3 g5 43. Rh1 Bxf4+ 44. Bxf4 gxf4+ 45. Kxf4 Qf3 mate] Ne7, solidifying the defense) Qh5+?! (and now 31…Qxf3! was the way to go; e.g. 32. Rg2 Qxg2+ 33. Kxg2 Nxc2 34. Rg1 Nxe3+ 35. Kf3 Nf5 36. Kg4 Nxd4 37. Kh5 Nf5 38. Kg6 Ke7 39. Re1+ Kd7 and wins) 32. Kg1 Qxf3, and now Guo might have registered an unlikely save with 33. Bh7! Kf7 34. Bg6+! Kxg6 35. Rg2+ Kf5 36. Bd2, with hugely complex play and chances for both sides.

Instead, Black has a killer simplification after 33. Rg2? Qxe3+ 34. Kh1 Qh3+! (the only winning move; not 34…Qe7?? 35. Bh7 Qf7 36. Bg6 Qe7 37. Bh7, and if 37… Kf7??, White wins with 38. Rxg7+) 35. Kg1 Qxg2+! 36. Kxg2 Nxc2 37. Rg1 Bxf4 38. Kf3 Bg5 — the troublesome g-file is now securely locked down and Black can cash in at his leisure.

With the White queen still imprisoned in her corner, the end comes quickly: 39. Kg4 Ne3+ 40. Kh5 Kf7!, and the threat of 41…g6 mate can only be put off for a few moves; White resigned.

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While Akopian, 52, took the honors in the senior event, veteran GM Jesse Kraai deserves a major shout-out for his unexpected second-place finish. The lowest-rated player in the 10-grandmaster field, Kraai looked out of the running after two early losses but closed with a four-game win streak to finish just a point behind Akopian at 6-3.

He topped off his strong finishing kick with a last-round win over GM Julio Becerra Rivero. Black’s Classical King’s Indian here may not be much in favor in elite circles these days, but it is a tough nut to crack and produces an absorbing struggle across the entire board.

Becerra Rivero gets into trouble just as Kraai castles queenside, declaring his intention to launch a kingside attack: 18. 0-0-0 Qf6? (the queen-bishop battery looks strong but the queen is misplaced here; better was 18…Nb3+ 19. Nxb3 axb3 20. Qxb3 f4 21. Bd4 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Nc5 23. Qc2 Re8, with chances for both sides) 19. Kb1 Rac8 20. Be2 (also good was 20. gxf5 Bxf5 21. Rg3 Rb8 22. Be2 Rf7 23. Rdg1, since Black’s defensive shield in front of his king can’t hold out for long) Rfe8 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. Bg4! (very logical — removing the opponent’s best defensive piece) Nd3 23. Bxf5 gxf5 24. Nb5, and the White pawn on b2 is poison: 24…Qxb2+? 25. Qxb2 Nxb2 26. Rxg7+ Kxg7 27. Kxb2 with a big edge.

On 25. Bd4 Ne5 26. Qxa4 (with the long diagonal safely bottled up, White can afford to go pawn hunting) Nxb5 27. Qxb5, White is up material, controls the long diagonal and the half-open g-file, and has several other weak targets in Black’s game to go after — Kraai is strategically won and wastes no time steering the victory into port.

Thus: 30. Bxe5 dxe5 31. d6 (add a powerful passed pawn to White’s growing list of assets) Re6 32. Qd7! Rce8 (guarding the rook but leaving himself wide open to another tactic) 33. Rxg7+! Qxg7 34. Rg1 Qxg1+ 35. Nxg1 e4 (Black’s pawns may look scary, but his still-weak king is the deciding factor here) 36. Nh3 f3 37. Ng5, and Black resigned. There’s no good defense to 38. Qf7+ Kh8 39. Qh7 mate.

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Virginia will be the focus of the U.S. chess world for the next week as the 124th U.S. Open kicked off this week at Norfolk’s Sheraton Waterside Hotel and runs through Sunday, Aug. 4. We’ll have the results and some of the on-field action in the coming weeks.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Guo-Yoo, U.S. Junior Championship, St. Louis, July 2024

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. O-O Nge7 8. Re1 O-O 9. h3 h6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Na3 a6 12. Nc2 f6 13. Ne3 Bd7 14. c4 Bb4 15. Re2 Be8 16. cxd5 exd5 17. Nf5 Nxf5 18. Bxf5 Bf7 19. Bc2 Rfe8 20. Be3 Bd6 21. Qd3 Re4 22. Qd1 Qd7 23. Nd2 Rh4 24. Nf3 Rxh3 25. Qd3 Rxf3 26. gxf3 Qh3 27. f4 Qg4+ 28. Kh2 Nb4 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Qh8+ Bg8 31. f3 Qh5+ 32. Kg1 Qxf3 33. Rg2 Qxe3+ 34. Kh1 Qh3+ 35. Kg1 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 Nxc2 37. Rg1 Bxf4 38. Kf3 Bg5 39. Kg4 Ne3+ 40. Kh5 Kf7 White resigns.

Kraai-Becerra Rivero, U.S. Senior Championship, St. Louis, July 2024

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. g4 Na6 9. Be3 Nd7 10. h4 Ndc5 11. Rg1 Bd7 12. h5 c6 13. Nd2 a4 14. a3 cxd5 15. exd5 f5 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Qc2 e4 18. O-O-O Qf6 19. Kb1 Rac8 20. Be2 Rfe8 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. Bg4 Nd3 23. Bxf5 gxf5 24. Nb5 Nc7 25. Bd4 Ne5 26. Qxa4 Nxb5 27. Qxb5 Re7 28. f4 exf3 29. Nxf3 f4 30. Bxe5 dxe5 31. d6 Re6 32. Qd7 Rce8 33. Rxg7+ Qxg7 34. Rg1 Qxg1+ 35. Nxg1 e4 36. Nh3 f3 37. Ng5 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.