After drawing their games, both GM Melik Khachiyan and IM-elect Alice Lee clinched national titles with a round to spare in the 2023 US Senior and US Girls' Junior Championships. Their victory was secured after they both reached 6.5/8 points, with their key rivals no longer able to catch them in the standings.
The 2023 U.S. Junior Chess Championship came down to the wire and saw GM Abhimanyu Mishra come out on top after drawing his last round game to reach 6.0/9 points, half a point ahead of four players who tied for second, GM Brandon Jacobson, GM Andrew Hong, GM Balaji Daggupati, and IM Arthur Guo.
All three tournaments, 10-player round robins with classical time control, took place simultaneously in the World Chess Hall of Fame, Saint-Louis Chess Club from July 16-24, 2023.
US Senior Championship
Despite Khachiyan having already secured tournament victory, in the final round, the fight for second and third place was still on the table between Vladimir Akopian and Alex Shabalov, the latter having an extra half-point going into the round.
Shabalov forced a quick draw against Khachiyan, while Akopian tried for a win against Gurevich, although he was ultimately unsuccessful, leaving Shabalov in second place.
U.S. Junior Championship
With the US Senior and US Girls' Junior already decided in the penultimate round, all eyes were on the U.S. Junior, with no less than five players in contention for first place. Top seed and co-leader Mishra played a hectic game against Daggupati, one of three players a half-point behind, which featured a very sharp Najdorf that ended up drawn by perpetual check.
The draw would end up clinching the title for Mishra, as fellow co-leader IM Arthur Guo got into serious trouble against Ghazarian, going on to lose in a sharp middlegame with opposite-coloured bishops. In the meantime, the key matchup Jacobson-Hong was drawn, leaving both players, along with Guo and Daggupati finished tied for second place.
US Girls' Junior Championship
With Alice Lee having clinched the event after Round 8, on the final day, the focus was on FMs Ruiyang Yan and Zoey Tang, who were vying for second place. Tang got in trouble and had to survive a worse position to draw against WIM Iris Mou, while Yan scored a full point against Prasanna, winning a technical endgame to secure second.
Winning and catching up to tie for third place was top seed IM Carissa Yip, who turned a very dangerous position around to defeat WGM Rochelle Wu.
Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy
Photo Credits:
Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr
