Photos by Austin Fuller, thanks to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis continues its commitment to empowering chess at all levels. The club is mostly known for its flagship events, the U.S. Championship and the Sinquefield Cup, as well as for its vast chess in the schools outreach in greater Saint Louis metropolitan area. The "Classic" series is not the club's flashiest event, but it is a key part for the growth of young players in the country. The aim of the events are to give members of the Young Stars program, of members of collegiate chess in America, and for the olympic women and open teams to get experience against players they would have to travel far to reach.
As their official website says:
"The Quarterly Strong Tournaments here at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center were created so strong international masters and newly minted grandmasters could participate in strong round robin tournaments in which to test their mettle against players of similar levels and to learn from these experiences. These tournaments are very rare. Generally, organizers are more interested in hosting elite events with big names such as Fabuano Caruana, Wesley So or Magnus Carlsen. These organizers are rarely seeking sponsorship for grandmasters in the 2600 level. "
Two closed tournaments normally run concurrently, the a-group with an average of about 2640, and the b-group with an average in the mid 2500s. Due to scheduling conflicts and the need for practice for some of these young players, a c-group was added nearly last minute! The event attracted top talent from around the world, but the Americans really shone in this edition.
The Young Stars – Team USA program has been sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) and the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) since 2012. A group of young and promising chess players are assessed and evaluated by Garry Kasparov himself, along with KCF President and FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky. These players are also individually trained by prominent grandmasters and famous coaches, including Alexander Chernin. They were represented in all sections with Jeffery Xiong, Sam Sevian, Ruifeng Li, Awonder Liang. GM Akshat Chandra is an "alumn" of the program.
Group C was a six player round robin, which had a mix of relatively young players. The oldest and weakest participant was me, with 28 years of age and 2550 of rating! Two players from Webster University participated: Alexander Shimanov and Ilya Nyzhnyk, one from the University of Texas at Brownsville, Andrei Stukopin, and two members of the Young Stars program, a cooperation betwen the Saint Louis Chess Club and the Kasparov Chess Foundation to foster talent in the USA: Ruifeng Li and Sam Sevian.
From the beginning it became clear that Sevian and Nyzhnyk were the frontrunners of the event, at some point they even doubled the amount of points that third place had! However Nyzhnyk towards the end started faltering a bit, allowing Sevian to win the tournament comfortably.
Sam Sevian has been on many people's radar, starting from his amazing performance at the 2015 U.S. Championship. He seems to have made a breakthrough lately. This was his third tournament victory in a row, and he followed it up by winning the Chicago Open only a few days later.
Alexander Shimanov is one of Webster University's strongest students. He finished a respectable third place. Here he is observing the B-group.
Stukopin was quite luckless this event, losing some winning positions, as in this game against Nyzhnyk
The fighting spirit in the C-group was high, and surprisingly many more games were won with black than with white! This is one of them:
Group B was a mix of very young talent, two very strong female players and collegiate players. The tournament had an amazing start, with GM Cristian Chirila and IM Awonder Liang starting with an insane 5.0/5! They faced each other in the sixth round, a game that ended in a draw, but whereas Cristian started drawing here and there, Awonder did not let his foot off the pedal:
Awonder's amazing performance netted him 33 rating points. That, combined with his performance in the Chicago Open, completes his GM title.
As his father informs us:
"I am happy to report to you that Awonder has fulfilled his all GM title requirements at the age of 14 years and one month. He had earned two GM norms back-to-back in the last two weeks at the Spring Classic Chess Tournament (May 15-24, 2017) in the beautiful Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center (SLCCSC) with a performance of 2785 FIDE. He just needed 6/9 to earn his second GM norm and he actually secured that with an extra half point and two more rounds to spare. At the end, Awonder scored 7.5/9 in the event against a strong field of six GMs and three IMs, of which all the six GMs were higher rated than Awonder and Awonder had to face five out of the six GMs with the black pieces."
Awonder in the STLCC
He won the section by one full point. From every angle, Awonder's performance in the event is nothing but truly impressive! The security check for this event is extremely tight with metal detectors used on every player and spectator plus hand searching, if needed, on every round. The tournament is extremely well organized and well run by the very able director of the SLCCSC, Mr. Tony Rich, and his assistants. Then immediately following that and without a single day of rest, Awonder scored 6.5/9 in the Chicago Open (May 25-29, 2017) to have earned his third and final GM norm. "
Certainly a great future for this young talent!
Two of the highest rated players in the event: University of Texas at Brownsville student Belous and Brazilian Alex Fier, who flew in from his home in Tbilisi, Georgia!
Cristian Chirila gave Awonder a run for his money until the very end
Georgian GM Tamaz Gelashvili checking out some of the A-Group games
17-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik, rated 2420, is one of the biggest promises in women's chess
Akshat Chandra, a local Saint Louisan, checking out the game between Stukopin and Ruifeng Li
Nazi Paikidze had an awful start, with 0.0/7, but managed to somewhat recover and not lose her last two games
Internationally, this was of course the most interesting section. Talent came from all over the world, with the specific purpose of training the Saint Louis University chess team and the American Olympic team that is headed to the World Team Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk in June.
Two members of the Cuban Olympic team here playing against each other: Quezada vs. Bruzon
Argentinian #1 Sandro Mareco playing a tough Grunfeld against Saint Louis University's #1 board, Alexander Ipatov
After a very successful U.S. Championship, SLU's #3 board Yaroslav Zherebukh came back again with strength and finished second
Varuzhan Akobian started out with a loss, but he recovered magnificently, finished the tournament on +3 and won convincingly. His recent performances have catapulted him to #70 in the world with a 2673 rating.
Here is one of his convincing victories:
Another game that caught my attention was the trap-setting of World Junior Champion Jeffery Xiong:
A very successful week and a half of chess saw great fights, and over $50,000 in prizes distributed. I can't wait until the next edition, which will be held September 5-15.
