The 2015 edition of the classical Chicago Open was held in Wheeling, Illinois during Memorial Day weekend. This traditionally strong tournament attracted many grandmasters, from as far away as Belarus and Israel. The rating favorites were definitely Gata Kamsky, former U.S. Champion, and Lazaro Bruzon, part of the Cuban Olympic team and one of the strongest players on the continent. However, everyone was in for a big shock as it was 14-year old Jeffery Xiong from Coppell, Texas that took the big prize.
After a relatively mediocre start, drawing a couple of low rated IMs and wunderkind Awonder Liang, things fell into place for Jeffery Xiong. He downed a 2200 and a 2300 and then started getting paired with the big dogs. In round seven he had a draw against the tough Cuban grandmaster Isan Ortiz Suarez, and then he won two important back-to-back games. First he beat Boris Avrukh, 2609, from Israel but living in Chicago, and he found himself in a big tie for first.
He was paired against top seed and tournament favorite Lazaro Bruzon Batista, and this was their game:
With this victory and a string of draws on the other boards, Jeffery emerged as the only person with 7.0/9. His score was good enough for clear first, his final grandmaster norm and the rating bump needed to cross 2500 – the last requirement in obtaining the coveted title. As a nice "bonus", Jeffrey took home $10,300 in prize money.
| # | Name | Rtng | Tot |
Prize
|
Amount
|
| 1 | IM Jeffery Xiong | 2497 | 7.0 |
1st/Bonus
|
$10300.00
|
| 2 | GM Gata Kamsky | 2673 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 3 | GM Illia I Nyzhnyk | 2622 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 4 | GM Daniel A Naroditsky | 2622 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 5 | GM Sergei Azarov | 2619 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 6 | GM Samuel Sevian | 2565 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 7 | GM Vladimir Georgiev | 2550 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 8 | GM Vladimir Dobrov | 2490 | 6.5 |
2nd-8th
|
$1671.43
|
| 9 | FM Eric S Rosen | 2372 | 6.5 |
1st U2400
|
$2000.00
|
| 10 | GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista | 2684 | 6.0 |
9th-10th
|
$160.00
|
| 11 | GM Boris Avrukh | 2609 | 6.0 |
9th-10th
|
$160.00
|
| 12 | GM Ioan Chirila | 2542 | 6.0 |
9th-10th
|
$160.00
|
| 13 | GM Joshua E Friedel | 2505 | 6.0 |
9th-10th
|
$160.00
|
| 14 | IM Ashwin Jayaram | 2466 | 6.0 |
9th-10th
|
$160.00
|
| 15 | FM Atulya Shetty | 2331 | 6.0 |
2nd U2400
|
$1000.00
|
| 16 | GM Bartlomiej Macieja | 2605 | 5.5 | ||
| 17 | GM Isan Ortiz Suarez | 2581 | 5.5 | ||
| 18 | GM Kayden W Troff | 2556 | 5.5 | ||
| 19 | GM Holden Hernandez Carmenate | 2544 | 5.5 | ||
| 20 | GM Conrad Holt | 2533 | 5.5 |
Jeffery Xiong is a 14-year old kid who lives in Coppell, Texas – part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He is an arduous worker both on and off the board, studying many hours a day to keep up with the latest opening trends, as well as polishing his strength. As a youngster, he was trained by GM Babakuli Annakov (and still is, three times a week!) and practiced in the Dallas Chess Club – a strong center of players due to the proximity to the University of Texas at Dallas; one of the top collegiate teams in the country.
A typical genius kid's rating graph
I personally have had the pleasure of playing against Jeffery many times, and have seen him grow from someone who could barely play chess to a full strength grandmaster. According to the USCF website I still have a positive score against him, but that certainly does not reflect the past few games we have played, two of them he was able to outplay me soundly. I personally have trouble playing against him because I have always felt he is way underrated - and with his new FIDE rating topping 2522 I still feel the same way!
Coach Babakuli Annakov, Jeffery and his dad, Wayne Xiong during a training session
The big leap for Jeffery came with his joining of Young Stars, a program catapulting extremely talented children and giving them the tools and opportunities to achieve the highest level in chess. The program is run by KCF president and FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky. Since the inception of the program in 2012 Jeffery has been coached by grandmasters Alexander Chernin (head coach of the Young Stars program) and Gabor Kallai, both from Hungary. Also he has two training sessions a year with Garry Kasparov, one in New York and one in Saint Louis – the upcoming one will be held in the Missouri city starting June 18.
Awonder Liang is another of Young Stars' talents.
He incidentally drew Jeffery at this Chicago Open in round three.
Jeffery knows that his path to the top is only starting, and his next goal will be to qualify for the 2016 U.S. Chess Championship, the most important tournament of the year in America outside of the Sinquefield Cup. To do this, he will be participating in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship to be held in Saint Louis – the winner of this strong tournament will earn a direct spot in the U.S. Championship of the following year. Competition will not be easy, as some of his Young Stars colleagues will most likely be participating, including grandmasters Kayden Troff and Sam Sevian.
Jeffrey Xiong playing in last year's U.S. Junior Championship -
photo by Austin Fuller, Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
His goal is to be part of the U.S. Olympic team – and join the ranks of Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana in representing his country on the highest level. He will continue his climb to the top with the backing of the Kasparov Chess Foundation.
Jeffery with GMs Kayden Troff, Samuel Sevian, WIM Ashritha Eswaran and ex-World Champion Garry Kasparov
