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2010 U.S. Women's and
Junior Closed Championships |
Two of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, the 2010 U.S. Women's
Championship and the 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, took place from July
9-20 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. IM Anna Zatonskih
was looking to defend her crown, which
she won for two years in succession. In the Junior section Ray Robson was
the top seed.
A Perfect Storm
IM Sam Shankland had an atrocious first two rounds at the Junior Closed Championship.
After announcing his early retirement from chess before coming to the Junior
Closed, Shankland appeared listless as lower-rated opponents made quick work
of him in rounds one and two.
Then, after scoring a win against FM John Bryant in round three, Shankland
appeared more relaxed, and was even able to crack a few jokes in his post-mortem
analysis with GM Ben Finegold and WGM Jen Shahade. Shankland went on a tear
to close out the Junior Closed, scoring six points out of his final seven games.
Initially, his round eight draw appeared to seal his fate, as GM Ray Robson
entered round nine a full point, and Parker Zhao a half point, ahead of Shankland.
In a bizarre turn of events, Robson lost to FM Warren Harper in the final round,
and Zhao was unable to convert a winning endgame against Bryant.
As the Bryant-Zhao game unfolded, Shankland and Robson were watching with tense
anticipation to see if Bryant could hold the draw. As both players got down
on time, Zhao finally agreed to a draw to ensure he didn't blunder away his
chance at a playoff for the title.
In an unlikely scenario, Robson, Shankland and Zhao tied for first place and
had to play an Armageddon playoff to determine the champion.
The playoff featured a unique set of rules. Robson, by virtue of being first
on tiebreaks, elected to receive a bye in the first round of the playoff. Zhao
and Shankland had to play first to determine who would play Robson for the championship.
In the playoffs: Parker Zhao and GM Ray Robson
Both players had to bid on how much time they were willing to start with, and
whoever bid the lesser amount of time got the option to choose his color, with
the black pieces getting draw odds (meaning that in the case of a draw, black
is declared the winner). Whoever lost the bid received a full 45 minutes, with
both players receiving a five-second increment for each move.
Shankland's bid of 31 minutes was trumped by Zhao's 29 minutes and 54 seconds,
but even with draw odds, Zhao was no match for the newly focused Shankland.
Because of the victory, Shankland got his choice of color in the championship
game, with Black again having draw odds. Shankland again chose Black and got
a ten-minute respite to mentally prepare himself for Robson. Robson attempted
a line he hoped Shankland wouldn't know, the Fantasy variation of the Caro-Kann,
but Shankland was obviously prepared as he quickly whipped out the moves. Robson,
as he has for most of the games throughout this tournament, once again found
himself in time trouble, and Shankland cruised to an easy victory.
"I’ve been happy with my play," Shankland said. "I think
... in the last seven rounds of the tournament, I think I played my best chess.
Unfortunately the first two count as well.”
Shankland said he may make an exception to quitting chess, instead calling
it a long hiatus with the possibility of returning next year. “It’s
a nice feeling to get someone who normally gets you, but really it’s just
the title that matters. If he had offered me a draw at any point I would have
just taken it.”
Sam Shankland Bio
I was born on October 1, 1991 in Berkeley, California. I lived there until
I was four, and then when my brother was born, my parents decided to move to
Orinda, a small suburb in the Bay Area. I lived there until September 2009,
when I decided to move in with my friends in El Cerrito, where I currently reside.
I started playing chess when I was nine years old, and I played my first tournament
when I was ten, achieving my first USCF rating ever of 1269. At first, I didn’t
play very often, mainly just the Friday night scholastic tournaments at the
Berkeley Chess School, the place where I first learned chess. A year later,
my rating had dropped a bit and I was down to under 1086. Starting at that point,
I would go on to have one of the steepest learning curves in American chess
history. It started with a strong result in the Berkeley Peoples K-6th grade
chess competition, where I tied for third place. I then played another scholastic
tournament in Stockton, and this would be the first time that I took first place
in a reasonably strong scholastic tournament, scoring a perfect 4/4.
I then played the K-6th grade state championship, an enormous tournament with
some 200 entrants. I was still listed as being rated 1083 because my other results
had not been submitted yet, and I had no idea that I was actually unofficially
1300 already. Thus, it came as quite a shock to me that I upset the top seeded
Aaron Garg, rated over 1600, in round two. I would maintain a perfect score
all the way to the last round, where unfortunately my Cinderella Story was ended
by a painful last round loss. Still, I tied for fourth overall in all of California
for K-6th grade. This was the start of a long string of good results.
Just three years later, I became a National Master, breaking 2200 USCF. However,
at that point I ran into a brick wall and leveled out. I would stay at about
2200 for about a year, and at the end of that year something wonderful happened.
I had two wretched results in a row, losing 45 points. I was very down on myself,
but it was a good wakeup call – I had been so blinded by my previous successes
that until then I had not noticed what I was doing was the wrong attitude toward
chess, and my style or attitude had realized its limitations. For more about
what exactly that entails, look at the coaching tab.
Sam 'n Josh on their way to a 2009
US Chess Championship round
I then took the summer off from tournaments, and I studied almost every day
with the three best friends I’ve ever had in David Pruess, Josh Friedel
and Vinay Bhat. Following that summer, I had not only become a stronger player
in general but my attitude toward the game completely changed.
From August 2007 to October 2008, I went from a no-name 2200 USCF to an IM
rated over 2450 FIDE, as well as becoming the youngest California adult state
champion ever at 16. Just a month later, I would go to Vietnam to play the World
u18 championship. Initially I was not even invited by USCF because I needed
to be a certain rating as of April, and one of my results was not submitted
in a timely manner. The head of the US delegation, FM Aviv Friedman, helped
to get me a spot on the team, which I am eternally grateful for. I also must
say I think he made the right choice, as I went on to tie for first place and
become the 2008 World under 18 co-champion, receiving the bronze medal on tiebreaks.
This would be my biggest claim to fame to date. Since then my FIDE rating has
increased to nearly 2500 and I have two of the three required norms to become
a Grandmaster, and I’m still an active tournament player and searching
for the final norm.
Links
The games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess
server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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