10/15/2020 – The Saint Louis Chess Club organises the U.S. Championships 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic all events are played online, and this year the U.S. Junior Championship is a 10-player round-robin rapid tournament. After six of nine rounds John Burke and Jeffery Xiong (pictured) share the lead with 4.0/6. In a press release of the Saint Louis Chess Club IM Kostya Kavutskiy recaps the action of day 2. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Expand your Chess Horizon
The perfect equipment for 2026 with the latest ChessBase program '26, Mega Database, ChessBase Magazine and Premium-Account!
€349.90
2020 U.S. Junior Championship - Day 2 Recap
By IM Kostya Kavutskiy
The second day of the 2020 U.S. Junior Championship experienced chaos at the top of the standings as both of the event’s early leaders, GM Jeffery Xiong and GM Brandon Jacobson ended up losing in the final round of the day, allowing multiple players to catch up within striking distance. With only three rounds left to go, Xiong and GM John Burke are in the lead with 4.0/6 points, Jacobson and IM Christopher Yoo are on 3.5/6, while GM Sam Sevian, IM Praveen Balakrishnan, and IM Joshua Sheng are just a point behind with 3.0/6.
Video replay of the event's live coverage from day 2, featuring WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan, and GM Maurice Ashley.
Standings after Day 2
Round 4
The first round of the day saw GM Jeffery Xiong face off against the other Day 1 leader, GM Brandon Jacobson. In a sharp Open Sicilian Xiong tried a nice pawn sacrifice to seize the initiative and eventually cashed in to reach a promising endgame. But Jacobson defended well and was able to hold the U.S. #5 ranked player to a draw.
Meanwhile GM Sam Sevian managed to start to turn his fortune around, taking advantage of a late blunder by IM Praveen Balakrishnan to come back and win from a lost position.
IM Christopher Yoo also won his first game of the day against FM Christopher Shen, demonstrating a nice positional squeeze that decided the battle in 40 moves.
Round 5
In the second round of the day GM Jeffery Xiong grabbed the sole lead with a nice endgame win over IM Praveen Balakrishnan.
Co-leader GM Brandon Jacobson could not get an opening advantage and drew the game by agreement with IM Josh Sheng.
This allowed GM John Burke to start catching up to the top with a nice technical win over GM Sam Sevian.
Round 6
In the final round of the day all mayhem broke loose, as GM Sam Sevian played his best game of the event to take down the tournament’s sole leader, GM Jeffery Xiong. The game started out with a quiet Italian Opening that ended in a long endgame grind which Sevian was ultimately able to convert, completely turning the event around for the young star.
Opening up the field even further, IM Christopher Yoo made a somewhat speculative piece sacrifice against GM Brandon Jacobson, but quickly got the better of his opponent who wasn’t able to deal with the threats in the position.
The volatile Round 6 results, leaving seven players within a point of first place.
Games from rounds 1 to 6
Rounds 7-9 of the 2020 U.S. Junior Championship will take place tomorrow, October 15, with live coverage from WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan, and GM Maurice Ashley starting at 12:50 PM CDT on USChessChamps.com, YouTube, and Twitch.
The 2020 U.S. Championships features a series of five national title events, all taking place online from Oct 8-29, starting with the 2020 U.S. Girls Junior Championship. For full details, pairings, and results of the events, make sure to check out USChessChamps.com.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
€21.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
