Jeffrey Xiong leads in U.S. Juniors

by Johannes Fischer
7/11/2016 – From 7th to 18th July the U.S. Juniors Closed Championship take place in the Chess Club & Scholastic Center in St. Louis. It's a tournament of future U.S. stars and Elo-favorite and top seed is Jeffery Xiong who has a rating of 2624. The 15-year old no longer goes to school but his chess skills brought him an offer to study at the University of Texas. After three rounds he leads with 2.5/3.
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Chess is booming in the USA. The national team is one of the world's best and one of the favorites in the coming Chess Olympiad in Baku, in September 2016. Young talents are also supported and chess is popular in schools and High Schools.

A driving force behind this chess boom is sponsor Rex Sinquefield who supports the Chess Club & Scholastic Center in St. Louis where the U.S. Juniors take place.

The coming stars of U.S. chess play in the tournament hall where some
of the world's best players have showed their skills
in top tournaments such as the Sinquefield Cup.

Talents in battle

Michael Brown

Awonder Liang against Kayden Troff

Help from above?

After three round Jeffery Xiong leads the ten-player tournament. The short bio on the website of the U.S. Juniors lists his many impressive achievements: "Jeffery Xiong of Coppell, Texas, is the highest ranked player in the world under the age of 16. He has shown tenacity well beyond his years. At age 15, he already has had an impressive list of results: the 2010 Under-10 North America Continental Champion, a silver medalist in the 2010 Under-10 World Youth Chess Championships, 2013 MVP of the United States Chess League for his perfect record in regular season for the Dallas Destiny, 2015 Chicago Open Championship, 6th place finish in the strongest U.S. Championship in history (2016), and was recently awarded the 2016 U.S. Outstanding Player Achievement Award by USCF.

Home-schooled now, Xiong already has been awarded a four-year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas. The school’s faith in him is well-founded, particularly since his undefeated play in this past spring’s UT Dallas vs. U.S.A. Junior All-Stars event helped his team, the Junior All-Stars, achieve victory over that same UT Dallas university program he may one day attend." Xiong takes part in the Young Stars program and is mentored by Garry Kasparov.

In round three against Michael Bodek Xiong showed how mature his play is already.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Qd2 e6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.Bf4 Ng4 10.h3 Nge5 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.Bh2 0-0 13.f4 Nc6 14.Kb1 b5 15.Be2 15.Bd3 b4 16.Ne2 a5 17.h4 a4 18.h5 Ra5 19.h6 g6 20.Bg1 e5 21.Bc4 Be6 22.Bd5 Qd7 23.Be3 Rb8 24.Rhf1 b3 25.Bxe6 Qxe6 26.cxb3 axb3 27.a3 exf4 28.Rxf4 g5 29.Nd4 Nxd4 30.Qxd4 f6 31.Rf3 Re5 32.Bc1 Rxe4 33.Qa7 Rc8 34.Qb7 Kf7 35.Rxb3 Kg6 36.Rbd3 Rec4 37.Bd2 Qe4 38.Qxe4+ Rxe4 39.Bb4 Bf8 40.Bxd6 Bxh6 41.b4 Re2 42.b5 Rcc2 43.Rb3 Bg7 44.Rc1 Rcd2 45.Bb4 Rd7 46.a4 f5 47.b6 f4 48.a5 g4 49.a6 Bd4 50.b7 Re8 51.Rc8 Rdd8 52.b8Q 1-0 (52) Socko,B (2651)-Duda,J (2497) Chorzow 2013 15...Rb8 16.f5 b4 17.Na4 Qa5 18.b3 e5 18...Ne5 19.Bg1 Nd4 Giving a pawn to get attacking chances on the black squares. 20.Bxd4 exd4 21.Qxd4 Bb7 22.Nb6 Bf6 22...Rfd8 23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.Qxd5 Qa3 23.Nc4 Qb5 23...Bxd4?! 24.Nxa5 Be5 25.Nxb7 Rxb7 26.Rd5± 24.Qxd6 More careful was 24.Qe3 Rbd8 25.Bf3 24...Bxe4
25.Bd3? 25.Qf4 Bxf5 25...Bxg2 26.Rhg1 Ba8= 26.Bd3= 25...Rbd8 26.Qg3 26.Qf4 Bxg2 26...Qd5 Black now regains his pawn with interest. 27.Qf2 27.Bxe4?? Qxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Rxd1# 27...Bxg2 28.Rhg1 Be4 Black could also play 28...Bxh3 because after 29.Rh1 Bg2 30.Rh2 Bf3 31.Rg1 Rfe8-+ White cannot use the open files on the kingside. With the text move Black again makes use of White's weak back rank. 29.Rge1 h6 A little "luft" can't be bad! 30.a4 Bc3 31.Nb6? This loses an exchange. Necessary was 31.Rf1 though White still has a rather desolate position. 31...Qc6 32.Bxe4 Qxe4 33.Rg1 33.Rf1 Bd4 34.Qf4 Qxf4 35.Rxf4 Bxb6-+ 33...Bd4 34.Qg3 Thanks to the mating threat White loses "only" the exchange and not a full piece. Bxg1 35.Rxg1 Qd4 36.Nc4 Rfe8 37.Nb2 Re3 38.Qf2 Rxh3 39.Qg2 Rh5 40.Rf1 Rg5 41.Qh1 Qf6 42.Qe4 Rd4 43.Qe3 Rd5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bodek,M2523Xiong,J27230–12016B532016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.5

Games rounds 1 to 3

 
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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 b5 5.a4 b4 6.Bxc4 e6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.Ne5 0-0 10.a5 c5 11.Ndf3 cxd4 12.exd4 Bd5 13.Bd3 Nc6 14.a6 Rc8 15.Be3 Nd7 16.Qe2 Ndxe5 17.Nxe5 b3 18.Bb5 Nxe5 19.dxe5 Rc2 20.Qg4 Qb8 21.Bd3 Rxb2 22.Ra4 g6 23.Qd4 Ra2 24.Rxa2 bxa2 25.Qxa7 Qxe5 26.Bd4 Qg5 27.f3 Bxf3 28.Rxf3 a1Q+ 29.Bxa1 Bc5+ 30.Bd4 Bxa7 31.Bxa7 Qc1+ 32.Bf1 Ra8 33.Bd4 e5 34.Be3 Qa1 35.a7 Rxa7 36.Bxa7 Qxa7+ 37.Rf2 f5 38.g3 Kg7 39.Kg2 Qd4 40.Be2 Qe3 41.Kf1 Kf6 42.Bf3 e4 43.Be2 g5 44.Kg1 f4 45.gxf4 gxf4 46.Kg2 Qxe2 47.Rxe2 f3+ 48.Kf2 fxe2 49.Kxe2 Kf5 50.Ke3 Ke5 51.Ke2 Kf4 52.Kf2 e3+ 53.Ke2 Ke4 54.Ke1 Kf3 55.Kf1 e2+ 56.Ke1 Ke3 57.h3 h5 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Checa,N2502Ostrovskiy,A25080–12016D252016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship1.1
Brown,M2506Chandra,A2583½–½2016E002016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship1.2
Harmon-Vellotti,L2527Troff,K2639½–½2016D702016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship1.3
Li,R2608Xiong,J2723½–½2016B262016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship1.4
Liang,A2515Bodek,M25231–02016B062016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship1.5
Ostrovskiy,A2508Bodek,M2523½–½2016B512016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship2.1
Xiong,J2723Liang,A25151–02016A462016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship2.2
Troff,K2639Li,R2608½–½2016D122016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship2.3
Chandra,A2583Harmon-Vellotti,L2527½–½2016C092016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship2.4
Checa,N2502Brown,M25060–12016E112016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship2.5
Brown,M2506Ostrovskiy,A2508½–½2016D102016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.1
Harmon-Vellotti,L2527Checa,N25020–12016C162016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.2
Li,R2608Chandra,A2583½–½2016C072016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.3
Liang,A2515Troff,K26391–02016B922016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.4
Bodek,M2523Xiong,J27230–12016B502016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship3.5

Standings after three rounds

 

Analysis after the game - Jeffery Xiaong and Alejandro Ramirez

Impressions from the opening ceremony

The participants

Playing blitz in the club

The next generation gets ready!

Photos: Austin Fuller (Tournament page...)

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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