Kayden Troff is US Junior champion

For the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed, GM Kayden Troff decided to change up his tournament strategy -- on the only day he didn’t play chess.

The top seed of the event began his 2014 campaign claiming the expected headlines after taking an early lead in the standings, but then his focus seemed to waver. Back-to-back draws made him momentarily fall out of the limelight and then, literally, the worst: A loss to FM Michael Bodek -- and on the day before the break.

He needed a change.

Kayden Troff chose to turn a liability into an advantage as he changed the course of his tournament

“I’ve always said: Going into the rest day with a loss is just terrible -- just an entire day to sit around and think about it,” Troff said. “But this year, I turned it into a huge benefit for me. Clear my head, do some fun things and relax, try to come into the second part of the tournament as if it was a new tournament. I just wanted to try and start over.”

The reset button has been pushed. Troff (5.0/7) emerged from Wednesday’s rest day and walked straight into clear first, by using the most direct line possible: Stepping on literally everyone in his way. Troff has put together two consecutive victories, first over IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and then Friday on top of IM Jeffrey Xiong -- both of whom shared the tournament lead during the rest day.

Kayden Troff was a class act and won the tournament quite convincingly in the end, despite a few scares on the way, such as his loss to Michael Bodek, and of course the fierce start by Xiong that threatened to leave him in the dust. His 7.0/9 result was in line with his GM title soon to be ratified by FIDE, and will take him past 2500.

Jeffrey Xiong had a brilliant start but disappointing finish

For Jeffrey Xiong, the second half was a non-starter after his loss to Sevian in round five, and despite a 3.5/4 start, had a minor collapse in the end losing two of his last three games. Although not disastrous for his rating by any means, he will be disappointed with the finish.

Samuel Sevian had a disappointing start and a brilliant finish

Samuel Sevian experienced just the opposite, and after a very uncharacteristic 1.0/4 start, with three losses, he came back with a powerful 4.5/5 finish, allowing him to squeak into second place with 5.5/7, albeit a full point and a half behind the winner.

Third place finisher Michael Bodek had an excellent torunament through and through, and might have taken clear second place had he not fallen victim to Joshua Colas's last hurrah, scoring his only win in the final round. Bodek can take comfort though, in knowing he was the only player to defeat the winner Kayden Troff.

FM Justus Williams

Michael Larson outperformed his modest 2160 rating and turned in a 2305 performance

Luke Harmon-Vellotti led the pack at one point but finished with 4.5/9

FM Arthur Shen

Joshua Colas

Final standings

Report by Albert Silver and Brian Jerauld
Pictures from official site

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.