The US Junior Championship is a prestigious tournament with a long history. Among the past winners are former World Champion Bobby Fischer, Arthur Bisguier, Yasser Sairawan, and Hikaru Nakamura. Since 1966 the US Juniors are played as an invitational, separating it from the US Junior Open tournament.
In part one of this article I described the first seven rounds of the Championship. I had won three games and drawn four, sharing the lead with Arthur Shen. This is what the cross table looked like:
In Round eight I faced FM Arthur Shen with the white pieces. While I had drawn my last three games, Arthur had reeled off four straight wins to join me in the lead with 5.0/7. It was only fitting that we played in the penultimate round.
Arthur surprised me in the opening by offering me to go into the main line Ruy Lopez, something he has never played before. After some thought, I decided to decline by going for 6.d3 instead. I managed to win a pawn after an inaccuracy by him, and though he had compensation, Arthur was unable to find the best continuation. I was able to consolidate, and show good technique to close out the game effectively.
Going into the last round, I was the sole leader at 6.0/9, with Jeffery following close behind at 5.5/9. It was reassuring to know that things were in my hands, and I had control of the tournament’s outcome.
I faced FM Awonder Liang (above) in Round nine with the black pieces, and stuck to my Taimanov once again. Awonder surprised me in the opening by going for a variation he had never played before. I responded in the most solid manner, but he remained in his preparation and continued playing swiftly. This was quite uncomfortable, and I decided to throw him out of book by developing my bishop to d7, instead of the natural looking 14…exf4. This seemed to do the trick as Awonder began to think now. He was able to gain an impressive-looking center, but it turned out to be rather flimsy. I enhanced the pressure and Awonder cracked, allowing me to build up a decisive advantage. The game went on for a few more moves, before White resigned.
I was thrilled to have won the 2015 US Junior Championship, and earn a spot into the 2016 US Championships. It is exciting to know that I could be playing the likes of Caruana and Nakamura next year!
It was a great feeling to see the screens displaying my picture as I walked out of the playing hall
It takes a great team to organize such a major tournament flawlessly. Arbiters Tony Rich and Mike Kummer officiated the event marvelously, and the production staff did an impeccable job of broadcasting the games and commentary online. In many ways, the organization of the US Junior was like a dry-run for the Sinquefield Cup which begins in August. Judging by the way they managed the US Junior, the team is definitely more than ready to host the world’s elite once more.
Sitting (L to R): FM Aviv Friedman, Ben Simon, GM Ben Finegold; standing: Paige Pederson,
Nick Schleicher, Laura Schilli, Jonathan Schrantz, Nicole Halpin, Austin Fuller, Tammy Hyde
Finally, I’d like to thank Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield for providing juniors an opportunity to compete in an elite environment and conditions. Without their support and vision, the level of chess interest in America would not be where it is today.
Rex Sinquefield playing Rachel Li (Ruifeng’s sister)
Checking for electronic devices: Arbiter Mike Kummer with his magic wand
Arbiter Tony Rich going over the pre-game announcements
Photos: Austin Fuller of CCSCSL, Akshat Chandra; annotations by Mackenzie Molner and Akshat Chandra
Akshat Chandra wins 2015 US Junior Championship
7/19/2015 – The Championship is open to the best US juniors younger than 21 years. Previously it has been won by the likes of Fischer, Bisguier, Seirawan and Nakamura. This time the title went to 15-year-old Akshat Chandra, who scored 7.0/9 and a performance of 2688. Akshat is well known to our readers – he writes reports for us. Which led Garry Kasparov to refer to him as 'the journalist'.
US Junior Championship: Winner's impressions
8/2/2015 – The US Junior Closed Chess Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the United States – next only to the US Championships. The ten-player round robin event, open to best juniors younger than 21 years, was won by 15-year-old Akshat Chandra – who often writes for our news page. Today he tells us what it is like to play and win such a prestigious event.
LinksYou can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |
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