US Seniors and Juniors: Akopian, Yoo and Su sole leaders

Seniors: Akopian on fire

After switching federations in 2021, Armenian-born GM Vladimir Akopian has been invited to participate in three US Senior Chess Championships. In 2022, he was one of five players tied for first place after 9 rounds of classical chess, and saw his colleague Alex Shabalov taking the title in tiebreaks. In 2023, he finished in sole third place with a 5/9 score, while this year, he is the clear favourite to take the title at halftime.

Akopian kicked off the event with three consecutive wins, drew Gregory Kaidanov in round 4 and defeated Jesse Kraai with the white pieces in round 5.

Akopian finished the round-5 game in style.

43.Qxg7+ prompted Kraai's resignation, as 43...Kxg7 fails to 44.Nf5+, with a royal fork.

Standing a whole 1½ points behind the leader are Larry Christiansen and Julio Becerra. Christiansen already faced Akopian in round 3 and lost with the black pieces, while Becerra is set to face the leader with white in Monday's sixth round.

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

Larry Christiansen playing black against Joel Benjamin | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Julio Becerra | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB	Perf.
1		Akopian,V	2586		4.5	5		1		½		1			1	1	9.75	2858
2		Christiansen,L	2579		3.0	5	0			½	1	1				½	6.50	2592
3		Becerra Rivero,J	2412		3.0	5					½	0	½	1		1	5.75	2545
4		Kaidanov,G	2550		2.5	5	½	½			½		½			½	6.75	2525
5		Benjamin,J	2490		2.5	5		0	½	½				1	½		5.75	2466
6		Shabalov,A	2467		2.0	5	0	0	1				½	½			5.00	2423
7		Root,D	2463		2.0	5			½	½		½		½	0		4.75	2372
8		Khachiyan,M	2435		2.0	5			0		0	½	½		1		4.00	2366
9		Kraai,J	2356		2.0	5	0				½		1	0		½	4.00	2425
10		Novikov,I	2509		1.5	5	0	½	0	½					½		3.75	2348
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

Juniors: Yoo in the lead

At 17, Christopher Yoo is already a former US Junior Champion and has already participated in an edition of the US Championship - he played in the very strong national championship in 2022, when he managed to beat Wesley So, among others.

In this year's Junior Championship, Yoo is the clear rating favourite and is leading the event with a 4/5 score. Yoo has so far drawn twice in the tournament and has obtained victories over Arthur Guo, Nicholas Ladan and Jason Liang.

Like Akopian in the Senior Championship, Yoo got to play a nice tactical combination to win his final game before the rest day.

26.Qxc6 is the most accurate - and spectacular - way to convert White's advantage into a win. After 26...dxc6 27.Rxd8+ Rf8 (27...Kg7 28.R1d7+) 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8, a knight fork ended the game at once.

29.Nxe6+ was followed by Liang's resignation.

Standing a half point behind Yoo is Justin Wang, who is set to face Yoo, with the black pieces, in the seventh round.

Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen

Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.

Christopher Yoo | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Justine Wang | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB	Perf.
1		Yoo,C	2599		4.0	5			½		½			1	1	1	6.00	2674
2		Wang,J	2504		3.5	5				0		1	½		1	1	5.75	2540
3		Hong,A	2550		3.0	5	½			1	1		0	½			8.75	2581
4		Wang,J	2425		3.0	5		1	0			½			½	1	5.75	2491
5		Woodward,A	2503		3.0	5	½		0				1	½		1	5.25	2541
6		Hardaway,B	2450		3.0	5		0		½			1	½		1	4.75	2497
7		Daggupati,B	2490		2.5	5		½	1		0	0			1		6.25	2484
8		Guo,A	2529		1.5	5	0		½		½	½			0		4.50	2354
9		Liang,J	2412		1.5	5	0	0		½			0	1			3.00	2360
10		Ladan,N	2177		0.0	5	0	0		0	0	0					0.00	1696
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

Girls: Su tops the standings, Lee bounces back

The third-lowest rated player in the field is the sole leader after five rounds at the Girls' Championship: Jasmine Su. Born in 2010, Su is outscoring the clear rating favourite Alice Lee, who at 14 has already won the American Cup earlier this year, after beating US chess legend Irina Krush in the final match.

Lee in fact kicked off the event with a loss against Iris Mou. Since then, she has drawn twice with black and obtained two victories with white to climb to shared second place. The top seed is tied for second with Mou and Rose Atwell.

Su, on her part, won 3 out of her 4 first games, drawing only Megan Paragua in round 2. The current leader, however, suffered her first loss of the event in round 5, when she was defeated by Omya Vidyarthi.

Vidyarthi played a nice exchange sacrifice to end the game.

30.Rxc8+ Rxc8 31.Qxb7 was followed by resignation. White is both attacking the rook on c8 and threatening mate along the seventh rank.

Su will face the tough task of playing black against Lee on Tuesday.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.5 - The Inner Strength of Kings

In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!

Jasmine Su | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Alice Lee | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB	Perf.
1		Su,J	2049		3.5	5		1				½	0		1	1	8.00	2240
2		Mou,I	2178		3.0	5	0		1		1	½		½			7.50	2234
3		Lee,A	2368		3.0	5		0		1	½				½	1	7.25	2216
4		Atwell,R	2274		3.0	5			0			½	1	1		½	6.00	2218
5		Ehsani,Y	2115		2.5	5		0	½			½	½	1			5.50	2182
6		Paragua,M	2041		2.0	5	½	½		½	½			0			6.00	2099
7		Vidyarthi,O	2084		2.0	5	1			0	½				0	½	5.75	2046
8		Tang,Z	2239		2.0	5		½		0	0	1			½		4.50	2080
9		Li,R	2153		2.0	5	0		½				1	½		0	4.50	2076
10		Gaw,C	1998		2.0	5	0		0	½			½		1		4.50	2114
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

Links

• Official website
• Abhimanyu Mishra is the US Junior Champion (2023)
• Yu, Shabalov and Yoo win US national championships (2022)