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Vladimir Akopian was the dominating player in the 2024 US Senior Championship as he pulled away from the rest of the field very early on in the tournament. The 1999 FIDE World Champion started with three wins in the first three rounds against Igor Novikov, Alexander Shabalov and Larry Christiansen and followed this up with two more victories against Jesse Kraai and Douglas Root.
Before the final round, Akopian had a 1½-point lead and had thus secured tournament victory. In the final round, the new senior champion had a long battle with Joel Benjamin, which ended drawn in a rook ending.
Four of the five games in the final round ended drawn. But Kraai still managed a win against Julio Beccera, which earned him second place in the final standings. Benjamin and Christiansen shared third place.
The Junior Championship offered more excitement than the Senior Championship, although one player, Christopher Yoo, also had things under control. The rating favourite began with wins against Arthur Guo and Nicholas Laden, followed by two draws, then two more wins and then two more draws.
Before the final round, Yoo was in the lead with 6 points from 8 games, but still had two stubborn pursuers, Andrew Hong and Jason Wang, who were not to be shaken off and were breathing down his neck half a point behind.
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In the last round, Yoo faced Balaji Dagupati, an opponent from the bottom half of the table, with the white pieces; Andrew Hong faced Justin Wang, fourth in the standings, but also with the white pieces; while Jason Wang was also facing a rather difficult opponent in Andy Woodward with the black pieces.
In fact, Jason Wang had to accept defeat against Andy Woodward. And Andrew Hong suffered the same result against Justin Wang.
However, Christopher Yoo didn't even need these results, as he won his last game against Daggupati. In a Semi-Slav out of a QGD, Yoo seized the initiative with the white pieces and had the far better endgame after exchanging queens.
Jason Wang climbed to second place with his final-round victory.
Christopher Yoo | Photo: Lennart Ootes
In the Girls' Championship, top see Alice Lee, number seven in the girls' world rankings, steadily worked her way up after a very slow start with a loss and a draw. In the second half of the tournament, she scored four wins in a row from round five onwards and was toppig the standings before the final round, half a point ahead of Rose Atwell, the second seed.
In the last round, Alice Lee played with black against Megan Paragua. Rose Atwell had the white pieces against Rachael Li.
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In the final round, however, it wasn't just the top matches that were fiercely contested, all five games ended decisively by the end of the day.
Alice Lee won her fifth game in a row against Megan Paragua, but had to work long hours in an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops. Rose Atwell also won against Rachael Li in the final round and finished in second place. Bronze went to Iris Mou, who had managed to beat Alice Lee in the opening round of the tournament.
Alice Lee | Photo: Lennart Ootes
