Novikov and Benjamin lead U.S. Senior Championship

by ChessBase
10/18/2020 – The 2020 U.S. Senior Championship kicked off today with a field packed full of legends that includes five former U.S. Champions with a combined total of 13 national titles. Leading the field at the end of the first day is GM Igor Novikov and GM Joel Benjamin, who both finished the day on 2.5/3 points. GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Patrick Wolff are a half-point behind with 2.0/3, while the rest of the players are surprisingly all tied with 1.0/3! | Pictured: Igor Novikov, Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Shabalov, Joel Benjamin and Jaan Ehlvest

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Five former US champions

Press Release by the Saint Louis Chess Club
By IM Kostya Kavutskiy

The 2020 U.S. Senior Championship kicked off today with a field packed full of legends that includes five former U.S. Champions with a combined total of 13 national titles. Leading the field at the end of the first day is GM Igor Novikov and GM Joel Benjamin, who both finished the day on 2.5/3 points. GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Patrick Wolff are a half-point behind with 2.0/3, while the rest of the players are surprisingly all tied with 1.0/3!

U.S. Senior Chess Championship 2020

Round 1

The first round started with an immediate brilliancy as GM Gregory Kaidanov sacrificed two pieces in order to open up GM Patrick Wolff’s king, who quickly had to give up his queen just to avoid mate. Given that he always had a draw in the position, Kaidanov was not too worried about the risk of sacrificing, and decided to go for the kill once he saw that his attack was too strong:

 
Kaidanov vs. Wolff

After 21.Nf5!, which led to a powerful attack for White after 21...gxf5 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Qg5+.

GM Joel Benjamin also won his first game, building up a lot of space against GM Alexander Shabalov before the four-time U.S. Champion capitulated in time trouble. 

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.d4 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.c4 bxc4 10.Nxc4 c5 11.Rc1 a5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Nd4 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Qd7 15.f3 Rfb8 16.Qd2 Nd5 17.e4 Nb4 18.Bc3 Qb7 19.Rcd1 Qa6 20.h4 h5 21.Nf5 gxf5 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Qg5+ Kf8 24.Qh6+ Kg8 25.Qg5+ Kf8 26.Qh6+ Kg8 27.Nxd6 exd6 28.Rxd6 Qxd6 29.Qxd6 Ne6 30.exf5 Rd8 31.Qe5 Nf8 32.Qe3 f6 33.Qh6 Nd5 34.Re1 Re8 35.Rxe8 Rxe8 36.Qxh5 Re2+ 37.Kf1 Re5 38.Kf2 Ne3 39.f4 Re7 40.Qf3 Nd7 41.g4 Nc5 42.Qxe3 Rxe3 43.Kxe3 Na6 44.Kd4 Nb4 45.a4 Nc2+ 46.Kc5 Kf7 47.h5 Ne3 48.g5 Nxf5 49.Kb5 Nd4+ 50.Kxa5 f5 51.Kb6 Ne6 52.a5 Nxf4 53.a6 Nd5+ 54.Kb7 f4 55.a7 f3 56.a8Q f2 57.Qa6 Ke7 58.Qe2+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gregory Kaidanov2581Patrick Wolff25551–02020A052020 US Senior Championship1.1
Dmitry Gurevich2443Alexander Goldin2555½–½2020D372020 US Senior Championship1.2
Joel Benjamin2554Alex Shabalov25771–02020A042020 US Senior Championship1.3
Alex Yermolinsky2535Shelby Getz2335½–½2020D072020 US Senior Championship1.4
Igor Novikov2578Larry Christiansen2581½–½2020D372020 US Senior Championship1.5

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

Round 2

The second round of the day was by far the most hectic with four decisive games. GM Joel Benjamin continued to play solid chess, slowly outplaying GM Alexander Goldin to notch his second win, while GM Alexander Shabalov bounced back from his first round loss to defeat GM Alex Yermolinsky.

Alexander Goldin, Joel Benjamin

Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin got off to a strong 2-0 start

At the same time Kaidanov drew a relatively quiet game against GM Dmitry Gurevich, giving Benjamin the sole lead after two rounds.

 
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1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Qe2 c6 6.e5 Nd5 7.h3 0-0 8.0-0 dxe5 9.dxe5 Be6 10.Nbd2 Nd7 11.Nb3 N7b6 12.Bd3 Nb4 13.Nc5 Nxd3 14.cxd3 Qc8 15.Bg5 Re8 16.Rfe1 Nd5 17.Nxe6 Qxe6 18.Qd2 Nc7 19.Bh6 Bh8 20.Qf4 Qd5 21.Ng5 Rac8 22.Re3 f6 23.exf6 Bxf6 24.Rae1 Qf5 25.Qg3 Bxg5 26.Bxg5 Nd5 27.Re6 Rcd8 28.a3 Rd7 29.h4 Rf8 30.R6e5 Qf7 31.h5 Nf4 32.hxg6 Nxg6 33.Bh6 Rfd8 34.R1e3 Qf6 35.Re6 Qf5 36.Rxe7 Rxe7 37.Rxe7 Qh5 38.Bd2 Qd1+ 39.Be1 Rxd3 40.Qb8+ Rd8 41.Re8+ Rxe8 42.Qxe8+ Kg7 43.Qe4 h5 44.Kh2 Qd6+ 45.g3 h4 46.Bc3+ Kh7 47.Qf5 hxg3+ 48.fxg3 c5 49.Kh3 b5 50.Kg4 Qd1+ 51.Kg5 Qd8+ 52.Kh5 Qe8 53.Kg4 Qe2+ 54.Kh3 Qe8 55.Qxc5 Qe6+ 56.g4 Nf4+ 57.Kh4 Ng6+ 58.Kg3 a6 59.Qf5 Qd6+ 60.Kf2 Qh2+ 61.Ke3 Qg3+ 62.Ke4 Qg2+ 63.Kd4 Qg1+ 64.Kd5 Qg2+ 65.Kc5 Qg1+ 66.Kb4 a5+ 67.Kxb5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Patrick Wolff2555Larry Christiansen25811–02020B062020 US Senior Championship2.1
Shelby Getz2335Igor Novikov25780–12020A002020 US Senior Championship2.2
Alex Shabalov2577Alex Yermolinsky25351–02020C222020 US Senior Championship2.3
Alexander Goldin2555Joel Benjamin25540–12020A052020 US Senior Championship2.4
Gregory Kaidanov2581Dmitry Gurevich2443½–½2020A142020 US Senior Championship2.5

Round 3

In the final round of the day Benjamin and Kaidanov drew after an interesting theoretical dispute in the Open Spanish, giving the chance to Novikov to catch up by winning a very sharp encounter against Shabalov.

 
Novikov vs. Shabalov

After Shabalov’s 20...g5, which was met with the cool 21.Qc1!, keeping an eye on the g5 pawn.

But the game of the round was undoubtedly GM Patrick Wolff’s win over Gurevich, where Wolff sacrificed a rook to go all-in on a checkmating attack on the kingside, which was ultimately successful:

 
Gurevich vs. Wolff

After 22...g4!, leaving the rook hanging on a5. The game continued 23.fxg4 hxg4 24.Qxa5 Qxh3+ 25.Kg1 Be5!, and Black was completely winning.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 e5 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Rb1 a5 8.a3 d6 9.d3 Bg4 10.Be3 Nh5 11.Nd5 a4 12.Nc3 Nf4 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.Nxa4 Ra5 15.h3 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Nd4 17.Nc3 c6 18.Kh2 Qh4 19.Rc1 h5 20.Qe1 g5 21.Ne2 Nxf3+ 22.gxf3 g4 23.fxg4 hxg4 24.Qxa5 Qxh3+ 25.Kg1 Be5 26.f3 g3 27.Rf2 gxf2+ 28.Kxf2 Qh4+ 29.Kg2 Kh7 30.Rg1 Rg8+ 31.Kf1 Qh3+ 32.Ke1 Rxg1+ 33.Nxg1 Qh1 34.Qb6 c5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dmitry Gurevich2443Patrick Wolff25550–12020A152020 US Senior Championship3.1
Joel Benjamin2554Gregory Kaidanov2581½–½2020C812020 US Senior Championship3.2
Alex Yermolinsky2535Alexander Goldin2555½–½2020D372020 US Senior Championship3.3
Igor Novikov2578Alex Shabalov25771–02020E702020 US Senior Championship3.4
Larry Christiansen2581Shelby Getz2335½–½2020A292020 US Senior Championship3.5

Rounds 4-6 of the 2020 U.S. Senior Championship will take place tomorrow, October 18, with live coverage from WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan, and GM Maurice Ashley starting at 12:50 PM CDT on USChessChamps.com, YouTube, and Twitch.

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