U.S. Senior Championship: Benjamin in the sole lead

by ChessBase
10/19/2020 – Despite starting off with a loss in the first game of the second day, GM Joel Benjamin managed to bounce back with two straight wins to take the sole lead with 4½/6 going into the final day tomorrow. Trailing Benjamin by half a point is the previous co-leader GM Igor Novikov, who drew all three games today; while GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Patrick Wolff, and GM Dmitry Gurevich are still within range with an even score after six rounds. | Photo: IBM Archives
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Three rounds to go

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

Despite starting off with a loss in the first game of the second day, GM Joel Benjamin managed to bounce back with two straight wins to take the sole lead with 4.5/6 going into the final day tomorrow. Trailing Benjamin by half a point is the previous co-leader GM Igor Novikov, who drew all three games today; while GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Patrick Wolff, and GM Dmitry Gurevich are still within range with an even score after six rounds.

US Senior Chess Championship 2020

Round 4

The first round of the day saw Benjamin losing a tough endgame to GM Dmitry Gurevich, who made the most out of an outside passed pawn to shake up the standings of the event:

 
Gurevich vs. Benjamin
Position after 37...Nb6

GM Gurevich’s a-pawn was too much for Black’s knights to handle.

Novikov drew with GM Alexander Goldin to take the clear lead while GM Alexander Shabalov defeated GM Larry Christiansen to notch his first win of the event, thanks to a strong kingside pawn storm:

 
Shabalov vs. Christiansen

After 27.f6!, with idea 27...g6 28.e6! Nxe6 29.Rxe6! fxe6 30.f7+, with a mating attack.

 
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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.g3 Bg4 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.Bf4 Qb4 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.d5 e6 11.dxc6 Rxd1 12.cxb7+ Qxb7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Patrick Wolff2555Shelby Getz23350–12020B012020 US Senior Championship4.1
Alexander Shabalov2577Larry Christiansen25811–02020C412020 US Senior Championship4.2
Alexander Goldin2555Igor Novikov2578½–½2020D022020 US Senior Championship4.3
Gregory Kaidanov2581Alex Yermolinsky25350–12020D052020 US Senior Championship4.4
Dmitry Gurevich2443Joel Benjamin25541–02020A072020 US Senior Championship4.5

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Round 5

In the fifth round Benjamin was able to bounce back, winning a very nice technical endgame of his own against GM Patrick Wolff:

 
Benjamin vs. Wolff

After 46.Nxa7!, with idea 46...Bxa7 47.b6 where Black can’t play Bb8 in view of 48.b7#!

Once again Novikov drew, while Christiansen was able to bounce back with a win over GM Alexander Goldin, ending with a trademark ‘LarryC’ attack:

 
Christiansen vs. Goldin

After 37.Qa7!, which finished the game as Black has no defense to the threat of Rg7+!

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.d3 g6 7.Re1 Bg7 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Nc3 Qb6 14.Qe2 Rfc8 15.Bg5 Bf8 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Nd5 Qe6 18.Rac1 Rxc1 19.Rxc1 Rc8 20.Rc4 Kg7 21.Qc2 Rxc4 22.Qxc4 Qc6 23.Qxc6 bxc6 24.Ne3 Kf6 25.Nc4 Ke6 26.Kf1 Bc5 27.Ke2 Bd4 28.f3 h5 29.b3 h4 30.h3 Bc5 31.Kd3 Bb4 32.a3 Bc5 33.b4 Be7 34.Na5 Kd6 35.Kc4 Bg5 36.Kb3 Kd7 37.Ka4 Be3 38.Nc4 Bd4 39.Ka5 Kc7 40.Ka6 f6 41.a4 Bf2 42.b5 Bd4 43.Na5 cxb5 44.axb5 Kb8 45.Nc6+ Ka8 46.Nxa7 Bxa7 47.b6 f5 48.bxa7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Joel Benjamin2554Patrick Wolff25551–02020B522020 US Senior Championship5.1
Alex Yermolinsky2535Dmitry Gurevich2443½–½2020D372020 US Senior Championship5.2
Igor Novikov2578Gregory Kaidanov2581½–½2020D432020 US Senior Championship5.3
Larry Christiansen2581Alexander Goldin25551–02020D012020 US Senior Championship5.4
Shelby Getz2335Alexander Shabalov2577½–½2020A002020 US Senior Championship5.5

Round 6

In the final round of the day, Benjamin managed to win another endgame, this time against GM Alex Yermolinsky, who squandered a big advantage out of the opening:

 
Benjamin vs. Yermolinsky
Position after 58...Kb2

Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin scored two valuable points in the endgame today.

Goldin and Wolff bounced back with wins as well, leading to a very tight-knit group in the standings, with all 10 players still in contention for at least third place

 
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1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 Nf6 5.c4 c5 6.Nc3 Be7 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 d6 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Qc7 12.e4 a6 13.f4 Nc6 14.Nxc6 Qxc6 15.Qf3 Rac8 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.Rfe1 Bf8 18.Nd1 Nd7 19.Nf2 Qb7 20.Ng4 e5 21.fxe5 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 dxe5 23.Rcd1 b5 24.Nxe5 f6 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Nd3 bxc4 27.bxc4 Rd4 28.Nf4 Rxc4 29.Re2 Rd4 30.Nd5 Qb5 31.h4 Qd3 32.Re3 Qc2+ 33.Re2 Qd3 34.Re3 Qc2+ 35.Kh3 Rd2 36.Qf5 Rh2+ 37.Kg4 Qd1+ 38.Rf3 Rf2 39.h5 Rxf3 40.Qxf3 Qb1 41.h6 Qxa2 42.Qf5 Qe2+ 43.Kh3 g6 44.Nxf6+ Kf7 45.Qf4 Ke6 46.Ng4 Be7 47.Qe5+ Kd7 48.Qd5+ Kc7 49.Qf7 Qxe4 50.Qxh7 Qh1+ 51.Nh2 Qe4 52.Qf7 Qf5+ 53.Qxf5 gxf5 54.Nf3 a5 55.Nd4 Bf6 56.Nxf5 a4 57.Ne3 a3 58.Nc2 a2 59.Kg4 Kd6 60.Kf5 Bh8 61.g4 Kc5 62.g5 Kc4 63.g6 Kb3 64.g7 Bxg7 65.hxg7 Kxc2 66.g8Q a1Q 67.Qc8+ Qc3 68.Qxc3+ Kxc3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gregory Kaidanov2581Larry Christiansen2581½–½2020A302020 U.S. Senior Championship6.1
Dmitry Gurevich2443Igor Novikov2578½–½2020D452020 U.S. Senior Championship6.2
Joel Benjamin2554Alex Yermolinsky25351–02020B522020 U.S. Senior Championship6.3
Patrick Wolff2555Alexander Shabalov25771–02020B222020 U.S. Senior Championship6.4
Alexander Goldin2555Shelby Getz23351–02020A292020 U.S. Senior Championship6.5

Rounds 7-9 of the 2020 U.S. Senior Championship will take place tomorrow, October 19, 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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