US Seniors and Juniors: Akopian, Yoo and Su are the only leaders

Seniors: Akopian on fire

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

Akopian started the event with three consecutive wins, drawing with Gregory Kaidanov in round 4 and defeating Jesse Kraai with the white pieces in round 5.

Akopian finished the fifth round in style.

43.Dxg7+ led to Kraai’s resignation, as 43…Kxg7 failed to 44.Nf5+, with a royal fork.

Larry Christiansen and Julio Becerra are a full 1½ points behind the leader. Christiansen faced Akopian in round 3 and lost with the black pieces, while Becerra will face the leader in Monday’s sixth round with white.

Masterclass 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 middlegame strengths lay, and much more.

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

Julio Becerra | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

All games

Juniors: Yoo in the lead

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

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

Like Akopian in the Senior Championship, Yoo played a nice tactical combination to win his last match before the rest day.

26.Dxc6 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+Kxf8a knight fork immediately ended the game.

29.Pxe6+ was followed by Liang’s resignation.

Half a point behind Yoo is Justin Wang, who will take on Yoo in the seventh round with the black pieces.

Endgame of the world champions from Fischer to Carlsen

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

Christopher Yoo | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Justine Wang | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

All games

Girls: Su tops the leaderboard, Lee comes 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 outranks the clear favorite Alice Lee, who won the American Cup earlier this year at age 14 after defeating American chess legend Irina Krush in the final.

Lee kicked off the event with a loss to Iris Mou. Since then, she has drawn twice with black and won twice with white to move into a tie for second place. The top favorite is tied with Mou and Rose Atwell.

Su, in turn, won 3 of her first 4 matches, drawing only in round 2 against Megan Paragua. However, the current leader suffered her first loss of the event in round 5, when she was defeated by Omya Vidyarthi.

Vidyarthi made a beautiful sacrifice to the match.

30.Rxc8+ Rxc8 31.Qxb7 was followed by resignation. White attacks both the rook on c8 and threatens checkmate along the seventh rank.

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