Nakamura, Yu… 2019 U.S. Chess Champs!

U.S. Overall (by FIDE Rating)
#
Name
Title
Rating
Residence
1 Caruana, Fabiano GM 2828
St. Louis, Missouri
2 So, Wesley GM 2762
Minnetonka, Minnesota
3 Nakamura, Hikaru GM 2746
Sunrise, Florida
4 Dominguez, Leinier GM 2739
Miami, Florida
5 Shankland, Sam GM 2731
Orinda, California
6 Robson, Ray GM 2667
St. Louis, Missouri
7 Xiong, Jeffery GM 2663
Coppell, Texas
8 Sevian, Sameul GM 2642
Holden, Massachusetts
9 Lenderman, Aleksandr GM 2637
Brooklyn, New York
10 Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2625
North Hollywood, California
11 Liang, Awonder GM 2590
Madison, Wisconsin
12 Gareyev, Timur GM 2560
San Diego, California
U.S. Women (by FIDE Rating)
1 Krush, Irina GM 2451
Brooklyn, New York
2 Zatonsih, Anna IM 2430
Hartsdale, New York
3 Abrahamyan, Tatev WGM 2377
Glendale, California
4 Wang, Annie FM 2304
Los Angeles, California
5 Sharevich, Anna WGM 2282
St. Louis, Missouri
6 Yip, Carrisa FM 2279
Boston, Massachusetts
7 Foisor, Sabina WGM 2276
Durham, North Carolina
8 Yu, Jennifer FM 2273
Ashburn, Virginia
9 Gorti, Akshita FM 2272
Chantilly, Virginia
10 Eswaran, Ashritha WIM 2234
San Jose, California
11 Feng, Maggie FM 2199
Columbus, Ohio
12 Nguyen, Emily WIM 2143
Austin, Texas
Francisco Guadeloupe, Chief Arbiter

If it wasn’t apparent that we have officially entered a new era in U.S. Chess, it should be fully clear at this point. In a very exciting pair of tournaments, we saw the dominance of rising star Jennifer Yu. After her medal-winning performance at the Olympiad last fall, the 17-year old from Ashburn, Virginia has now added her name to the annals of U.S. chess history with her first championship. From the looks of it, there will be many more. She amassed 10/11 and clinched her crown with one round remaining.

Jennifer Yu, 2019 U.S. Women's Champion. Photo by Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Jennifer Yu, 2019 U.S. Women’s Champion.
Photo by Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Hikaru Nakamura, now one of the senior statesmen at 31, shows how young the field is compared to previous editions. Actually the oldest in the field at 35 was Leinier Dominguez (two months older than Varuzhan Akobian) who was playing in his debut since switching his federation in December 2018. The Cuban national was actually in the running into the final round making the tournament a sign of things to come in future Olympiad. The five-time Cuban champion will add to an already formidable Olympiad lineup. Fabiano Caruana noted that it is the strongest national championship in the world.

Jennifer Yu, 2019 Champion. Photo by Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Hikaru Nakamura wins his 5th title!

Includes a nice Dragon against Robson…

What is interesting in the women’s field was that it was mostly comprised of school girls. There were the mainstays like defending champion Sabina-Francesca Foisor, 7-time champion Irina Krush, and 4-time champion Anna Zatonskih. Tatev Abrahamyan and Anna Sharevich rounded out the field of veterans. None of the other players were out of their teens.

GM Jeffery Xiong shocked Sam Shankland… and the Californian undoubtedly hears his footsteps. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

What does this mean for the future of U.S. chess? It means that on the men’s side the competition just got more stiff and it will be interesting to see what the addition of Dominguez does to the rise of homegrown stars like Jeffery Xiong, Sam Sevian and Awonder Liang. With five top 30 players on the national team, it will take a lot of determination to crack the Olympiad lineup. As far as the women’s field, it seems as if the veterans’ days are numbered and the torch is being passed to a cadre of ambitious scholastic players.

In both fields, the U.S. had been bolstered by immigrant talent. In the 80s and 90s, it was from the Soviet bloc after which the U.S. championships were dominated by these players. Twenty years later, these players became coaches and helped to raise the next generation of talent. However, many of them held onto to their top positions for another decade… until now. It has taken 20 years to raise the level of elite talent and with the steady stream of strong players emerging, the future looks bright.

2019 U.S. Chess Championship
USA USA USA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Final Standings (Overall)
Rank Name Score Rating TPR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 GM Nakamura, H 8.0 2746 2851 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1
2 GM Caruana, F 7.5 2828 2802 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½
3 GM Dominguez, L 7.5 2739 2810 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½
4 GM So, W 6.0 2762 2711 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0
5 GM Sevian, S 6.0 2642 2722 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½
6 GM Shankland, S 5.5 2731 2678 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½
7 GM Xiong, J 5.0 2663 2648 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0
8 GM Liang, A 5.0 2590 2655 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1
9 GM Lenderman, A 4.0 2637 2584 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½
10 GM Akobian, V 4.0 2625 2585 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1
11 GM Gareyev, T 4.0 2557 2592 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½
12 GM Robson, R 3.5 2667 2551 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0
PGN Games (Open)

2019 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship
USA USA USA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Final Standings (Women)
Rank Name Score Rating TPR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 FM Yu, Jennifer 10.0 2273 2678 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1
2 IM Zatonskih, Anna 7.5 2430 2414 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 0 0
3 WGM Abrahamyan, T 7.5 2377 2419 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
4 FM Wang, Annie 7.0 2304 2394 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½
5 GM Krush, Irina 5.0 2451 2243 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1
6 WGM Sharevich, Anna 5.0 2282 2258 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½
7 WIM Eswaran, Ashritha 5.0 2234 2263 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1
8 FM Yip, Carissa 4.5 2279 2230 1 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 1 0 0
9 WGM Foisor, S 4.0 2276 2193 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 1
10 FM Gorti, Akshita 4.0 2272 2193 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 1 ½
11 FM Feng, Maggie 4.0 2199 2200 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
12 WIM Nguyen, Emily 2.5 2143 2096 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0
PGN Games (Women)

2 Comments

  1. Wow ,Yu won congrats! i wuz leanin more to YIP or lil Krushie-Krushie. Big win for Sunil’s sun cuz he needed it badly cuz his confidence wuz in da toliet! lol BUBBAFISHA.

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