The Chess Mind - The Chess Mind Blog

The U.S. Junior Championship boasts an impressive field, all the more so considering that only one player is at the maximum age of 19. Two players are 17, and two of the players - both near 2500 USCF - are only 12. Yikes.

With one round to go Daniel Naroditsky and Luke Harmon-Vellotti are tied for first with 5.5/8, half a point ahead of one of the 12-year-olds, Samuel Sevian. I don't know any of the players personally, so I'm not rooting for anyone, so this post will only focus on the chess. Two games caught my eye, both from round eight, or should I say one game and one position? Here's the position, which was rather amusing, from Sevian's game with Victor Shen (Sevian had White):

(Position after 19.Nf3-g1)

Looking at White's kingside, one might for a moment think this was a game of Chess960! Anyhow, that was for mere amusement. The game that really caught my eye was the battle between Harmon-Vellotti and Robert Perez in a sideline of the Perenyi Variation against the Scheveningen Sicilian. The sideline White chose, 9.Bg5, probably isn't as potent as the main line with 9.g5, but it has the advantage of surprise on its side. Perez achieved a good position, but it cost him a lot of time on the clock; too much time, as he fell apart shortly before the first time control and lost the game. I've analyzed the game in some depth, here.

Enjoy!

Update on Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 10:54AM by

Dennis Monokroussos

Update: This is from the tournament's daily report: "Harmon-Vellotti was thrown out of prep early with 8. … h5, to which his response of 9. Bg5 was admittedly 'not correct.'" That's interesting and slightly amusing, but slightly incredible as well, as 8...h5 is a major line, even if it's secondary compared to 8...g6. It has been used by big guns like Gelfand, Cheparinov, Navara and Sasikiran, among others, so it isn't obscure, either. Then again, the thing to remember is that he's only 14, so one would expect some gaps in his opening knowledge. So, future Harmon-Vellotti opponents: look for other such gaps in his preparation!

On another matter: the last round is starting early - in about an hour - and not just because that seems to be the practice for almost all tournaments anyway but also because they break first-place ties the right way: with a playoff!