The US Men’s and Women Championship is by far the most prestigious and honorable tournament in the United States. What makes it even more enticing is that it is held at the storied St. Louis Chess Club, where everything appears just perfect. This year’s men’s event is a Round Robin, unlike last year’s which fielded 24 players, with the players average rating of a hefty ~2610. The tournament is spearheaded by the rating favorite and four times champion, GM Gata Kamsky, with a 2713 (!) FIDE. Some of my friends (the friendship is one-way at least 🙂 ) that I’ll be rooting for are GMs Robson, Naroditsky, Akobian and Lenderman.

Three rounds have occurred, and Lenderman is in sole lead with an incredible 2.5/3, while Robson and Gareev follow closely behind with 2/3. Remarkably, there have been only four decisive games (two are a courtesy of GM Lenderman 🙂 ) with the other 14 ending in draws. Now that nobody can score a perfect 11-0 in both the Men’s and Women’s Section, the bonus $64,000 Fischer prize is unattainable for this year’s event, and Bobby Fischer doesn’t have to worry this year. He truly was peerless and remains so.  Btw, in case some of you might not understand Bobby Fischer’s reference, he is the only person to have scored a perfect 11-0 at a US Championship.  He accomplished his feat in 1964, and it has remained one of the best individual performances ever at a US championship.  The award is to commemorate Fischer’s achievement and it’s my belief the amount was worked out at $1,000 per square for a total of $64,000.  Or I believe it commemorates the year ’64 when Fischer won the round.

Here’s an interesting battle Ray played against GM Erenburg in the first round:

GM Ray Robson, off to great start with 2/3. (All photos courtesy of http://www.uschesschamps.com/2014-us-championship-player-bios)

For some reason, the PGN on the official site for the R1 games is really the R2 games. So I can’t just copy paste it into ChessBase, and have to manually put the moves in. After expending my efforts analyzing the Robson-Erenburg game, I’m kinda lazy now to put in Lenderman’s long win against Friedel. So when they fix that, I’ll update this article with his games as well . Here’s Lenderman’s R3 win against Ramirez:

UPDATE: Lenderman’s R1 win against Friedel:

GM Lenderman off to a splendid start as well with 2.5/3

Unfortunately, Naroditsky lost today to Gareev in a game I felt that Danya defended valiantly, but his position was just too hard in the end. Don’t worry Daniel, just rebound with the White pieces in the next game and put to use the training I’ve given you. By training, I mean losing 10-0 to him in our blitz sessions 🙂 . Anyways, about the game with Gareev today, just “Fuggedaboutit!”

Reigning US Junior Champ,GM Naroditsky

Varuzhan “Var” has made a steady start with 1.5/3, and is definitely right in the mix of things. He drew with the veteran and experienced GM Alexander Onischuk, another strong player who can’t be overlooked. Wait, this is the US Championship, NOBODY can be overlooked, especially not a 2650+ GM like Onischuk 😛

The solid and ultra-precise, GM Akobian

The one who cannot be over looked, GM Onischuk 🙂

In the Women’s Section, GM Krush is in the lead along with IM Zatonskih, both with 2.5/3. A nice surprise in their section has been Ashrita Eswaran who is on an outstanding 2/3, considering she’s only 13 years old.

5 time US Women’s Champ, GM Irina Krush, tied for the lead with 2.5/3

4 time US Champ, also tied in the lead with 2.5/3, IM Anna Zatonskih

The commentary duo was a bit different then usual today, with GM Ben Finegold filling in for WGM Jen Shahade. Ben’s a great and funny guy, just read his blog postings, I guarantee you will laugh at least once 🙂 . GM Yasser Seirawan was outstanding as usual, and GM Maurice Ashley had some nice insights too.

Looking forward to the action tomorrow, and may we see some exciting fighting chess in the coming rounds! Who will triumph and etch their names into the history books forever? After all, there can only be One.

PS (Am I the only who who just noticed St Loui’s “Arch” above the King and Queen? :))

Has it really been 2 months since my last blog post ?!?!  Wow, time flies.  Doesn’t it?

The first thing I want to say is that the Chess World lost a gem of a player and person in GM Vugar Gashimov, who passed away in January 2014.  Vugar, you’ll forever remain in our hearts.  His sudden passing brings to mind one of his quotes, “HAPPINESS – IS TO BE NEAR YOUR BELOVED ONES. MISFORTUNE – IS TO LOSE THESE PEOPLE.”

Vugar Gashimov 1986-2014
(photo : Chessbase)

In memory and honor of this wonderful being, the Gashimov Memorial tournament was born, and held over a span of 10 days in Shamkir, Azerbajain, with the last round just finishing yesterday.  As expected, Carlsen won, adding yet another feather to his cap.  He’s got so many feathers now, that he can strut around like a peacock 😀 .  Can anyone remember the last time Carlsen DIDN’T win a major high-level tournament?  That’s pure dominance right there.

The Drawing of the Lots took place on the 19th, with .. you guessed it, Carlsen “winning” the 1st lot (Heck, this guy comes 1st even in the Drawing of Lots as well 🙂 ), granting him a double-white for the first 2 rounds.  This made things a lot easier for his first two opponents, since they now knew the best start they could hope for was 1/2 🙂

Carlsen raced out to a 2/2 start, maximizing his double-white benefit, beating Mamedyarov and Nakamura in the process.  It seems like his games with Nakamura have become a bit of a grudge match, as the two players have engaged in a little verbal jousting (My fellow Pink Panther fans, you know what I mean by this:) ) with each other.  Talk is Talk.  But Carlsen Walks the Walk, since his score against Nakamura is now 10-0 in classical games (not counting Draws).  Advantange: Carlsen 😀 .  Below is an annotation I did of Magnus’ first round game, a striking win against Mamedyarov:

Carlsen’s 2nd round game against Nakamura saw a position similar to that of Carlsen – Kamsky, Sinquefield Cup 2013, in which after some maneuvering of the pieces, Carlsen was able to trade into a slightly better endgame which he converted.  No suprise there 🙂

Things were looking great for him at this stage.  After an exciting draw against Karjakin, which was an “Almost-won, Almost-Lost” for both players, Carlsen faced Caruana with Black once again.  It started out as a Berlin, which of course bored everyone to death 🙂 .  But things began to pick up on the 20th move.  Caruana was enjoying a nice space advantage, and some inaccuracies from Carlsen further added to Caruana’s bonus.  A tactical error by Magnus on the 24th move, sealed the deal, and from there on Caruana slowly but surely converted his material and positional advantage.

This must have been a hard blow for Carlsen.  After playing great chess for 3 rounds, he lost in a rather one-sided battle.  But no matter, he had the White pieces now, and was Angry. His 5th round against Radjabov started out as a Kings Indian, with Carlsen choosing a line rarely seen at the top level.  Radjabov lashed out with 19.f5, a typical Kings Indian move, undeterred by the fact that his King was somewhat exposed on h7.  An erroneous capture in the center with 22.Nxe4 by Magnus, saw him lose an exchange by force.  He definitely had some compensation, but Radjabov was able to induce some weaknesses, after which Carlsen’s positional crumbled and he was forced to resign.  Yes, Resign!

My God, what was this ! Two losses in a row from Magnus ?!  The last time he lost twice in a row was in 2010 – 4 years ago, and the year I started chess as a FIDE rated player!  To put it in comparison, the last time I lost two in a row was 6 1/2 months ago.  That’s not so bad on its own, but when you look at the last time Magnus lost 2 in a  row … 🙂 .  I could relate what Magnus was going through.  So sent him a tweet with my tips on what to do after tough losses I did.  Yoda aside, it’s clear that he read it since he unleashed the Kraken, rampaging through the field in the 2nd half to score 4/5 , coming 1st by a clear point with 6.5/9.  Here’s his final round win against Caruana:

So what was it that led to such a spectacular turn around ?

Mental Strength and Determination.  Magnus writes “The rest day with the exciting football cup was just what I needed.  Our team of international players, with help from two Azeri players in the final, won on penalty shoot out.  I’m feeling more energetic, and although my play isn’t perfect, the results have been terrific after the rest day.”  So for him, it was watching his favorite soccer team that relaxed him and helped him to forget the agony of the previous 2 rounds.  Whatever your thing is that helps you relax and put aside painful losses, it’s important to do that immediately.  It builds Mental Strength, and the Will to keep fighting.  That’s what makes a Champion!

Chess is one of the sports that is hard to find sponsors for. The game lacks the awareness and treatment that more popular sports receive, such as basketball, soccer, and tennis, even though the effort is no less to achieve mastery. In the US, government grants are not part of the culture. Young and strong emerging players in countries like Russia, India, and China have an advantage, since chess is state supported as well as there is relatively much more corporate sponsorship.  This translates into critical benefits of more training and tournament experience.

Players in United States don’t have such an option.  So where do the young players go to fund their Quest to become outstanding chess players.  

Well, we don’t give up. We lean on our parents. We lean on our well-wishers. We knock on doors, and try to persuade people who can relate to a hard Quest to support it. That’s how we do it. One square at a time.

I’ve demonstrated a strong pace of progress in the last 4 1/2 years, and I intend to work very hard to get to the end. As I embark on the final leg of this Quest, for the first time I’m trying to raise donor funds to help me catapult to the GM title and beyond. With your help I’ll get there even faster. Thanks for your support!

I leave you with a quote from Hugarian chess wizard and super GM Peter Leko:

“…even super talented people, like Carlsen, Karjakin, and Nakamura, wouldn’t be where they are now without [sponsorship] help. Only a mixture of super talent and help will bring a very good result, won’t it?”

If someone wishes to discuss about sponsorship opportunities or provide suggestions, please write to me at Akshat (at) QuestToGM (dotcom).

The Great Garry Kasparov with Akshat Chandra

On a recent January weekend, I attended the Kasparov Chess Foundation camp taught by Garry Kasparov himself !  As most of you would know, Garry was the 13th WCC, and previously held the record of the highest rating ever achieved (2851).  It was a tremendous privilege, and honor to actually see, and meet Garry in person!  When he walked into the training room, and I laid eyes on him for the first time, I felt an adrenaline rush through my body.  Garry radiated such a powerful aura!  I grinned in total awe, wondering if my eyes were betraying me.  Was I really seeing one of the greatest, if not the greatest, chess player of all time?  Well it was finally time to get down to business, and he began cracking down on all of our games.

It was incredible to see how sharp and astute he continues to remain in his calculation and understanding, despite being an inactive player.  I was so excited when it was my turn to present my games to him.  After asking about my background history, Garry was ready to roll, and so was I 🙂 .  I absorbed each of Garry’s comments with the utmost reverence.  I felt this was chess knowledge and wisdom right in front of me.  I was not gonna let this opportunity just pass me by.  When I finished my presentation, I was so pumped up.  It was incredibly motivating listening to his ideas and thoughts on my game.

Akshat Chandra reviewing his games with Garry Kasparov

On Sunday, we had a “Study Quiz,” moderated by Garry himself.  For those of you who don’t know what Studies are, they’re long forced sequences and usually impractical, which end in an elegant and beautiful manner.  They require the Solver to use what I call an “Counter-Intuitive Thought Process,” which basically means that the Solver has to think about non-intuitive moves 🙂 .  I had never done this before, and apparently It helps in developing precision.  It took me a ridiculously long time solving these, as I wasn’t used to this method of thinking, and was only able to solve one such study out of four.  I’ve posted the solved one below.

It’s White to move.

If you think you’ve solved it, just write a comment and I’ll validate your response 🙂 .

After the Studies, Garry was kind enough to sign my boards, and “My Great Predecessors” books (guess who the author was 😉 ) as well!  Overall, it was a thrilling and satisfying weekend.  Meeting the legend has fueled me with more hunger to get better, and to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Kasparov himself.

The World Youth Olympiad is an annual team tournament held for youth 16 years and under.  The tournament brings together talented teams of youngsters from all parts of the world. It’s sort of like the kid’s Chess Olympics 🙂  This year’s edition was held in  Chongqing, China, and concluded yesterday.  Going into the tournament, the favorites to win were the biggies Russia, and India. As usual, Russia was able to assemble a daunting group, with three IM’s ( one of them being 2554 !), one 2450 FM,  and an average team rating of 2480.

India was also able to muster up a strong, talented group of players.  Their main roster consisted of 3 IM’s, an FM , and an average team rating of 2426.  Incidentally, these youngsters were my chess acquaintances and peers in India.  I played with all 5 of them.

As some of you know, I previously played under the Indian Federation, as India was where I’d discovered chess!  I got the opportunity to play with these players, and let me tell you – the road to the best Indian Youth title goes through these guys 🙂

Team China 1, the local favorite and also a strong medal contender, was spearheaded by the only GM of the event ! 14-year old GM Wei Yi had become a GM earlier in the year at the Reykjavik Open, and is currently the youngest GM in the world.

USA decided to send two teams to the Olympiad, USA 1 and USA 2.

I had some friends on USA 2 that I’d met at a US Chess School.  So naturally I was pulling for them to earn a medal.

The first few rounds went as expected. The favorites piled up the Match Points (MP’s). After 5 rounds, Russia was leading with a perfect 5-0 after barely beating USA 2, 2.5-1.5. That really stung, since USA 2 had hung close for most of the match. Round 6 was a crucial and decisive round. Russia and India squared off, with India pulling of the upset by winning 2.5-1.5. From there on, it was smooth sailing for my acquaintances on the Indian team and they coasted to victory and a gold medal. Russia had to settle for second, and Turkey placed third. Team USA 2 finished a commendable 6th, despite having another loss in R7 and a draw in R8. On the other hand, Team USA 1 was struggling throughout the tournament and finished at 25th, well below their 9th seed position.

Congrats India for achieving the coveted gold medal and for the USA 2 team for finishing in the Top 10 !!

It rocks being able to root for two countries ! 🙂

I hope I can play for Team USA at the Olympiad one day (I do need to first figure out the rules to get in 🙂

For a more entertaining and comprehensive article on this tournament, please click here on GM Ian Rogers piece.

Venue for The World Junior Olympiad 2013, Chongqing, China (photo credit : official website)