The premier scholastic events are a key part of the gathering called the U.S. Open, even if not part of the Open itself. (l-r) Jaye and Dylan Denker (Mitchell Denker’s widow and son), Christopher Gu (Denker Champion), Dewain Barber (former Denker and Barber Chair), Advait Patel (Barber Champion), Jon Haskel (chief tournament director of all three events), Claudia Munoz, Jessica Regam (both tied for first in National Girls Invitational Tournament [NGIT] with Jennifer Yu), Jennifer Yu (NGIT Champion), Jennifer Skidmore (Women’s Committee Chair).
he must not be much of a blitz aficionado. Given a massive clock advan tage of five minutes to three minutes without any increment, my chances should be high, as long as he didn’t turn out to secretly be a strong and very fast blitz player. During the half-hour before the game I
went into frantic opening preparation mode, as if for a normal-length game. I reviewed a file full of senselessly compli - cat ed lines of the Botvinnik Variation, which Mulyar almost always plays. Before the game, we sat waiting at the board for five minutes or so as a crowd gathered. During this interlude, without a computer in front of me, I was able to analyze the opening more rationally. What I really needed was an opening which avoided sharp theoret ical lines while maintaining tension. Such a position ensures that the
At A Glance ⁄2
: Mark Ritter, Fabio La Rota, Grant Y. Xu, Michael Langer, John Michael Burke, Toby Boas, David Tianji Peng, Antonio Arencibia, Sir Wang Jalen; Expert, 1st, 7: Mariano Sana; 2nd-7th, 61⁄2
⁄2 :
Makaio W. Krienke, Baining Chen, Andrew B. Rea, Pranav Rudra, William H. Brock, Duncan Shepherd, Theodore Alexander Biyiasis; Class A, 1st-2nd, 61
⁄2 ⁄2 Weber, Jonathan Naylor, Serafina Show, Alex Little; Class C, 1st, 5: Siddharth Acharya; 2nd-8th, 41⁄2 ⁄2 : Patrick McCartney, Guy G. Hoffman; 3rd-6th, 6:
Jeremiah Williams, Truman Hoang, Jeffrey Tobergte, Robert Morris Wagner; Class B, 1st, 6: Vincent Wisniewski; 2nd, 51
: Kiana Hajiarbabi; 3rd-9th, 5: Jason Wang, Kevin Corrigan, Rannon Huo, David :
Naman Kumar; 4th, 4: Agastya Mittal; Class E, 1st, 5: Adam Barclay; 2nd, 41 : Vincent Galante; ⁄2
Chad A. Chavira, Samhitha Dasari, Nicholas Naylor, Carlos Barrera, Ricardo Aparicio, Christopher Michael Taverni, Fun Fong; Class D, 1st-2nd, 5: Liam Thomas Pelikan, Marc Gonzalez; 3rd, 41 ⁄2
:
3rd-4th, 4: Srihitha Dasari, Jim Polfer; Unrated, 1st, 21 : Audrey Wilkinson. | Chief Tournament Director: Jon Haskel.
38 November 2014 | Chess Life
game does not end prematurely; the oppo - nent must make a large number of moves which require thought, leading him to use up time. While I was preparing to have black against Mulyar in round nine, I had seen a game where he played 5. Nbd2 against the Meran Variation. It leads to a relatively static pawn structure, unlike 5. Nc3 or 5. Bg5 dxc4. I had not studied this from the white side, but I decided in those final moments that it was the right choice for the blitz game. It worked as planned and I was able to combine pres sure on the clock and the board to win the game. The most exciting part of winning the
playoff was securing a spot in next year’s U.S. Championship. Finally, I want to thank everyone who played in the U.S. Open and the organizers for a seamlessly run tournament.
115th U.S. Open Championship
Date: July 26-August 3, 2014 | Location: Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, Florida | 385 players | Top Finishers: 1st-6th, 71
: Conrad Holt, Michael A. Mulyar, Illia I. Nyzhnyk, Giorgi Margvelashvili, Fidel
Corrales Jimenez, Alexander Shabalov; 7th-13th, 7: Julio J. Becerra, Ashayraj Kore, Dmitry Gurevich, James Edward Tarjan, Levan Bregadze, John Daniel Bryant, Ruifeng Li; Master, 1st, 7: Carl A. Haessler; 2nd-9th, 61
DENKER TOURNAMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONS: CHRISTOPHER GU
The Denker Tournament of High School
Champions that took place from July 26- 29 will be one of the most memorable moments of my life. The Denker is held in memory of Grand master Arnold Denker, a two-time U.S. champion who made count - less contributions to the game of chess include au thor ing numerous chess books, fascinating play over the board, and of course, founding the Arnold Denker Tourna - ment of High School Champions. His relationship and games with Bobby Fischer are also of note. Arnold Denker’s son, Mitchell Denker,
shared the same passion and love for chess as his father, and since the passing of his father in 2005, has been organizing and helping the Denker Tournament of High School Champions tremendously. However, Mitchell tragically passed away in 2013. The 2014 Arnold Denker Tourna - ment of High School Champions was thus
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