2015 U.S. Junior Closed Championship

The 2015 U.S. Junior Closed Championship shall be a 10-player tournament paired as a Round Robin.

• Prompt Arrival: Players are expected to arrive promptly for their games. Players not at their board at the beginning of each round may receive a fine of $200 to be deducted from their prize for each occurrence. Players more than 30 (thirty) minutes late for a round shall forfeit that round. Players who withdraw or forfeit a game may not receive any prize money.
• No Draws: A 30-move draw rule will be in effect throughout the Event, including any playoff games. Player must not agree to a draw before the game or mutually agree to a draw in less than 30 moves during a game.
• No Cell Phones: No cell phones or other electronic devices shall be allowed in the tournament area. Any violation of this policy will result in a fine of $200.00 to be deducted from their prize for each occurrence. In addition to the fine, a violation involving a cell phone or other electronic device that emits any noise during a game will also incur a time penalty of 10 minutes, or half the remaining time if less than 20 minutes is remaining in the game. A second occurrence in the same game shall result in forfeiture of that game. If a violation occurs in subsequent games, the same penalties shall apply.
• Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds (increment) per move starting from move one.
• Notation: Due to the 30-second increment, Players are required to maintain an accurate and legible score sheet at all times during all games, and are required to keep their notation up-to-date.
• Playoff Procedures: If two or more Players are tied for 1st, a playoff will be held to determine the 2015 U.S. Junior Closed Champion.
• Chief Arbiter Discretion: In the event of an unexpected occurrence, the Chief Arbiter reserves the right to make all decisions in conjunction with or on behalf of the CHESS CLUB.

Playoff Regulations

For the purposes of pairing players in the following scenarios, the following mathematical tie-breaks will be used:

1. Direct Encounter
2. Most Blacks
3. Koya System
4. Sonneborn-Berger
5. Won Games

If there is no need for a playoff, then these tie-breaks will also be used for the purposes of the crosstable and any special prizes or trophies.

An Armageddon Game is defined as a game with base time of 10 minutes plus two-second increment for each Player. Black will have draw odds. Each Player shall bid an amount of time (minutes and seconds, a number equal to or less than 10:00) with which they are willing to play in order to choose their color. The Player who bids the lowest amount of time chooses his or her color and begins with that amount of time; the other Player receives 10:00. If both Players bid exactly the same amount of time, the Chief Arbiter will flip a coin to determine who shall choose their color.

• Two Players: The tie will be broken with a two-game rapid match (G/15 plus 5 second increment). If the contest is still undecided, the match will be decided by an Armageddon Game.
• Three players: If there are three Players tied for first, the two Players with the lowest tie-breaks will contest an Armageddon Game. The winner of this game will face the player with the highest tie-breaks as described above (“Two Players”).
• Four Players: Tie-breaks will be used to determine pairing numbers: 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3. Each Player will contest an Armageddon Game. The winner of each game will face one another as described above (“Two Players”).
• More Than Four Players: If more than four players are tied for first place, a combination of math tie-breaks and playoffs will be used to find the top four players and the procedure described above (“Four Players”) shall be followed. The format if more than four players are tied for first will be determined by the Arbiter and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

GM Ben Finegold
2587 (USCF) | 2500 (FIDE)
U.S. Open Champion

Grandmaster Ben Finegold learned the rules of chess at age 5 and received his first USCF rating at age 6. It wasn’t long, around his mid-teens, until he realized he wanted to play chess professionally. GM Finegold’s first major tournament win came in 1989 when he finished in a first-place tie at the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. Also in 1989, Finegold scored his biggest victory to date with a win against Boris Gelfand at the Euwe Memorial tournament in Amsterdam, Holland.

According to Finegold, this was the most famous player he had beaten at the time, and the fact that it was a Swiss tournament and he was unable to prepare for Gelfand specifically made the win that much more exciting. Finegold said he played an excellent tactical game to secure the victory. He obtained his first IM norm at the event, gained 40 FIDE points and eventually earned the title of International Master in 1990.

In 1991 Finegold won his first major, international, Swiss-paired tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. He was just 21 years old. From 1988 to 1992

Finegold lived in Brussels, Belgium. He returned to the U.S. in 1992 and, in 1993, was awarded the Samford Chess Fellowship.

The Samford Chess Fellowship is awarded each year to the most talented chess player in the United States under the age of 26. At that time, the fellowship gave Finegold a $1,200 per month stipend and also paid for all things chess related. During that time, he worked with Gregory Kaidanov, played in a number of strong tournaments, and began utilizing chess software on is computer to improve his game.

In 1994, Finegold finished in a six-way tie for first place at the U.S Open in Chicago, and then in 2002 he finished in a first-place tie with eight players at the World Open in Philadelphia where he secured his first GM norm. He won the Chicago Spring Invitational in 2005 to earn his second GM norm, and then achieved his third GM norm at the 2009 Spice Cup Chess Festival in Lubbock, Texas.

Serious chess players are divided by the question of whether it’s better to study a narrow set of openings in great depth, or play a wide variety of systems, to keep opponents wondering. Finegold falls somewhere in between. He’s been playing 1.d4 his whole life but with Black he’s more flexible and can play numerous defenses against both 1.e4 and 1.d4. Ben isn’t afraid of trading Queens early in the game, and wins a lot of half points from endgame technique.

A familiar face around the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and a popular name within the Club’s Resident Grandmaster rotation, Finegold has offered outstanding commentary – both live and on the broadcast – for several of the Club’s elite events, including the U.S. Championships, the U.S. Junior Championships and the Sinquefield Cup.

FM Aviv Friedman
2407 (USCF) | 2359 (FIDE)
FIDE Senior Trainer

FM Aviv Friedman is a well-known coach and author, and he has worked with a number of the competitors for the U.S. Junior Championship at various chess summer camps and instructional venues throughout his career.

In 2009, Aviv won the USCF Scholastic Service Award and was later awarded the FIDE Senior Trainer title — the highest title FIDE bestows on coaches. He has been the U.S. Youth team coach and head of delegation in many world events for almost 20 years including:

• The 1999 Pan-American Youth Championship, where he was the lone coach for seven players, resulting in five gold medals and one silver medal.
• In 2002, coached Dmitry Schneider to a gold medal at the Pan-American Junior Championship.
• In 2005, coached Alex Lenderman to a gold medal at the World Under 16 Championships.
• Coached teams that received approximately two dozen medals in several other World Youth and Pan-American Youth competitions.

Aviv also helped improve the standards of international scholastic tournaments by showing leadership in protesting the inadequate conditions at the 2005 WYCC in Belfort. (see http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2557) Aviv’s letter eventually led to FIDE issuing sanctions to prevent this from occurring in the future.

He He has written numerous articles about scholastic chess for Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids.

In 2008, Aviv started the Schein-Friedman Scholastic Recognition Project, which awards scholarships annually of over $10,000 to leading juniors.