[imagefield_assist|fid=10466|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=700|height=1050]By Ken West
Gregory Young maintained his perfect score in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship Sunday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis with a win over International Master Conrad Holt. The juniors continued to play fighting chess as four of the games were decisive, all white wins. The only draw, and only the second draw out of all 20 games played, came as Daniel Naroditsky held on with his knight and three pawns against Raven Sturt’s rook and two pawns. Sturt pushed to move 70, but his king could not penetrate the position.
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Naroditsky has the only two draws and has three points as do John Bryant and Warren Harper.
Young played 3.Nd2 against Holt’s French defense, but it was 10. c4 that surprised Holt.
In post-game commentary with Grandmaster Ben Finegold and FIDE Master Aviv Friedman, Young said he first saw it in the game of IM Emre Can, of Turkey, against GM Yuri Shulman, of the United States, in the 2010 World Team Chess Championship.
With 23 minutes left on his clock, Holt was on move 15. His flag fell after Young’s 25th move.
Both Friedman and GM Robert Hess, who was following the game broadcast, said Young’s 22.Qe2 was winning. Finegold said it may appear odd the white queen was stepping into a discovered attack, but the idea was to place the piece on f3, heading for f6.
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Asked about his chances to win the event as he is the only one with a perfect score, Young said there is still a lot of chess to play.
“I’m not done yet — I’m not celebrating yet,” he said. “I still have to finish strong.”
Young tied for first in the event in 2008, but he said it was a smaller tournament.
“I was surprised I even got invited,” he said about this year’s event. The 16-year-old, who lives in San Francisco, received his invitation in mid-May, when he still had two weeks in his school year left.
Victor Shen beat Alec Getz as he again played 1. d4 for the second time this tournament. Shen is known to primarily play 1. e4. Shen was up two pawns and at one point his opponent’s entire queenside pieces were on their original squares.
But it was Shen’s 30. Kg1 Friedman and Finegold liked.
“Completely defeats any of black’s chance of attack,” Friedman said.
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Harper played 5. Qc2 in his game against Kayden Troff’s Grunfeld defense. Friedman said it was easier for Harper to prepare because Troff is known to regularly play that defense. But, as Friedman pointed out, it also means middle game positions may be less familiar for Harper.
“I was totally out of book,” Troff said about his early position in response to his opponent’s move 5.
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Bryant beat Jialin Ding in a game Finegold said was action packed. Finegold was not sure about Bryant’s 17. Qc5.
The commentators also thought Ding should have played Nxb3 instead of Bxd5 on move 20, but noted white was still better.
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The championship runs through June 26 and includes players younger than 21. In addition to earning the title of U.S. junior champion and taking home the first-place prize of $3,000, the winner also receives an automatic bid to both the World Junior Championship and the 2012 U.S. championship. The total prize fund is more than $10,000.
Action resumes at 1 p.m. Tuesday with Monday set aside as a rest day. Games and commentary can be seen live on www.livestream.com/uschess.
