An Intense Chess Week!

The last week has been characterized by several amazing chess events.
Let's start with the Women's Chess Championship Match.
It was an all-Chinese deal, with both players being from the great Asian country. 



It was a very close match, with Lei Tingjie getting the upper hand in game five and the defending champions tying with a win in game 8.
It was only in the last game of the match (game 12) that Ju took advantage of a wrong move played by Lei to win with the black pieces and retain her title!
Here is the decisive 12th game of the match:
 

Congratulations to Ju Wenjun!

Let's take a look at the U.S. Senior and Junior Championships.

In the Senior Championship, GM Khachiyan wiped off the board almost everyone to win the Championship with a round to spare!
It was game one that probably gave GM Khachiyan the right spirit to play the tournament of his life: he defeated the highest-rated player in the lot, GM Vladimir Akopian (2568).
Here is the game: 
 

The final standings show the dominance of GM Khachiyan!



In the US Girls Junior Championship, the sensational Alice Lee, a 13-year-old who had already won three World Youth Championships, and is waiting for FIDE to ratify her IM title, is the new US Champion.

Alice is the youngest American female player to achieve the IM title and the third youngest internationally!
Her most feared opponent was, of course, Clarissa Yip, the strong International Master who won the title in 2021.
But the young Alice played a very good game and defeated Yip.
Here is the game:

And here are the final standings:

Congratulations to Alice Lee, who we will surely see again at the top of women's chess!

The US Junior Championship saw an incredibly strong lot of participants, with four GMs and five IMs.
One of the favorites, GM Mishra (second-rated in the lot, with a whopping 2640), won the tournament, half a point ahead of the top-seeded GM Jacobson.


Congratulations to GM Mishra!