GM Sam Shankland wins 31, draws 1, loses 1 at Marshall Chess Club simul

On Tuesday June 6th, the Marshall Chess Club hosted a lecture, book signing, and simul with GM Sam Shankland. The event was a lot of fun and a huge success. I was one of the lucky participants, as I was last year and in his 2019 simul. Unfortunately for me, I was one of the first players to lose (I will analyze my game in another article; it was very instructive). One by one, Shankland finished off each opponent, some faster than others, until only a few opponents remained.

Only then did the sole victor of the simul emerge- 9th grader Alexandra Lussie whose USCF rating is 1777. As such, there were several audible gasps followed by an applause when Shankland resigned. I will analyze this game because it is very instructive.

Needless to say, Alexandra was just as stunned as everyone else. After that, there were only a few games remaining. One of the highest rated participants was Kiren Nasta, who is rated over 2100. Shankland sacrificed a piece in the endgame in exchange for a very powerful passed pawn on the flank, but Nasta was able to hold a draw at the end. Please note that the scoresheet was too sloppy to read at the end and I don't want to guess moves because they might not be what actually happened.

The rest of the games were of varying openings, lengths, and ideas, but Shankland was able to win all of them at the end. Some people played the Caro Kann-

Others played the Sicilian-

Congratulations to Alexandra!

Playing the Grunfeld against Sam too lol. Nice one.