News
Akopian, Lee, Yoo Winners At U.S. National Championships
GM Christopher Yoo shortly after winning the U.S. Juniors and qualifying for the 2024 U.S. Championship. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Akopian, Lee, Yoo Winners At U.S. National Championships

PeterDoggers
| 19 | Chess Event Coverage

Three U.S. National Championships finished on Thursday in St. Louis and none of them needed playoffs. GM Vladimir Akopian had secured victory at the U.S. Senior Championship with a round to spare, after which GM Christopher Yoo won the U.S. Junior Championship, and IM Alice Lee the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, a day later.

Three months before the "main" U.S. Championships, the competitions for juniors, girls and seniors were held simultaneously at the Saint Louis Chess Club. It is "one of our favorite trio of events we host because you can see a spectacular demonstration of chess from both proven legends of the sport and tomorrow’s superstars," said Tony Rich, Technical Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club in anticipation of these tournaments.

Each was an all-play-all with groups of 10 players and the total prize fund was over $135,000. The wish of the main arbiter Chris Bird was granted: each tournament had a clear winner after nine rounds so he didn't need an extra day of work to assist with playoffs.

U.S. Junior Championship: Yoo Wins Undefeated

The U.S. Junior Championship featured a strong field of new and returning prodigies, with five of the players currently ranked within the top-50 juniors in the world. The group had four grandmasters: besides winner Yoo (who also won in 2022) those were GMs Andrew Hong, Arthur Guo, and Balaji Daggupati. There was also 14-year-old IM and GM-elect Andy Woodward, who confirmed his strength with an excellent shared fifth place.

U.S. Junior Championship 2024 Results
Image courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club.

Yoo's score in the group was stable and consistent, with draws against the players who finished in second to fourth places, and wins against all opponents below that. It must have been inspiring to start with an attractive, attacking victory against one of his main rivals:

Christopher Yoo U.S. Junior Championship 2024
Christopher Yoo shortly before his first game. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Yoo, who is from Dublin, California, scored another nice win in the fifth round. Can you find the decisive tactic?

U.S. Junior Championship: Lee Just Ahead of Atwell

Last year's winner did it again. 14-year-old Lee is one of America's most promising rising stars as the youngest female player in American history to earn the title of IM. Her biggest rival in the tournament was FM Rose Atwell, who finished just half a point behind and only lost to the tournament winner. The youngest participant was the only 11-year-old WFM Megan Paragua.

U.S. Girls Championship 2024 Results
Image courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club.

With her win, Lee once again qualified for the upcoming U.S. Women’s Championship — where she certainly belongs, after finishing in third place last year. Here's her important win against Atwell from round three:

Alice Lee U.S. Girls Championship 2024
A focused Alice Lee, from North Oaks, Minnesota, in her game with Rose Atwell. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

U.S. Senior Championship: Akopian Wins Undefeated

The U.S. Senior field once again boasted some legendary chess players, including every winner of the tournament since its inception, including GM Melik Khachiyan (2023), GM Alex Shabalov (2019, 2022), GM Gregory Kaidanov (2021), and GM Joel Benjamin (2020). 

The top prize of $20,000, however, was snatched by 52-year-old Akopian, who resides in Glendale, California these days. With a 4.5/5 start he had already taken a 1.5-point lead, and by round eight he had clinched the tournament. With a draw in the final round, Akopian remained undefeated, like Yoo.

U.S. Senior Championship 2024 Results
Image courtesy Saint Louis Chess Club.

A key game was his win over runner-up GM Jesse Kraai, which reminded this author of some of GM Anatoly Karpov's best games: long maneuvering directed by a positional advantage, and finishing it off with a nice tactic. GM Rafael Leitao provided annotations:

Akopian Kraai U.S. Senior Championship 2024
The fifth round in action, with Akopian-Kraai in the middle. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

If ever the term "bouncing back" was appropriate, it was for Kraai in this tournament. After his loss to Akopian, the grandmaster from Baltimore, Maryland, finished with four straight wins to grab the $13,000 check for second place. Here's his sharp and topsy-turvy victory over Kaidanov:

Jesse Kraai U.S. Senior Championship 2024
A fantastic 4/4 finish for Jesse Kraai. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Christopher Yoo U.S. Junior Champion 2024
Christopher Yoo with the trophy in front of the World Chess Hall of Fame, across the road from the Saint Louis Chess Club. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Alice Lee U.S. Girls Champion 2024
Alice Lee holding her winners' trophy. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Vladimir Akopian U.S. Girls Champion 2024
Vladimir Akopian, the winner among the seniors. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

How to rewatch?

You can replay the 2024 U.S. National Championships on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel. The games can also be replayed on our Events pages: Juniors | Girls | Seniors.

The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Yasser Seirawan & Cristian Chirila, and IMs Nazi Paikidze & Kostya Kavutskiy.

The 2024 U.S. National Championships took place July 16-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. All three events were a 10-player round-robin. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The total prize fund was over $135,000.

PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.

Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.

Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.

As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!


Company Contact and News Accreditation: 

Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097

More from PeterDoggers
PBG Alaskan Knights Continue Strong On Global Chess League Day 2

PBG Alaskan Knights Continue Strong On Global Chess League Day 2

Giri's Alaskan Knights Impress On 2024 Global Chess League Opening Day

Giri's Alaskan Knights Impress On 2024 Global Chess League Opening Day