Roughly a month ago my student's father wrote an email. "Ashritha got a wild card for the USA women championship. Should she accept?" "Of course she should, if she could. This is a chance that you might get only once in your life."
Ashritha Eswaran is only 13 but for the last three years that we worked she made a lot of a progress. Three years ago she had the rating of 1400. Currently Ashrtha is above 2200 (USCF) which makes her a national master and had already won the USA national title for girls twice.
In order to take part in the event the youngster had to receive a special permission from her school authorities.
Here we are in Saint Louis, the chess capital of USA. The official recognition of the city came from the United States Senate on 6-th of May, just a couple of days before the start of the new significant event.
No other city deserves this title more that Saint Louis.
“Since 2009, we’ve worked to raise the prominence and profile of the U.S. Championships,” Rich said. ”We’re honored the U.S. Chess Federation once again awarded these prestigious events to Saint Louis, and we hope our U.S. Champions will continue to serve as role models for young chess players across the country.”
“Since 2009, we've worked to raise the prominence and profile of the U.S. Championships,” said Toni Rich
executive director of the CCSCSL. ”We’re honored the U.S. Chess Federation once again awarded these prestigious events to Saint Louis, and we hope our U.S. Champions will continue to serve as role models for young chess players across the country.”
This is the sixth time in a row that the club hosts the championship. The conditions are fantastic. I have never seen anything that well organized.
The players are treated like kings. Royal price fund, first class hospitality, exclusive photo sessions for each participant. Everything is set up to the every little detail.
The audience is spoiled by the exceptional coverage of the event. Three of the best American commentators explain the games for all the major sites. Gorgeous Jennifer Shahade and lucid Yasser Seirawan make a great TV couple while the expansive Maurice Ashley appearances on air make the shows even more entertaining.
GMs Robert Hess and Benjamin Finegold annotate life for the visitors of the Leste'sr restaurant.
The commentators were very excited about Ashritha's win in the first round. In a study-like endgame she managed to pull out the point with a beautiful maneuver. Some of their comments:
"The position is too complicated for the annotators"- Ben Finegold.
"I would like to take her (Ashritha Eswaran) home and be her trainer." Maurice Ashley.
Second round was tough for my young student. She lost basically out of the opening to the reigning champion Irina Krush. However, on the third round she managed to score her second point.
Her game ended last once more, juts like in the first round and was once again very entertaining:
A game that I liked (ChessBase 12)
[Event "U.S. Women's Championship 2014"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.05.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Eswaran, Ashritha"]
[Black "Baginskaite, Camilla"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "1979"]
[BlackElo "2267"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7Q/6Q1/3p4/3q4/Pp6/6K1/2k2P2/4q3 w - - 0 58"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
{[%csl Gd5,Ge1,Yg7,Yh8]} {As you can easily guess, the game was very
complicated prior to this moment. At first Baginskaite outplayed her young
opponent, but then Ashritha managed to muddy the waters and turn the tables.
She won a pawn and entered a complicated queen and pawn endgame. It was once
again Kamila Baginskaite who showed great understanding in the endgame. She
centralized her pieces to the maximum to get dangerous counterplay which led
to the posiiton on the diagram. It is White who starts the checks, but Black
is better co-ordinated. The main problem for Baginskaite was that she felt in
time trouble again.} 58. Qb2+ Kd3 $1 {Once again the best move.} ({Black can
draw after:} 58... Kd1 59. Qa1+ Ke2 60. Qe8+ Qe5+ 61. Qaxe5+ dxe5 62. Qxe5+ Kd1
63. Qxe1+ Kxe1 64. a5 b3 65. a6 b2 66. a7 b1=Q 67. a8=Q Qg6+ $11) 59. Qh7+ Qde4
60. Qb3+ {The culmination of the dramatic battle.} Kd4 {The most experienced
player blunders.} ({Both players missed that after:} 60... Qc3 $1 {The
seemingly deadly check:} 61. Qd1+ $2 ({White should instead play for a draw
with:} 61. Qxe4+ Kxe4+ 62. f3+ Kd4 $17) {would be answered with a counter-check
} 61... Kc4+ $1 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Rc3g3,Re4h7]}) 61. Qxe4+ Qxe4 (61... Kxe4 62.
Qe6+ {[%csl Re1,Re4][%cal Re6e1]}) 62. Qxb4+ {Here Baginskaite wanted to play
the move Kd4-d5 but instead took the queen by mistake. While the arbiter was
preparing to add two minutes on Ashritha's clock the frustrated Camilla
resigned explaining that she is just lost. Indeed, it is so. The cameras then
showed the frustrated Baginskaite analyzing the game on her own at the empty
hall, trying to fugure out what went wrong. Chess can be a cruel game.} 1-0
Sunday was a free day for the ladies tournament. It is Mother's Day in USA and women are celebrating. The long-time rivals Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih are co-leading after three rounds with 2.5/3.
The man tournament has a convincing leader. Alexander Lenderman shows great preparation and has achieved 3.5/4. The reigning champion Gata Kamsky have scored his first full point only on Sunday.
Unfortunately no player will be eligible for the Fischer price these year as all the players have lost points.
Ashritha Eswaran is only 13 but for the last three years that we worked she made a lot of a progress. Three years ago she had the rating of 1400. Currently Ashrtha is above 2200 (USCF) which makes her a national master and had already won the USA national title for girls twice.
In order to take part in the event the youngster had to receive a special permission from her school authorities.
Here we are in Saint Louis, the chess capital of USA. The official recognition of the city came from the United States Senate on 6-th of May, just a couple of days before the start of the new significant event.
No other city deserves this title more that Saint Louis.
“Since 2009, we’ve worked to raise the prominence and profile of the U.S. Championships,” Rich said. ”We’re honored the U.S. Chess Federation once again awarded these prestigious events to Saint Louis, and we hope our U.S. Champions will continue to serve as role models for young chess players across the country.”
“Since 2009, we've worked to raise the prominence and profile of the U.S. Championships,” said Toni Rich
executive director of the CCSCSL. ”We’re honored the U.S. Chess Federation once again awarded these prestigious events to Saint Louis, and we hope our U.S. Champions will continue to serve as role models for young chess players across the country.”
This is the sixth time in a row that the club hosts the championship. The conditions are fantastic. I have never seen anything that well organized.
The players are treated like kings. Royal price fund, first class hospitality, exclusive photo sessions for each participant. Everything is set up to the every little detail.
The audience is spoiled by the exceptional coverage of the event. Three of the best American commentators explain the games for all the major sites. Gorgeous Jennifer Shahade and lucid Yasser Seirawan make a great TV couple while the expansive Maurice Ashley appearances on air make the shows even more entertaining.
GMs Robert Hess and Benjamin Finegold annotate life for the visitors of the Leste'sr restaurant.
The commentators were very excited about Ashritha's win in the first round. In a study-like endgame she managed to pull out the point with a beautiful maneuver. Some of their comments:
"The position is too complicated for the annotators"- Ben Finegold.
"I would like to take her (Ashritha Eswaran) home and be her trainer." Maurice Ashley.
Second round was tough for my young student. She lost basically out of the opening to the reigning champion Irina Krush. However, on the third round she managed to score her second point.
Her game ended last once more, juts like in the first round and was once again very entertaining:
[Event "U.S. Women's Championship 2014"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.05.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Eswaran, Ashritha"]
[Black "Baginskaite, Camilla"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "1979"]
[BlackElo "2267"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7Q/6Q1/3p4/3q4/Pp6/6K1/2k2P2/4q3 w - - 0 58"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
{[%csl Gd5,Ge1,Yg7,Yh8]} {As you can easily guess, the game was very
complicated prior to this moment. At first Baginskaite outplayed her young
opponent, but then Ashritha managed to muddy the waters and turn the tables.
She won a pawn and entered a complicated queen and pawn endgame. It was once
again Kamila Baginskaite who showed great understanding in the endgame. She
centralized her pieces to the maximum to get dangerous counterplay which led
to the posiiton on the diagram. It is White who starts the checks, but Black
is better co-ordinated. The main problem for Baginskaite was that she felt in
time trouble again.} 58. Qb2+ Kd3 $1 {Once again the best move.} ({Black can
draw after:} 58... Kd1 59. Qa1+ Ke2 60. Qe8+ Qe5+ 61. Qaxe5+ dxe5 62. Qxe5+ Kd1
63. Qxe1+ Kxe1 64. a5 b3 65. a6 b2 66. a7 b1=Q 67. a8=Q Qg6+ $11) 59. Qh7+ Qde4
60. Qb3+ {The culmination of the dramatic battle.} Kd4 {The most experienced
player blunders.} ({Both players missed that after:} 60... Qc3 $1 {The
seemingly deadly check:} 61. Qd1+ $2 ({White should instead play for a draw
with:} 61. Qxe4+ Kxe4+ 62. f3+ Kd4 $17) {would be answered with a counter-check
} 61... Kc4+ $1 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Rc3g3,Re4h7]}) 61. Qxe4+ Qxe4 (61... Kxe4 62.
Qe6+ {[%csl Re1,Re4][%cal Re6e1]}) 62. Qxb4+ {Here Baginskaite wanted to play
the move Kd4-d5 but instead took the queen by mistake. While the arbiter was
preparing to add two minutes on Ashritha's clock the frustrated Camilla
resigned explaining that she is just lost. Indeed, it is so. The cameras then
showed the frustrated Baginskaite analyzing the game on her own at the empty
hall, trying to fugure out what went wrong. Chess can be a cruel game.} 1-0
Sunday was a free day for the ladies tournament. It is Mother's Day in USA and women are celebrating. The long-time rivals Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih are co-leading after three rounds with 2.5/3.
The man tournament has a convincing leader. Alexander Lenderman shows great preparation and has achieved 3.5/4. The reigning champion Gata Kamsky have scored his first full point only on Sunday.
Unfortunately no player will be eligible for the Fischer price these year as all the players have lost points.
2 comments:
It has been impressive watching Ashritha Eswaran's fighting spirit during the tournament in progress. A worthy competitor, and I presume if the opportunity to play the Hedgehog as Black arises again, she will be ready!
Thank you, Franklin. Indeed, the next Hedgehog should be better:)
Post a Comment