Nakamura, Krush leading U.S. Chess
Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush…
2015 U.S. Chess Champions!
On a crisp Monday night of April 13th, Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush were crowned as the U.S. Champions. It would be the 4th for Nakamura and the 7th for Krush. It also reinforces the notion of where the power lies in American chess. While there is home-grown talent on the men’s side with Ray Robson, Samuel Shankland, Daniel Naroditsky, Conrad Holt, Kayden Troff and Samuel Sevian there is the ominous presence of Wesley So, the Filipino-born sensation who changed his federation with much fanfare last year. Uzbekistan-born Timur Gareev created moments of “reckless danger” for opponents.
Not to be outdone by the “young bucks” and “old heads” Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian, Nakamura showed his supremacy in positions where he had to be resourceful. While he was certainly critical of his play early on and was in a little trouble against So, he was able to avoid a major crisis and help stave off the heroics of aspirants. Robson had a breakout tournament and has shown that he will be a force in the future along with his friend Wesley So.
Irina Krush has continually shown she is a class above everyone else in American chess. One of only two full Grandmasters in the U.S., her nemesis IM Anna Zatonskih was not in the field and she was surely “missed”. However, there was fierce competition with newcomer Nazi Paikidze and Katerina Nemcova. In fact, Nemcova led for most of the tournament until her lost to Paikidze.
Hikaru Nakamura bagged his 4th title. His first was 10 years ago.
Krush is now a seven-time champion!
Photos by Lennart Ootes.
On the women’s side you have a number of emigres (past and present) who double as college students such as Sabina-Francesa Foisor, Nazi Paikidze, Katerina Nemcova and Anna Sharevich. You have two emigres in Rusudan Goletiani and Viktorija Ni who are involved in chess education. There were three juniors (Apurva Kirkud, Annie Wang and Jennifer Yu) and perhaps one of the quintessential role models for women’s chess, Alisa Melekhina, a newly-minted lawyer and entrepreneur.
What does the future hold for American chess? The scholastic aspect of chess has exploded and there are thousands of players developing from coast-to-coast. As more support is given to the efforts of Chess-in-Schools initiative, organizations like Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis and new events like Millionaire Chess, chess hopes to draw a higher profile. The environment may also give new players a chance to express their talents.
The future of American chess? Three of these 2012 Junior Closed participants competed in the 2015 U.S. Championship. Photo by CCSCSL.
Both Nakamura and Krush both came up through the American scholastic system and have turned into important figures in the American chess scene. One day they will be in the Hall-of-Fame. Young players are now emulating them and many project that the U.S. will remain as a world contender for Olympiad medals. At this point, Nakamura has a legitimate chance to compete for a world championship title and is now the #3 player. Is it time to start getting excited about the potential of another “boom” in American chess? Most definitely.
Official Site: https://www.uschesschamps.com/
Livestream: https://new.livestream.com/ccscsl/USChessChampionships
Chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/us-championship-2015#live
Drum Coverage! https://www.thechessdrum.net/
That’s a good question, especially since the number of talented youngsters who are being trained to take over the helm of US Chess are few. I think to increase the pool, a serious effort to widen the selection of chess talent has to become a priority. With the small number of juniors who are shining it’s misleading to claim the future of US chess looks bright. For now, it looks like Akshat and the winner of the next US Junior Close will be the next one.
In terms of what we had as compared to what we have today, I have to agree with you. But we can’t just focus on providing the best training to a handpicked few. That approach will only get us back to the days when you could count the number of star players. To a certain degree we should be aiming to produce as many IM and GM possible.
yeah some good talent here yet they still gotta lotta LEARNIN to do accordin to ULTRAMODERNISM but there are only two women gms in the U.S. why?
That is an accurate argument Daaim. I was under the impression that when we say the future of US Chess looks bright, it was our way of claiming that we are producing a good amount of titled players across the board. However, if the measure is based on how many kids are actually playing chess, then yes there is definitely a growing interest in chess in the US. I want to believe that the problem with not having a structure in place is due to lack of resources, but Is money really the issue?
Wow Daa’im, the United States went about 10 years without producing a home-grown GM?!? Just goes to show that producing GMs shouldn’t be expected to be automatic just because a given country is “trying”. If one looks at things in light of that 10-year American drought, it should temper the instinct to think of countries with less resources as underachievers– even if they are in the middle of a 20-30 year drought; which for some could be the entirety of their organized effort.
Oh thanks Patzer , wasnt aware of that.So How many gms would have to be produced in the U.S to be impressive? Im an ULTRAMODERNIST so im just curious? oh lil magasparov not a bad game today atall, vs Lagrave! Chessdrummers did yall see that game?