The 2020 US Senior Chess Championship ended on Oct. 19th at the famed St. Louis Chess Club in Missouri, United States with a resounding victory for veteran campaigner GM Joel Benjamin (2506).
The Category 11 (average Elo: 2505) single round robin rapid event, with a time format of 25 minutes plus five seconds increment, featured ten of the strongest senior chess players in America over the age of 50 and a $50,000 in prize money.
Besides Bejamin, the other players (GM unless otherwise indicated) are Larry Christiansen (2567), Igor Novikov (2554), Patrick Wolff (2532), Gregory Kaidanov (2549), Alexander Goldin (2542), Alexander Shabalov (2528), Alex Yermolinsky (2486), Dmitry Gurevich (2399) and FM Shelby Getz (2298). The oldest player is Christiansen at 64 while the youngest are Wolff and Shabalov, both at 52.
The final standings: 1. Benjamin, 6½; 2-4. Novikov, Kaidanov, Gurevich, 5; 5-6. Christiansen, Wolff, 4½; 7-8. Shabalov, Yermolinsky, 4; 9. Goldin, 3½; 10. Getz, 3.
The victory was worth $12,000 for the 56-year old Benjamin while Kaidanov, Novikov and Gurevich pocketed $6,657 each. Christian and Wolff each got $4,000; Shabalov and Yermolinsky, $3,000 and Goldin and Getz received $2,000 apiece.
Benjamin, J (2506)-Shabalov, A (2528) [A04]
Saint Louis (1.3) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 Nc6 5.d3 e6 6.e4 Nge7 7.c3 d5 8.Qe2 0-0 9.Re1 b5 10.Be3 d4 11.cxd4 cxd4 12.Bd2 a5 13.Na3 Ba6 14.Rec1 Qb6 15.Qe1 Rfc8 16.Rc2 Rc7 17.Rac1 Rac8 18.Bf4 Rd7 19.Bd2 Rdc7 20.h4 h6 21.Bf4 Rd7 22.Bd2 Rcc7 23.Bf4 Rc8 24.Bd2 Bf8 25.Nh2 Rdd8 26.Ng4 h5 27.Nf6+ Kg7 28.e5 Bb7 29.Kh2 Qa6 30.Qe4 Nf5 31.Qf4 1-0
Goldin, A (2542)-Benjamin, J (2506) [A05]
Saint Louis (2.4) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.Bg2 d5 6.c4 c6 7.0-0 Bg4 8.d4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 dxc4 10.bxc4 Nb6 11.Qd3 Be6 12.Nd2 Qd7 13.a4 Rad8 14.a5 Nc8 15.e3 Bh3 16.Nf3 Bxg2 17.Kg2 Qe6 18.Rfd1 Nd6 19.Nd2 Qg4 20.f3 Qh5 21.Ne2 Nf5 22.Nf4 Qg5 23.Qe2 h5 24.Ne4 Ne4 25.fe4 Nd6 26.e5 Ne4 27.Rf1 Bxe5 28.Nd3 Bg7 29.Rab1 Nd6 30.c5 Nf5 31.Nf4 Rfe8 32.Bc3 e5 33.Nh3 Qe3 0-1
Novikov, I (2554)-Shabalov, A (2528) [E70]
Saint Louis (3.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 a6 6.f3 0-0 7.Be3 Nbd7 8.Qd2 b5 9.cxb5 axb5 10.Nxb5 c6 11.Nbc3 e5 12.Rd1 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.Nc3 Re8 16.Kf2 exd4 17.Bxd4 Ne5 18.Bb5 Bd7 19.Bxd7 Nc4 20.Qf4 g5 21.Qc1 Qxd7 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Qxg5+ Kf8 24.Qh6+ Kg8 25.Nxd5 Qa7+ 26.Kg3 1-0
Gurevich, D (2399)-Benjamin, J (2506) [A07]
Saint Louis (4.5) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.0-0 Bg4 5.c4 e6 6.d3 Nbd7 7.Be3 Bxf3 8.exf3 dxc4 9.dxc4 Bc5 10.Qe2 0-0 11.Nc3 Qe7 12.f4 Bxe3 13.Qxe3 Qc5 14.Qxc5 Nxc5 15.b4 Nd3 16.Rab1 Rad8 17.Rfd1 Rd4 18.Rd2 Rfd8 19.Rbd1 R4d7 20.b5 cxb5 21.cxb5 Nc5 22.Rxd7 Rxd7 23.Rxd7 Nfxd7 24.Kf1 Kf8 25.Ke2 Ke7 26.Ke3 Kd6 27.Kd4 Nf6 28.h3 Ne8 29.Bf3 Nc7 30.h4 h6 31.h5 f6 32.Bg2 b6 33.Bc6 a6 34.a4 Nxa4 35.Ne4+ Ke7 36.bxa6 b5 37.a7 Nb6 38.Kc5 Na4+ 39.Kb4 Nb6 40.Nc3 Kd6 41.Bb7 Kd7 42.Nxb5 Nca8 43.Bxa8 Nxa8 44.Kc5 1-0
Yermolinsky, A (2486)-Novikov, I (2554) [A13]
Saint Louis (8.5) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3 c5 5.Bb2 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Be2 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Re8 11.Nd2 a6 12.N2f3 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.h3 Bd7 15.Qd3 Rc8 16.a4 Qe7 17.Ba3 Bd6 18.Bxd6 Qxd6 19.Bf3 h6 20.Rfc1 Rxc1+ 21.Rxc1 Rc8 22.Rxc8+ Bxc8 23.Qc3 Bd7 24.a5 Kf8 25.b4 Ke7 26.Nb3 Be6 27.Nc5 Qc7 28.Qd4 Kf8 29.Kf1 Qc6 30.Ke1 Nd7 31.Kd2 Nxc5 32.Qxc5+ Qxc5 33.bxc5 Ke7 34.Kc3 Kd7 35.Bd1 Kc6 36.Kb4 Kc7 37.Ba4 Bd7 38.Bc2 Kc6 39.f4 g5 40.fxg5 hxg5 41.Ba4+ Kc7 42.Bxd7 Kxd7 43.Kc3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nh4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c6, Ke7 2.Sf5#; 1…c5+ 2.Qxc5#; 1…dxe6 2.Qxe6#; 1…Kc6 2.Qa6#; 1…Se8/g8/h7/h5/e4/g4 2.Qxd7#./PN
