And now it comes down to one last game... Gregory Young drew both of his games yesterday to maintain a 1.0 point lead in the US Junior Championship. In the morning round, white blundered an entire piece in the Sicilian and lived to tell about it, launching a desperado attack on the black king that, after even more adventures, yielded a perpetual check. After overcoming two completely losing positions, Gregory played it safely last night and drew by repetition in a slightly superior middlegame position.
US Junior after Round 8 (most people played six games): Gregory Young 4.5, Tyler Hughes 3.5, Daniel Yeager 3.0, Edward Lu 2.0, Bradley Sawyer 1.0/4
In the last round, Gregory faces his main rival, NM Tyler Hughes from Colorado. They drew a wild contest two days ago and now they switch colors and play again. Tyler is a strong, talented and underrated (at 2264 USCF) young man who has played in several California tournaments. Gregory will no doubt have his hands full with the black pieces. If Tyler manages to win, they would be considered co-champions, but Tyler has an edge in the tiebreaks (Sonneborn-Berger).
The game will be relayed live both on MonRoi and on ICC beginning at 8:00am Pacific time. Best of luck to Gregory!
Update on midday Wednesday: Gregory lost a heart breaker this morning. Perhaps this was Caissa's payback for his incredible luck earlier in the tournament. Congratulations to US Junior Champion Tyler Hughes and co-champion Gregory Young!
1 comment:
what no Armageddon playoff? lol!
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