It’s at all times good to start out a brand new chess 12 months with a rush of momentum from the one simply previous, so we focus this week on a number of the massive winners from December, historically a really crowded time on the worldwide chess calendar.

WGM Carissa Yip, who already has two U.S. ladies’s nationwide titles underneath her belt, added one other line to her resume with a win eventually month’s North American Junior Under-20 Championship, performed simply down the highway from right here on the Dulles Marriott Airport Hotel in Northern Virginia.

It wasn’t precisely a cinch for Yip, who suffered a shocking first-round upset loss to Virginia Class A participant James Douglas Wright. But in traditional “Swiss Gambit” vogue, Yip rebounded with eight straight wins to edge FM Erick Zhao for the title, incomes a grandmaster norm within the course of.

Yip accomplished the comeback with a troublesome last-round win over Canadian FM Daniel Xu, battling again from an iffy place on the Black aspect of a traditional Ruy Lopez battle for the victory. Black on this line should generate queenside counterplay to stave off White’s methodically constructing kingside assault, however some time-wasting strikes by Black’s queen put Yip within the gap after 19. Rf1 (White’s kingside pawns aren’t fairly, however the half-open f-file bearing down on Black’s king is ample compensation) a5 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. g4 b4?! (f6, watching and ready, is likely to be higher, as now White seizes a big area benefit) 22. d5 Ne7 23. c4 Qe8 24. g5! Qb8 25. Qh4 c6 26. Nh2!, and White’s repositioning has the makings of a really promising assault.

But Yip alertly grabs her first probability to reverse the sport’s circulate after 29. Ng4 Bxg4 30. hxg4? (Xu’s first subpar transfer of the sport, tripling the kingside pawns — maybe within the misguided pursuit of mate on the h-file — proves pricey, whereas traces like 30. Qxg4 a4 31. Qf3 Qe8 32. Bd2 Rc7 33. Bxb4 would have yielded a giant edge) Nxd5! 31. exd5 e4 32. Qf2 exd3 33. Qxf7+ Kh8 34. Qf4 — White’s mating hopes are gone, materials is equal, and Black can lastly activate her items.

White understandably has bother adjusting to the abrupt change of fortunes, permitting his opponent to grab management after 35. Bd4 Qxd5! 36. Bxg7+ (Bxc3? bxc3, and the related handed pawns and monster Black bishop are price excess of the misplaced alternate) Kxg7 37. Rde1?! (now Black can consolidate; 37. Rf3 Re8 38. Qf6+ Kg8 39. Qf4 holds the stability) Rc7 38. Re4 Rf7 39. Qxf7+? (harder was 39. Rd4 Rxf4 40. Rxd5 Rxg4 41. Rxd6 Ra7 42. Rxd3 Rxg5, forcing Black to win a notoriously tough double-rook ending; the White kingside triplets will show a deadly legal responsibility within the ending to return) Qxf7 40. Rxf7+ Kxf7 41. Rd4 Ke6 42. Rxd3, and White’s pawns will show sitting geese in a taking pictures gallery for Black’s rook.

The carnage commences on 46. Ke1 (Ke3 Re8+ 47. Kf2 Rxe2+ 48. Kxe2 d4, and Black has a received ending as White’s kingside is successfully paralyzed) Rf4 47. Kd2 Rxg4 48. Kd3 Rxg5, and Yip now has a two-to-one pawn edge on the kingside along with the handed d-pawn. The ending requires little remark as she easily transformed the purpose and clinched the title.

While we’re with regards to native winners, a fast congratulations to New York IM Mykola Bortnick, winner of the Premier part of the 2023 Eastern Open, the D.C. space’s conventional year-end chess blowout event. We’ll have all the part winners and a number of the motion from the occasion, performed on the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, in an upcoming column.

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FIDE’s World Rapid Championships, which concluded final week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, featured a really acquainted face within the open competitors and an enormous shock within the ladies’s speedy title combat.

Norway’s GM Magnus Carlsen, nonetheless the perfect participant on the planet by margin regardless of voluntarily abdicating his classical world title final 12 months, captured his fifth world speedy crown — and third within the final 4 years — with a dominating, undefeated 10-3 end result, a half-point forward of Slovenian GM Vladimir Fedoseev. (For good measure, Carlsen additionally took the World Blitz Championship title held proper after the speedy occasion.)

It was a really totally different image within the ladies’s speedy occasion, as unheralded 31-year-old Russian WGM Anastasia Bodnaruk, seeded 51st within the discipline, claimed the crown after defeating Indian star GM Humpy Koneru in a playoff. Local star WGM Jennifer Yu completed in a tie for eighth within the robust discipline, some extent behind the winner at 7½-3½.

Bodnaruk upset various higher-rated gamers in her sudden win, together with a powerful dismissal of Chinese GM Zhu Jiner in Round 8.

Black’s sense of hazard seems to be on the blink on the important second on this Closed Sicilian, making an ill-fated pawn seize when Bodnaruk’s kingside build-up was already trying ominous: 20. Qg4 Qxc3? (reckless — Black needed to hunker down with one thing like 20 … Kh8 21. h4 Rg8 and hope to outlive) 21. Bb3 Qb4 22. dxe5 Bxe3 (see diagram; on 22 … Bc5, White stays on high with 23. Bd4!) 23. Bxf7+! Kxf7 24. Rc7+ Kg8 25. Rxg7+ Kf8 26. fxe3! — capturing on b7 additionally wins, however the opening of the f-file makes White’s assault irresistible.

White emerges a bit up after 26 … Qxe4 27. Rxg6! Qxg4 28. Rxg4 Rxe5 29. Nxd6+, and after 37. Re6+ Kd4 38. Nb3+, Black is about to go down a full rook; Zhu resigned.

(Click on the picture above for a bigger view of the chessboard.)

Xu-Yip, U.S. Under-20 Junior Championship, Dulles, Va., December 2023

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 Bd7 7. c3 g6 8. d4 Bg7 9. Nbd2 Nh5 10. Nf1 b5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. h3 Bd7 13. Be3 O-O 14. Qd2 Re8 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. Ng3 Nxg3 17. fxg3 Na5 18. b3 Nc6 19. Rf1 a5 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. g4 b4 22. d5 Ne7 23. c4 Qe8 24. g5 Qb8 25. Qh4 c6 26. Nh2 cxd5 27. cxd5 Rc8 28. Bd3 Rc3 29. Ng4 Bxg4 30. hxg4 Nxd5 31. exd5 e4 32. Qf2 exd3 33. Qxf7+ Kh8 34. Qf4 Qg8 35. Bd4 Qxd5 36. Bxg7+ Kxg7 37. Rde1 Rc7 38. Re4 Rf7 39. Qxf7+ Qxf7 40. Rxf7+ Kxf7 41. Rd4 Ke6 42. Rxd3 d5 43. Kf2 Rc8 44. Re3+ Kd6 45. Re2 Rf8+ 46. Ke1 Rf4 47. Kd2 Rxg4 48. Kd3 Rxg5 49. Rf2 Rg3+ 50. Kd4 Rg4+ 51. Kd3 h5 52. Rf6+ Ke5 53. Ra6 Rg3+ 54. Ke2 Rxg2+ 55. Kf3 Rxa2 56. Rxg6 Ra3 57. Rg5+ Kd4 58. Rxh5 Rxb3+ 59. Ke2 Rb2+ 60. Kd1 a4 61. Rh4+ Kc5 62. Kc1 Rg2 63. Kb1 d4 64. Rh8 b3 White resigns.

Bodnaruk-Zhu, World Rapid Women’s Championship, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, December 2023

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nge2 Qc7 6. d3 a6 7. Nxd4 cxd4 8. Ne2 b5 9. Bb3 Bc5 10. c3 dxc3 11. bxc3 Ne7 12. O-O Bb7 13. d4 Bb6 14. Bc2 d6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Rc1 e5 17. Ng3 Rad8 18. Qh5 Ng6 19. Nf5 Rfe8 20. Qg4 Qxc3 21. Bb3 Qb4 22. dxe5 Bxe3 23. Bxf7+ Kxf7 24. Rc7+ Kg8 25. Rxg7+ Kf8 26. fxe3 Qxe4 27. Rxg6 Qxg4 28. Rxg4 Rxe5 29. Nxd6+ Ke7 30. Nxb7 Rd2 31. e4 h5 32. Rg7+ Ke6 33. Rgf7 Rg5 34. R7f2 Rd7 35. Rf6+ Ke5 36. Nc5 Rd2 37. Re6+ Kd4 38. Nb3+ Black resigns.

• David R. Sands might be reached at 202/636-3178 or by electronic mail at dsands@washingtontimes.com.

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