The World Team wins the Match of the Millennials

The USA vs. The World match was held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, July 26th to 29th, 2017. It was a great success for the World, winning by a huge margin of 30½ to 17½ in total. The U.17 team was the underdog as per ratings, but still won with an overwhelming 19:13 total score, winning 3 matches and drawing 5 out of the 8 scheduled. The U.14 team also won with a good margin of 11½:4½, winning 3 matches and drawing 1 out of the 4 scheduled. Although the USA teams were fighting well, the World team showed that still is in charge.

The World Team was represented by the Head of Delegation Jorge Vega, the Captain of the World U.17 team Efstratios Grivas, the U.14 Captain Alexander Beliavsky and the players Haik Martirosyan (Armenia, 4 out of 7), Andreai Esipenko (Russia, 4 out of 7), Anton Smirnov (Australia, 3,5 out of 7), Aryan Chopra (India, 3,5 out of 7), Alexey Sarana (Russia, 4 out of 7), Praggnanandhaa Ramesh Babu (India, 3 out of 4)), Nordibek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan, 2,5 out of 4), Bibisara Assaubayeva (Russia, 4 out of 4) and Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria, 2 out of 4) .

The USA team: Xiong Jeffrey (4 out of 8), Sevian Samuel (4,5 out of 8), Burke John (0,5 out of 4), Checa Nicolas (1 out of 5), Li Ruifeng (3 out of 7), Liang Awonder (2 out of 4), Hong Andrew (0,5 out of 4), Yip Carissa (1 out of 4), Samadashvili Martha (1 out of 4).

According to regulations the winning team will receive $20,000, while the runner-up will receive $10,000.

Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand visited the closing ceremony and awarded the prizes to the winners.

Day 2

Under 17 Section

The players kept things consistent by keeping the score 2-2. Sam Sevian, who was unstoppable yesterday, for some reason played a very unambitious game and drew Alexey Sarana with the white pieces in 18 moves.
In a team event, this a huge advantage, as it leaves the opposing team with two whites. His teammate, World Junior Champion Jeffery Xiong, defeated Aryan Chopra’s Najdorf in a very clean game after outplaying his opponent in a positional manner then delivering a tactical blow.
Unfortunately for the U.S. team, Ruifeng Li chose a very unsound opening against Andrey Esipenko and was punished convincingly.
Anton Smirnov and John Burke drew after giving each other several winning chances but failing to take advantage of them.
In the fourth round, the U.S. team suffered its first loss. Things were really looking good for the American team as the Armenian Haik Martirosyan blundered against Nicolas Checa and was forced to resign several moves later.
Sam Sevian decided to return the favor by blundering a pawn, which was enough for Anton Smirnov to bring home the point.
Alexey Saran had to suffer and defend against Jeffery Xiong for most of the game.
The American superstar did not make the most out of his extra pawn in the rook ending allowing his opponent to find enough counterplay to draw. John Burke had a big advantage in the middle game and the only mistake in the game was enough for Andrey Esipenko to turn the tide, which allowed the World team to win their first match.

Under 14 Section

After suffering a loss yesterday, the U.S. team drew the match against the higher rated World team.
Andrew Hong and Praggnanandhaa Ramesh Babu played a sharp theoretical line where the American had to be quite careful not to find himself in trouble. He handled the complications masterfully and made a comfortable draw.
Martha Samadashvili out-prepared her much higher rated opponent, Bibisara Assaubayeva and got the advantage out of the opening. However, as the game went on, the Russian player demonstrated her strength and experience by not allowing her position to collapse and giving her opponent opportunities to error in an extremely complicated position. Once out of book and on her own, Samadashvili found herself in an unknown territory and made one crucial mistake, which was enough for her opponent to capitalize on and deliver the full point.
The newly crowned U.S. Junior Champion, Awonder Liang, once again found himself in an uncomfortable position but defended tenaciously until his opponent, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, had to settle for a draw.
The score was now 2-1 in favor for the World team and it was up to Carissa Yip and Nurgyul Salimova to decide the fate of the match. This was an epic 112 move battle where first Carissa had the material advantage, then her opponent refused to repeat the position to try to go for checkmate but missed a checkmate in two moves. This, in turn, left Carissa with the material advantage away but her king was still in trouble which allowed her opponent to force a draw, an opportunity that was not spotted. Towards the very end, with reduced amount of material on the board, Salimova once again had a great opportunity to make a draw but after a five-hour of play and no time on the clock, it was yet another missed opportunity. With this win, the score of the match is now a tie.

Watch all the action live on USChessChamps.com 

Photo Gallery by St. Louis Chess Club

Match of the Millennials Opening

The opening ceremony of the Match of the Millennials took place on 25th of July. During the press conference devoted to the start of the Match, Jorge Vega, Continental President for America, took part in the procedure of drawing of lots.

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Match of The Millennials

USA vs The World

26-29 July, 2017

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, in cooperation with the Kasparov Chess Foundation, U.S. Chess Federation, World Chess Federation and FIDE Trainers’ Commission will organize the Match of the Millennials. Eight American players will face some of the best juniors from around the world.
Teams consist of five players under 17, two boys under 14 and two girls under 14 years old. The five players under 17 years old will face each member of the opposing team in two game matches, while the under 14 players will similarly play two-game matches against their two corresponding opponents.
The prize fund of the match is $30,000. The winning team will receive $20,000, while the runner-up will receive $10,000. Prizes will be split evenly should the match end in a tie.


REGULATIONS (pdf)

	US TEAM
Captain Michael Khodarkovsky	Captain Armen Ambartsumian	Coach Alexander Onischuk
Jeffery Xiong (USA)	Samuel Sevian (USA)	Ruifeng Li (USA)
John Michael Burke (USA)	Nicolas Checa (USA)	Awonder Liang (USA)
Andrew Hong (USA)	Carissa Yip (USA)	Martha Samadashvili (USA)

	WORLD TEAM
Captain Efstratios Grivas	Captain Alexander Beliavsky	Head of Delegation Jorge Vega
Haik Martirosyan (ARM)	Andrey Esipenko (RUS)	Alexey Sarana (RUS)
Anton Smirnov (AUS)	Aryan Chopra (IND)	Praggnanandhaa R.B. (IND)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)	Bibisara Assaubayeva (RUS)	Nurgyul Salimova (BUL)