Irina Krush Wins Her 8th U.S. Women's Title

 

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
First published in ChessBase
 

Irina Krush won the U.S. Women’s Championship seven times between 1998 and 2015, getting the title four times in a row between 2012 and 2015. After failing to win the championship four years in a row, she has collected her eighth title in the online tournament organized this year by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Krush now needs one more victory in the women’s national event to equal Gisela Kahn Gresser’s record of nine title wins — born in Detroit, Kahn Gresser won the competition nine times between 1944 and 1969.

Notably, Krush was one of the first chess players known to have been diagnosed with Covid-19, as reported here at the end of March. As stated by herself and commentator Jennifer Shahade in the post-game interview, Krush has been suffering from long-term effects related to the virus. Fortunately, the 36-year-old grandmaster has been feeling better after consciously improving her health-related habits during the last few months. Krush explained:

I’ve been walking every single day for a few months now — I walk close to an hour a day. I feel like that’s improved my fitness in a big way. [...] What I found is that consistency matters a lot. If you go out rain or shine at any time of the day and you get your one-hour walk, it’s gonna add up. I feel really good, I’ve lost close to 20 pounds in the last couple of months. [...] Even during this tournament I got to my record-low weight. It’s another demonstration of how stressful it is to play chess — just in a few days, I lost probably at least 2 to 3 pounds. [...] Playing chess takes a pretty big physical toll on you. 

Krush pointed out that she felt better about her chances of winning this event after seeing how Joel Benjamin won the senior national tournament last week, as Benjamin was also diagnosed with Covid-19 and managed to recover.

It was an exciting fourth day of action. Yip was a half point behind Krush going into the final two rounds, and kicked off the day by coming back from a lost position to beat Anna Zatonskih. Yip then comfortably beat Thalia Cervantes with white in round 11. Thus, Krush needed to win both her games to get clear first place. The 8-time national champion handled the situation exemplarily: 

It’s true that she’s been winning her games. The good part is that I never really noticed that, because I never checked throughout the day — yesterday I had no idea that I was in second place. [...] My only thought was, ‘I’m gonna play one game, and then I’m gonna play another game, and then it’s gonna end’ (smiles).

Round 10

During the penultimate round, it seemed like Krush would not have much trouble to get the title, as second-placed Yip was in deep trouble against Anna Zatonskih:

Zatonskih vs. Yip

Position after 32...gxh4

A 4-time U.S. women’s champion, Zatonskih had a rough time in this edition, as she finished winless and in last place. In round 10, however, she got a completely winning position against Yip. 33.Qb8+ in the diagrammed position, followed by 33...Kh7 34.gxh4, would have kept things under control for white, with the queen ready to deal with any attempts by Black to create some sort of counterplay on the kingside.

Instead, White went for 33.Rc8+ Kh7 34.Qxf7 while very low on time. Yip created chances to give a perpetual check with 34...hxg3 35.fxg3 Qd4+ and ended up winning the game after Zatonskih refused to accept the repetition. 

Meanwhile, Krush stopped Sabina Foisor’s attack and scored a convincing victory with the black pieces to keep the sole lead with one round to go.

Going into the last day, Yip was not alone in second place, as Dorsa Derakhshani was also a half point behind Krush. Unfortunately for Derakhshani, however, she failed to make the most of her advantage against Cervantes in the first round of the day:

Cervantes vs. Derakhshani

Position after 47.Ke3

Black went for 47...c5 giving her opponent hopes of saving a draw after 48.Rxd7 Bxd7 49.f4 with two strong connected passers for White. Instead, the straightforward 47...Rxd4 48.Kxd4 c5 49.Kd3 Ke5 was a simple win. Cervantes ended up saving the half point, which meant Derakhshani was now a full point behind the leader in sole third place.

Round 11

Yip, true to the style she showed throughout the event, played enterprising chess in the final round, beating Cervantes with the white pieces by using a clear-cut attacking strategy out of a Sicilian.

Once again, Krush got a clear positional advantage out of the opening, and after Nguyen was imprecise in the early middlegame, the now 8-time national champion went on to swiftly up the pressure until getting the win. In the diagrammed position, White damaged Black’s pawn structure by 14.g4 Be4 15.f3 Bg6 16.h4 h6 (16...h5 also has its drawbacks) 17.Nxg6 fxg6.

Krush, in the meantime, scored a third consecutive convincing win, this time over Emily Nguyen:

Krush vs. Nguyen

Position after 13...Rfc8

Nguyen defended stubbornly, but Krush patiently continued to create threats until getting the victory that would secure her first place in the championship.

Back in April when we first brought my new born daughter home from the hospital to our small one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, it was clear that there would not be enough room for all of the new baby essentials that we were quickly acquiring. Something would have to be put into storage.
 
A quick inventory of what was in our living room revealed the difficulty of the choice: a nice sofa, a hand-built table, a crib, a stroller, and many bookshelves holding hundreds of chess books. I kept going through the list trying to decide what made the most sense to put into storage.
 
"Could we just get rid of the couch?" I remember asking. Joyce, my wife, stared at me blankly.
 
I agreed that we needed the crib, but... "maybe we could put it in the kitchen?"
 
"If you put the crib into the kitchen, how are you going to open the fridge door?"
 
Okay... That's fair.
 
She patiently nudged me to the "obvious" conclusion, and after a long weekend of boxing up all of my chess books and packing them into a suburban SUV to be hauled off to storage, we rearranged our living room and I have to admit, the fridge door is unobstructed.
 
If you're anything like me then you are probably attached to your chess books, and the idea of packing them up fills you with anxiety and dread. What if I need to look up that line that I like against the Benko gambit?
 
While I was nervous about not having access to my library, I have to admit that this has helped me to focus and study chess more intensely. I decided that I would allow myself to keep about a dozen chess books, and to sometimes buy more from Fred Wilson's chess book store and then switch these out with those in storage. This way, I am secretly motivated by the goal of buying more from Fred Wilson and then replacing them as quickly as possible. Something about having fewer books on my desk has helped me to focus on actually reading them.
 
I also became completely immersed in Forward Chess. Forward Chess is a digital platform that exclusively sells chess books. It offers digital versions of books from many different chess publishers, from New In Chess to Quality Chess and even Chess Informant. The application is compatible with phones, tablets and there is even a desktop version. Once you download the application you will see the impressive library that they have available. While you do have to purchase individual books, the price for a digital book is less than a physical one and as a bonus—digital delivery is instantaneous so there is no waiting to get your hands on something after you click "add to cart" and "buy."
 
As I sit on my couch and look at the baby items accumulating where all of my chess books used to be, I scroll through Gelfand's latest book on my tablet.  I feel as if I am getting to have my chess books and read them too. When over the board chess returns, I will be ready to hit the ground running like a track star and crush my opponents—especially if they attempt to play the Benko Gambit. And if not—well, at least I can open my fridge door.

—Greg Keener, MCC Staff & FIDE Arbiter
 

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Next week, on Tuesday, November 10th, we're beginning a new five week course: The Best Offense is a Good Defense. Taught by Grandmaster Nikola Nestorovic (winner of back-to-back MCC round robins), the course will teach students the art of defending worse positions. Using examples from real games, classes will focus on: the psychology of defense, turning around a bad situation, gaining a feel for counterattack, and understanding when the moment calls for passivity. The class will be held from 5-6 pm each week via Zoom.

Oh, and did you hear?

The Sexiest Show on Television is About... Chess? If you haven't started watching The Queen's Gambit yet you are seriously missing out! Some people are saying it might be the greatest TV mini series EVER. The show, streaming on NETFLIX, is an adaptation of the mystery/suspense novel The Queen’s Gambit. The book was highly praised; written by Walter Tevis, who was a tournament player himself, it tells the story of a young girl who becomes a chess prodigy. The story evolves as a psychological thriller from there. [Parental Guidance: TV - MA; drug use, adult language]

You still have about two weeks to watch it before our talkback discussion on November 17th. That free event will be hosted by Dr. Frank Brady on Zoom. Sign up here!