Jennifer Yu Wins Her Second U.S. Women's Championship
In an impressive battle between two resilient players, it came down to speed.
Jennifer Yu is just 20 years of age, but this is already her second U.S. Women’s Championship. Her first win, in 2019, was a tour de force in which she scored a massive 10/11. This win wasn’t as smooth, but it was another happy ending when she defeated Irina Krush (on time, in a lost position) in an Armageddon game to take this year’s title.
When we left off, Krush had beaten Yu in the penultimate round to leapfrog her into clear first; Yu and Thalia Cervantes - who had won five games in a row(!) - were tied for second half a point behind. The last round pairings were especially interesting: Krush had White against her long-time rival Anna Zatonskih, while Cervantes had White against Yu. Krush had a slight edge almost from start to finish, but Zatonskih defended well for a long time. Near the end though, Krush was given one opportunity to win the game and clinch the title, but she missed it, and the game soon petered out to a draw.
Yu, meanwhile, won an impressive game against Cervantes. She played well, overcame any regrets she may have been suffering from her painful and altogether unforced loss against Krush the previous day, and defeated an opponent who had been on fire. With the win, she forced a playoff match against Krush, which was scheduled for the next day.
Both games were a mess, as you’d expect from a g/10’ at the end of a long (13-round) tournament. Krush made the last error in the first game and Yu returned the favor in the second, and so it was on to Armageddon. Yu won the toss to decide colors, and chose the Black pieces. Krush got five minutes, Yu four minutes and draw odds, with no increment until after move 60. Yu blundered a bishop for absolutely nothing on move 9, and Krush was converting things very nicely until she came up with the terrible idea to play 21.g4 and 22.Nxd6. Her 23rd move was a blunder, and although she was soon winning again she was behind on the clock in a messy position. In the end it was a pure time scramble for both sides, and with Krush still having a chance she made an illegal move. That made the clock times two seconds for Krush against three seconds - AND an additional minute for the penalty - for Yu. This was on move 46, and there was no way for Krush to move fast enough to get to the increments. Krush ran out of time on move 47, and Yu won her second championship. Congratulations!
The games discussed above can be replayed here.