When the US Championship begins next week in St. Louis, there’s no prohibitive favorite. But there’s one thing you can bank on — long games.
The top American players typically take several more moves to finish off a game than they did a generation ago.
Fifty — as in moves — is the new 40.
And some games are much longer. Twelve of the 13 longest games in US Championship history were played since 1997.
This includes the record-setter, a 164-move marathon between Varuzhan Akobian and Yury Lapshun in 2003 that ended in a draw.
The longest victory was a comparatively swift 124-mover, won by Alex Fishbein over Bruci Lopez in 2004-5, according to research by master compiler Ed Gonsalves.
Why do games last so long? The chief explanations are: There are more younger players with greater stamina in recent championships, and the use of sudden-death time controls and the “Bobby Fischer clock” reward attempts to prolong a game and give a player increments of time to do it.
This week’s game is the dream of every young amateur: An untitled 18-year-old beats a GM in the most brilliant game in one of the world’s strongest tournaments.