Justus Williams wins U.S. Junior Open!
Justus Williams, 2013 U.S. Junior Open Champion
Photo by CCSCSL.
Last weekend, Justus Williams won the 2013 U.S. Junior Open for perhaps his biggest individual win to date. The under-21 field had 27 competitors including eight National Masters. This competition is not the same as the U.S. Junior Closed which will take place June 13th-23rd in St. Louis. This tournament was open to all juniors (boys and girls) nationwide under the age of 21 and held in Tarrytown, New York May 31st-June 2nd.
Williams clinched the title with 5/6 by splitting the point with Andrew Ng in the last round. Deepak Aaron beat top-seed Josh Colas to move into joint second with Ng, Jarod Pamatmat and Andrew Tang all on 4.5/6. Rounding out the top scores were Jake Miller in 6th on 4/6. Colas, Akshat Chandra, Christopher Wu, Nicolas Checa and Jared Goldfarb finished 7th-11th with 3.5/6.
Williams is the third Black player to win the U.S. Junior since with R.O. Mitchell winning in 1990 and Shearwood McClelland III winning in 1997.
Wow Great info!
Fantastic result! Congratulations from the Jamaican Chess fraternity.
Well done.
True, it is not the US Junior Closed. However, Justus just qualified for the 2014 Junior Closed. Congrats!
Yes… this will be his second time competing in the U.S. Closed. Didn’t want people to be confused.
Looking at the caption of the picture in this article…while it is possible that Justus Williams could become the 2013 US Open champion, that particular event hasn’t happened yet. 🙂
Thanks! Maybe he’ll win that one too!
Still not sure why they have not updated the results to include round #6. I’ll go to uschess.org.
The results have just been updated at the Chess Educators website. Once again, keep keeping on Justus and congratulations!
Thanks. I had to settle for going to uschess.org and check the crosstable under Justus’ record.
Justus, congratulations on your well deserved victory, and onward w/ Colas, and Black and others to the Grandmaster title, as to not diminish the importance of his speech, but to paraphrase, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,”How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever”. Again, congratulations to you and other Afro-American’s who are knocking down that illusory wall and may GOD Bless you and all who push ahead. A great thanks to Maurice Ashley for opening the door.
Well put Greg! Barriers, like anything else have expiration dates.
There have been several other Black GMs, but in the U.S., only Ashley. In fact it is 14 years since he earned the title. No one (specifically from the African-American community) has gotten more than one GM norm. Hopefully, this will change.
It will!
Congrats!
I just found out and it was a little shock the way I did. I was just looking up Josh Colas’ ratings progress and saw that he had just lost a couple of points. So I then looked up the standings for his latest tournament. Lo and Behold I see Justus sitting atop the list for the U.S. Junior Open Championship (and a head-to-head win against his old rival to boot)! So now Josh and Justus are back to being neck and neck in the ratings.
It’s great to see that Justus has caught up with Joshua rating wise. It makes it more exciting. It’s time for James to do the same. I would like to see all three of them development collectively. I am always there watching them play together in Open tournaments and let me tell you, it’s always a pleasure to watch them fuse before and after the games. No doubt, they will be rivals for years to come if they stick with chess. That’s not a bad thing, because healthy competition help keeps them sharp and spirited. They (James, Justus & Josh) will meet again this summer at the Cadets and that should be fun to watch. It should never be about who is better, but rather to keep getting better together. Those who know me personally would tell you that my focus has and always will be about fairness and unanimity. Why not? because as Magnus stated “in the end, you get what you deserve.”
It’s a great thing. There is nothing wrong with competitive spirit if ADULTS don’t ruin it. Sometimes interested adults, chess officials, TDs and chess parents begin to interfere with these types of friendly competitions and create all sorts of problems.
I saw a picture of Josh and Justus at the U.S. Junior and I remembered their matches. 🙂
Josh Colas and Justus Williams get ready to face off in their second match in 2010. Photo by Polly Wright.
Josh Colas and Justus Williams
at the 2013 U.S. Junior!
Is Justus litening to music while playing?
Yes… both should cease this practice.
Indeed, they go back a long way and from what I see, they are still tight. Just consider if Josh, Justus and James where to become GMs in their teens. Then they would be able to compete in the big stage and bring entertainment for all of us to enjoy. It would also create an unimaginable interest worldwide. Yes, we also need and benefit from super talents like Kayden, Sevian and Xiong, but I hope those who are in position of influence recognize that it’s equally important to keep the door open for all.
Imagine the level of enthusiasm it would create to announce a team match between: Kayden, Sevian and Xiong V Justus, Josh and James?
Good Job Justus and family!
Kimani A. Stancil
Josh won’t be wearing any type of hearing devices moving forward. I never approved it, but he wanted to follow along. He realizes that it’s sending the wrong message to other who may be looking up to him and others.