168 More Players Join U.S. Open Field as Six-Day Schedule Begins

Yesterday's report focused exclusively on the end of the invitational tournaments of state champions. Today, we'll catch up on rounds three and four of the traditional schedule of the U.S. Open, as well as the first round of the six-day schedule.

Play continues today with the fifth round of the traditional schedule tonight, and rounds two and three of the six-day. Tomorrow, the four-day schedule will begin, with all players merging by Friday night for the last three rounds.

general — A look around the playing hall (Photos by Caroline King)

After four rounds of the traditional nine-day schedule, we are down to five perfect scores. Leading the way is top-rated Julian Proleiko, followed by Caleb Denby, Matthew Diao, Erik Tkachenko, and Paul Royal. Tkachenko and Royal are both rated under 2200, while the other three players are national masters.

Many clashes in rounds three and four featured players within 100-200 points of each other, and produced many tense endgames as a result. Today's highlights all pull from instructive moments in these endgames:

Finally, we saw a dreaded "rook-and-bishop versus rook" endgame with no pawns on the second board of round four. Can you find White's only drawing move? The solution is here.

White to play (Position after 84. ... Be3)

The six-day schedule also began play last night, although none of the top boards were broadcast live. Results can be viewed here. With 168 additional players entering the field, it will be interesting to see who is still on the top boards by the time the schedules merge on Friday.

Of the four grandmasters in this schedule, GMs Jianchao Zhou, Fidel Corrales, and Mackenzie Molner lead the way after one round. GM Alonso Zapata, however, was held to a draw by Angelina Verma, rated 1844. If either of those names sound familiar, that might be because Zapata is coming straight off his 4/6 performance (tied for seventh) in the Irwin as Georgia's representative. Angelina Verma is coming straight from the Haring, where she also scored 4/6 and also tied for seventh as Maryland's representative!

Indeed, a number of players from the invitationals are peppered throughout the standings of the six-day, including Haring champion FM Zoey Tang, Denker co-champion Avi Kaplan, Barber champion Anjaneya Rao, and Rockefeller co-champion Ted Wang.

Committee meetings begin today, including the US Open Committee and Scholastic Committee this afternoon. Both the daily quad and the U.S. National G/15 Championship begin today at noon, as well. The full schedule of committees and side events can be found here.

Julian Proleiko was victorious in Monday's top quad, drawing CM Joseph Wan and finishing a half-point ahead of him. Wan had his revenge in Tuesday's slower quad, going 3/3 including a win over Proleiko.

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