All Together Now: Day 5 at the U.S. Open

After four and a half days of varying schedules, Friday night’s Round 7 at the 126th U.S. Open, in Grand Rapids, Mich., saw all the players merge into one section, making it easier for fans (and, um, journalists) to figure out exactly who was leading.

The Board 1 battle was quick and peaceful Friday night — tournament leader GM Gregoriy Oparin drew in eight moves against GM Christopher Yoo to stay in the lead with 6½/7, but IM Bohdan Bilovil moved into a tie for the lead by downing GM Bryan Smith with black in a Classical French with opposite-side castling. White’s pawn sacrifice didn’t work, and it wasn’t long before the kingside, where White’s king lived, fell. The tactics followed quickly after that. 

(All annotations by WGM Sabina Foisor)

Most of the top boards were decisive, resulting in well-populated score groups at the top going into the weekend. A half-point behind the lead were Friday-night winners GM Jianchao Zhou (whose opening inaccuracy with White got him in trouble against Stephen Adams before a pair of mistakes by Black gave the Grand Prix winner the chance to smash through on the kingside), IM Jason Liang (who nursed a small advantage with black against Will Moorhouse when White neglected to restrain Liang’s activity, leading to a Black endgame king attack that netted a decisive second pawn), GM Rahul Srivatshav P, FM Vaibhav Kalpaka, IM Julian Colville, GM Richard Bitoon, Nathaniel Moor, FM Seth Homa, and 10-year-old Landon Meadors.
 

Some of the best wins from Friday night:
 

IM Sebastian Kostolansky and FM Hersh Singh each could have joined the 6/7 group with a win. They only drew, but it was an epic:
 

The tournament concludes with Round 8 tonight at 7 p.m. EDT and Round 9 Sunday at 3.
 

Side Events

The last of the daytime quads was held Friday — you can check Friday’s recap for the results — but there’s still more chess to be played along with the last two rounds of the open.
 

The National Blitz Championship (seven double rounds, G/3+2) starts Saturday at noon with a $2,000 guaranteed prize fund. The Weekend Swiss also starts at noon, with rounds at 12 and 3 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday. It’s G/60 with a five-second delay, with $1,150 in guaranteed prize money including class prizes and 10 US Chess Grand Prix points up for grabs.
 

Kids entering grade 12 and below can also play in the U.S. Open National Scholastic Championship, which will be held Sunday.
You can find all the details for these tournaments on the Side Events page.
 

WGM Jennifer Shahade switched up her scheduled lecture on Friday, playing an impromptu simultaneous exhibition which filled up virtually as soon as the boards were rolled out. She scored 3½ and analyzed the games with her young opponents afterward. She’s scheduled to be in Exhibit Hall A, outside the tournament room, at 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. Stop by and say hi!
 

Meet Up!

Workshop and committee meetings continued Friday and run through the weekend. The Annual Delegates Meeting, which started Saturday at 9 a.m., went through the day but adjourned for the year shortly before 5 p.m.
 

The best in the chess community were honored at the US Chess Awards reception Friday evening, with special emphasis on the recognition of the passing of GM Daniel Naroditsky last October and Bill Goichberg, the leader of the Continental Chess Association who practically redefined the role of tournament organizer.
 

Check out the full list of recipients.