All Together Now: Nine Tied For First After Merge in U.S. Open

It's nice to have everybody in the same room. The feel of the main tournament hall is just so much more vibrant when it's abuzz with almost 400 players all in the same stage of the game. When the three separate playing schedules merged last night for the seventh round of the 124th Annual U.S. Open, it really felt like a national event.

With two rounds to go, nine players are tied for first with 6/7 scores. Now that really feels like a national event. The $60,000 prize fund is up for grabs, with a number of top players still in the running for the $10,000 top prize and the spot in this fall's U.S. Championship on the horizon.

Today's annotations once again come from Denker co-champ IM Sandeep Sethuraman.

Entering the seventh round, GM Jianchao Zhou and GM Elshan Moradiabadi were the only players with 5½/6 scores. A well-played draw keeps them both in a share of the lead, but seven decisive results on boards two through ten created the nine-way logjam mentioned above.

Fidel Corrales (L) defeated Julian Proleiko to join the leaders (Photo by Caroline King)

On board two, GM Fidel Corrales defeated the leader of the traditional section, Julian Proleiko, while on board three, GM Semen Khanin defeated Joseph Truelson:

The next three boards saw GM Akshat Chandra win with the black pieces, along with a pair of tactical displays from GM Mackenzie Molner and FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi:

Also joining the top of the standings are CM Avi Kaplan and Nicholas Ladan. The reigning Denker co-champ and 2023 U.S. Junior Open champion are representing their home state of Illinois well!

One bonus game the author wanted to include was Adewumi's sixth-round win over Zachary Martin. The opposite-colored bishop endgame was far from dull (thanks to a pair of rooks). The game was transfixing for several hours, and the best resources for both sides were far from obvious, so I had to take some time this morning digging into it. Enjoy:

You'll never guess who won Friday's top quad! CM Joseph Wan has been consistent throughout the side events, and also sits on a 5½/7 score in the main event (including two half-point byes). Yesterday also featured the awards reception for the 2024 U.S. Chess Awards.

Today, the U.S. Open National Blitz Championship begins at noon, promising 14 games of five-minute chess (with no delay or increment!). This is the final side event of the tournament, so be sure to register before 11:30 a.m.!

The morning session of the Delegates Meeting is currently underway, and continues through the afternoon today and morning tomorrow.