The Big Mind Meld in Middleton: 13 GMs Tied for Lead

The coveted trophy in gold, and the US Junior Grand Prix trophy in silver, won by Alan Hung of California.

Friday night at the US Open Championship sees The Big Merge. Everyone in the nine-day traditional schedule, the 6-day and the 4-day schedules finally all sit down together in the same room, punching their clocks to start play at the same time. Nearly 400 filled the same spacious ballroom at the Marriott West Convention Center in a suburb nearby the Wisconsin state capital of Madison. Grandmasters and first-timers alike are all in this together. Five GMs led at 5.5 out of 6 at the start of Round 7. Three are from Missouri, brought there on scholarships by well-funded university chess programs: Alex Shaminov and Illia Nyzhnyk (Webster University), and Alexander Ipatov (Saint Louis University). Awonder Liang is the Madison hometown favorite. Ruifeng Li (Texas), and Alexander Shabalov (Pennsylvania) round out the leaders, ahead of their closest competitors by half a point. Shabalov is a six-time US Open Winner. He’s also a four-time US Champ and an inductee into the US Chess Hall of Fame. Webster teammates Shimanov and Nyzhnyk draw quickly. The rest of the combatants coming into the round at 5.5 fight for hours for a win that would keep them ahead of the pack, but in the end, all six leaders drew. At the conclusion of Round 7, they thus joined a group expanded by those who had been a half-point behind but managed a win.

Grandmaster Ipatov, Photo Henk Prinsloo

So after midnight, when Shabalov ceased torturing Ipatov in a problem-like ending and called their game a draw, the group at 6-1 comprised 13 of the 20 participating GMs. In addition to Shaminov and Nyzhnyk, the leaders at 6-1 are Jorge Cori (Missouri), Ipatov, Li, Andrey Stukopin [see game], Timur Gareyev (Kansas), Liang, Alexander Shabalov, Vladimir Belous (Texas), Elshan Moradiabadi (North Carolina) [see game], GM Alexander Fishbein, and Mackenzie Molner (New Jersey).

GM Elshan Moradiabadi, Photo Al Lawrence

GM Elshan Moradiabadi was first to win in Round 7, besting young NM Dex Webster (Louisiana)—who had drawn Shabalov in Round 4 and GM Robert Hungaski (Connecticut) in Round 6 and won all his other games.

Dex Webster, celebrating his draw with Black against Shabalov.

But as White against Moradiabadi, Webster allowed his pieces to become poorly coordinated and permitted his opponent to dominate the open files.

[pgn][Event "US Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.08.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Webster, Dex"]
[Black "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C05"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2018.08.03"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 b6 6. Ngf3 c5 7. c4 Bb7 8. cxd5
Bxd5 9. Bc4 Bxc4 10. Nxc4 b5 11. Ne3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qb6 13. O-O Bc5 14. Ndc2 Nc6
15. Kh1 O-O 16. b4 Be7 17. Rb1 Rac8 18. Nf5 Rfd8 19. Be3 Qb8 20. Nfd4 Nb6 21.
Qg4 Nc4 22. Nxc6 Rxc6 23. Qf3 Rcc8 24. Nd4 $2 {Loses a piece, but White was
already in a bad way, with Black's rooks commanding the open files, and
tactics in the air:} (24. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Nxe3 (25... Nxe5 26. fxe5 Rxc2 {
is another way.}) 26. Nxe3 Bxb4) 24... Nxe3 25. Qxe3 Qb6 26. Rbc1 (26. Rfd1 Rc4
) 26... Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Qxd4 0-1 [/pgn]

Like Moradiabadi, GM Andrey Stukopin joined the leaders with a win. He got by this year’s Denker Champion of Champions Andy Huang (Virginia), but Huang missed a nice combination that could have turned the game around.

[pgn]

[Event "2018 US Open"]
[Site "Middleton, WI, United States"]
[Date "2018.08.03"]
[White "Stukopin, Andrey"]
[Black "Huang, Andy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[TimeControl "7200+45"]
[WhiteClock "1:59:57"]
[BlackClock "1:59:06"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 {59} c6 4. O-O {17} Bg4 5. c4 e6
6. h3 Bh5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Qd7 10. d4 Nc6 11. Rd1 Be7 12. Nc3
O-O 13. Bf4 Rac8 14. Qa4 Rfd8 15. Rac1 Qe8 16. Qb5 Qd7 17. e4 (17. Kg2 $11)
17... dxe4 (17... Nxd4 $1 {was Black's chance to turn the game around.} 18.
Rxd4 Rxc3 $1 19. Qxd7 Rxc1+ 20. Bxc1 Rxd7 21. exd5 Nxd5 {, with a pawn up.
White has the bishop-pair as partial compensation.}) 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 (18... a6
19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Qa4 Bxd4 21. Kg2 {is about equal.}) 19. Bxe4 a6 20. Qa4 Bf6
21. d5 exd5 22. Rxd5 Qe6 23. Rxd8+ Bxd8 24. Kg2 Bf6 25. Re1 g6 26. Qd1 Rd8 27.
Qb1 Qd7 28. h4 Nd4 29. Rd1 Qe7 30. Be3 Kg7 31. h5 Nc6 32. h6+ Kg8 33. Rxd8+
Qxd8 34. b4 Qe7 35. Bc5 Qe6 36. Qd3 Bg5 37. a4 Ne5 {... Qc8, protecting the
back rank, was best, when Black is worse, but still in the game.} (37... Qc8)
38. Qd4 Bxh6 {allows mate in four.} 39. Qd8+ {1-0} Kg7 40. Bf8+ Kg8 41. Bxh6+
1-0[/pgn]

Grandmaster Awonder Liang, one in the big tie who has already secured his spot into the 2019 US Chess Champs, Photo Henk Prinsloo

It will all come down to the two final nights and rounds at the Madison Marriott West. Besides the significant prizes, the top US player is seeded into the next US Chess Championship. So the stakes are high. Follow the final rounds of #USOpenChess on our twitch.tv/uschess livestream (7-11 CT tonight, and 3-7 CT on Sunday, August 5th). Find standings and pairings here.