Photo Austin Fuller, from round 8
Going into the final round of the
US Championship, Fabiano Caruana leads with 7.5/10. Half a point behind are Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura. The defending champ, scored an important victory over till then undefeated Jeffrey Xiong to remain in the race.
[pgn]
[Event "ch-USA 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2016.04.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Nakamura,Hi"]
[Black "Xiong,Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[Eventdate "2016.04.13"]
[ECO "E60"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5 5.e4 d6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be2 O-O 8.f4 Ned7 9.Be3 e6 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.Nh3 Qe7 12.O-O b6 13.Bf3 Rb8 14.Qc2 Bb7 15.Rae1 Kh8 16.Ng5 Bh6 17.Nb5 Bxg5 18.fxg5 Ne8 19.Nxa7 Ne5 20.Be2 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Ra8 22.Nb5 Rxa2 23.Na3 Qg7 24.Bd2 Nc6 25.Bc3 Nd4 26.Bd3 Kg8 27.Qf2 c5 28.Bb1 Ra1 29.Nc2 Rxb1 30.Rxb1 Bxe4 31.Nxd4 Bxb1 32.Nf5 exf5 33.Bxg7 Kxg7 34.Qe3
1-0
[/pgn]
The top three finishers in the US Championship will be joined by GM Garry Kasparov for two days of blitz chess from April 27-28. That will also be livestreamed on
uschesschamps.com.
In the US Women's Championship, Tatev Abrahamyan leads by a half a point as well, after defeating Akshita Gorti today.
[pgn]
[Event "ch-USA w 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2016.04.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Abrahamyan,T"]
[Black "Gorti,Akshita"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2342"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[Eventdate "2016.04.13"]
[ECO "C05"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Ngf3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bd3 g6 8.Bc2 Bg7 9.Nb3 b6 10.Bg5 Qc7 11.O-O a5 12.Nc1 Ba6 13.Ne2 O-O 14.Re1 Rae8 15.Qd2 cxd4 16.cxd4 f6 17.exf6 Nxf6 18.Bf4 Qd7 19.Ng3 Ng4 20.h3 e5 21.dxe5 Ngxe5 22.Nxe5 Nxe5 23.b3 d4 24.Be4 Qf7 25.Bg5 Bc8 26.Rac1 Be6 27.Nf1 Rc8 28.f3 a4 29.bxa4 Bxa2 30.Bh6 Rxc1 31.Rxc1 Bxh6 32.Qxh6 Bb3 33.Rb1 Qe6 34.Qd2 Rd8 35.Qb4 Bc4 36.Qxb6 Qxb6 37.Rxb6 Bxf1 38.Kxf1 d3 39.Ke1 Rc8 40.Rd6 Rc1+ 41.Kf2 Ra1 42.Rd4 g5 43.Rd5 Ra2+ 44.Ke3 d2 45.Ke2 Nc4 46.Rd4 d1=Q+ 47.Kxd1 Ne3+ 48.Kc1 Rxg2 49.a5 Ra2 50.Rd3 Rxa5 51.Rxe3 Ra1+ 52.Bb1 h6 53.Re6 Ra3 54.Be4
1-0[/pgn]
Her only potential rival for the crown is Nazi Paikidze, who defeated Alisa Melekhina today.
[pgn]
[Event "ch-USA w 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2016.04.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Paikidze,N"]
[Black "Melekhina,A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2346"]
[BlackElo "2205"]
[Eventdate "2016.04.13"]
[ECO "A48"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 O-O 5.c3 d6 6.e4 Nc6 7.h3 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Bc4 Qe7 10.O-O h6 11.Be3 a6 12.b4 Rd8 13.Qc2 Be6 14.Bb3 Nh5 15.a4 Qd7 16.Rfd1 Qd3 17.Qxd3 Rxd3 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rdc1 Ng3 20.fxg3 Rxe3 21.Kf2 Rd3 22.Ke2 Rdd8 23.g4 b6 24.Nc4 b5 25.Ncd2 g5 26.Ra2 Ne7 27.axb5 axb5 28.Rca1 Rac8 29.Nb3 Ng6 30.g3 Bf8 31.Ra6 Bd6 32.Ne1 Nf8 33.Nd3 Nd7 34.Nbc5 Kf7 35.Nb7 Rh8 36.Nxd6+ cxd6 37.Rxd6 Ke7 38.Raa6 Rxc3 39.Rxe6+ Kf7 40.Red6 Ke7 41.Rd5 Rhc8 42.Rxh6 Nb8 43.Rh7+ Kf8 44.Rh8+ Kf7 45.Rxc8 Rxc8 46.Nxe5+ Kf6 47.Rxb5 Nc6 48.Nxc6 Rxc6 49.Rf5+ Kg6 50.Kd3 Rc1 51.h4
1-0
[/pgn]
Paikidze plays Irina Krush in the final round. Irina suffered a tough loss in round ten to 12-year-old Carissa Yip, who found the pretty finale, Rg5! to seal her victory:
[pgn]
[Event "ch-USA w 2016"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2016.04.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Yip,Carissa"]
[Black "Krush,I"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2164"]
[BlackElo "2465"]
[Eventdate "2016.04.13"]
[ECO "B43"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.O-O d6 8.f4 Nbd7 9.Kh1 Be7 10.Qe2 O-O 11.Bd2 Nc5 12.Rae1 Nxd3 13.cxd3 b5 14.Rc1 Qd7 15.g4 Bb7 16.g5 Ne8 17.f5 b4 18.Nd1 e5 19.Nf3 d5 20.Nf2 f6 21.gxf6 Nxf6 22.Nxe5 Qb5 23.Neg4 dxe4 24.Nxf6+ Bxf6 25.Nxe4 Rfe8 26.Rce1 Rad8 27.Rf3 Rxd3 28.Qxd3 Qxd3 29.Rxd3 Rxe4 30.Kg1 Rg4+ 31.Rg3 Rd4 32.Bg5 Bxg5 33.Rxg5 Kf7 34.Kf2 Bd5 35.b3 a5 36.Ke3 Re4+ 37.Kd2 Rd4+ 38.Ke3 Re4+ 39.Kd2 Rd4+ 40.Kc1 Kf6 41.Reg1 Rh4 42.Rxg7 Rxh2 43.Kb1 a4 44.Rd7 Be4+ 45.Ka1 axb3 46.axb3 h5 47.Rf1 Rh1 48.Rd6+ Kg7 49.f6+ Kf7 50.Rd7+ Kg6 51.Rg7+ Kh6 52.Rxh1 Bxh1 53.Rg5!
1-0
[/pgn]
Carissa Yip, Photo Spectrum Studios
Tatev Abrahamyan by IM Eric Rosen. Eric will be doing a "Twitter Takeover" tomorrow on @USChess
