Double Round Days Begin in Grand Rapids

126th U.S. Open and Invitationals Ramp Up

The first double-round day is in the books at the 126^th U.S. Open in Grand Rapids, MI. Players in the National Invitational tournaments are now halfway through their tournaments, and those in the 7-day schedule of the Open are now a third of the way through the event.

Today we have Rounds 4 and 5 of the Invitationals and the 7-day Open, with commentary by WGM Sabina Foisor already underway on our Twitch channel. All annotations today come from Sabina!

The 5-day schedule of the Open also begins today, with Round 1 beginning at 3 p.m.

Weeramantry Blitz

Before Monday’s first round, 216 state champions participated in the 7^th Annual Weeramantry Blitz Tournament of State Champions. Results are now online (available here). The format was four double-rounds of blitz at a time control of three minutes for the game with a two-second increment from move one.

I love this tournament. For the “main” invitationals, our state champions are grouped by category (i.e. grade, age, or gender). But, for the Weeramantry, they are grouped by rating range. This means a player might be one of the lower-rated players for the next four days, but, for this tournament, they might still be a top seed in their rating bracket.

Also, I find that many of the players who excel in their section of the Weeramantry tend to produce at least a couple big upsets later in the week.

In the Championship, FM Stephen Willy (WA) and CM Sharath Radhakrishnan (OH) tied for first with 7/8 scores (and Willy taking the title on tiebreaks). Willy is currently tied for first in the Denker, while Radhakrishnan sits on an even score in the Barber.

For the 1800-2099 section, Julian Joseph (TX) won with a 7½/8 score. True to form, the 2056-rated Joseph drew 2270-rated William Wu (MA) and 2302-rated Andrew Wu (NC) in yesterday’s rounds of the Barber.

Vermont’s Denker representative, Blake Cos Bentley (VT), won the 1500-1799 section with a 7/8 score. In the 1200-1499 section, Oregon’s Ashley representative Rihaan Rahul won with a 7/8 score, and in the Under-1200 section, a pair of Ashley reps — Apollo Van Brunt (HI) and Sanjay Selvarasu (AR) — tied for first with 7/8 scores.

Irwin

Jesse Kraai is the only GM with a share of the lead in the Irwin. (Photo by David Llada)

In the Irwin, GM Jesse Kraai (MD) is the only grandmaster in the group of four players with perfect 3/3 scores. Three FMs — Julio Morella (FL), Robby Adamson (AZ), and Steven Van Enk (OR) — join him.

Robby Adamson is one of three FMs tied with Kraai for first. (Photo by David Llada)

The leaders currently boast a full point of separation shielding them from the group of 15 players with 2/3 scores. The three remaining grandmasters are in this group.

Rohwer — Left: Paul Rowher (R) won against GM Richard Bitoon in Round 2. Right: Nels Truelson held GM Alonso Zapata to a draw as Black. (Photos by David Llada)

Left: Paul Rowher (R) won against GM Richard Bitoon in Round 2. Right: Nels Truelson held GM Alonso Zapata to a draw as Black. (Photos by David Llada)

GM Dmitry Gurevich (IL) was held to a draw in Round 1, and last night he was again held to a draw this time by Chris Mabe (NC). GM Richard Bitoon (NV) was taken down in Round 2 by Paul D Rohwer (CA-S), and GM Alonso Zapata drew against both Nels Truelson (SD) and Michael Carey (RI) yesterday.

Denker

Only two players remain with perfect 3/3 scores in the Denker, and I’ll go out on a limb and say nobody predicted who they are. FM Stephen Willy (WA) entered the tournament as the ninth highest-rated player, but joining him is Nathaniel Des Ruisseau (WV).

Rated 1934, Des Ruisseau entered the tournament as the 35^th seed, but added wins against Akhil Velampalli (NJ), rated 2098, and Anshul P Shetty (IL), rated 2282, to his first-round upset over FM Vaseegaran Nandhakumar (TX) from Monday’s opening round.

Six players trail the leaders by a half-point, including both IMs. IM Erick Zhao (PA) was held to a draw in Round 2 by Jason Jiang (NY) while IM Julian Colville (CA-S) conceded a draw to Chris Ping Liu (KY) last night.

Haring

Jasmine Su (L) leads the Haring outright at the halfway mark. (Photo by David Llada)

Top-seeded FM Jasmine Su (CT) is the sole leader in the Haring. Su added wins against Caroline Jiang (MD) and WFM Chloe Wang (PA) to her resume yesterday.

Seven players trail her with 2½/3 scores, including second-seeded WIM Chloe Gaw (NY) and defending champion CM Irene Fei (IA). Gaw was held to a draw by WCM Elizabeth Xia (IL) last night, while Fei won both games to climb up the standings after her first-round draw.

Chloe Gaw (R) trails Su by a half-point entering Wednesday. (Photo by David Llada)

Barber

harshin-jagirapu-w-usa-ararat-bagdasarian — Left: Harshin Jagirapu (R) against Ararat Bagdasarian. Right: Ted Wang (R) against Maxwell Yang.

ted-wang-maxwell-z-yang — Left: Harshin Jagirapu (R) against Ararat Bagdasarian. Right: Ted Wang (R) against Maxwell Yang.

Every Barber has shaved themselves, with 11 players tied for first with 2½/3 scores. Among them are the tournament’s four highest-rated players: Harshin Jagirapu (NM), Sam Luger (NY), FM Ted Wang (WA), and Roshan Sethuraman (AZ).

Luger won both games yesterday after lucking out with a draw in Round 1. The three other players mentioned drew co-leaders last night: Jagirapu drew CM Tariq Yue (PA), Wang drew CM Steven Liu (MD), and Sethuraman drew Artemi Khanbutaev (IL).

The remaining co-leaders are: FM Patrick Peiju Liu (CA-N), IM Eshaan Hebbar (NJ), William Wu (MA), and Jason Marshal (SC). The first two drew each other last night. Marshal is the only player in the group rated below 2200, and yesterday he held 2302-rated Andrew Wu (NC) to a draw before taking down 2364-rated CM Sharath Radhakrishnan (OH).

Rockefeller

Aiden Li (L) in Round 2 against Aayansh Pramanik. (Photo by David Llada)

12^th-seeded Landon Meadors (GA) leads the Rockefeller outright with a 3/3 score. Nine players trail Meadors by a half-point, including top-seeded CM Aiden Li (IL).

With only two DGT boards for this event, Meadors is only now making his DGT debut, and we look forward to seeing his game today!

Ashley

Five players lead the Ashley with 3/3 scores. This group consists of five of the tournament’s six highest-rated players. Renae Chen (CA-S), Emily Tang (IL), Max Mulholland (NY), Devansh Vellanki (MA), and Kaihan Liu (CA-N).

But the highest-rated player, Mehmet Yilanli (OH) is missing from this group after conceding a draw against Sanmay Prakash (MI) last night. Prakash overcame a 300-point rating differential to join Yilanli as the only other player a half-point behind the leaders.

U.S. Open

Yesterday, I dubbed the group of GM Jianchao Zhou (MA), GM Christopher Yoo (CA-N), IM Jason Liang (OH), GM Rahul Srivatshav Peddi (IND) “the Big Four,” and indeed they still lead with 3/3 scores after the neo-traditional schedule’s first of two consecutive double-round days. But their opposition is already putting up significant resistance:

Five more players join the Big Four: CM Anjaneya Rao (IL), Deshawn Kelley (OH), Charlie Sun (CA), Aarav Karthik (MI), and Cael Province (KS). All five of these players are rated between 2000 and 2200. Rao entered the 7-day schedule as the 17^th highest-rated player, and Province as the 36^th.

So far, all nine leaders have been the “ratings favorite” in all three rounds. For more than half of this group, that changes this morning!

Side Events

Almost 50 players couldn’t get enough chess yesterday and jumped into one of the 12 U.S. Open Quads. Julian Proleiko added another win to his resume, again winning the top quad with a 2½/3 score.

Today, chess nuts have a choice between Wednesday’s quad and the National G/15 Championship. Both events begin at noon. For a full schedule of the day’s events, click here.