GM Aleksey Sorokin is the 2022 U.S. Open Champion

After nine days of grueling classical chess, Russian GM and Texas Tech student Aleksey Sorokin is our 2022 U.S. Open champion. Sorokin tied for first with GM Elshan Moradiabadi as both went undefeated with seven wins and two draws. The two were never paired, and each won $4,800 for their share of first. But the title of champion still had to be awarded, and the two squared off for an armageddon game with an additional $200 on the line.

GM Aleksey Sorokin at the 2022 U.S. Open. Photo: Mark Cieslikowski

Because Sorokin does not play for the United States federation, Moradiabadi won the coveted spot in the U.S. Championships, being held at the Saint Louis Chess Club in October this year. And just today, the club announced that Elshan will be their newest grandmaster-in-residence.

Getting There

Sorokin defeated his collegiate teammate IM Viktor Matviishen with black in an incredibly tense King’s Indian Attack. Playing for a win, Black elected to part with his queen under unclear circumstances, but Matviishen was too slow to snuff out Sorokin’s activity.

Moradiabadi, also with black, had to win against GM Illia Nyzhnyk in order to be guaranteed at least a share of first. Nyzhnyk struggled to get anything going against Moradiabadi’s strong central grip against white’s English, and eventually overextended.

Top Master

Gabriel Eidelman won the $2,000 prize for top master, finishing only a half-point behind the champions. His last-round win against GM Eduardis Rozentalis, after the GM failed to play an only move in a tricky Nimzo-Indian, was quite the exclamation point on a strong performance.

And down the line…

Sho Glasshausser, David Gasparyan, and Luke Widjaja all split the top prizes for Experts with 6½/9. Lang Leo Xiong and Daniel Lin also finished with 6½/9, splitting the prizes for Class A.
Mihir Kotbagi finished in sole first for Class B with a nice 6/9 showing.
Brian Lantz, Varuzhan Khalatyan, and Andrew Zou all finished 5/9 to split the Class C prizes.
Sarthak Gattani won the Class D prize finishing ahead of the C-group with 5½/9.
Joseph Vigil, Robert Colton Simpson, Aayansh Guntaka, and Bejan Akhavan all finished 4/9 to take home the Under-1200 prize.
Hai Fang was the only unrated player to finish with a plus-score on 5/9, taking sole first.
Sam Sharf won the mixed doubles overall prize with her partner, none other than GM Moradiabadi.