Leaderboard Shakeups in U.S. Championships Round 9

After the final rest day, we saw many exciting games in both the U.S. and U.S. Women’s Championships. Both sections saw crucial results significantly shake up the standings. Now, GM Fabiano Caruana leads the Open Section outright, and, thanks to IM Anna Zatonskih’s win over IM Alice Lee, Lee’s full-point lead in the Women’s Section is now a three-way tie (with IM Carissa Yip joining Lee and Zatonskih).

The final two rounds will surely be exciting as both tournaments are wide open and there are many players still in contention for each title.

Open: Caruana regains sole lead, Niemann strikes back after consecutive losses

The biggest result of the round was Caruana winning his fourth game of the tournament — and third in a row with the black pieces — to take down GM Sam Shankland and improve to clear first with a 6½/9 score.

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Caruana's fourth win in nine games puts him in pole position as he seeks his fourth consecutive championship. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

His nearest rivals — co-leader GM Wesley So and GM Levon Aronian, who was in clear third — could not score the full point, leaving them at 6/9 and 5½/9, respectively.

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Levon Aronian, seen here spectating his own game, remains in striking distance of Caruana ahead of their last-round pairing. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

The only other decisive result was GM Hans Niemann striking back after two consecutive losses by defeating a struggling GM Awonder Liang in the infamous Berlin endgame. 

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Graphic courtesy of SLCC

Round 10’s most significant storylines include Caruana looking for a fifth win in his pairing as White against tailender GM Abhimanyu Mishra. With only two chances to catch Caruana, So might have to take some risks and play for a win as Black in his game against GM Dariusz Swiercz.

Women’s: Zatonskih takes down Lee, Carissa strikes to join the lead.

Zatonskih was the hero of the day, fully erasing Lee’s full point lead over the field.

By defeating FM Rose Atwell, IM Carissa Yip also joined Zatonskih and Lee in a share of the lead with 6/9.

It must also be noted that IM Nazi Paikidze, IM Anna Sargsyan, and, with her win over WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, GM Irina Krush are all just a half-point behind on 5½/9, putting them each within contention.

And WGM Jennifer Yu, thanks to her win over WGM Thalia Cervantes yesterday, has an outside chance of winning the event, or at least claiming a share of first, as well if the results go her way as she is on 5/9.

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Graphic courtesy of SLCC

With seven players in contention for the title, it’s not surprising that every game today will be important for the final standings. The most notable games will be the battle of the Annas (Sargsyan – Zatonskih) and a battle of two multi-time champions (Yip – Paikidze). Both of these matchups witness a player tied for first against a player in the chasing pack.

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