Hikaru Nakamura Wins 2019 U.S. Championship

Faced with a must win situation, Hikaru Nakamura rose to the challenge, defeating Jeffery Xiong in 58 moves to become the 2019 U.S. Champion. It is his 5th such title.

Nakamura (photo Kellar)

Both Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez were tied with Nakamura in first place going into today’s play, but neither player could avoid draws. Caruana was held by Shankland, while Dominguez pushed and pushed against Gareyev, but to no avail. The complete Xiong-Nakamura game:

[pgn]

[Event "US Championships 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.03.31"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A89"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. d5
Na5 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 a6 11. Ng5 Rb8 12. Qd3 Qe8 13. Nd1 b5 14. Qd2 Nb7 15. Ne3
Nd8 16. Nh3 Bd7 17. Rad1 b4 18. Qc2 a5 19. Nf4 a4 20. h4 Ra8 21. Qb1 Ra6 22.
Bf3 Qf7 23. Neg2 Ng4 24. Bxg4 fxg4 25. e4 Bxb2 26. Qxb2 Qg7 27. Qxg7+ Kxg7 28.
e5 Bf5 29. exd6 exd6 30. Rfe1 Nf7 31. Re7 Kf6 32. Rb7 axb3 33. axb3 Rfa8 34.
Ne3 Ra1 35. Kf1 Ne5 36. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 37. Ke2 Nf3 38. Nxf5 Kxf5 39. Ke3 Re1+ 40.
Kd3 Ne5+ 41. Kd2 Ra1 42. Ne6 h6 43. Rb6 Ra3 44. Kc2 Ra2+ 45. Kd1 Nd3 46. Rxd6
Nxf2+ 47. Ke1 Nd3+ 48. Kd1 Ke4 49. Nc7 Nf2+ 50. Ke1 Kd3 51. Rxg6 Ne4 52. Kf1
Nxg3+ 53. Kg1 Ne2+ 54. Kh1 Ke3 55. Rf6 Ra1+ 56. Kg2 Rg1+ 57. Kh2 g3+ 58. Kh3
Rh1+ 0-1

[/pgn]

CLO will have a full report on Sunday’s final round on Monday.