Sabina Foisor Wins US Women's; Onischuk and So Head to Playoff

We have a new US Women's chess champion: Congrats to Sabina Foisor! Foisor won a beautiful miniature today over Apurva Virkud, capped off with a lovely finale. Can you calculate the final blow?

Show Solution

26...Qxg1!+ leads to a forced mate as played in the game

Play through the final game to see how Sabina's powerful play earned her first title.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.09"]
[White "Virkud, Apurva"]
[Black "Foisor, Sabina-Francesca"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2262"]
[BlackElo "2272"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:16:54"]
[BlackClock "0:29:16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 7. c6 bxc6 8. g3
d5 9. Bd2 d4 10. Ne4 Rb8 11. Nxf6+ Qxf6 12. Bg2 e5 13. O-O Bf5 14. Qc1 Bxd2 15.
Qxd2 h6 16. Qa5 c5 17. b3 e4 18. Nd2 Rfe8 19. Rad1 Rb6 20. Nb1 Qe7 21. e3 Bg4
22. Rd2 Nb4 23. exd4 e3 24. fxe3 Qxe3+ 25. Kh1 Rf6 26. Rg1 Qxg1+ 27. Kxg1 Re1+
28. Bf1 Rfxf1+ 29. Kg2 Rg1+ 30. Kf2 Ref1+ 31. Ke3 Rf3+ 0-1

[/pgn]

After 32.Ke2 Rf6+ 33.Kd4 Re1 34.Re2 Rxe2# Reigning champion Nazi Paikidze, who was tied with Sabina with 7/10 going into the round, found herself in an equal position against Jennifer Yu. Needing to catch Sabina's eight points, Nazi kept queens on the board with 35. Kg2, but ended up giving Jennifer the edge after ...Qd3, and finally the game after a series of accurate moves by Yu. This was Jennifer Yu's third victory over a tournament favorite, having also notched wins against Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.09"]
[White "Paikidze, Nazi"]
[Black "Yu, Jennifer R"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2369"]
[BlackElo "2196"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:14:01"]
[BlackClock "0:18:17"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. e3 O-O 10. Qe2 h6 11. Nc3 Ne4 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 e5 14. d5 cxd5 15.
Nxd5 Bd6 16. Nc3 Nc5 17. e4 Be6 18. Rfd1 Qe7 19. Be3 Rfd8 20. Rac1 Rac8 21. Rc2
b6 22. Rdc1 Nb7 23. Nd5 Qd7 24. Rd1 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 Rc8 26. Qd2 Qc6 27. Bf1 Qa4
28. Nc3 Qa5 29. a3 Bb3 30. Rc1 Rd8 31. Qe2 Bc5 32. Bd2 Bc4 33. Qe1 Bxf1 34.
Kxf1 Qa6+ 35. Kg2 Qd3 36. Rd1 Qc2 37. b4 Bf8 38. Nd5 Nd6 39. Bc1 Rc8 40. Kg1
Qxe4 41. Qf1 Nf5 42. Be3 Rc6 43. Qd3 Qxd3 44. Rxd3 Rd6 45. b5 Nd4 46. Nb4 Nxb5
47. a4 Rxd3 48. Nxd3 Nc3 49. Nxe5 Nxa4 50. Nc6 a5 51. Ne5 Bc5 0-1

[/pgn]

When Nazi resigned, Sabina shared an emotional embrace with her fiance, GM Elshan Moradiabadi. https://twitter.com/USChess/status/851199578271608832 Congratulations poured in from fans and peers. https://twitter.com/NaziPaiki/status/851203907472830464 https://twitter.com/ChessMike/status/851200402083254272 https://twitter.com/ChrisBirdIA/status/851198665528160256 https://twitter.com/walterzuey/status/851181514268311552 https://twitter.com/yappattack/status/851175675306397696 https://twitter.com/GM_Hess/status/851201168823005184 Look for more on Sabina's extraordinary accomplishment on this website and in an upcoming issue of Chess Life Magazine. In the Open division, Wesley So and Daniel Naroditsky had a controversial quick draw when Daniel chose a line that forced a repetition in the Berlin.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.09"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "1:34:29"]
[BlackClock "1:24:05"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. dxe5 Nxb5 7. a4 Nbd4 8.
Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d5 10. exd6 Qxd6 11. Qe4+ Qe6 12. Qd4 Qd6 13. Qe4+ Qe6 14.
Qd4 Qd6 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

That left the two underdog heroes of the tournament: Varuzhan Akobian and Alexander Onischuk. Var's game against Hikaru was tense, with the advantage shifting hands. After the queen trade, Nakamura was in control on the board, and especially on the clock. He went on to win.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.09"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Akobian, Varuzhan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "1:12:02"]
[BlackClock "0:00:32"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Bxf3 Nbd7 7. d4 e6 8.
Nd2 Be7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Nf6 12. Bg2 Qb6 13. c3 O-O 14. Qe2
Rfe8 15. Kh2 Rad8 16. b4 a5 17. bxa5 Qxa5 18. Bd2 Qa4 19. Rfb1 Rd7 20. Rb3 Rc8
21. Be1 b5 22. Rc1 c5 23. d5 exd5 24. Rxb5 c4 25. Rcb1 Bd6 26. Qd1 Qxd1 27.
Rxd1 Be7 28. a4 Ra8 29. a5 Bd8 30. Ra1 Rda7 31. Bxd5 Nxd5 32. Rxd5 Bxa5 33. Bd2
h6 34. Be3 Ra6 35. Ra3 Bc7 36. Rxa6 Rxa6 37. Rc5 Bd6 38. Rc8+ Kh7 39. Rxc4 Be5
40. Rc8 Ra3 41. c4 Kg6 42. Kg2 h5 43. Re8 f6 44. Re7 Rc3 45. c5 Kh7 46. Kf1 Rc4
47. Ke2 Kg6 48. Kd3 Rc3+ 49. Ke4 h4 50. g4 Bh2 51. f4 Rc2 52. Kd3 Ra2 53. c6
Ra6 54. c7 Rc6 55. Kd4 f5 56. Kd5 1-0

[/pgn]

Onischuk's game against Kamsky was a well played Ruy Lopez that fizzled out to a draw.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.09"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2667"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:35:06"]
[BlackClock "1:30:30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. a4 Bg4 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. h3 Bh5 13. d5 Ne7 14. Bc2 Qc8 15.
Qe2 O-O 16. Bg5 Ng6 17. Nbd2 h6 18. Be3 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 b4 21. Ra1
Qb7 22. g3 Ra8 23. Rxa8+ Qxa8 24. cxb4 Qa1+ 25. Kg2 Qxb2 26. Qb3 Qd4 27. Nf3
Qa7 28. Qc4 Ne7 29. Qb5 g6 30. Qa5 Qb8 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

This leaves Onischuk and So in a tie for first. They will break the tie with playoff tomorrow, starting with two rapid games (25+5 second delay), followed by an Armageddon blitz game. Relive the moments on the YouTube replay of round 11, including Sabina's emotional post game interview with Maurice Ashley, which touched on the sudden loss of her mother, WIM Cristina Adela Foisor, earlier this year. https://youtu.be/PDbH468HAUI The US Championship goes to tiebreak final tomorrow at 12:50 Central/1:50 EST. Tune in live at uschesschamps.com and follow our twitter for behind the scenes action!