US Championship Sunday: Who Will Take the Crown?

As the US Chess Championship draws to a close, three players lead the Open section: Wesley So, Varuzhan Akobian and Alexander Onischuk. So and Akobian drew in round ten after very different dramatic round nine wins. Alexander Onischuk, coach at Texas Tech U, won his third game in the row, this time on the white side of a Grunfeld against World Junior Champ Jeffery Xiong.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.08"]
[Round "10.3"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2667"]
[BlackElo "2674"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:27:30"]
[BlackClock "0:13:26"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Be3 Bg4 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Be2 Qa5 11. Qd2 cxd4 12. cxd4 Nc6 13. Qxa5 Nxa5 14. h3
Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Rfc8 16. Ke2 e5 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. Bg4 Rc4 19. f4 Bb2 20. Rxc4
Nxc4 21. Bf2 Re8 22. Bf3 Na3 23. Rd1 Rc8 24. e5 Bc1 25. Bxb7 Rc2+ 26. Kf3 Bd2
27. Bd5 Nb5 28. Bb3 Rb2 29. g3 Nc3 30. Ra1 a5 31. e6 fxe6 32. Bxe6+ Kf8 33.
Bc5+ Kg7 34. Bd4+ Kf8 35. Bb3 Ke8 36. Rf1 a4 37. Bxc3 Bxc3 38. Bxa4+ Kf8 39.
Bb3 Bd2 40. Rf2 Bc3 41. Rxb2 Bxb2 42. Ke4 Ba3 43. Ke5 Ke7 44. g4 Bd6+ 45. Ke4
Ba3 46. Bg8 h6 47. h4 Kf6 48. Bb3 Ke7 49. g5 hxg5 50. hxg5 Kf8 51. Kf3 Kg7 52.
Kg4 1-0

[/pgn]

https://twitter.com/USChess/status/850836976873992192 Contenders rose for the crown in the Women's section as well. Sabina Foisor and defending champ Nazi Paikidze now lead by a full point going into the final game. They both play young stars in the final game, with Sabina facing Apurva Virkud and Paikidze playing Jennifer Yu. Both Foisor and Paikidze could have lost today, but outplayed their opponents in time pressure.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.08"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Abrahamyan, Tatev"]
[Black "Paikidze, Nazi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2364"]
[BlackElo "2369"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:53"]
[BlackClock "0:09:29"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. d5 Nc5 8. O-O b4
9. Ne2 Nf6 10. Ned4 Bb7 11. Qe2 O-O 12. a3 bxa3 13. Rxa3 a5 14. c4 Nxd3 15.
Qxd3 Nd7 16. b3 Nc5 17. Qc2 e6 18. Bd2 exd5 19. exd5 Qf6 20. f5 h6 21. Rxa5
Rae8 22. Ra7 Bc8 23. Rxc7 Bxf5 24. Nxf5 gxf5 25. b4 Ne4 26. b5 Ng5 27. Nxg5
hxg5 28. Qd3 f4 29. h4 Qd4+ 30. Qxd4 Bxd4+ 31. Kh2 Re2 32. Bb4 Kg7 33. Rd1 Be5
34. Kg1 g4 35. Rc6 g3 36. b6 Ra8 37. Re1 Bd4+ 0-1

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.08"]
[Round "10.2"]
[White "Foisor, Sabina-Francesca"]
[Black "Zatonskih, Anna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2272"]
[BlackElo "2451"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:44:01"]
[BlackClock "0:32:41"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Rc1 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. e3
Nc6 9. a3 a6 10. b4 Ba7 11. Bg3 h6 12. Qc2 Qe7 13. Be2 dxc4 14. Bxc4 b5 15. Ba2
Bb7 16. Bb1 Rfd8 17. Bh4 g5 18. Bg3 Rac8 19. O-O Nb8 20. Nd2 Nbd7 21. Qb2 Nh5
22. Qc2 f5 23. Ba2 Kg7 24. Qd1 Nxg3 25. hxg3 Ne5 26. Qe2 Nd3 27. Rc2 Qf6 28.
Nd5 Rxc2 29. Nxf6 Rxa2 30. Qh5 Bc6 31. Nf3 Nxf2 32. Ne5 Kxf6 33. Nxc6 Rdd2 34.
Qxh6+ Kf7 35. Qh7+ Kf8 36. Qe7+ Kg8 37. Qxe6+ Kh8 38. Qh6+ Kg8 39. Qxg5+ Kh8
40. Qf6+ Kh7 41. Qxf5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

https://twitter.com/rajachess/status/850805298369613824 Sabina Foisor told Maurice Ashley, that her mom would be very proud of her play in this event so far. Read her fiance GM Elshan Moradiabadi's remembrance of Cristina Adela Foisor (1967-2017) here.  As the event draws to a close, be sure to follow along live commentary on uschesschamps.com and interact with us on twitter, where IM Greg Shahade will be posting live updates. Vote in our two recent polls: https://twitter.com/USChess/status/850838212071370754 https://twitter.com/USChess/status/851088927859593216