U.S. Championships: Action Heats Up in Ultra-Decisive Round 7

Sunday saw eight decisive games in St. Louis, with players fighting for the win in contrasting fashions. While some players threw caution to the wind and embarked on audacious king walks in the middlegame, others embraced a more methodical and patient approach, squeezing the water out of drawn endgames a la Rubinstein.

With only four draws, Round 7 marks the bloodiest round in this year’s championships so far. While co-leaders GM Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So pulled ahead to a full point lead in the Open Section, IM Alice Lee who took the sole lead in the Women’s, a half-point ahead of her two nearest rivals.

U.S. Championship

After a relatively calm Round 6 that saw five peaceful handshakes, the players were out for blood Sunday, reversing the script and producing five decisive results. We were treated to two piece sacrifices, several textbook examples of endgame technique, and a battle of the king walks!

GM Hans Niemann and GM Fabiano Caruana were two of the co-leaders going into the round, and their match certainly didn’t disappoint. Against Niemann’s Italian, Caruana uncorked an early pawn march … f7-f5-f4, with Niemann attempting to respond on the queenside.

From there, Caruana threw everything and the kitchen sink into his kingside attack while Niemann yearned for counterplay. Niemann wasted no time in pushing his queenside pawns and opening the center, but, by the time he got there, Caruana had already cracked open the h-file and mounted his Alekhine’s gun. A few hopeless checks later, Caruana’s king stepped to safety and the defending champion had secured a mating net and the game.

The other co-leader, GM Wesley So, took a calmer route to his victory, executing a gradual squeeze against GM Andy Woodward. After an early set of central trades, Woodward was left with a pair of strong, but vulnerable, hanging pawns. Facing pressure from So’s knights, Woodward kept the balance with a pawn sacrifice, claiming his passed pawn and superior minor piece as compensation.

However, the three-time U.S. Champion proved resourceful, navigating into a pawn-up endgame and demonstrating flawless technique in the conversion. Woodward defended tenaciously, creating a passed pawn of his own, but So’s pawn already had a clear path to promotion and with it, the win.

In GM Samuel Sevian’s win as White over GM Grigoriy Oparin, a theoretical Queen’s Gambit Declined turned into a pawn race as both sides mounted their majority attacks. As Oparin mounted more pressure on the c-file, it looked like Sevian’s knight was in danger, but Sevian simply abandoned it, leaving it en prise to go for the king.

Sevian’s boldness paid off, as Oparin’s king was forced to run all the way from g8 to a7. Oparin resisted stubbornly, sacrificing a rook to lure White’s king forward, too, but Sevian didn’t flinch. Tucking his king safely on the edge of the treacherous fourth rank, his extra rook and advanced passed pawn sealed the deal.

In stark contrast, GM Sam Shankland’s win over GM Abhimanyu Mishra seemed to be headed for a quick draw after a nearly symmetrical Reti opening and a trade of queens on just move 13. However, Shankland wanted to press his slight advantage and stirred imbalance in the pawn structure to ultimately land himself a protected passed pawn. Mishra held on tight, and the game was level until move 30, but after a series of favorable trades, Shankland emerged with a better bishop and more active rook.

The final tactic was a rare occurrence of zugzwang, which is a motif that is mostly seen in king-and-pawn endgames. Shankland’s active pieces and restricting pawns rendered Mishra helpless and thus forced to self-destruct his own position.

The aforementioned second piece sacrifice of the round was delivered by GM Dariusz Swiercz, who jettisoned his bishop against GM Awonder Liang to open up Liang’s king to a deadly mate threat. The opening started super pleasantly for Liang, who achieved early equality and seized a slight advantage with his more fluid pawn majority. But Swiercz proved resourceful, and with one tactical shot, he won a pawn and untangled his pawn majority.

Tenacious defense from Liang nearly brought the game back to a drawish rook endgame, but Swiercz eventually rounded up all the pawns and secured the full point with the formation of two connected passed pawns.

The final game of the section, GM Ray Robson – GM Levon Aronian, ended in a near perfect draw, after middlegame fireworks in the Italian quickly fizzled out to a drawn endgame.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

After seven rounds in the championship, Caruana and So lead the field with 5/7, a full point ahead of Niemann and Aronian. Today, Liang will take on So with the white pieces and Robson will play the defending champion with the black pieces.

U.S. Women’s Championship

Fresh off of a big Round 6 with four decisive games, the Women’s Championship continued to treat us to both sharp tactical blitzes and patient endgame grinding, with three more decisive games.

In the battle of two youngsters, FM Megan Paragua – FM Rose Atwell, a Caro-Kann Exchange Variation quickly became murky after Atwell unraveled three consecutive pawn breaks before Paragua could even castle. Paragua remained pawn-up and kept her star passed c-pawn, but found her king stuck wide open in the center. Although there were just three pieces left, the queen and bishop duo was enough for Atwell to cash in and win the Exchange.

Paragua proved resourceful, seemingly offering a free knight, but Atwell was equally alert, spotting the Trojan horse and instead sidestepping with the rook to start a major piece assault. Even with a knight and two pawns, the oppressive checks from the queen and rook proved too much for Paragua to withstand.

WGM Thalia Cervantes – IM Anna Sargsyan started off as a quiet London System, but the tension gradually mounted as Cervantes pushed her h-pawn up and castled queenside. The bishop pair and extra tempi seemed favorable for her in the pawn race, but Sargsyan’s defense proved solid, and she was able to trade queens into an equal endgame. However, the second player wasn’t done yet.

Thanks to the outposted knight and open file, Sargsyan capitalized on her initiative and won an Exchange. Cervantes resisted stubbornly, creating counterplay on the queenside, but Sargsyan’s kingside passers and extra Exchange were more than enough for the full point.

With this win, Sargsyan joins the pack of chasers trailing Lee by a half-point with 4½/7.

To take the lead, Lee extracted water from a stone against WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan. After early trades in an Open Sicilian, just rooks, pawns, and kings remained on the board by move 23. However, neither player was content with sitting, waiting, and shaking hands peacefully, instead lighting up fireworks through dynamic pawn breaks.

While Pourkashiyan loosened and rounded up the b6 pawn, Lee’s d-pawn became the star of the show, forging forward despite losing almost the rest of her army. While White could have survived the central onslaught if she could trade off a pair of rooks, the two black castles working together were too much for Pourkashiyan, and Lee escorted her pawn to promotion, securing the point and delivering her opponent her sixth consecutive defeat.

In IM Carissa Yip – WGM Jennifer Yu, the duo were evenly matched in the theoretical opening battle in the Mieses Scotch, and although Yip gained a slight pull in the middlegame, Yu was able to simplify to an equal endgame where the knight and bishop balanced out the rook and pawns. The game ended in a draw by repetition on move 46.

IM Nazi Paikidze – GM Irina Krush was a roller-coaster of a game that ultimately ended peacefully. After Krush got the better end of a symmetric middlegame by winning the bishop pair, resilient defense by Paikidze secured her a fortress in the minor piece endgame. The first player even had some winning chances with the knight, but it was overlooked by both players in their intense time trouble. The game fizzled out to a draw on move 76 after neither side could make progress.

Finally WGM Tatev Abrahamyan – IM Anna Zatonskih was a near-perfect draw with over 98% accuracy performance on both sides. Zatonskih, who entered the day in a share of the lead, now joins the chasers pack with 4½/7.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

After seven rounds, Lee leads the field with 5/7, with a pair of Annas — Zatonskih and Sargsyan — right on her tail with 4½/7. For Round 8, Atwell will play Zatonskih with the white pieces, Sargsyan and Pourkashiyan will face off, and Abrahamyan will take on the tournament leader as Black.

Will Caruana and So continue neck-and-neck, or will one take the sole lead? Will Lee create some separation from the pack, or will one or both of her closest competitors catch up? Tune in at 12:30 p.m. CDT to find out.

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