U.S. Champs: The Center of Attention

Baseball announcers are a superstitious lot.

They will go to great lengths to avoid saying “no-hitter” or “no-hit ball” as perfect games progress. The belief is that by merely uttering the words, they can cause a jinx, put the whammy on somebody, or otherwise negatively influence events on the field.

This is why, as a long-time fan of the great American pastime, I will in what follows avoid certain phrases regarding large cash prizes, win streaks, and tournaments (largely) played in 1963.

There’ll be no bad juju from me.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

It’s all eyes on IM Carissa Yip after seven rounds at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Championship. With her victory over IM Nazi Paikidze, Yip kept her breakneck pace as she charged towards her third women’s title. Two points behind Yip, at 5/7, is IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, after a brave piece sacrifice bore fruit against FM Rose Atwell.

The race in the Open Championship tightened a bit after GM Sam Sevian forced a draw against GM and current leader Fabiano Caruana. This gave GM Awonder Liang a chance to creep up the crosstable after an impressive victory over GM Grigory Oparin.

Caruana has 4½/6 heading into today’s eighth round, while Liang trails by just a half-point at 4/6. In truth their lead over the field is bigger than it looks: With most of the players at 3½ having played seven games, Caruana and Liang effectively have a game in hand over their competitors.

We begin with the story of the day: Carissa Yip won again.

WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Facing Paikidze’s favored Caro-Kann Defense, Carissa Yip chose to grab kingside space and eschew castling.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Her aggression was rewarded when Paikidze faltered after an intriguing knight sacrifice. We are pleased to have annotations from event commentator WGM Katerina Nemcova, who does the honors for all of the games in today’s report.

While fortune has certainly favored Yip and her bold play, it’s clear that her place atop the crosstable is fully deserved. We will avoid speculating too much, lest jinxes come into play, but perhaps the only person who can really defeat Yip now is herself. The psychological pressures of her situation, coupled with ever-increasing attention as the rounds tick by, remain to be managed, and of course her opponents will be gunning to take her down.

Meanwhile Tokhirjonova — who lost to Yip in round five — did her best to apply pressure to the leader with her win over Atwell.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Tipping her hand with a Marshall Attack move order in the Ruy Lopez, “Begim” was determined to sharpen play after Atwell shifted into a sideline. She gave White a pawn, then a knight; after Atwell slipped on move 21, Begim’s pieces went into attacking overdrive, and the game was soon over.

GM Irina Krush entered the day in shared second place, but her loss to WGM Jennifer Yu dented her hopes for the rest of the tournament.

So too for IM Alice Lee, who lost “the battle of the Lees” to FM Megan Lee, leaving both players (like Krush) in third place at 4/7 — a full three points off the leader with just four rounds to play.

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan’s up-and-down tournament continued with a loss to WGM Thalila Cervantes Landerio. The Chess Life journalist has shown her tremendous fighting spirit in this event, playing just one draw in seven games.

Round eight sees Yip take Black against WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, who drew in round seven against IM Anna Zatonskih. Tokhirjonova has White against two-time champion Yu, while Alice Lee takes White against Krush and Megan Lee moves first against Zatonskih.

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Sam Sevian slowed down the Caruana Express by forcing a draw early in the middlegame.

This result left Caruana at 4½/6, setting the bar for the rest of the field. It also left room for GM Awonder Liang to try and make a move up the table.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Facing Oparin with Black, Liang consumed a pawn that was perhaps less poisoned than Oparin had hoped. He then showed his positional acumen in slowing configuring his pieces to maximum effect, culminating in some sweet tactics to end the game.

Liang, who — like Yip and Yu — must balance chess preparation with university studies, thereby landed in second place at 4/6, a half-point behind Caruana and ahead of four players at 3½.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Among those players are GMs Hans Niemann and Ray Robson, with the latter coming out on top in their round seven game after Niemann gambled in Robson’s time pressure and lost.

GM Sam Shankland is also at 3½, but he surely had hopes for more in a fascinating battle with GM Abhimanyu Mishra.

photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Shankland sacrificed not one but two Exchanges, earning a dominating position on the way to what GM Yasser Seirawan said would have been one of his best games.

But the alert Mishra jumped on an opportunity on move 45 to climb back to equality. The players split the point on move 80.

Friday’s results set up an intriguing round eight for Saturday. Caruana takes Black against his fellow Olympian, GM Wesley So, who drew a fighting game with GM Levon Aronian yesterday. Liang will play White against the ever-dangerous Sevian, and Aronian and Robson face off in a battle of 3½-ers. If anyone is to catch Caruana, today might be the day to start that challenge.

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