U.S. Champs: Six Decisive Results Shape Standings After Round Three

The third round of the 2024 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship each produced three decisive results, giving us plenty to dive into today, both from a chess and leaderboard standpoint.

In a scintillating rout, GM Hans Niemann put an end to GM Lenier Dominguez’s unbeaten streak and joined the U.S. Championship lead. He joins four other players in pole position, each of the five having won one game apiece. Meanwhile, IM Carissa Yip continued her dominant performance in the Women’s championship with a third win in a row. 

Open

The highlight of this round was the matchup between Niemann and Dominguez. Facing excellent opening preparation, Niemann began a direct attack with the risky 16. g4!?, a stratagem that worked better than he could have possibly expected. 

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While Black’s position was objectively more than fine, a series of imprecisions from Dominguez allowed White’s attack to become serious, and Niemann finished the game off in style:

GM Fabiano Caruana, after missing a win yesterday, rebounded with a masterclass against GM Ray Robson. After Robson weakened his pawn structure and failed to justify his play with dynamics, Caruana took control and never let go, scoring a convincing victory:

The other player to join the five-way tie for first place was GM Awonder Liang. Awonder has always been an inspiration for me due to his ability to manage his academic studies at the University of Chicago with his chess career; he continues to play at a high level and improve despite the pressures of schoolwork. 

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In this game, he did something unique, defeating GM Levon Aronian for the second time in two classical games (the previous time was in the 2022 US Championship), and in this case with the Black pieces! After Aronian compromised his position with the erroneous 29.Nf4, Liang took full advantage, winning a long endgame with three pawns (two of them connected passers) against a bishop.

GM Sam Shankland once again had good chances to beat one of the tournament favorites, GM Wesley So. However, a lapse on move 30 (like yesterday, Shankland spent less than a minute on this move) allowed So to transition into a rook endgame down a pawn, which he drew with ease.

The game between GM Christopher Yoo and GM Grigoriy Oparin was a placid draw; Yoo failed to show any new ideas in the 5.Bf4 Queen’s Gambit Declined, and Oparin had no problems equalizing.

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The standout pairing for the final round before the first rest day is certainly Shankland – Niemann. Sam has missed back-to-back opportunities to join the leaders, while Niemann is in fine form. All games can be found here.

Women's

IM Carissa Yip scored her third win in a row after punishing two-time champion WGM Jennifer Yu for her choice of a rare sideline in the Dragon. 

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Except for one slip in mutual time pressure, Yip’s handling of the position was superb:

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan is the only player half-a-point behind Carissa, thanks to a win against WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan with the black pieces. Abrahamyan surprised Pourkashiyan with the Guimard French and equalized easily, before outplaying her opponent in a complex endgame. 

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Interestingly, this was Pourkashiyan’s second double-rook endgame in two days, and the similarity in themes was stark:

In the only other decisive game, IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova defeated FM Megan Lee, after the latter grabbed a pawn and, in so doing, conceded the center. 

The clash between veterans IM Anna Zatonskih and GM Irina Krush was a relatively quiet affair, as was IM Nazi Paikidze’s draw against IM Alice Lee. The same could not be said about WGM Thalia Cervantes Laindero’s game against FM Rose Atwell. After Cervantes misplayed a promising opening position, Atwell seized the initiative and, true to her style, launched an attack. Unfortunately for her, the climax of the game came at a point where both players were under a minute, and, despite being completely lost, Cervantes managed to stir up enough complications that the result was left in doubt until literally the final move:

Today, Yip has the black pieces against GM Irina Krush while Abrahamyan has the white pieces against FM Megan Lee. If Yip is unable to produce a fourth consecutive victory, Abrahamyan would be in prime position to catch or overtake the leader. The rest of the pairings can be found here.

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Since I am concluding my annotations for this event with this round, it’s time for me to make predictions about the winners. As there is no penalty for being wrong, but much acclaim for guessing correctly, my picks are: Niemann for the Open, and Yip for the Women’s.

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