Youth Rises in Third Round of U.S. Championships

Three rounds of the 2023 U.S. and U.S. Women's Championships are in the books, but we have already seen a lot of incredible games! Saturday's third round brought a number of positional sacrifices, neat tactical tricks, missed opportunities, and devastating blunders. Let's take a look at the most notable moments.

********
In the Women's Section, three players entered the day's play as leaders: WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, and IM Nazi Paikidze. With the first two facing one other, the game between the two Olympiad teammates was the key match for this round. An exciting pairing between the young talents IM Carissa Yip and IM-elect Alice Lee added to the anticipation.

The game between Tokhirjonova and Abrahamyan was a back-and-forth battle. Tokhirjonova played the Catalan, and was probably surprised by a sideline cooked up in Abrahamyan's home kitchen. However, instead of keeping a dynamic position and surrendering her rights to castle, Abrahamyan unexpectedly chose to sacrifice an Exchange.

This decision allowed Tokhirjonova to get the upper hand in the position and enjoy a solid advantage. However, she may have gotten too comfortable with her position; after a blunder it was Abrahamyan who suddenly had the upper hand. Unfortunately for Abrahamyan, she missed an important idea with ...Ke8-d7 and the position equalized again. Tokhirjonova set up the last trap in the position, caught Abrahamyan off guard, and secured an important win in the tournament.

In the last encounter between Lee and Yip, it was Lee who won a crucial game in the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. This time Yip, playing Black, showed some smart opening preparation and got strong play in the King's Indian Defense.

Carissa Yip ponders her move. Photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

She put Lee under pressure forcing her to spend a lot of time on her moves; after a blunder in time pressure, it was Yip who took the full point.

A very clean win will please IM Anna Zatonskih, as she defeated FM Ashrita Eswaran by means of an inspired Exchange sacrifice. Playing the King's Indian, Eswaran misplayed her position early on and allowed Zatonskih to damage her pawn structure.

Zatonskih waits for Eswaran's reply. Photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

Problems accumulated, Eswaran had to give up a pawn, and the position soon became hopeless.

After a slow start with two draws, GM Irina Krush scored an important win over WGM Atousa Poukashiyan, showcasing her strong positional play and sharp tactical vision. After damaging Poukashiyan's pawn structure on the kingside, Krush planned for an attack via the h-file, and a final tactical blow on f7.

The longest game in the women's section (lasting over six hours!) was between FM Jennifer Yu and WGM Thalia Cervantes. Having the white pieces in the Grünfeld, the defending champion wished to quickly exchange the dark-squared bishops hoping for a positional advantage. This allowed Cervantes to make a very strong and smart Exchange sacrifice.

Cervantes dominated with her pieces on the board and kept on accumulating advantages. Despite having a winning position with several direct ways to win, Cervantes was unable to close things out. Yu managed to keep her cool, defend patiently, and decrease her opponent's advantage, resulting in a theoretically drawn endgame rook and knight vs rook. After 133 moves, the players agreed to a hard-earned draw.

***********************

In the Open Section, a lot of excitement was expected from the young co-leaders GM Hans Niemann and GM Abhimanyu Mishra who have shown great fighting chess so far. While Mishra will look back on the round with more fondness than Niemann, neither of the players have disappointed us thus far with the fighting character of their games.

An oddly quick game occurred between GM Andrew Tang and GM Levon Aronian. Tang chose the London System, and before the fans could settle in, the game was over on move eight via three-fold repetition.

"Hello, arbiter?" (Photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes)

While one might be surprised that Tang did not want to measure his skills (with White) against a world-class player, others might be equally puzzled that Aronian settled for a draw against the lowest ranked player in the field.

A big missed opportunity may haunt GM Leinier Domínguez, who outplayed his opponent, GM Dariusz Świercz, and was very close to a win. After playing a number of the best computer moves, Domínguez needed to find a beautiful checkmating idea to close on his accumulated advantage. Unfortunately, he was low on time and could not find the winning plan. With just one second on the clock, he was had to bail out with a three-fold repetition.

The author of a newly released book on theoretical rook endings, GM Sam Shankland has been enjoying the fruits of his labor, with two such rook endings in his first two games. While he drew both, one does wonder how such promotion will help book sales!

A very proud Sam Shankland with his latest book. Photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes.

Facing GM Hans Niemann with the black pieces, the situation on Saturday was very different. Shankland got into a troubling position out of the opening due to his disrupted pawn structure, uncoordinated pieces, and significant time disadvantage. However, he was able to turn things around and score his first win in the tournament.

The longest game in the Open section was between GM Jeffery Xiong and GM Fabiano Caruana. After Caruana had no trouble equalizing with his Nimzo-Indian, the game quickly got very interesting. Xiong planned to sacrifice a pawn for positional advantage, but Caruana counter-punched with a well-timed Exchange sacrifice. Still, the most accurate moves were not easy to spot, and Caruana's advantage started slipping away. In the end, Caruana showed great patience and accuracy in winning a difficult queen and pawn endgame.

A very important victory was notched by the youngest player in the field, GM Abhimanyu Mishra, in an incredibly complicated game against GM Ray Robson. Robson sacrificed a piece early in the Semi-Slav opening and both players showed deep theoretical knowledge, blitzing out almost 20 moves of the theory.

Robson and Mishra, deep in theory and in thought. Photo courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes.

However, Robson later made a few inaccurate moves and Mishra was able to coordinate his pieces, push pawns forward in the center, and demonstrate the advantage of two minor pieces against a rook. Through this incredibly complicated game, Mishra became the sole leader of the open section.

*****

Standings after three rounds:

courtesy SLCC / Spectrum Studios

courtesy SLCC / Spectrum Studios

*****

In Sunday’s fourth round we have a number of tasty matchups, including a battle between Mishra and Niemann in the open section, and a pairing of co-leaders Yip and Tokhirjonova in the women’s section.

Be sure to follow all the action at uschesschamps.com, and on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube and Twitch channels! Of course we will have all the results and analysis here at Chess Life Online on Monday.

Pairings for round four:

Open:
Caruana – Świercz
Sevian – Domínguez Perez
Shankland – So
Mishra – Niemann
Aronian – Robson
Xiong – Tang

Women:
Eswaran – Abrahamyan
Yip – Tokhirjonova
Cervantes – Lee
Pourkashiyan – Yu
Paikidze – Krush
Zatonskih – Yan

*****

Quick Links

Previous round recaps