Zherebukh and Feng Stun at US Championships

In round seven of the US Chess Championships, Yaro Zherebukh stunned with a victory over Fabiano Caruana against the Breyer defense of the Ruy Lopez.

[pgn]

[Event "2017 U.S. Championship"]
[Site "Saint Louis, Mo"]
[Date "2017.04.05"]
[White "Zherebukh, Yaroslav"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2605"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:08:53"]
[BlackClock "0:16:00"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 h6 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Qd2 h5 20. Bg5 Bg7 21. Rf1 Qc7 22.
Bh6 Bh8 23. Ng5 Nh7 24. Nxh7 Kxh7 25. Be3 Qe7 26. f4 exf4 27. Bxf4 Kg8 28. Rf3
Bg7 29. Raf1 Nd7 30. Bh6 Bxh6 31. Qxh6 Qf8 32. Qd2 Ne5 33. Rf6 Rad8 34. Qg5 Qg7
35. Bd1 Bc8 36. Qh4 Kf8 37. Qf4 Qg8 38. Kh1 Re7 39. Bxh5 bxa4 40. Bd1 Qg7 41.
Bxa4 Qh7 42. Qg5 a5 43. Kg1 Qh8 44. R1f4 Qg7 45. Rh4 Nd3 46. Rh6 Ne5 47. Rf4
Bd7 48. Qh4 Kg8 49. Qxe7 Re8 50. Qg5 Bxa4 51. Rf6 1-0

[/pgn]

This picturesque dark square domination win catapulted Yaro into a tie with Wesley So for joint first after seven rounds of the US Championships. Zherebukh, a student at SLU, was the wildcard pick at the tournament. Gata Kamsky also won a beautiful Ruy Lopez game against Daniel Naroditsky.

[pgn]

[Event "2017 U.S. Championship"]
[Site "Saint Louis, Mo"]
[Date "2017.04.05"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:39:56"]
[BlackClock "0:29:22"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. h3 Bc8 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. Nbd2 Qxc6 15.
Nf1 Nc4 16. Ng3 Re8 17. a4 Bb7 18. Qe2 Nb6 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bg5 Qd7 21. Rad1
Bd8 22. Nf5 Nc8 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Bb3 Ra6 25. Qd3 Rd8 26. Nh2 Ne7 27. Ng4 Nxf5
28. exf5 Qc6 29. Ne3 Qc5 30. Bd5 Bc8 31. Be4 b4 32. Nd5 bxc3 33. b4 Qa7 34. b5
Ra3 35. b6 Qa4 36. Rc1 Ba6 37. Qg3 Kf8 38. Rxc3 Ra1 39. Rxa1 Qxa1+ 40. Kh2 Qb2
41. Rc7 Qd4 42. Nxf6 gxf6 43. Qh4 Qxb6 44. Qh6+ Kg8 45. Rc3 1-0[/pgn]

In another brilliant win unlikely to effect the final standings, Alexander Shabalov won against World Junior Champ Jeffery Xiong in some great home cooking culminating with 21....Qb6.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.05"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2674"]
[BlackElo "2556"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:03:24"]
[BlackClock "1:16:06"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. h3 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4 7. Nxe4 dxe4 8. Ng5
c5 9. Bc4 O-O 10. c3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nc6 12. Be3 Qa5+ 13. Kf1 h6 14. Nxe4 Rd8 15.
f4 b5 16. Bb3 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 Qb4 18. Qf3 Rxd4 19. a3 Qa5 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. exf6
Qb6 22. f5 Bb7 23. Qg3 g5 24. fxe7 Re8 25. Re1 Rf4+ 26. Ke2 Qd4 0-1

[/pgn]

In the US Women's, Maggie Feng continues to impress, following up her win against Jennifer Yu in round six with a victory over another young rival, Emily Nguyen.

[pgn]

[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"]
[Date "2017.04.05"]
[White "Nguyen, Emily"]
[Black "Feng, Maggie"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2173"]
[BlackElo "2162"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:25:49"]
[BlackClock "0:25:41"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 8. Bb2 b6
9. Qc1 Bb7 10. Ba3 Nbd7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Qb2 O-O 13. Nbd2 c5 14. e3 Ne4 15.
Rad1 Qe7 16. Rfe1 g5 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 g4 19. f4 gxf3 20. Nxf3 Rad8 21. Qc2
Bc6 22. Bf1 Kh8 23. Bd3 dxc4 24. Bxc4 Nxg3 25. hxg3 Bxf3 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Qf2
Bc6 28. Bf1 Qg7 29. Qf4 Be4 30. Kf2 Rd2+ 31. Re2 Rd5 32. Bg2 Bxg2 33. Kxg2 Qxe5
34. Qh6 Rd8 35. Qh4 Qe4+ 36. Qxe4 fxe4 37. Kh3 h5 38. g4 hxg4+ 39. Kxg4 Rf8 40.
Rd2 Kg7 41. Kg5 Rf5+ 42. Kg4 Rf3 43. Rd7+ Rf7 44. Rd2 Kf8 45. Rc2 Rf3 46. Rc3
Ke7 47. a3 Kd6 48. b4 Kd5 49. bxc5 bxc5 50. Rb3 Kc4 51. Rb7 a5 52. Re7 Rxe3 53.
Rxe6 Kd5 54. Ra6 Rxa3 0-1

[/pgn]

https://twitter.com/CCSCSL/status/849744970970013696   Follow round eight at 12:50 CST/1:50 EST on uschesschamps.com. Also follow @USChess for twitter takeovers by @GregShahade starting tomorrow. Don't miss Vanessa West's report after round seven, with tactical quizzes from throughout the tournament.