U.S. Championship, Round 7: Caruana Wins, Catches Up to Shankland

Sam Shankland entered the day in first, and exited in a tie for first. He had White against Wesley So, who was only half a point behind, and the game finished in a well-played draw. Perhaps it was more well-played by So, who wound up with an extra pawn in a rook ending, but Shankland stayed cool and drew with ease.

Like So, Fabiano Caruana started the day half a point out of first; like Shankland, he ended it in a tie for first. He had some fine preparation ready for Varuzhan Akobian's French, and Akobian was heartlessly crushed. Caruana played a great game, and has apparently made a complete recovery from his loss to Zviad Izoria in round 4.

Speaking of Izoria, today he defeated Hikaru Nakamura. He's only at 50%, but there are very, very, very few players in the world who wouldn't take 50% in such a field, especially if it came with wins over Caruana and Nakamura! As for Nakamura, it's almost unbelievable to think that he is winless and -1 through seven rounds. This doesn't happen to him in Grand Chess Tour events, never mind a tournament where only two players are his full peers (neither of whom he has played) and everyone else is more than 100 points lower rated than he is.

The day's other winner was Aleks Lenderman, who defeated Alexander Onischuk in what looked like a nearly dead drawn ending. It wasn't quite, and when Onischuk failed to find the only move to stay out of trouble on move 31, he was defeated with surprising ease.

The day's other games were drawn, though not always easily. You can replay the three decisive games mentioned above, plus Liang-Robson, with my comments, here. And now for the round 8 pairings:

• So (4.5) - Caruana (5)
• Nakamura (3) - Shankland (5)
• Robson (2.5) - Akobian (3.5)
• Liang (3) - Lenderman (3.5)
• Zherebukh (3.5) - Izoria (3.5)
• Onischuk (2) - Xiong (3)

Shamkir, Round 6: Giri Joins the Winners' Club

It may be impossible to repair the damage at this point (though an enterprising reader like Chuckles is welcome to work out for us how if at all a 10-way tie for first is still possible), now that Anish Giri has also won a game, at the expense of David Navara who is now at -2. Navara was never doing well on the black side of an Advance Caro-Kann, but apparently thought he had found an ingenious tactical solution to his problems when he played 23...Bc2.

If so, he was completely wrong. His move would work if after 24.Rxc2 Rxc2 25.Qxc2 Nd4 White would move the queen. Then Black would have at least equality, and against most moves he'd even be winning. But 26.b6 wins for White, and 25.b6 is even better. For that matter, 24.b6 is also excellent, and was the move chosen by Giri, after which Black's position was thoroughly and irrevocably lost.

Veselin Topalov led entering the round, and he still does, but he was unable to add to his lead. He found a small improvement on the white side of a Sveshnikov Sicilian, but Rauf Mamedov played well and obtained a typical kind of Sveshnikov draw with opposite-colored bishops.

The World Champion was content to play for a draw against Sergey Karjakin with the Marshall Gambit, and he achieved it easily enough. He followed a 2017 game of his against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave up until move 20, and seemed to have no problems after that. He's still half a point behind Topalov, and tied with Giri in second place.

Ding Liren enjoyed a small edge against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, but couldn't convert it into anything serious.

Finally, Teimour Radjabov and Radoslaw Wojtaszek contested a deeply theoretical Poisoned Pawn Variation (is there any other kind?), and followed email games practically to the very end. Wojtaszek passed the memory test, and the game was drawn.

Here are the games (with some comments). Round 7, tomorrow, looks like this:

• Mamedyarov (2.5) - Radjabov (3)
• Navara (2) - Ding Liren (3)
• Mamedov (3) - Giri (3.5)
• Carlsen (3.5) - Topalov (4)
• Wojtaszek (2.5) - Karjakin (3)

U.S. Championship, Round 6: Shankland, Caruana Win; Shankland the Clear Leader

Surprise, surprise! The leader as the tournament passes the halfway point isn't one of the big three - though Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So are just half a point out of first. Instead, it's Sam Shankland, who has won three games, including a win with Black in round 6 over Varuzhan Akobian. Akobian came into the round tied for first with So and Shankland, but didn't have a good game against Shankland. He was already worse out of the opening, and though he fought his way back to a ragged equality it was almost impossible to hold without time on the clock - time Akobian didn't have. By the time he made it to the time control he was in a lost rook and knight ending, and Shankland's fine technique made the conversion easy.

So got nothing with White against Zviad Izoria, and the game was drawn in 30 moves (the minimum permitted, except in cases of a forced repetition). Speaking of which, Yaroslav Zherebukh vs. Aleks Lenderman was another 30-move draw. Hikaru Nakamura - Jeffery Xiong went just half a move longer before calling it a day, while Alexander Onischuk's game with Awonder Liang got to move 34 before they split the point.

That leaves only Caruana's game against Ray Robson. Like Shankland, Caruana won with Black. Caruana stayed true to the Petroff, and proved once again that it can be used to fight for a win even against very high-class opposition. His 13th move was a novelty, sacrificing a pawn for the bishop pair and an open c-file, and he put these advantages to good use. Robson's king had all kinds of difficulties (White's 25.a4 didn't help a bit), and he didn't make it to the end of the first time control before giving up.

I've annotated the two decisive games (have a look here); hopefully that will tide you over until Wednesday, because like Shamkir the U.S. Championship is taking Tuesday off. Here are the pairings for round 7:

• Shankland (4.5) - So (4)
• Caruana (4) - Akobian (3.5)
• Izoria (2.5) - Nakamura (3)
• Xiong (2.5) - Zherebukh (3)
• Liang (2.5) - Robson (2)
• Lenderman (2.5) - Onischuk (2)

Shamkir, Round 5: Topalov Wins Again; Carlsen Wins Too

After Veselin Topalov spoiled all the amity of the Gashimov Memorial by winning a game in round 4, Magnus Carlsen decided in round 5 that he too would be a spoilsport.He played a funny anti-Sicilian sideline (2.Nc3 d6 3.d4) against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and it worked beautifully - at least once Wojtaszek played 11...h4? Carlsen missed various improvements, but still won pretty easily. (As you can see for yourselves; I've annotated the game here.)

Meanwhile, Veselin Topalov won again, this time defeating David Navara. Topalov sacrificed a pawn in return for the bishop pair, and it paid off in the end. Topalov is at plus-two, but he could have been plus-four. A good finish over the last four rounds could give him one of his best results of the 2010s.

Now that there have been three decisive games out of 25, the players need a rest, and that's what they'll get on Tuesday. Wednesday the action resumes, with the following pairings for round 6:

• Radjabov (2.5) - Wojtaszek (2)
• Karjakin (2.5) - Carlsen (3)
• Topalov (3.5) - Mamedov (2.5)
• Giri (2.5) - Navara (2)
• Ding Liren (2.5) - Mamedyarov (2)

TCEC Season 12 Underway

Those guys aren't messing around; in fact, the new season of the Top Chess Engine Competition started April 18. The first stage is underway (and is almost finished); the main point of interest is that LCZero is participating. It's an attempt to create an AlphaZero-style zero monster on far less impressive hardware. It has made steady progress the last month or so, but it's not ready for prime time yet (maybe public-access at 3 a.m.) - it's in dead last with a point and a half out of 27 games. But by next season, who knows?

It'll be a while before Stockfish and its former (and maybe future) rivals Houdini and Komodo will be involved, so those who are only interested in the final stages can sleep through the remainder of this stage and the next two as well.

2018 U.S. Championship, Round 5: Six Draws

At least some people have the right spirit. All six games were drawn in round 5 of the U.S. Championship, which means that Wesley So, Sam Shankland, and Varuzhan Akobian remain tied for first with +2 scores, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana.

Shankland came close to making it a 1.5 point lead over Caruana, up a pawn for no compensation shortly before the time control. Material was limited, however, so Black (Caruana) had good drawing chances in any case. Still, had Shankland met Black's threatened 40...Ne2+ with 40.Kh3!, intending to meet 40...Ne2 with 41.Kg4, he'd have maintained some winning chances. Instead, he played 40.Kg4, and Caruana had no trouble neutralizing White's bid for activity, and the game was soon drawn.

So had Black against Jeffery Xiong, and played solidly against the Catalan, achieving an easy draw in 22 moves. Akobian's game with Zviad Izoria was more interesting and went more than twice as long as Xiong-So, but he had no winning chances to speak of, either.

Hikaru Nakamura remains stuck in neutral, but not for want of effort. He went into a main line Classical King's Indian against Aleks Lenderman, which is about as sharp an option as there is. Both sides played well, and Nakamura held a draw.

Awonder Liang and Yaroslav Zherebukh played an exciting game - just ask the 17 pairs of opponents who already played it, most recently Wei Yi and Ding Liren last December.

Finally, Alexander Onischuk and Ray Robson had a well-played draw in an Exchange Gruenfeld.

Here's what's in store tomorrow, in round 6:

• Akobian (3.5) - Shankland (3.5)
• So (3.5) - Izoria (2)
• Robson (2) - Caruana (3)
• Nakamura (2.5) - Xiong (2)
• Zherebukh (2.5) - Lenderman (2)
• Onischuk (1.5) - Liang (2)

Shamkir, Round 4: Topalov Spoils Tournament Perfection By Winning

Veselin Topalov had a winning position in two of his first three games, but in keeping with the thoroughgoing amiability of the Gashimov Memorial had sportingly allowed his opponents to save the game and make a draw. That same splendid spirit of friendship was on display today, too. Teimour Radjabov and Magnus Carlsen drew their game in 19 moves, while the other games not involving Topalov went a bit longer before the players split their points.

Ding Liren had plenty of chances to win against Anish Giri, the last one coming on move 64 when either 64...a6 or 64...Ka3 would have eked out a win. Sergey Karjakin and David Navara played an interesting game that never got fully out of either player's grip, and the same could be said of the draw between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Rauf Mamedov.

But Topalov, tsk, tsk, tsk. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov outplayed him - with Black - but showed the true spirit of the tournament by letting Topalov off the hook. And then when Mamedyarov makes an error, how does Topalov repay him? By capitalizing on it and winning! Very disappointing. It's not too late to fix things, however. In the next round Mamedyarov plays Giri and Topalov plays Navara, and in the round after that Giri and Navara play. So if Mamedyarov wins and Topalov loses, they get back on track, then Giri just needs to beat Navara in the next round to get everyone back to a comfy 50%.

Here are the full pairings for round 5:

• Ding Liren (2) - Radjabov (2)
• Mamedyarov (1.5) - Giri (2)
• Navara (2) - Topalov (2.5)
• Mamedov (2) - Karjakin (2)
• Carlsen (2) - Wojtaszek (2)

2018 U.S. Championship, Round 4: Three Leaders - But Not the Same Three

It was a strange day at the U.S. Championship - or at least it was a day with one extremely strange game. Entering the round there were three co-leaders: Wesley So, Varuzhan Akobian, and Fabiano Caruana - all of whom had White in this round. And there were three co-leaders at the end of the day, too, but the identity of one of the leaders had changed.

So had some advantage against Aleksandr Lenderman, but although he managed to win a pawn it wasn't enough to win the game. Varuzhan Akobian likewise managed to win a pawn in his game, against Jeffery Xiong, but once again it wasn't enough to collect the full point. He came closer than So did, and maybe would have managed a win had he played 33.Qc8 Qd5 34.Qe8+.

Fabiano Caruana played as if he had a death wish against Zviad Izoria. If this had been the last round and he were in a must-win situation his play would be explicable, but not in an early round where a draw, though not ideal against a lower seed, isn't a real problem. Caruana was better early on, but by move 20 or so the position was equal. Izoria was happy to repeat (see his 31st and 32nd moves, and then his 34th, 35th, and 36th moves), but Caruana played on with no justification except for his higher rating. He was even in a bit of trouble after that, but managed to wriggle his way out of it.

But once again, Caruana was bound and determined to avoid a draw, and he succeeded. Playing for tricks, he went for the dubious 67.c4, apparently counting on 67...Nxg2 68.Kd5 Rc8 69.Nb6? to pick up Black's d-pawn and give him some minuscule winning chances. But Black played the obvious 69...Ne3+, and after 70.Ke6? (70.Ke4!) gave Caruana one last chance to save the game. 70...Rh8 won, but the trappy 70...Rc6? allowed several drawing moves. Caruana's 71.Kd7? wasn't one of them, and he fell headlong into the trap. After the neat 71...Nxc4! Caruana was caught. Maybe 72.Nd5 offered some hope, but after 72.Kxc6? Na5+ 73.Kxd6 Nxb7+ the battle was decided: White would not be able to stop Black's h-pawn.

Meanwhile, Sam Shankland won a good game with Black against Ray Robson in an Open Ruy, and caught up to the leaders on +2.

As for Hikaru Nakamura, he drew again, despite having White in three games out of four. This time it was against Awonder Liang, who was entirely ready for the King's Indian Attack. If anything, Liang had the better chances, and Nakamura had to earn the draw that was agreed on move 32.

Here are the pairings for round 5:

• Onischuk (1) - Robson (1.5)
• Liang (1.5) - Zherebukh (2)
• Lenderman (1.5) - Nakamura (2)
• Xiong (1.5) - So (3)
• Izoria (1.5) - Akobian (3)
• Shankland (3) - Caruana (2.5)

Yet Another Prodigy: Shreyas Royal

Here's a story (registration required) about nine-year-old Shreyas Royal, a promising youngster living in England who may (along with his family) be forced to return to India soon. He may be one to watch, though it's also possible that there's a bit of hyperbole in the story to strengthen the case for letting him and his family remain in the U.K. Whatever the case, I'll add a tag for him, and if he becomes a superstar in a few years you can say you first heard of him here.

(Unless you're Marc Beishon, who gets the hat tip for passing this along.)

Other Events: Sharjah & Bangkok

A strong open tournament in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, finished this week as an impressive success by 17-year-old Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo. He scored 8/9, drawing his last two games and still finishing a point ahead of Eltaj Safarli and Wang Hao, his two closest pursuers. Among others, Maghsoodloo defeated Wang Hao and Vladislav Artemiev, both rated over 2700, and gained 28 points in the tournament. That brings him within striking distance of the world's top 100. Very impressive, especially considering that other players left in his wake were Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Ernesto Inarkiev, Pavel Eljanov, and Baskaran Adhiban.

The Bangkok Open isn't nearly as strong, but given Chess24's Jan Gustafsson's constant praise of the event one might be curious about how it went. The answer - at least for Gustafsson - is not particularly well. He finished tied for 7th-20th places, losing to Australian GM Anton Smirnov in round 6 and then surrendering draws with FMs in rounds 7 and 9. But speaking of FMs, the tournament was won by one: Novendra Priasmoro, who finished with 8/9. He began with a draw against a 1927 before reeling off seven wins in a row, three against GMs, and drawing with Nigel Short in the last round. He'll gain 26 points from the tournament and, I would assume, a GM norm.

Short finished tied for 3rd-6th with 7/9, half a point behind Deepan Chakkravarthy. Short had a catastrophe in round 5 when he was outplaying 11-year Indian IM D. Gukesh but failed to press his clock. His opponent said nothing - until Short's flag fell, that is. Short wrote on Twitter, "Lose with dignity...is a bit hard when your opponent is fully aware that you have not pressed your clock and jumps and down for glee the moment your flag falls." As Marc Beishon notes, in passing that tidbit along, "if you can't jump up and down at age 11..." The tournament might well have finished differently had he won; on the other hand, he was clearly worse when the draw was agreed in his last round game, so the tournament could have finished worse for him, too.