U.S. Championship, Round 4: Four Co-Leaders After Xiong Loses

It was a draw-heavy day at the U.S. Championship, with just one decisive game. That game, unfortunately for Jeffery Xiong, who had been the sole leader, saw him lose with White to Ray Robson. Xiong's preparation was rather strange, and a move after his novelty - which wasn't very good - left him clearly worse. Soon he was lost, but a nice bluff let him escape. Unfortunately for the leader, he managed to get in trouble a second time, and Robson didn't give him any more chances.

There were no other decisive games on the day, but two games should have finished with a winner. Fabiano Caruana was winning for a very long time against Leinier Dominguez Perez, but allowed his opponent to escape with a perpetual. And Sam Sevian was completely winning against Timur Gareyev, but missed a simple but neat tactic in what would otherwise have been a simple technical task.

All the games, with varying degrees of comments for the aforementioned games, are here. Here are the round 5 pairings:

• Nakamura (2.5) - Caruana (2)
• Gareyev (1) - Liang (1.5)
• Akobian (2) - Sevian (2)
• Shankland (1.5) - Lenderman (2)
• Robson (2) - So (2.5)
• Dominguez Perez (2.5) - Xiong (2.5)

A Look Back at Gareyev-Lenderman From Round 3 of the U.S. Championship: A Missed Brilliancy

Dan Parmet (one of the movers and shakers from the old U.S. Chess League) wrote in to point out that Timur Gareyev missed a wonderful opportunity in his round 3 game with Alex Lenderman from the U.S. Championship, and was kind enough to send in his analysis as well. I've very slightly edited it, and also included a bit of analysis from another reader, who found the same idea but varied later in the line. I edited the work a tiny bit, but it's fundamentally Dan's analysis.

Have a look - it's spectacular.

Karpov Interview

This interview came out last September, prior to the Carlsen-Caruana match, but is still of interest. Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, interviewed by his long-time friend (the long-retired GM Ron Henley), talks about Viktor Korchnoi, Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen and much more besides.

HT: Ervin Middleton

U.S. Championship, Rounds 2 & 3: Xiong Still Leads

It's still early, of course - eight rounds remain - but it's so far, so good for 18-year-old Jeffery Xiong, who is having a spectacular March. First, he won the Spring Chess Classic in St. Louis with 6/9, ahead of superstars like Vassily Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem, and now he leads the U.S. Championship with 2.5/3. He has gained 23 rating points this month, and is within 14 points of becoming the 6th U.S. player over 2700. His win in round 1 was already covered in the relevant post, and after a slightly hiccupy draw with Varuzhan Akobian in round 2 he won a crazy game against Sam Shankland in round 3 to regain the clear lead.

Three players are half a point behind: Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, and Leinier Dominguez Perez. So ground out an endgame win against Timur Gareyev in round 2, Nakamura won a heavy piece ending against Sam Sevian in round 3, and Dominguez won a rook ending with an extra pawn against Ray Robson, also in round 3. That almost exhausts the wins so far, but there was also an endgame win by Sevian in round two against Awonder Liang.

The games from rounds 2 and 3 can be replayed here; I've offered some notes to Xiong's games. Finally, here are the round 4 pairings:

• Caruana (1.5) - Dominguez (2)
• Xiong (2.5) - Robson (1)
• So (2) - Shankland (1)
• Lenderman (1.5) - Akobian (1.5)
• Sevian (1.5) - Gareyev (.5)
• Liang (1) - Nakamura (2)

U.S. Championship, Round 1: Xiong Wins, All Other Games Drawn

The 2019 U.S. Championship started with four solid draws, a see-saw marathon draw between Awonder Liang and Alex Lenderman, and a win by Jeffery Xiong over Timur Gareyev.

Gareyev with White played very committal chess, and while it was objectively sound there was the danger that his far flung pawns would prove overextended. That's what happened after 20.Qf2 and especially 23.Bc3; Black's 23...b6 blew up White's brittle construction, and Xiong went on to win quickly and easily.

The longest game of the round by far was the draw between Liang and Lenderman. Lenderman was better much of the way and winning at times, though there was also a stretch where he was losing. Ultimately it came down to a double rook ending where Black had two extra pawns but a very poor structure. I think he was winning with best play, but it wasn't easy and by the time White escaped to a single-rook ending it was an easy draw. The game went 120 moves; hopefully they won't be adversely affected in round 2, which has the following pairings:

Round 2 Pairings:

• Xiong (1) - Akobian (.5)
• Caruana (.5) - Robson (.5)
• Lenderman (.5) - Nakamura (.5)
• So (.5) - Gareyev (0)
• Dominguez (.5) - Shankland (.5)
• Sevian (.5) - Liang (.5)

The round 1 games, with my comments to Gareyev-Xiong and Liang-Lenderman, are here.

This Week's Free ChessLecture Show: A Brilliant Vitiugov Win

Giving Nikita Vitiugov a little extra pat on the back after his victory in the Prague Masters, ChessLecture.com's free video for this week (which will be available on-demand for two weeks in all) is one I made of a very impressive Vitiugov win back in 2015. You'll need to create a ChessLecture account if you don't already have one - even a free one will do the trick.

A Nice Gelfand Win from the Prague Masters

Boris Gelfand has had a rough last couple of years when it comes to chess, but he's on a bit of an upswing at the moment. He has won his first two games at the European Individual Championship, which has just started, and tied for second a few days ago at the very strong 1st Prague Masters, half a point behind tournament winner Nikita Vitiugov. Gelfand's first two decisive games came early on: he lost to Santosh Vidit in round 2 and then defeated Sam Shankland in round 3 when the latter overlooked a nice but simple tactical trick in the endgame. Gelfand's second win came in the last round, when he won in powerful style against Pentala Harikrishna. To be fair, it must be said that Harikrishna's opening play was surprisingly dubious, but Gelfand gets full credit for taking advantage in impressive fashion. Have a look.

Garry Kasparov: Four Memorable Games

This was released a couple of months ago, but if you, like me, didn't notice at the time, you may yet find this of interest. Garry Kasparov presents (parts of) four memorable games from his career: two were highlights, two were lowlights. Have a look, here.

U.S. Championship, Round 1 Pairings

With a hat-tip to Dan Parmet, they are:

• Sevian - Caruana
• Nakamura - So
• Shankland - Robson
• Akobian - Dominguez
• Gareyev - Xiong
• Liang - Lenderman

The action starts tomorrow. The action starts at 1 p.m. local time in St. Louis, 2 p.m. ET. Be there or be a four-sided enclosed plane figure whose sides and internal angles are all equal.

U.S. Championship Starts Today (But Really Wednesday)

Play starts on Wednesday, but the opening ceremony is today. Presumably the pairings will be set then, but here's your chance to make some early predictions: who will win? Here's the lineup, featuring all five of the U.S.'s 2700+ players:

1. Fabiano Caruana 2828
2. Wesley So 2762
3. Hikaru Nakamura 2746
4. Leinier Dominguez 2739
5. Sam Shankland 2731
6. Ray Robson 2667
7. Jeffery Xiong 2663
8. Sam Sevian 2642
9. Alex Lenderman 2637
10. Varuzhan Akobian 2625
11. Awonder Liang 2590
12. Timur Gareyev 2557