The 2020 U.S. Championship is just past the halfway point, and barring something incredible only three of the 12 players have a realistic shot at first. Wesley So won his first two games today before making an easy draw with Black against Leinier Dominguez, and leads with 5.5/6. Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson also went 2.5/3 today, sandwiching a draw in round 5 with a pair of wins. As a result, they remain only half a point out of first with five points apiece.
And then...the next score group consists of those on 50%. The most notable of those is Hikaru Nakamura, who also entered the day with a 50% score. He got off on the right foot, winning in round 4, but in round 5 had some difficulties against Elshan Moradiabadi before achieving a draw, and then he lost in round 6 to Awonder Liang after going too bonkers in the opening hoping for an attack. The other pre-tournament favorite (in addition to So and Nakamura), Leinier Dominguez, is doing even worse. He lost to Xiong in round 4 before drawing with Robson and So in the day's last two rounds; his total score is 2/6.
Here are the leaders' pairings for tomorrow (Wednesday):
So (5.5): W vs. Sevian (3), B vs. Moradiabadi (2.5), W vs. Xiong (5)
Xiong (5): W vs. Nakamura (3), W vs. Robson (5), B vs. So (5.5)
Robson (5): W vs. Moradiabadi (2.5), B vs. Xiong (5), W vs. Nakamura (3)
Clearly Xiong is going to have a big challenge, and if he survives the day with a plus score he'll be in fantastic shape heading into the last two rounds, when he'll be facing the current tailenders (Lenderman and Ramirez). So has the toughest final day, with Black against Robson and White against Nakamura. As for Robson, he has White against So (as already noted) and then Black against Ramirez.
There were lots of interesting games today, and you can replay all of today's games by the leaders, including So's round 5 win over Swiercz, with my comments.