U.S. Championship, Rounds 7-10; U.S. Women's Championship Update
Sorry, but I was away at a conference for several days. The event has really heated up the past few rounds, and the big cluster has turned into a three-man race going into the last round. When we left off after round 6, Hikaru Nakamura led with 4 points, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez, Wesley So, and Sam Sevian.
That quintet had a great round 7, with Nakamura, Caruana, Dominguez, and Sevian all winning; only So was held to a draw (which was a decent result with Black against Jeffery Xiong). Nakamura's win was convincing with Black against Varuzhan Akobian, and so was Sevian's win - also with Black - against Ray Robson. Dominguez came up with a nice bit of preparation that Alex Lenderman was unable to solve, and also won with comfort. Only Caruana had to really struggle. He was winning early on against Timur Gareyev, but let his opponent slip. The best he could do was reach rook and bishop vs. rook, and fortunately for him Gareyev eventually blundered in that ending and lost. Thus Nakamura led with 5/7, half a point ahead of Caruana, Dominguez, and Sevian; So had 4.
Round 8 was quieter, but the one decisive game was important. Dominguez defeated Sevian with Black, showing terrific technique in a rook ending. Nakamura got nothing with White against Shankland and drew in 30 moves, and Caruana likewise got nothing against So and drew in 35 moves. Nakamura and Dominguez shared the lead with 5.5/8, Caruana had 5, So and Sevian 4.5.
Round 9 was an extremely violent round, with five of the six games finishing with winners and losers. Nakamura defeated Robson with Black in a Chinese Dragon, and Dominguez won with White against Awonder Liang's Petroff. Caruana rolled the dice with the Dutch against Akobian and won when White misplaced all his pieces in the middlegame; this kept him within half a point of the leaders. And So stayed within a point of the leaders when he won against Lenderman on the white side of an Exchange Queen's Gambit. He was winning early, let it slip, but managed to win the game anew. Sevian couldn't keep pace, though he tried very hard. He was better with Black against Xiong, but despite squeezing for over 100 moves couldn't make anything of a drawn pawn-up rook ending. Finally, Shankland defeated Gareyev in a long and well-played ending.
After all that excitement, today's round - round 10, the penultimate round - was somewhat calmer. Only two games were decisive, and one was Gareyev's crushing win over Robson between two players at the bottom of the tournament table. The one that mattered for the top of the standings was Caruana's win over Lenderman. Lenderman bravely tried the Petroff against the world's greatest specialist in that opening, and it didn't work out at all. Caruana obtained a risk-free positional advantage, with Black saddled with several weak pawns, and the world's #2 won smoothly to catch the leaders, Nakamura and Dominguez. Conveniently, they played each other, with Dominguez achieving an easy draw by repetition in just 29 moves on the black side of his beloved Semi-Tarrasch. Sevian pushed from start to finish against So but couldn't quite put him away. Sevian is thus mathematically eliminated from the race for first, while So is still alive, but only if all three of the leaders lose in the last round.
All the games from rounds 7-10 are here, many with my comments. And here are the pairings for tomorrow's final round:
- Xiong (5) - Nakamura (7)
- Dominguez (7) - Gareyev (3.5)
- Shankland (5) - Caruana (7)
- So (6) - Liang (4)
- Lenderman (3.5) - Sevian (5.5)
- Robson (3.5) - Akobian (3)
I haven't covered the concurrent women's event, but it's time to rectify that, as there's already a winner with a round to go. Moreover, the identity of the winner is a significant surprise. Irina Krush has had a horrible tournament, and has only 4/10, tied for 7th-9th places. Anna Zatonskih, like Krush many times the U.S. women's champion, is doing much better, with 7.5/10. But that's only good enough for second after her loss with White in round 10 to Jennifer Yu, and it's Yu who leads. Nay, she's not just the leader. She has won the tournament with an undefeated 9/10. She was ranked in the lower half of the tournament by rating at the start, but her performance has been fantastic. She has gained a whopping 86 points and has achieved a 2662 TPR. A great job by the youngster (she's 16 or 17)!
Tournament site here.