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After the fourth round of the US Championship in St. Louis Fabiano Caruana led the field by half a point but in round five he had to concede a draw against Alexander Shabalov, which allowed Wesley So to catch up to Caruana.
So played a textbook attacking game against Varuzhan Akobian and quickly smashed Black's position in a Rubinstein French.
Hikaru Nakamura ppeared to be well recovered from his loss against Fabiano Caruana and played a fine game against Sam Shankland. The game started as a Caro-Kann but then entered French structures, in which Nakamura showed powerful chess and demolished Black's position with the typical f4-f5 break.
The 15-year old Jefferey Xiong, the youngest player in the field, started with four draws but in round five scored his first win - and against elo-heavyweight Gata Kamsky to boot. The young talent profited from a blackout of his opponent. Kamsky, who was playing with Black, opted for Alekhine's Defense and sacrificed a piece early on. This investment gave him lots of compensation and a long-term attack. However, Xiong defended stubbornly and in the end Kamsky fell victim to a blunder.
Kamsky played courageously but was not rewarded (Photo: Austin Fuller)
| Br. | Tit | Name | Coun | ELO | Ergebnis | Titel | Name | Coun | ELO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Alexander Shabalov |
|
2520 | ½ - ½ | GM | Fabiano Caruana |
|
2794 |
| 2 | GM | Wesley So |
|
2773 | 1 - 0 | GM | Varuzhan Akobian |
|
2610 |
| 3 | GM | Ray Robson |
|
2663 | ½ - ½ | GM | Aleksandr Lenderman |
|
2623 |
| 4 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura |
|
2790 | 1 - 0 | GM | Samuel L Shankland |
|
2648 |
| 5 | GM | Jeffery Xiong |
|
2588 | 1 - 0 | GM | Gata Kamsky |
|
2667 |
| 6 | GM | Alexander Onischuk |
|
2664 | 1 - 0 | IM | Akshat Chandra |
|
2501 |
Alexander Onischuk won against Akshat Chandra (Photo: Spectrum Studios)
Alexander Shabalov drew against Caruana (Photo: Lennart Ootes)
Women's Tournament
The Women's tournament (Photo: Austin Fuller)
Tatev Abrahamyan has a lot of fans (Photo: Lennart Ootes)
Irina Krush and... (Photo: Spectrum Studios)
... Anna Zatonskih drew (Photo: Lennart Ootes)
In the women's tournament Irina Krush played against Anna Zatonskih - and these two players have been dominating the US Women's Championship for the last ten years. But after they drew a long game Nazi Paikidze took the sole lead. She won against Jennifer Yu and is the only player with 4.0/5.
| Br. | Tit | Name | Coun | ELO | Ergebnis | Titel | Name | Coun | ELO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Irina Krush |
|
2458 | ½ - ½ | IM | Anna Zatonskih |
|
2469 |
| 2 | IM | Nazi Paikidze |
|
2346 | 1 - 0 | WFM | Jennifer R Yu |
|
2102 |
| 3 | WGM | Katerina Nemcova |
|
2367 | ½ - ½ | WGM | Tatev Abrahamyan |
|
2324 |
| 4 | Carissa Yip |
|
2109 | 0 - 1 | WIM | Agata Bykovtsev |
|
2176 | |
| 5 | WGM | Sabina Francesca Foisor |
|
2258 | ½ - ½ | WIM | Ashritha Eswaran |
|
2149 |
| 6 | FM | Alisa Melekhina |
|
2205 | 0 - 1 | FM | Akshita Gorti |
|
2242 |
Maurice Ashley with students and fans (Photo: Austin Fuller)
Jennifer Shahade and Yasser Seirawan in the chess studio (Photo: Austin Fuller)
Photos: Tournament page..
