US Champ R3: Sevian defeats Top Ten

The 2015 U.S. Championship is an elite national championship event, featuring 12 of the strongest chess players in America. Over the course of eleven rounds, these competitors will battle for $175,000 in prize money, qualification into the World Championship cycle, and the coveted title of 2015 U.S. Champion.

U.S. Chess Championship - Round Three

What an amazing round! Last minute blunders, excellent preparations, big turn around. Every round in the U.S. Championship gets better and better!

The Kingside Diner is now a restaurant that belongs to the Chess Club

Onischuk, Alexander ½-½ Troff, Kayden
A game that is extremely difficult to understand. Onischuk popped an absolutely beautiful tactic (19.Nd4!!) and obtained a crushing position. His passed pawn on d7 gave him an easily winning advantage. Black was crushed, basically in a resignable position. White had several ways of winning, both trying to push the pawn to d8 ripping apart the blockade. Also perfectly possible was to go after the weakened black king and try to checkmate it, but Onischuk managed to do neither. Troff pulled a complete miracle and somehow survived after perhaps one of Onischuk's worst games in the last many years.

Alexander Onischuk was visibly upset after his game

Holt, Conrad 0-1 Robson, Ray
Excellent preparation, understanding and calculation from Ray Robson!

Robson chilling with the audience after a great game

Akobian, Varuzhan ½-½ Gareev, Timur
The game had an interesting start, with 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 h6!?!? 3.e4 g5!?. Unfortunately it was not very interesting after that. The position became some kind of Benoni structure that was eventually drawn.

Timur Gareev took the business casual attire very much on the casual side

Kamsky, Gata ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Miracles happen!

What a game! Kamsky mentioned that he felt lost most of the game,
but finally felt that after Qb1 he could not lose the game.

So, Wesley 0-1 Sevian, Samuel
Without a doubt the game of the day!

Wesley So was pleasant and in good spirits even after his loss, saying that the opening choice was probably not good as his preparation was not good enough to play such a sharp line. He gave a short interview with Maurice Ashley after the game. His sportsmanship is incredibly high!

Wesley So resigns to Samuel Sevian, and the players sign the scoresheets. At age 14 years
and three months, Sevian is probably the youngest player ever to beat a Top Ten player at
standard time control.

Maurice Ashely quips, "The man of the hour! Except he's only fourteen."

Naroditsky, Daniel ½-½ Shankland, Sam
Another fascinating game. It might make game of the day if there hadn't been three other fabulous games to look at. A complicated Grunfeld ended in an exciting perpetual. It is definitely a game worth reviewing.

Shankland came to the commentary room after the game, and admitted that he was worried through most of the game about being checkmated, but the computer said that both him and Naroditsky played a fantastic game in a very sharp position.

Pairings Round Four

The absolute highlight of the tournament! Hikaru Nakamura vs. Weslsey So showdown will be tomorrow! Make sure not to miss the action on the official website or www.playchess.com

Round three games

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Standings

U.S. Women's Championship - Round Three

Abrahamyan, Tatev 1-0 Virkud, Apurva
Coming back from two losses to start the tournament, one of the favorites of the tournament - Tatev Abrahamyan - absolutely crushed her opponent in a sharp Najdorf. A good learning experience for the teenage player.

An important victory for Tatev Abrahamyan, getting much needed confidence back

Yu, Jennifer ½-½ Melekhina, Alisa
An interesting English with many positional concepts. Both players handled it relatively well, but Melekhina just played it a bit more precisely. She got a slight edge, but it was never too big. Yu was able to hold the draw.

Jennifer Yu starts with 50% in her first championship

Nemcova, Katerina 1-0 Wang, Annie

Katerina Nemcova is tied for first with 2.5/3

Foisor, Sabina 1-0 Sharevich, Anna
Foisor obtained a very nice position from her London set up. Sharevich found herself in a bad position as her light-squared bishop was not as strong as White's knight, and Foisor slowly but surely improved her position until she won.

Anna Sharevich was unable to keep up positionally with her opponent

Ni, Viktorja 0-1 Goletiani, Rusudan
An almost ridiculous game from White, where basically every move she played was bad. She was appropiately squashed positionally and tactically.

Paikidze, Nazi 1-0 Krush, Irina
A fabulous attack by the newcomer from Georgia to the American federation, beating the reigning US Champion!

Pairings Round Four

Round three games

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Standings

Joshua Friedel Josh was born in 1986 in New Hampshire, USA and is currently living in Wisconsin. He obtained his international master title in 2005 and his grandmaster in 2008. He has participated in six US Championships, including a tie for fourth in 2008. Major Open tournament victories include: the 2003 Eastern Open, 2005 Berkeley Masters, 2008 National Open, 2009 Edmonton International, 2009 North American Open, 2010 Saint Louis Open, 2010 American Open, 2013 Chicago Open. Josh will be annotating the games for the Saint Louis Chess Club.

Photos by Lennart Ootes

Links Official tournament site All Open games in PGN All Women games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.