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By IM Kostya Kavutskiy / Saint Louis Chess Club
The 2023 American Cup Finals kicked off in exciting fashion with the first games between Hikaru Nakamura against Wesley So and Irina Krush against Alice Lee. In the open, Nakamura sacrificed his queen for two rooks in a roller-coaster game that would ultimately end in a draw. Meanwhile, Krush took a 1-0 lead after winning a very sharp first game as White.
In this unique double-elimination format, the losers of each match get relegated to the Elimination Bracket, where they get a second chance to continue the tournament.
What started out as a relatively quiet English Opening heated up rather quickly, as Nakamura blasted things open with multiple pawn breaks in the center. A few moves later, Hikaru decided to sacrifice his queen, leaving himself two rooks and a bishop against So’s queen and knight. With several possible mating nets and a strong passed pawn, Nakamura then sacrificed his bishop as well, leaving Black’s king and knight paralysed, but it wasn’t winning on the spot as So could still defend.
31.h4!! was an incredible shot from Nakamura, with the idea of 31…Nxf1 32.Rg5!+- (and Bg7 mate next).
A tremendously complicated position arose, where Wesley then missed a chance to consolidate his material advantage and possibly win the game, instead letting Nakamura off the hook with a draw and ending with an unexpected stalemate.
Opening package: 1.b3 and Black Secrets in the Modern Italian
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48…Qxh4+! forced a fantastic stalemate on the board, as So realized he had no more chances to win.
One of the wildest games of the tournament | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
In a rematch of last year’s final, Krush started with 1.c4, against which Lee chose a very modern pawn sacrifice, leading to a chaotic middlegame with opposite sides castling. But Lee then made a critical mistake in trading off her light-squared bishop, giving Krush total control over the light squares. From there, Irina nicely side-stepped Black’s attack while advancing her own initiative. As White’s attack was breaking through, Lee was forced to give up material, and Krush navigated the complications well to emerge with an extra piece.
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After 33.b5, Krush’s attack was simply decisive, with Black having no threats against White’s king to compensate for the material.
Alice Lee | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
The 2023 American Cup continues Saturday, March 25 with tournament action starting at 1:20PM CT, with commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Jovanka Houska on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.
