American Cup, Day 6: Caruana and Krush qualify to the finals

By IM Kostya Kavutskiy
Press release of the Saint Louis Chess Center

In the Elimination Bracket, GM Levon Aronian defeated GM Ray Robson 2-0, while WGM Tatev Abrahamyan ended up winning a playoff against WGM Begim Tokhirjonova. Taking place tomorrow will be the finals of the Elimination Bracket, with Aronian facing Dominguez and Lee taking on Abrahamyan for one more chance at overall tournament victory.

Open Field - Champions Bracket

Women’s Field - Champions Bracket

Open Field - Elimination Bracket

Women’s Field - Elimination Bracket

CHAMPIONS BRACKET

DOMINGUEZ - CARUANA ½-½ 

Good preparation by Dominguez in the Italian Game earned him a serious advantage on the clock, as well as a clearly better position where he could play against Black’s isolated pawn. But a very practical pawn sacrifice by Caruana changed the character of the game, not letting Dominguez to simply improve his position. Dominguez was then unable to keep his edge as the players entered a rook and knight endgame where Black always had enough counterplay to survive. Further good defense by Caruana allowed him to hold the game, clinching the classical match 1.5-0.5.

23…e3! threw a wrench into White’s plans, as there was no comfortable way to capture the pawn. | ½-½, 56 moves

Games

LEE - KRUSH ½-½ 

Also needing just a draw to clinch the match was Krush, who opted for the solid Cambridge Springs Variation against her young opponent. Lee played quite solidly in the middlegame, but wasn’t able to outplay Krush, who slowly managed to trade down into a drawish heavy piece endgame. Krush even ended up with an extra pawn in a rook endgame, but the position offered no winning chances for Black and the players soon repeated moves to draw the game.

GM Irina Krush | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

Games

ELIMINATION BRACKET

ARONIAN - ROBSON 2-0

In a rematch of the Champions Bracket, Aronian started out the first playoff game with an interesting setup in a Reverse Benoni, forcing Robson to burn a lot of time in the opening. Unfortunately for Robson, his time-trouble would end up being the deciding factor in the match, as he eventually went down to 1 minute versus 15 and couldn’t maintain his accuracy. A few moves later, Aronian setup a nice tactic to win the exchange and converted the first game with ease.

37.Nxc5! was Aronian’s winning trick, with idea 37…Qxc5 38.d4 and 37…Qxf4 38.Nxd7+ | 1-0, 45 moves

In the second game Robson again started spending a lot of time out of the opening, looking to keep the position as complicated as possible. But Aronian played quickly and confidently, even sacrificing an exchange for a strong initiative on the kingside. Robson was then forced to enter a position with two rooks for the queen, but his king was too exposed and a further blunder allowed Aronian to win the second game as well.

GM Levon Aronian | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

Games

TOKHIRJONOVA - ABRAHAMYAN | 1-3

The initial two games in the Elimination Match both came down to a complicated rook endgame. First Abrahamyan missed a serious chance to win as Black, allowing a draw–then Tokhirjonova was better in the next game but couldn’t make anything of her advantage, leading to a 1-1 tie and forcing a playoff.

The first game of the playoff was quite a sharp struggle in the Italian Game, with very few pieces getting traded before the players entered time-trouble. As the clocks ticked down, the position opened up, with many possible tactics under the surface. A strategic blunder by Tokhirjonova allowed Abrahamyan to trade off the light-squared bishops, leaving Black’s kingside extremely vulnerable. Abrahamyan pounced on the chance and immediately decided the game with a powerful attack.

34.Qc2+! was the game-winner, taking control over the light-squares on the kingside. After 34…f5 35.Ne5+ Black could not go 35…Kf6 in view of 36.Nh5 mate! | 1-0, 36 moves 

In the second game Tokhirjonova got a bit of pressure as White out of the opening, but it was quickly neutralized as Abrahamyan was able to generate decent counterplay on the queenside. The players then traded down into a heavy-piece endgame where only Black (Abrahamyan) had chances to push for the win. In the ensuing time scramble Tokhirjonova ended up blundering her queen, and was forced to resign on the spot.

Abrahamyan vs. Tokhirjonova during their Elimination Match | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller

Games

Live commentary day 6 by the Saint Louis Chess Club

Day 7 of the 2022 American Cup will take place Tuesday, April 26 starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Alejandro Ramirez on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

Links

• Official page