American Cup, Day 8: Aronian and Caruana draw, Krush wins against Lee

by ChessBase
4/28/2022 – The finals of the American Cup kicked off with the first of two classical games in the matches between Aronian - Caruana and Krush - Lee. In the Open, Aronian (pictured) managed to build up a winning endgame advantage but faltered at the last moment, allowing Caruana to escape with a draw. Meanwhile in the Women’s Field, Krush displayed her strategic skill once again, outplaying Lee in the early opening and middlegame to take a 1-0 lead in the match. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams
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Day 8 Recap

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

CHAMPIONS BRACKET

ARONIAN - CARUANA | ½-½ 

A quiet Italian Game quickly turned incredibly sharp as Caruana opted to sacrifice a pawn in exchange for long-term pressure against White’s kingside. After a complex struggle Aronian managed to trade the queens off and go into an endgame, where he then sacrificed an exchange in order to win a second pawn. Although the position was tenable for Black, Caruana soon erred and found himself in a nearly lost position. But a last ditch effort by Caruana to create counterplay worked, as in time trouble Aronian missed his chance to achieve a winning ending and instead had to settle for a draw by repetition.

 

After Caruana’s 45…Bh4, White’s only win was 46.Ne2 Kxd8 47.Rd3+! followed by 48.Rd4. Instead Aronian played 46.N8e6, after which 46…Rg1+ 47.Ke2 Re1+ 48.Kd3 g6! saved the game for Black. | ½-½, 52 moves

 
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1.c4 0 e6 22 2.g3 32 d5 31 3.Bg2 7 d4 1:15 4.Nf3 41 c5 58 5.0-0 2:10 Nc6 1:35 6.e3 25 Nf6 50 7.exd4 22 cxd4 18 8.d3 0 Bd6 1:10 A13: English Opening: 1...e6. 9.Bg5 0 h6 1:07 10.Bxf6 4 Qxf6 9 The position is equal. 11.Nbd2 6       Qe7 2:13 12.Re1 8:24 0-0 5:21 13.Nb3 7:34 Qf6 7:54 14.Nfd2 2:52       Bc7 1:15 15.a3 4:18 a5 0 16.Nc5 1:11 Qe7 5:14 17.Na4 4:10 Bd7 5:12 18.Nb3 5:58
18...b6N 13:18 18...Rfb8= Predecessor: 18...Rfd8 19.Nbc5 Bc8 20.b4 axb4 21.axb4 Nxb4 22.Nxb7 Bxb7 23.Bxb7 Ra5 24.Be4 Qe8 25.Re2 Rb8 26.Nb2 Na2 27.Na4 Nb4 28.Nb2 Na2 29.Na4 Nb4 ½-½ (29) Lubbe,N (2427)-Can,E (2569) Reykjavik 2021 19.Bxc6 14:26 Bxc6 11 20.Nxd4 4 Bb7 1:20 21.Nb5 56 Qd7 0 22.Qe2 28 Rad8 2:42 23.d4 2:24 Qc6 6:31
Prevents f3. 24.f3! 0 Rd7 10:19 25.Kg2! 4:52 But not 25.Nxc7 Qxa4 26.Nb5 Ba6 25...Bd8 1:16 26.Nac3 1:53 Bf6 1:03 27.Rad1 3:20 Qc8 3:16 28.d5 0 Bxc3 4:57 29.Nxc3 28 exd5 28 30.Nxd5 1:33 Bxd5 34 31.Rxd5 2:00 Don't play 31.cxd5 Rfd8= 31...Rfd8 9:32 32.Qe4 0 b5 1:51
Black should try 32...Rxd5 33.cxd5 Qd7 33.Rxd7!± 1:29 0x0.0023821a128edp-1022s more active pieces. Don't take 33.Rxb5?! Rd4 34.Qe3 Qxc4 33...Qxd7 27       Endgame KQR-KQR 34.c5 24 b4 1:14 35.axb4 2:16 axb4 53       Black cannot hold the game after this. 35...Qd2+± 36.Re2 Qxb4 36.Qxb4+- 2:54 Qd2+? 35 36...Qd5 37.Re2 Qd3 37.Qxd2 6 White is clearly winning. Rxd2+ 6 KR-KR 38.Kh3 5 And now Rc1 would win. Rxb2 9 39.Rc1 4 Inhibits Rc2. Strongly threatening c6. Kf8 40 40.c6 1:22       White threatens c7 and mate. Rb8 13 41.Kg4 24 Ke7 1:41 42.c7 56 Rc8 0 43.Kh5 11 Kf6 1:10 44.Rc6+ 9 Ke5 27 45.f4+ 50       Kd5 33 46.Rc1 8 Kd6 30 47.f5 0 Ke5 30 48.g4 17 Kf6 31 49.Rc6+ 9 Ke7 28 50.f6+ 7 Kd7 32 51.Rc2 24 gxf6 12 52.Kxh6 13 Weighted Error Value: White=0.02 (flawless) /Black=0.29 (precise) 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2772Robson,R26761–02022A13American Cup Champions 20221.1
Dominguez Perez,L2752Shankland,S2708½–½2022C54American Cup Champions 20221.2
Shankland,S2708Dominguez Perez,L2752½–½2022B44American Cup Champions 20221.2
Xiong,J2686Caruana,F2792½–½2022A30American Cup Champions 20221.2
Sevian,S2684So,W2772½–½2022D35American Cup Champions 20221.2
Robson,R2676Aronian,L27721–02022A29American Cup Champions 20221.2
So,W2772Sevian,S26840–12022E48American Cup Champions 20221.3
Shankland,S2708Dominguez Perez,L2752½–½2022A56American Cup Champions 20221.3
Xiong,J2686Caruana,F2792½–½2022D00American Cup Champions 20221.3
Robson,R2676Aronian,L27720–12022A29American Cup Champions 20221.3
Caruana,F2792Xiong,J2686½–½2022C42American Cup Champions 20221.4
Aronian,L2772Robson,R2676½–½2022B50American Cup Champions 20221.4
Dominguez Perez,L2752Shankland,S27081–02022B90American Cup Champions 20221.4
Caruana,F2792Xiong,J26861–02022C10American Cup Champions 20221.5
Caruana,F2792Sevian,S2684½–½2022E49American Cup Champions 20222.1
Aronian,L2772Dominguez Perez,L27520–12022C42American Cup Champions 20222.1
Dominguez Perez,L2752Aronian,L2772½–½2022B12American Cup Champions 20222.2
Sevian,S2684Caruana,F2792½–½2022A33American Cup Champions 20222.2
Caruana,F2792Sevian,S26841–02022B06American Cup Champions 20222.3
Sevian,S2684Caruana,F27920–12022D02American Cup Champions 20222.3
Caruana,F2792Dominguez Perez,L27521–02022A33American Cup Champions 20223.1
Dominguez Perez,L2752Caruana,F2792½–½2022C50American Cup Champions 20223.2
Aronian,L2772Caruana,F2792½–½2022C54American Cup Champions 20224.2

Aronian will have to defeat Caruana in two consecutive matches to earn the title.

KRUSH - LEE | 1-0

In a repeat of the first game of their previous classical match, Krush was able to achieve a serious positional advantage right from the opening, this time a Reverse Benoni where Black lost several tempi compared to the usual line. From there it was smooth sailing for Krush, who simply improved her position until Black’s structure could no longer hold, and Lee’s kingside simply collapsed.

 

After 26.Qb6, White’s pieces were simply dominant across the whole board. | 1-0, 39 moves

 
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1.c4 4 e6 3 2.Nf3 9 d5 8 3.g3 8 a6 1:24 4.b3 3:06
4...d4N 2:47 Predecessor: 4...dxc4 5.bxc4 b5 6.Qb3 b4 7.a3 c5 8.d4 a5 9.axb4 cxb4 10.Bg2 Bb7 11.Nc3 ½-½ (31) Oparin,G (2652)-Dreev,A (2647) Sochi 2021 5.e3 1:00 c5 1:09 6.exd4 3:08 A13: English Opening: 1...e6. cxd4 5 Don't play 6...Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bb2 7.Bg2 2:13 Nc6 33 8.0-0 28 The position is equal. Bc5 5:10 9.d3 41 h6 1:29 10.Ba3 5:12 Bxa3 10:49 11.Nxa3 23 Nge7 9 12.Nc2 1:38 Qd6 2:10 13.Qd2 6:33 e5 3:36 14.b4 3:39 g5 6:42 14...0-0= 15.a4 6:22 Ng6 6:34 16.c5 1:43 Qc7 43 17.Na3 12:59 Be6 9:46 18.Qb2 46 0-0 2:21 19.Nd2 41 a5 3:25 19...Nge7 20.Nb5± 2:29 Qd7 3:41 21.bxa5 32 Rxa5 31 22.Nd6! 3:03 Rb8 2:36 23.Rfb1 4:54 0x0.0024a5c7450fdp-1022s more active pieces. Ra7 2:53
23...Nge7± 24.N2c4!+- 3:17 Bxc4 2:03 25.Nxc4 49 Nce7? 1:20 25...Nge7 26.Qb3 Qe6 26.Qb6 9:42 Nc8 44 27.Qf6 22 Qe8 5:28 28.a5 2:03 Threatens to win with a6. Kh7 13:52 29.a6 50 Nf8 3:22 30.axb7 46 Rxa1 1:48 31.Rxa1 2 Ra8 would kill now. Ne7 17 32.Nd6 1:39 Qd7 5 33.Qxf7+ 53 Kh8 5 34.Qf6+ 35 Kg8 9 35.Qxe5 38 35.Ra8 Qe6 36.Qxe6+ Nxe6 37.Rxb8+ Kh7 38.Re8 Kg7 39.Rxe7+ Kf6
40.b8Q! 35...Nfg6 1:01 36.Qxd4 21 White mates. Kh7 1:44 37.Ra8 1:17 Nf4 2:24 38.Qe4+ 1:46 Neg6 12 39.gxf4 42 Weighted Error Value: White=0.04 (flawless) /Black=0.69 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Krush,I2421Lee,A22371–02022American Cup Women Champions 20224.2

Today’s win put Krush another step closer towards the $25,000 1st place prize. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

Day 9 of the 2022 American Cup will take place Thursday, April 28 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.

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