Fabiano Caruana wins American Cup!

by ChessBase
4/29/2022 – GM Fabiano Caruana clinched clear 1st place in the inaugural 2022 American Cup, after defeating GM Levon Aronian in the second classical game of the final. In the Women’s Field, GM Irina Krush completed her campaign for the title as well, securing the victory after drawing the second game in her match against FM Alice Lee. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
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Day 9 Recap

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

 

 

Open Field - Final Standings

Women’s Field - Final Standings

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

CARUANA - ARONIAN 1-0 

A quiet line of the English Opening saw the players reach a dynamically balanced middlegame, with the pair of bishops for Caruana in exchange for a more harmonious position for Aronian. But a practical mistake by Levon to trade queens left him in a surprisingly awkward endgame to defend. Aronian then attempted to fix his problems with a pawn sacrifice in order to build a blockade, but he simply wasn’t in time as Caruana’s king, rook and bishop had plenty of room to infiltrate. With an extra pawn and the more active pieces, Caruana showed flawless technique to win the game and the match without needing a playoff.

 

After 34.Bd4, White’s extra pawn, better king, and stronger minor piece secured a decisive advantage. | 1-0, 53 moves

Games of the final

 
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1.e4 4 e5 17 2.Nf3 7 Nc6 5 3.Bc4 0 Nf6 5 4.d3 6 Bc5 6 5.0-0 7 0-0 12 6.h3 5 d6 33 7.c3 11 a5 28 C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3. 8.Re1 6 h6 1:31 9.Nbd2 3:48 Be6 10 10.Bb5 15 Ba7 0 11.Nf1 1:13 Ne7 9 12.Ng3 40 c6 24 13.Ba4 5 b5 17
14.Bb3N 5:37 Predecessor: 14.Bc2 a4 15.d4 Ng6 16.Be3 Re8 17.b3 axb3 18.axb3 Qc7 19.Qd2 Bb6 20.b4 1-0 (68) So,W (2772)-Xiong,J (2687) Chess.com INT 2021 14...a4 13:07 15.Bxe6 7 fxe6 0 16.d4 1:05 Ng6 48 17.Be3 2:38 Nd7 4:33 18.Nh5 8:33 Nf4 6:56 19.Bxf4 17:00 exf4 5 20.e5 6 Qe8 0 21.Nh4! 2:56 f3! 38 21...g5 22.Qg4± 22.exd6 f3 22.Ng3 2:38 dxe5 6:06 White must now prevent ...fxg2. 23.Nxf3 7 Qf7 3:42 23...exd4 24.cxd4 Nf6 24.dxe5± 9:18 Nb6 3:49 25.Ne4 11:09 25.Ne2± 25...Nd5 2:51 26.a3 3:22 c5 17:53 Against Nd4 26...Nf4= keeps the balance. 27.Nd6 3:34 Qg6 59 28.Nh4 5:34 Qg5 55 29.Qg4 1:42 Qxg4 2:01 30.hxg4 2 c4 25 31.Nf3 4 Rf4 0 31...Rab8 32.Nxb5 2:31 Pair of Knights! Rxg4 0 33.Kf1 5:18 33.Nh2± Rf4 34.Re2 33...h5 0 33...Bc5! 34.Rad1 2:29 Bc5 46 35.Nbd4 5:57 35.Nd6 feels hotter. Nf4 36.Re4 Nd3 37.Nd4 35...Nf4 6 36.g3 2:16 36.Re4 looks sharper. Nd3 37.Nd2 Rf8 38.f3 36...Nd3 6 37.Rxd3 29 cxd3 4 38.Nxe6 4 Be7 3:04 39.Rd1 1:26 Kf7 3:00 39...h4= 40.Nf4 1:15 Keeping Black busy. Rd8 52 40...h4 41.Nd4 1:24 41.Nxh5 Rb8 41...h4 1:10 42.Rxd3 0 42.Nxd3 hxg3 43.Kg2 gxf2+ 44.Kxf2 g5= White should play 42.Kg2!+- 42...hxg3 36 43.Rf3 1:36 Nd5+ is the strong threat. White is more active. Don't do 43.fxg3 Bg5 43...gxf2 1:35 43...Ke8± was necessary. 44.Nfe6++- 1:15 44.Rxf2 Kg8= 44...Ke8 3 Threatens to win with ...Bh4. 45.Nxd8 40 Bh4 22
Hoping for ...Rg1+. 46.N8e6 2:56 46.Ne2!± Kxd8 46...Bxd8 47.Kxf2 47.Rd3+ 47.Rf4 Rxf4 48.Nxf4 Kd7± 47...Ke7 48.Rd4 Rxd4 49.cxd4 49.Nxd4 Bg5± 46...Rg1+= 5 The position is equal. 47.Ke2 3 Re1+ 23 48.Kd3 5 g6 58 49.Nc7+ 1:40 Kd8 4 50.Nce6+ 21 Ke8 0 51.Nc7+ 38 Kd8 4 52.Nce6+ 0 Ke8 20 White really could win this. Weighted Error Value: White=0.15 (very precise) /Black=0.19 (very precise) ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2772Caruana,F2792½–½2022American Cup Champions 20224.2
Caruana,F2792Aronian,L27721–02022American Cup Champions 20224.3

LEE - KRUSH | ½-½ 

Utilizing a solid variation of the Slav Defense, Krush gave up a tempo in the opening in order to saddle Lee with an isolated queen pawn. Needing a win to force a playoff, the up-and-coming prodigy tried various piece maneuvers but just couldn’t make headway against Krush’s defenses. As more pieces came off the board the position became more and more drawish, until eventually the players found themselves in a dead drawn king and pawn endgame.

 

The final position in Lee - Krush, where neither side could make any progress. | ½-½, 50 moves

Games of the final

 
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1.d4 3 d5 8 2.c4 3 c6 9 3.Nc3 5 Nf6 9 4.Nf3 16 dxc4 10 5.a4 2 e6 11 6.e3 1:41 c5 10 7.Bxc4 43 cxd4 10 Nowadays more popular than 7...Nc6. 8.exd4 1:46 Nc6 23 9.0-0 50 Be7 6 D16: Slav Defence: 5 a4: Lines with 5...Bg4 and 5...Na6. 10.Re1 7:45 0-0 23 11.Bg5 6:10 h6 31 12.Bh4 13 b6 41 13.Rc1 2:42 Bb7 33
14.Bf1N 16:59 14.Bxf6!? Bxf6 15.d5= Predecessor: 14.Bd3 Nb4 15.Bb1 Nh5 16.Re5 Bxh4 17.Rxh5 g6 18.Rb5 Nd5 19.Ba2 Nc7 20.Re5 0-1 (67) Korobov,A (2670)-Papin,V (2568) Moscow 2011 14...Rc8 2:28 15.Bg3 12:14 Nb4 3:03 16.Ne5 25 Nfd5 1:10 17.Qb3 3:03 Bg5 11:08 18.Rcd1 1:13 Qe7 3:14 19.Nc4 2:16
And now Bd6 would win. 19...Bf4 5:02 Against Bd6 20.Nb5 2:22 Bxg3 4:32 21.hxg3 1:02 Ba8 2:53 22.Be2 5:57 Rfd8 1:08 23.Rc1 1:44 a6 4:52 24.Nc3 1:59 Rc7 1:18 25.Red1 6:10 Rdc8 1:27 26.Ne5 1:24 Bb7 6:37 27.Bh5 1:51 g6 1:13 28.Bf3 18 Kg7 42 29.Rb1 8:11 h5 5:21 30.Ne2 5:31 a5 1:20 31.Rbc1 47 Rxc1 6:29 32.Rxc1 5 Rxc1+ 33 33.Nxc1 4 Qc7 5:19 34.Ne2 2:43 Nf6 2:53 35.Bxb7 32 The position is equal. Qxb7 2 36.Qc4 31 Ng4 2:58 37.Nxg4 1:18 hxg4 15 38.Nc3 5 Inhibits Qe4. Nd5 2:34 39.Nxd5 3:07 Qxd5 3 40.Qxd5 8 exd5= 6 Endgame KP-KP 41.Kf1 29 f5 42 42.Ke2 6 g5 41 43.f4 9 gxf3+ 1:08 44.Kxf3 12 Kf6 10 45.g4 14 f4 6 46.Ke2 3 Ke6 7 47.Kf3 4 Kf6 9 48.Ke2 3 Ke6 6 49.Kf3 4 Kf6 5 50.Ke2 46 Weighted Error Value: White=0.06 (flawless) /Black=0.06 (flawless) ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Lee,A2237Krush,I2421½–½2022American Cup Women Champions 20224.3
Krush,I2421Lee,A22371–02022American Cup Women Champions 20224.2

A stellar event for GM Irina Krush, who won every match without going to a playoff. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

The 2022 American Cup continues with a star-studded blitz event Friday, April 29 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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