Sam Shankland is the 2018 US Champion!

Open event

The United States has a new chess champion! Grandmaster Sam Shankland, the 26-year-old from Berkeley, CA became the first National Champion based out of the West Coast since Yasser Seirawan back in 2000.

Around that time I was living in the Bay Area and held a job at the Mechanics Institute Chess Club in San Francisco. I remember Sam as a teenager, who played in our weekend tournament, mostly rapids, and showed a great deal of talent, even if he seemed more interested in soccer than chess! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, as Sam was taking chess at his own pace, without being “over-coached” and result-oriented as many kids tend to be.

Over the subsequent years Sam's commitment to chess was tested a time or two, but despite occasional announcements of retirement, Shankland never quit. His game was growing at a steady pace as witnessed by his great play at the 2014 Tromso Olympiad. Along with his trademark sharp tactical eye, came both solid grasp of positional principles and a well-oiled comprehensive opening repertoire. By all counts Sam Shankland was ready for a breakout and it came not a moment too soon!

It wasn't a cheap win, either. While two of the Big Three, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So, struggled (the former to a greater degree than the latter), the remaining superstar, Fabiano Caruana, continued his hot streak from the Candidates and the Grenke Classic. The two leaders raced down the finish line at a breakneck speed.

Sam Shankland's performance was almost 2900, and it took him into the 2700 club for the first time | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Sam Shankland 1-0 Awonder Liang

Shankland's final scoreline stands out as one of the greatest of late: Six wins (four of them with Black!) and five draws without a single loss. It could have been even better had Sam converted the big advantage he had against both Caruana and Nakamura, while I cannot recall a single game where Sam stood significantly worse, with the possible exception of the Akobian game.

Play the Exchange Variation against the Caro-Kann

The Exchange Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3) is a simple and easy to learn answer to the Caro-Kann. By clarifying the central tension White gives himself a clear plan of attack using the half open e-file and the e5 square. This is far from easy for Black to meet as Bobby Fischer, Jan Timman, Walter Browne and other leading Grandmasters have demonstrated in their games. Black too has his resources but he needs to know what he's doing.

Along with the title come a nice check for US$50 thousand and over 30 rating points gained that propelled Shankland into the 2700 territory for the first time in his career. Fantastic job!

There was no shortage of chess fans to celebrate the event and their passion | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana quipped that he hadn’t expected his +5 score not to cut it, but he was very gracious in offering his congratulations to the new Champion. Fabiano has every reason to be happy with his own play, the last round game included.

Fabiano Caruana scored non-stop at the end to try and take the title. His last-round victory over Alexander Onischuk was testimony to this. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Alexander Onischuk

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Caruana takes home another rating gain, enabling him to stay within 20-something points of Magnus Carlsen. Soon they will be meeting again at Norway Chess, starting less than a month from now. Expect Magnus and Fabiano to go toe-to-toe all the way until their match in the fall, and what a great show that promises to be!

Although he did not win the US Championship, Fabiano Caruana can hold his head high with his excellent performance. In other years, his plus five score would have been good for the title. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In his quiet, almost invisible ways the last year's title holder Wesley So coasted to a third-place finish. Two resounding wins in the first two rounds didn't inspire Wesley to try harder, and a promising start was followed by nine draws. The final tally of +2 actually cost So 7.8 points pushing him further down the live rating list. We can take that as normal fluctuations, but far more alarming is Wesley's apparent lack of ambition, often mistaken by well-wishers for tranquillity. I'm no expert in spiritual ways, but I know for sure that no one ever achieved anything great in chess without giving it 100%. Blood, sweat and tears, man. Blood, sweat and tears.

In that respect, I wouldn't worry too much about Hikaru Nakamura, even if his result was more catastrophic, -18 rating-wise. Hikaru was just in bad form, possibly caused by relative tournament inactivity of late. While his peers were slugging it out at the Candidates, Hikaru was reduced to spectating. Gone was one of his favourite events, the Zurich Challenge. Nakamura, however, did a remarkable job of promoting chess in far corners of the world — give him credit for that.

I think once the Norway Chess rolls along, closely followed by the new cycle of the Grand Chess Tour, Hikaru will find himself back in his element. As nice as it would have been for Hikaru (and the same goes for Wesley and Fabiano) to add another US Championship title to his collection, it's more like ‘been there, done that’. Bigger players have bigger goals.

Back to the subject. The last round at the 2018 US Championship had its normal share of quiet draws, as many players just wanted to go home. One exception was the following sharp encounter.

Jeffery Xiong 0-1 Ray Robson

If we could only combine Robson's tactical mastery with Xiong's positional skills, we would have had... another Sam Shankland! Jokes aside, I firmly believe both Ray and Jeffery haven't said their last words yet.

My Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

The Italian Game is considered a sound but quiet opening without early trades, giving rise to rich positions where plans are more important than forced variations. So shows black's plans on this DVD.

Final standings

Games of round eleven

Women's event

While the men have sorted it all out, two of the ladies out there have some unfinished business to settle over a small matter of the National Championship. The 2016 Champ, Nazi Paikidze, and the revelation of the 2018 event, Annie Wang, will be facing each other in a playoff match on Monday.

Nazi Paikidze and Annie Wang ready themselves for the crucial last round | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Annie was ahead by half a point going into today's game, but, in all honesty, her play in the final stretch was a little sub-par. Two wins over Sharevich and Krush could have easily been two losses, while the draws held against Paikidze and Zatonskih were good, but not decisive for the outcome of the tournament.

The moment of truth arrived as Annie faced the defending Champion, Sabina Foisor.

Sabina Foisor 1-0 Annie Wang

A World Champion's Repertoire against the Queen's Gambit Declined

This DVD offers a complete repertoire for handling this solid opening, often featuring a dynamic approach to pose the opponent more practical problems. Both of the main continuations 3...Nf6 and 3...Be7 are covered in two separate parts.

Kudos to Sabina, who fought like a true champion in a situation where it hardly mattered for her tournament standing | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Paikidze had White against her former and current countrywoman, Rusudan Goletiani. Both hailing from Georgia, both are attractive and articulate young ladies, and both are great additions to American chess. A tense fight was on. A typical Scheveningen Sicilian setup promised chances for both sides, but at the end, just before the time control, the position appeared to be about even. A draw was agreed, setting up tomorrow's showdown.

Don't miss the playoff between the two leaders to decide the title of US Women's Champion | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Thanks to all the players, organizers and everyone involved in the 2018 edition of the U.S. Championships for the great show these tournaments have been. I can't wait for the next year's events already!

Final standings

Games of round eleven

Links

• Official site
• Watch Live
• The U.S. Championship begins
• Round 1: So and Akobian start with wins
• Round 2: US Champs: Two in a row for So and Akobian
• Round 3: US Championship: The leaderboard takes shape
• Round 4: US Championship: Caruana suffers shock loss 
• Round 5: The one that got away
• Round 6: Shankland in the lead
• Round 7: Caruana joins the lead
• Round 8: US Championship: Eight decisive games in Round 8
• Round 9: US Championship: Shankland and Wang sprinting to gold
• Round 10: US Championship: Caruana keeps it close