3/22/2019 – In the second round of the US Championships, Wesley So showed flashes of brilliance against Timur Gareyev, giving a master class in the endgame with rook and knight against rook and knight. Just when everyone thought it was a draw, that's when the struggle really began. So now leads alongside Sam Sevian and Jeffrey Xiong. Carissa Yip and Jennifer Yu in the Women's Championship are now the only two players in either tournament to remain with a perfect score. | Photo: Justin Kellar
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Wesley So published two new opening DVDs: 1.b3, the so called Nimzo-Larsen-Attack, for White and his black secrets in the modern Italian. Get them in a package and save money!
The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3.
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Let's go Bogo vs So
In the second round of the US championship Timur Gareyev met Wesley So, the 2017 winner and one of the favorites, and "surprised" chess fans by playing a completely "normal" opening: the Bogo-Indian defense.
The former US Champion failed to achieve a significant advantage in either the opening or middlegame against the unpredictable Uzbek.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.g3 Bxd2!? 6.Qxd2 Nc6! 7.Nc3 d5! is a modern line where Black tries to play actively in the center. Shah shows the possible variations which occur in this position.
Flying in: Gareyev turns heads with his chess attire | Photo: Justin Kellar
Tap into your creative mind and start the game on a fresh note. The Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) is an opening outside of conventional wisdom. Create challenges and make your opponent solve problems early on.
When a perfectly balanced endgame with a rook and a knight against rook and knight arose, you'd be forgiven for expecting an imminent handshake. But you'd be wrong!
We're not heading for a draw? Nope! In fact, now the game became really interesting. A few moves later this position was on the board.
Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".
The task certainly has become more difficult for Black, though not impossible. But now his opponent shocked him with 47.♘f6! When the black rook moves, 48.♘g8 follows and the f8-knight is lost. After 47...♚xf6 (47....gxf6 48.g7) 48.♖xf8 ♚e7 49.♖f7+ Gareyev played ♚d6. Far better is 49...♚e8 with good drawing chances. The game continued with 50.♖xg7 ♜xh5 and now 51.♖d7+!, after which the g-pawn cannot be stopped. The resulting position with e6-pawn rook against the queen was not holdable for Black.
Tap into your creative mind and start the game on a fresh note. The Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) is an opening outside of conventional wisdom. Create challenges and make your opponent solve problems early on.
Sam Sevian also joined the leaders getting his first win of the tournament against Awonder Liang. After castling on opposite wings, both sides were attacking but White landed the first blow.
Actually, here White missed his chance to drop the hammer with 33.Nf6+! deciding the game on the spot. The king, denuded of defenders, won't survive for long. However, he first played 33.♖g1 and after 33...♜xe5 34.dxe5 ♕e2 35.♕g4 g6 36.♘f6+ ♚h8 37.♕e4 went into a promising endgame.
"Did you hand in your phone, Sam?" — Cristian Chirila (not really) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Results of Round 2
All games
Standings after Round 2
Women's Championship
In the women's championship, unlike yesterday — a true bloodbath — this time there were also "only" two decisive games. First, Carissa Yip won with Black against Akshita Gorti in unconventional fashion.
White gave up after 23...♝f5. But why? Gorti had missed that after 24.♕c1 and ♝xb1 she has 25.♗f3 ♛d3 26.♗a5 regaining the material.
Jennifer Yu also won against Ashrita Eswaran as Yu better handled the tactics in a complicated middlegame. Yip and Yu now lead the field with two wins.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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