10/17/2024 – The fifth round of the US Championships was overshadowed by a serious incident. After Christopher Yoo was defeated by Fabiano Caruana, he lost his nerve: he crumpled up his scoresheet and then stormed out of the tournament hall. In the process, he punched a videographer in the back. The organisers notified the police and Yoo was expelled from the tournament. His previous results were cancelled, including his defeat against Caruana. Nevertheless, Caruana is in the lead with 3 out of 4 points, ahead of Awonder Liang and Hans Niemann with 3 out of 5. In the women's tournament, Carissa Yip continued her winning streak and claimed her fifth victory in a row. | Photo: Screenshot from the Siant Louis Chess Club webcast
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The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
The video does not show Yoo storming out of the tournament hall and the subsequent incident with the videographer. However, the tournament organisers released a statement shortly afterwards in which they described the incidents. They expelled Yoo from the tournament and banned him from the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Christopher Yoo - one of the greatest American talents
Born in 2006, 17-year-old Christopher Yoo was long regarded as one of the biggest talents in the United States. He won the IM title in 2019 and became the youngest American IM of all time, a record that was broken later that year by Abhimanyu Mishra.
Yoo became a grandmaster in 2021 and with a current Elo rating of 2590, he is currently ranked 19th among active players in the USA.
The game
The events after the game make it easy to forget how strongly Caruana played the game. He played with black and soon after the opening made a positional exchange sacrifice, forcing White to make one difficult decision after another. In the end, Caruana won the game with an outstanding mating attack.
After two draws at the start, this was Caruana's third win in a row, and it remains to be seen whether the drama surrounding Yoo upsets him and affects his game in the next rounds.
13...Nxe5!?Black's provocative and unusual opening suggests that Caruana wanted to win with Black. And so he seizes the opportunity to unbalance the position with a positional exchange sacrifice. The engines are not enthusiastic about this decision, but in the practical game it poses problems for White.14.Bxd8Nxd3+15.Qxd3Qxd816.0-0-0After16.Qxd8+Kxd817.0-0-0+Kc7the engines give White a clear advantage, but Black has a pawn and the exchange for the bishop pair. That gives him plenty of chances.16...Qc717.Kb1Be718.Rhe1g619.g3Kb820.Qe3Ba6After the exchange sacrifice Caruana has consolidated his position and is now trying to provoke a weakening of the white king's position.21.b3?!White lets himself be provoked.Better was21.Ne4Rf821...Bxc4fails because of the double attack22.Qc322.Qc3with an advantage for White.21...Bc822.f4h423.Qe5f624.Qe3hxg325.hxg3e5!White doesn't seem to have a clear plan and Black takes the opportunity to open up the position for his bishops.26.fxe5fxe527.Rh1Yoo did not want to take the pawn. After27.Qxe5Bf5+28.Ka1Qxe529.Rxe5Bf630.Re3Rh2the black bishops are strong and White has difficulties finding a move.27...Bc5
28.Qg5?This neglects the defence and allows the black queen to become active.Safer and better was28.Qe2Rf829.Ne4Bd4and Black has compensation for the sacrificed material.28...Rxh129.Rxh1Qd6!Black makes a devastating threat of 30...Qd3+ - and White can't adequately parry this threat.30.g4Qd3+31.Kb2Bd432.Rc1a533.a4Qe434.Qf6Kc7White has no counterplay and his king is very exposed.35.g5Qd3Threatening 36...Qd2+ gaining material, since 37.Rd2 fails to 37...Bxc3+.36.Qe7+Kb837.Qd6+Kb738.Qe7+Ka639.b4With the threat of 40.b5+ and mate. But Black can easily parry this threat and then exploit White's weakened king position.Qxc440.Qe8Qxb4+41.Ka2Qc4+42.Kb2Kb743.Qe7+Kb844.Qd6+Ka845.Qxg6Be6
White can no longer stop the mating attack.46.Rc2Qa2+47.Kc1Be3+48.Kd1Bg4+White resigned. Checkmate is coming in a few moves.0–1
The expulsion of Yoo from the tournament has thrown the results and table into disarray, as one player is simply missing.
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
And now Ba3! would win. White has more active pieces.21...Qc85:3422.Ba310:01Re8523.Qd32:1423.Bxe7±Rxe724.Rb523...Nc6!=3:07 The position is equal.24.Rc13:31Qe66:3425.Rxb71:18Nxe52:1526.dxe58Qxe52:2427.Rcc75:55Bxe32:4528.fxe36Qa1+3:3329.Rc11:51Qe5430.Rcc716Qa1+1:0131.Rc16Qe5432.Bb28:15Qe41633.Rd12:5333.Qxe4simplifiesNxe434.Rf1f635.Ra133...Qxd334.Rxd32Rxa44:4335.Bxf66gxf6436.Rxd57 Endgame. KRR-KRRRaa81737.Rdd71:01Rab81638.Rxf712
Things were less dramatic in the women's tournament. Carissa Yip continues to set the pace in that even: she claimed her fifth win in a row and is already 1½ points ahead of Tatev Abrahamyan, who is in sole second place with 3½ out of 5 points.
Johannes FischerJohannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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