On to the Gukesh era...

Carissa Yip continues her dominant run at the US Women's Chess Championship, defeating Atousa Pourkashiyan with the black pieces in round 8. Yip's eighth straight win puts her just three victories away from claiming the $64,000 Bobby Fischer prize, awarded to any player who achieves a perfect 11/11 score in the US Championships. With a 2½-point lead over her nearest rival, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Yip is on track to secure her third US women's title, as she might secure victory as early as Monday, two rounds before the event's conclusion.

After her seventh consecutive win, Yip had cheekily mentioned being in her "Fabi era", referencing Fabiano Caruana's impressive 7-game winning streak in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup. Now, after matching Indian prodigy Gukesh's achievement of 8 wins in a row at the 2022 Chennai Olympiad, Yip has her sights set on the "Bobby Fischer era." She is just three wins away from repeating Fischer's legendary perfect score from the 1963/64 US Championship.

Yip realised one of her chess heroes, Garry Kasparov, had shared a post on X about her achievement in this tournament - and she gladly replied:

Attacking with the Jobava London System

The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.

Round 8 also saw two more decisive games, with Alice Lee beating Irina Krush and Tatev Abrahamyan overcoming Rose Atwell, both with the white pieces. Lee's victory over the 8-time US women’s champion moved the 14-year-old into sole third place, half a point behind Tokhirjonova. Lee's upcoming matches could play a crucial role in determining the final standings, as she faces Anna Zatonskih, Tokhirjonova and Yip in the final three rounds.

Alice Lee defeated Irina Krush | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In the eighth win obtained by Yip, her opponent, Pourkashiyan, faltered by giving up an exchange on move 19.

19.e5 turned out to be a mistake due to 19...c4 20.exf6 cxd3 21.Qxd3 Bxh1 22.fxe7 Rfe8 23.Rxh1 Rxe7, and Black emerged with an exchange for a pawn and the safer king.

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

The encounter continued until move 50, when Pourkashiyan resigned the game in a position with mate-in-8 on the board.

Atousa Pourkashiyan playing white against Carissa Yip | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 8 results

Standings after round 8

All games

Niemann scores the only win of the round

While Carissa Yip chases a perfect score in the women's section, Fabiano Caruana continues his pursuit of a third consecutive national title at the US Chess Championship (which would be his fourth overall). Caruana drew with second seed Wesley So on Saturday, keeping his half-point lead over Awonder Liang - and now Hans Niemann - in the standings.

Hans Niemann, tied with Liang for second place, was the only player to score a full point on Saturday. Niemann defeated Abhimanyu Mishra with white after Mishra blundered in a technical rook endgame while under severe time pressure. Unlike Liang, Niemann will have a rest day on Monday, as he was scheduled to face Christopher Yoo - Yoo was expelled from the event a few days ago. Niemann's final two games will see him play Grigoriy Oparin and Sam Sevian, as he fights to secure his first-ever US Championship title.

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

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 ninth round on Monday will feature a crucial match between Caruana and Liang, with the defending champion playing white. Caruana, known for his deep opening preparation, will have a rest day to prepare for this pivotal encounter that could prove decisive in the race for the championship title.

Defending champion and sole leader Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Abhimanyu had merely 44 seconds to Niemann's 27 minutes when the youngsters reached the following position amid a technical endgame with a rook and a pawn per side.

68...Kf5 is a one-move blunder that loses the game, when the only move that keeps the balance is 68...Kf6. After 69.e7 Ra6+, White got to play 70.Kd5, and 70...Ra5+ can be replied by 71.Kd4, escaping the checks.

Note that after 68...Kf6 69.e7 Ra6+ (diagram below) White cannot play 70.Kd5 due to 70...Kxe7, with a draw.

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

A post-mortem discussion - Hans Niemann and Abhimanyu Mishra | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Before the round - Hans Niemann and Wesley So facing off in a rock, paper, scissors duel | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 8 results

Standings after round 8

All games

Links

• Official site
• Reports from previous editions: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019