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Team USA defeated Uzbekistan 14–10 in the WR Chess Rapid & Blitz Miami event, securing the match with one round still to play. The Americans had established a 5–3 advantage during Monday's rapid section and extended their lead by winning the blitz phase 9–7 on Tuesday.
The second day consisted of eight four-board blitz matches, each played at a time control of 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment. The United States won four of those rounds, while Uzbekistan took three and the final encounter ended in a draw. Several of the match results turned on isolated errors in otherwise closely contested games.
Uzbekistan immediately erased the deficit carried over from the rapid section. Nodirbek Abdusattorov scored the only decisive victory of the opening blitz round, defeating Hikaru Nakamura and bringing the overall match level.
The United States responded by winning rounds two and three, getting a four-point advantage. Uzbekistan then produced its strongest sequence of the day, taking rounds four and five by 3–1 scores. Those back-to-back victories brought the overall contest level again and left the outcome open with three rounds remaining.
The decisive shift came in rounds six and seven. Team USA won both matches and moved to an unassailable 13–9 lead, thereby clinching the contest with one round to spare. Although the result had already been decided, the teams completed the programme, drawing the final round 2–2 to establish the final 14–10 score.
Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov recorded the strongest individual results, each scoring 7½ points from 12 games for Uzbekistan. Their performances were not enough to compensate for the greater overall stability of the American lineup across the two days.
With the exception of Leinier Dominguez, who finished on 1½/7, the United States players all ended the match with positive individual scores (either plus-one or plus-two). That consistency proved decisive in a format in which each four-board round was scored as a separate team match, making collective performance more important than the highest individual totals.
The lineups also provided a point of comparison ahead of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand in September. Uzbekistan fielded its full national team, while the American squad included three players that will be present in the Olympiad, with Hans Niemann and Awonder Liang set to replace Nakamura and Dominguez.
White is better in the following position, and can keep his advantage with either 53.Nxb4 or 53.Qd6. However, instead of gaining a pawn or inviting a queen trade, Nodirbek Yakubboev continued to look for a way to get a checkmating attack with 53.Nf6??. But it was Black who went on to win by attacking the opposite monarch.
Caruana now got a winning advantage with 53...Qc8, since Qh6-f6+ is not available for White now. After 54.d5, Black infiltrated via 54...Qc2+ and played twelve checks in a row until mating the white king stuck in the centre.
Fabiano Caruana in action | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
In the following position, it is Black who is for choice, but Nodirbek Abdusattorov's 37...Rxe4?? quickly lost the game (37...Qxe4 was an only move).
Hikaru Nakamura had no trouble finding 38.Rb8+, which prompted his opponent's resignation. There is no defence against 38...Bf8 39.Qh6.
Hikaru Nakamura alongside a group of Uzbek fans! | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
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