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U.S. CHESS CHAMPS

HOME OF U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS & THE COUNTRY’S TOP PLAYERS

2021 U.S. & U.S. Women’s Chess Championships – Day 6 Recap

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Grandmasters Ray Robson and Alex Lenderman remained as leaders of the U.S. Championship after their individual encounter ended in a hard-fought draw. With 4.0/6 the two leaders are chased by GM Wesley So, GM Leinier Dominguez, and GM Sam Sevian, who stunned GM Fabiano Caruana in today’s round.

In the U.S. Women’s Championship, both IM Carissa Yip and WIM Ashritha Eswaran won their games today to catch WGM Katerina Nemcova at the top of the standings with 4.0/6. Just a half-point behind are former champions GM Irina Krush and IM Nazi Paikidze, currently sitting on 3.5/6.

Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. The time control for the event is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an additional 30 second increment per move starting from move one.

U.S. Championship – Standings after Round 6

U.S. Women’s Championship – Standings after Round 6

2021 U.S. Championship

All eyes were on the battle of the leaders today as GM Ray Robson and GM Alex Lenderman squared off in today’s contest. With Lenderman surprising Robson in the opening and remaining in prep for quite a while, he was able to amass over an hour extra on the clock, along with what seemed to be a more comfortable endgame with the advantage of the two bishops. Despite the severe time-trouble Robson managed to hold the balance, and was never in serious danger of losing, achieving the draw shortly after the first time control.

After 16…0-0-0 it looked like Lenderman was in complete control, with the e6-pawn soon falling and Black having a powerful bishop pair. | ½-½, 46 moves

The two leaders did not disappoint, with a game that was intriguing until the end. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

The draw opened up the chance for either So or Dominguez to catch the leaders, but their game featured an incredibly solid Queen’s Gambit Accepted and was drawn without many fireworks. In the meantime GM Jeffery Xiong failed to convert a winning advantage against GM Dariusz Swiercz, while 2018 U.S. Champion GM Sam Shankland blundered a pawn early on against GM John Burke but managed to turn things around and even win a drawish rook endgame.

But the biggest result of the round was undoubtedly GM Sam Sevian’s shocking upset over GM Fabiano Caruana, dealing the U.S. No. 1 his second straight loss in the tournament. Caruana started out with a risky approach against the Four Knights Scotch, and then fell seriously worse after playing too loosely in the center and kingside. Sevian was able to pick up multiple extra pawns and then survived a tense time-scramble to end up in a completely winning endgame after the time control was reached.

After Sevian’s 27.e5, Caruana tried to create counterplay along the g-file, but White had everything under control, as 27…Bxg2? could be met with 28.Rxf7! Qxf7 29.Qh6++- | 1-0, 42 moves

Sevian showed no fear in today’s game against the top seed. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

2021 U.S. Women’s Championship

While tournament leader WGM Katerina Nemcova was unable to create any winning chances against WGM Thalia Cervantes, eventually drawing, #2 seed IM Carissa Yip bounced back from yesterday’s loss to defeat WGM Anna Sharevich and regain her share of first. Yip was in trouble early on in her game, but after surviving White’s early initiative she managed to overtake the advantage and eventually convert.

After 7…h6 Sharevich could have gone for the kill with 8.e5, but instead played 8.Nd5?! Qd8 9.Bc3, allowing Black to survive the opening. | 0-1, 49 moves

A determined IM Carissa Yip recovered nicely from her Round 5 loss. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

WIM Ashritha Eswaran also won her game to join the leaders with 4.0/6, defeating WIM Megan Lee after seizing the initiative in the early middlegame. With Eswaran’s dark-squared bishop dominating the board, Lee simply couldn’t defend the many weaknesses in her position, and eventually blundered a piece in a difficult position.

26.Nxc6! was the final move of the game, winning a piece after 26…bxc5 27.Nxe7+ | 1-0, 26 moves

WIM Ashritha Eswaran has yet to lose a game, but will be facing several of the top seeds in the final rounds. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

The other encounters saw Foisor-Krush and Paikidze-Abrahamyan ending with a peaceful result, while four-time U.S. Women’s Champion IM Anna Zatonskih finally turned her luck around, outplaying WGM Begim Tokhirjonova in a strategically complex Grunfeld Defense.

Round 7 of the 2021 U.S. & U.S. Women’s Chess Championships will take place Wednesday, October 13 starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley and Cristian Chirila on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

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