2018 U.S. Championships

Drama unfolded during the playoff Monday in Saint Louis, as the best women chess players in the nation went head to head in a rapid chess match that was going to decide the victor.

The final round of the 2018 U.S. Chess Championships has been as explosive and exciting as one could have imagined. There were four players battling for glory going into today’s games: Sam Shankland, Fabiano Caruana, Annie Wang, and Nazi Paikidze. The outcome couldn’t be more dramatic!

The championship rounds are always the most promising. The tension, the suspense revolving around the result, all of these and more are what makes us love chess. With only one round to go, the stakes are at their peak, and the players will battle tooth and nail for the top spot in both divisions.

Another exciting round in Saint Louis, as the favorites to win the event have once again showed their good form and continued their respective streaks. The most important change after today is at the top of the open championship table, where Shankland is now the sole-leader.

In what was surely one of the most important, and explosive rounds of the tournament, the players kept the spectators on the edge of their seats until the very last game of the round was finished (over 6 hours of play, a record for this year’s championships). Both championships are heating up, and the heat of the competition is unraveling throughout the halls of the Saint Louis Chess Club.

The U.S. Championships delivers once again. As expected, the players returned to the board after the rest day with renewed energy and acute desire for winning. We are entering the last stretch and the games have been explosive; let’s get into the recap and see what happened in today’s crucial round!

Round six of the U.S. & U.S. Women’s Chess Championships has brought important changes to the top of the standings and has cleared the path for what will surely be an explosive finish in the second part of the event. The general consensus among chess players is that the day before the rest day is always filled with decisive results, this one was no different.

Today was a calm day in Saint Louis. The players seemed to have decided in unison to catch a breather, as eleven out of twelve games were drawn, with some of them being non-combative games. Let’s get right into the recap!

The fourth round couldn’t get any more shocking. Caruana lost after over pressing against the tenacious Izoria, while in the U.S. Women’s Championship the ladies were out for blood as they entertained the fans with six decisive results. Clearly this was the bloodiest round of the tournament. Let’s get right into the recap!

U.S. Championship

Caruana vs Izoria

The third round of the 2018 U.S. Champions once again was a delight to watch, as the players came well prepared and put up a great show for the fans. Their competitive spirit should be praised, as this round was peppered with great victories in both sections. Let’s get right into the recap!