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One tournament ended and the other one continues tomorrow! The U.S. Women’s Championship declared its winner, and it is none other than the sensation of the tournament, Sabina Foisor! Sabina played a brilliant game and finished Virkud in style, while Nazi started well but failed to keep the pace and got slowly outplayed by the legend slayer, Jennifer Yu (she beat Nazi, Irina, and Anna). In the open section, it was a fairly quiet day, with Wesley So making a pragmatic decision and repeating moves in the opening. 

If the Open section gave us the biggest surprises in round nine, the show in round ten was stolen by the women, who produced two decisive results in the biggest clashes of the round. Nazi Paikidze dodged a huge bullet when she defeated Tatev Abrahamyan after being completely lost once the opening ended. In the other important clash, Sabina Foisor managed to climb her way back up in a worse middle game and outplay Zatonskih after the latter once again fell into a challenging time trouble situation.

If the previous rounds have not kept you on the edge of your seat, round 9 surely did. Today’s round will live in history as arguably the bloodiest round, with both Nakamura and Caruana crumbling under pressure in vivid fashion. In the women’s section, the leaders failed to produce any fireworks, but it was the experienced Zatonskih who amazed the crowd with her fearless and knowledgeable chess game. Let’s delve into today’s recap!

The 2017 U.S. Championships are heading into their last rounds, and the battle for top position is heating up more each day. In the open division, Wesley So is still leading, but another competitor has emerged on the horizon. Var Akobian dropped the hammer on yesterday’s hero, Yaro Zherebukh, and leap frogged him after a sound strategic victory. He is now joint leader alongside So and will go into the championship rounds as one of the favorites to win it all. Caruana was quick to recover after his painful loss and blew Daniel Naroditsky off the board after a powerful show of dynamic chess. In the women’s section, Nazi drew the wildcard Maggie Feng and allowed Sabina Foisor to catch her at the top of the table. Let’s get into the recap!

Round 7 of the U.S. Championships was a shocker! How else can you call a round in which the number three in the world and reigning champion gets defeated by the wildcard? Yaroslav Zherebukh produces the surprise of the tournament after a majestic performance against Caruana. In the women’s section, Nazi uses her unbeatable charisma to get away with a draw in a very shaky position. 

Today was the day after the free day, the day for which players have the most time to prepare for, the day where the biggest volume of opening novelties get released. That was what everybody expected going into round 6 of the 2017 U.S. Championships, and that was the product that was delivered! Wesley So fell under severe pressure after Akobian unleashed a deep and dynamic opening idea; in the women’s section, Nazi mastered the endgame and outplayed her biggest rival, Irina Krush, in the battle of the leaders.

It is a well-known fact in the chess world, every player wants to go into the free day on a high note. This usually translates into sharp games that lead to decisive results. That was my prediction at the beginning of the round and the players did not disappoint. 

It was a sunny day in Saint Louis as the players arrived one by one for round 4 of the 2017 U.S. Championship & U.S. Women’s Championship at the Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center. 

In the longest and bloodiest round so far at the U.S. Championships, the leaders in both section had a difficult time dealing with the pressure. In the open section, Wesley So fell behind early in the game and had to pull a Houdini escape in his game against Fabiano Caruana.

Round 2 of the U.S. Championships was once again filled with great battles.