So, Sevian Register First Wins; Caruana, Shankland Miss Golden Opportunities
GMs Wesley So and Sam Sevian notched wins with White in round two of the 2024 U.S. Championship and have taken an early half-point lead over the pack. So won a pawn against GM Christopher Yoo and never let it go, while Sevian played creatively to confuse GM Ray Robson in the opening.
The Women's event saw four decisive results transpire in round two, with IM Carissa Yip the only player to move to a perfect score. GM Irina Krush along with WGMs Atousa Pourkashiyan and Tatev Abrahamyan trail the defending champion by half a point.
Round three of the U.S. Championships starts on October 13 at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CEST/11:30 p.m. IST.
Round 2 Standings: Championship
Round 2 Standings: Women's Championship
U.S. Championship
In each of his previous title-winning runs (2017, 2020, and 2021), So won one of his first two games. Thus, a win with the white pieces against Yoo is an ominous sign for his competitors in Saint Louis.
The English Opening was So's weapon of choice against Yoo and by move eight the game entered new territory after Yoo opted to gambit his e-pawn to double So's central pawns.
So did what he does best and took preventative measures to ensure Black could not win the pawn back and, by move 15, he had consolidated his one-pawn advantage. From this moment on, both players played accurately, meaning So could eventually "transition into a technically-winning rook ending," according to commentator and GM Cristian Chirila.
The other decisive game of the day also saw an original opening play out, and this was intentional. Sevian revealed the following: "I've played Ray so many times that I decided to play something interesting in the opening and get a new, fresh position. It definitely worked out well because he was taking a lot of time."
The opening in question was the Jobava-Rapport London System and by move 11, Robson had chewed up almost an hour on the clock. Then, after a 17-minute think, Robson played the erroneous 11...Na5?, opening the floodgates for Sevian to attack.
GM Fabiano Caruana was left ruing what could have been after missing a golden opportunity to convert against one of the tournament favorites, GM Levon Aronian. Aronian elected to play the French Defense, an opening he seldom plays except during recent editions of Titled Tuesday, and Caruana quickly found himself with a healthy advantage.
Everything seemed to be tracking well for Caruana as he shifted his pieces to the kingside and opened up the board but when the critical moment came, the defending champion missed the picturesque 34.Ne6!!.
Of the remaining drawn games, GM Leinier Dominguez vs. GM Sam Shankland was the most interesting and the pair engaged in a theoretically-stimulating battle in the Sicilian Defense: Najdorf, English Attack. Dominguez deviated from the database first with 13.Be2 but Shankland managed to equalize and began pressing on the kingside.
Like in Caruana-Aronian, Shankland misplayed at the crucial moment and allowed Dominguez to secure a draw.
A heartbreaking moment for Sam Shankland, who had completely winning position vs Leinier Dominguez. Leinier found a great escape with Qg8!!#USChessChamps #chess #chesscom #chesspuzzle #heartbroke pic.twitter.com/gKTAOFhLK3
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 12, 2024
Round three will see So and Sevian take the black pieces against Shankland and GM Abhimanyu Mishra, respectively, while Robson and Yoo will aim to take resilience-driven shots at Caruana and GM Grigoriy Oparin.
U.S. Women's Championship
Yip's Olympiad form is showing no signs of slowing down and her latest win against FM Rose Atwell makes it four on the trot for the defending champion (Yip defeated GM Anna Ushenina and IM Meruert Kamalidenova in Budapest before arriving in St. Louis).
After playing what is already a contender for game of the tournament, Atwell, who Yip lauded as "one of the best of the new generation," was unable to reproduce her best chess against Yip. Following the game, the 15-year-old took to X to relay her thoughts.
I played IM Carissa Yip in round 2 of the US Women's Championship. I lost. I was white and I did a sort of double fianchetto setup. I was trying to avoid her opening prep. My position was good until I got my rook trapped. It was a foolish mistake. ☹️#USChessChamps pic.twitter.com/eyhm3cgHb0
— Rose Atwell (@atwell_rose) October 12, 2024
The experienced Krush was one of the three players to move to 1.5/2 after she found a killer blow against FM Megan Lee with less than two minutes on the clock.
See you if you spot the move that led to a win for the eight-time women's champion.
Meanwhile, WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova and IM Nazi Paikidze both failed to find the most precise continuations in equal endgames against Pourkashiyan and Abrahamyan and lost. Tokhirjonova in particular will be disappointed after winning her first game.
With half of round two's games ending decisively across the divisions the tournament is starting to heat up. Expect to see players lower down the leaderboard taking more risks as the rounds go on.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Katerina Nemcova and GMs Yasser Seirawan and Cristian Chirila.
See what happenedYou can follow the games from the U.S. Championships on our Events Pages: Open | Women.
The 2024 U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational classical event that determines the chess champion of the United States. The 2024 U.S. Women's Championship is being held concurrently. Both events start on October 11 and have the same format: a 12-player, 11-round tournament with a $250,000 prize fund for the U.S. Championship, and $152,000 for the U.S. Women’s Championship.
