Five players delivered their first wins in the 2021 US Chess national championships on Friday afternoon, tightening up races that show early signs of becoming fights to the finish.
Nobody’s perfect after three rounds in America’s chess capital — though everyone has points on the board — with lively wins by GMs Fabiano Caruana and Sam Sevian crowding them into a pack of four players who now lead the U.S. Championship at 2.0/3 in St. Louis. The 20-year-old Sevian, once America’s youngest National Master at 9, scored as Black in a Catalan against junior-rival GM Jeffery Xiong, while the World No. 2 Caruana shook off his rocky start in the national championship with a sparkling Ruy Lopez against GM John Burke on Friday.
WGM Tatev Abrahamyan scored her first win of the 2021 U.S. Women’s national chess championship, leaving behind her 0-2 start – and perhaps 1. e4 along with it – with a surprise 1. Nf3! against four-time Women’s champion IM Anna Zatonskih. Also posting her first win of the event was FM Thalia Cervantes, fresh off her debut on the U.S. National team and now playing in her first U.S. Women’s national championship live, joining a pack of four players chasing leader WGM Katerina Nemcova at 2.5/3.
Though perhaps not a pack for much longer. All four players in second place are set to square off in a pivotal fourth round on Saturday afternoon, with Cervantes taking Black against fellow junior star WIM Ashrita Eswaran, and a fireworks matchup between the U.S. Women’s top-two females, GM Irina Krush and IM Carissa Yip.
Saturday’s games of the 2021 US Chess national championships will begin at 1:00 p.m. central in the Saint Louis Chess Club and broadcast live alongside GM commentary by Maurice Ashley, Cristian Chirila and four-time US Chess Champion Yasser Seirawan on YouTube and the official event website.
Caruana’s start in St. Louis had looked shaky at best after sweating through two draws to kickoff the 2021 national championship, but on Friday the World No. 2 displayed a pure dominance over the 2020 U.S. Junior Champion. Burke as Black played into a favorite 5. d3 line in the Ruy Lopez but found himself strapped by pressure early, outplayed by a well-armed Caruana in a game that lasted just 29 moves.
Caruana-Burke qualifies as CLO’s Round 3 Game of the Day, annotated here by IM John Watson.
GM Dariusz Swiercz was another to notch his first win of the 2021 national championship, attacking GM Daniel Naroditsky’s Sicilian Dragon down a deep theoretical line in the Yugoslav on Friday afternoon. IM John Watson annotates again to walk us through the theory, and Sweircz’ perfect technique through an instructional bishops-of-opposite-color endgame.
Image CaptionGM Daniel Naroditsky hangs his head after a long theoretical battle with GM Dariusz Swiercz in the third round of the 2021 US Chess Championship. // photo Lennart Ootes, Saint Louis Chess Club
Cervantes took control of 2017 Women’s Champion WGM Sabina Foisor’s Semi-Slav on Friday, after Black surrenders the open d-file with 24. … Rg5. White’s rooks invade first on a battery up the middle, then they stack again along the 7th rank to apply serious pressure on the black king. With Foisor under clock pressure, Cervantes goes on to make permanent damage with several nice tactical shots before the time control. https://new.uschess.org/libraries/pgn4web/board.html?
The 2021 US Chess Championships are being played October 5-19 in the Saint Louis Chess Club, with rounds beginning daily at 1:00 p.m. central. Each round will be broadcast live alongside GM commentary by Maurice Ashley, Cristian Chirila and four-time US Chess Champion GM Yasser Seirawan, viewable on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel or the official event website.
Check CLO daily for round recaps and master analysis of the 2021 US Chess Championships.
