The top three players in the first three rounds of the ongoing 2020 US Chess Championship continued their winning ways and have pulled away from the rest of the field after six rounds of play. The single round robin rapid event, being played at the lichess.org server, has three rounds per day schedule.
GMs Wesley So, Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson chalked two wins and a draw each from Rounds 4 to 6 to remain on top of the Category 17 (average Elo: 2666) tournament standings. Wesley, with 5½ points, holds a half-point lead over the two who have 5 points apiece. Both second seed Leiniei Dominguez Perez and third seed Hikaru Nakamura appear to be not in the best of form. Nakamura has drawn four games, lost one and won one. Perez fared worst with four draws and two losses. So far, the biggest upsets were made by Awonder Liang who battered Nakamura to submission in Round 6; and by Sam Sevian who trounced Perez in Round 2.
The winner of this event pockets $40,000; the second placer $25,000; third placer $16,000; fourth placer $13,000; fifth placer $11,000; sixth placer $9,000; seventh placer $8,000; eighth placer $7,500; ninth placer $6,500; 10th placer $5,500; 11th placer $4,500; and 12th placer $4,000.
Standings after Round 6: 1. So, 5½; 2-3. Xiong, Robson, 5; 4-6. Sevian, Shankland, Nakamura, 3; 7-8. Moradiabadi, Liang, 2½; 9-10. Dominguez Perez, Swiercz, 2; Lenderman, 1½; 12. Ramirez, 1.
Shankland, S (2691)-So, Wesley (2770) [E25]
lichess.org (4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Ne7 10.Be3 0-0 11.Qb3 Qc7 12.Bb5 e5 13.Ne2 Be6 14.c4 Nbc6 15.Nc3 Na5 16.Qb4 Nec6 17.Qa4 a6 18.Bxc6 Nxc4 19.Bxb7 Nxe3 20.Bxa8 Qxc5 21.Nd5 Nxg2+ 22.Kf1 Nf4 23.Qc6 Qa5 24.Rd1 Bxd5 25.exd5 Qxa3 26.d6 Qb2 27.Qe4 Qg2+ 28.Ke1 Qxh1+ 29.Kd2 Qxh2+ 30.Kc3 Ne2+ 31.Kc4 Nd4 32.d7 Qa2+ 33.Kc5 Qa3+ 34.Kb6 Qb3+ 0-1
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Xiong, J (2709) [A30]
lichess.org (4) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.e4 Bb4 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 d6 11.Bg5 Ne5 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Kh1 Bd7 14.f4 Ng6 15.Qh5 Kh8 16.Qh6 Qd8 17.Rad1 Qe7 18.Bc2 Rg8 19.Nd2 Rac8 20.Bb3 a5 21.a3 Rc5 22.e5 dxe5 23.Ne4 Bc6 24.Nxc5 Nxf4 25.Rxf4 Bxg2+ 26.Kg1 Qxc5+ 27.Rfd4 Rg6 28.Qe3 exd4 29.Rxd4 Qf5 30.Rf4 Qb1+ 0-1
Nakamura, H (2736)-Ramirez, A (2567) [B46]
lichess.org (4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qf3 d5 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.Be2 d4 10.e5 dxc3 11.exf6 gxf6 12.0-0 Bd6 13.Qxc3 Bb7 14.Bf3 Qc7 15.g3 Be5 16.Qc5 Bd6 17.Qc4 c5 18.Bxb7 Qxb7 19.Be3 Qb5 20.Qe4 Rc8 21.Rad1 Qc6 22.Qh4 Ke7 23.Rd2 Be5 24.c3 Rcd8 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Qxh7 c4 27.Qh5 Rd3 28.Re1 Qb5 29.Qe2 Qd5 30.h4 f5 31.h5 f4 32.gxf4 Bf6 33.Qg4 Qb5 34.f5 e5 35.h6 Rd8 36.Bg5 Qd5 37.Bxf6+ Kxf6 38.Qg7+ Kxf5 39.h7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Swiercz, D (2649) [D85]
lichess.org (5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Rc1 0-0 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Qd2 Bg4 11.d5 b5 12.Bd3 Nd7 13.c4 b4 14.0-0 Qc7 15.Ne1 Nb6 16.f4 Bd7 17.f5 Na4 18.Nf3 Nc3 19.Bh6 a5 20.e5 Bxe5 21.Nxe5 Qxe5 22.Rce1 Qd4+ 23.Be3 Qg7 24.Bh6 Qd4+ 25.Be3 Qg7 26.Bxc5 Rfc8 27.Bxe7 Qd4+ 28.Kh1 Bxf5 29.Rxf5 gxf5 30.Qg5+ Qg7 31.Qxf5 Re8 32.d6 Rad8 33.c5 a4 34.Re3 Ne2 35.Bxe2 1-0
Sevian, S (2660)-Robson, R (2673) [E73]
lichess.org (6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.d5 Ne5 8.h3 e6 9.f4 Ned7 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.g4 b6 12.Qc2 Bb7 13.0-0-0 Nc5 14.Bf3 Nfd7 15.e5 Qe7 16.exd6 cxd6 17.Bxb7 Nxb7 18.Nge2 Rac8 19.Qd3 Ndc5 20.Qc2 Na5 21.Bd4 Nxc4 22.Kb1 d5 23.f5 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Ne3 25.Qd2 exf5 26.Nf4 Nc4 27.Qg2 Ne4 28.Ncxd5 Ncd2+ 29.Ka1 Qc5 30.Ne2 f4 31.b4 Qc2 32.Rc1 Qxc1+ 33.Nxc1 Rxc1+ 34.Kb2 f3 35.Qh2 Rb1+ 36.Ka3 f2 37.Ne7+ Kf7 38.Qf4+ Ke8 39.Qe5 Rf3+ 40.Ka4 b5+ 41.Ka5 Ra3+ 42.Kxb5 f1Q+ 43.Kc6 Qf6+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.e4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb7/f7/c6/xe6 2.S(x)c6#; 1…g5 2.Sf5#; 1…dxe4 2.Rxe4#; 1…fxe3 e.p. 2.Qxe3#; 1…Sb3/d3/a2/e2 2.S(x)e2#./PN
