The 2020 US Chess Championship was underway Oct. 26 at St. Louis, Missouri, United States, with 12 of the strongest chess players in America battling for a chunk of the $150,000 prize money plus the title of 2020 US Chess Champion.
The Category 17 (average Elo: 2666) single round robin, all-GM, rapid play (25 minutes base plus five seconds increment) event features Wesley So (2770), Leinier Dominguez (2758), Hikaru Nakamura (2736), Jeffery Xiong (2709), Sam Shankland (2691), Ray Robson (2673), Sam Sevian (2660), Dariusz Świercz (2649), Alex Lenderman (2634), Awonder Liang (2592), Alejandro Ramirez (2567), and Elshan Moradiabadi (2555). Missing from the cast is last year’s co-runner-up Fabiano Caruana.
After three rounds of play, top seed Wesley leads the event with a perfect three-point tally, having beaten in succession Lenderman, Ramirez and Liang. Xiong and Robson are half-a-point behind him, second and third seeds Dominguez Perez and Nakamura, the defending champion, have yet to score a win – Perez drawing twice and losing once while Nakamura drew all his first three games.
Standings after Round 3: 1. So, 3; 2-3. Xiong, Robson, 2½; 4-5. Nakamura, Moradiabadi, 1½; 7-11. Shankland, Swiercz, Ramirez, Dominguez Perez, Lenderman, 1; 12. Liang, 0.
Ramirez, A (2567)-So, Wesley (2770) [B92]
Saint Louis (2.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qd3 Be6 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Nd5 a5 12.a4 Bxd5 13.exd5 Nb4 14.Bxb4 axb4 15.Qb5 Rc8 16.Rac1 Qd7 17.Rfd1 Qxb5 18.Bxb5 Rc7 19.c4 bxc3 20.bxc3 Ne4 21.c4 f5 22.f3 Nc5 23.Nxc5 Rxc5 24.Kf2 g6 25.Ke2 h5 26.Kd3 Bd8 27.Rb1 Ba5 28.Bd7 Rc7 29.Be6+ Kg7 30.c5 Rxc5 31.Rxb7+ Kf6 32.Rb5 Rc3+ 33.Kd2 Rc5+ 34.Kd3 Rxb5 35.axb5 Bb6 36.Ra1 g5 37.h3 Rb8 38.Bd7 g4 39.hxg4 hxg4 40.fxg4 e4+ 41.Ke2 f4 42.g5+ Ke5 43.g6 Rg8 44.Ra6 Bc5 45.b6 Rxg6 46.Bh3 Rg3 47.b7 Rb3 48.Bc8 Rb2+ 49.Kd1 e3 50.Kc1 Bd4 51.Bg4 Rxb7 52.Bf3 Bc3 53.Ra4 Bb4 54.Kd1 Kd4 55.Ke2 Kc3 56.Ra1 Bc5 57.Rc1+ Kd4 58.Rc2 Rb1 59.Ra2 Bb4 60.Bh5 Re1+ 61.Kf3 Rf1+ 62.Kg4 Rf2 0-1
Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-Sevian, S (2660) [A20]
Saint Louis (2.6) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qe5 8.Bg2 Na6 9.a3 Nc5 10.b4 Nb3 11.Rb1 Nxc1 12.Qxc1 Be7 13.Ne3 Be6 14.Qc2 Bd5 15.Ncxd5 cxd5 16.Qa4+ Kf8 17.0-0 g6 18.d3 a6 19.dxe4 dxe4 20.Nc4 Qe6 21.Qb3 Re8 22.Nd2 Bd8 23.Qxe6 Rxe6 24.e3 Kg7 25.Rfc1 Rhe8 26.Rc8 Rd6 27.Nb3 Re7 28.a4 Nd5 29.Rd1 Bc7 30.Nc5 Nb6 31.Rxd6 Bxd6 32.Rd8 Bxc5 33.bxc5 Nxa4 34.Rc8 a5 35.c6 bxc6 36.Rxc6 Nb2 37.Ra6 a4 38.Bf1 Rb7 39.Be2 Rb3 40.Kf1 a3 41.Ke1 Nd3+ 42.Bxd3 Rxd3 43.g4 Rb3 44.g5 Rb1+ 45.Ke2 Ra1 46.Ra7 Kf8 47.Ra4 a2 48.h4 Kg7 49.Ra7 h5 50.Ra6 Rh1 51.Rxa2 Rxh4 52.Ra5 Rg4 53.Re5 h4 54.Ra5 h3 55.Ra1 Rxg5 56.Rh1 Rh5 57.Kf1 Kf6 58.Kg1 Kf5 59.Kh2 Kg4 60.Rc1 Kf3 61.Rc2 f5 62.Ra2 g5 63.Rb2 g4 64.Ra2 Rh8 65.Kg1 Rd8 66.Ra1 Rd2 67.Ra5 Rd1+ 68.Kh2 Kxf2 69.Rxf5+ Kxe3 70.Rf8 Rd2+ 0-1
Xiong, J (2709)-Swiercz, D (2649) [B33]
Saint Louis (3.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.c3 Bg7 12.Bd3 Be6 13.Qh5 0-0 14.exf5 Bxd5 15.f6 e4 16.fxg7 Re8 17.Be2 Ne5 18.0-0 Qf6 19.Nc2 Nf3+ 20.Bxf3 Re5 21.Qh3 exf3 22.Ne3 fxg2 23.Rfd1 Be6 24.Qg3 h5 25.Rd4 Kh7 26.Rad1 Rg8 27.f4 Rc5 28.f5 Bxf5 29.Nd5 Qh6 30.Qf2 Rxd5 31.Rxd5 Be6 32.Rxd6 Rxg7 33.Rxa6 Rg6 34.Qd2 Qg7 35.Rd6 Rg5 36.Qd3+ Bf5 37.Qd4 Qg8 38.Qf4 Be6 39.Qe4+ Rg6 40.R1d2 Kh6 41.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 42.Qxg2 Qc8 43.Qd2+ Kh7 44.Qd3+ Kh6 45.Qe3+ Kh7 46.Qg5 Qc4 47.Qxh5+ Kg7 48.Qg5+ Kh7 49.Rd4 1-0
Robson, R (2673)-Shankland, S (2691) [B67]
Saint Louis (3.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Be7 11.h4 Qc7 12.Kb1 b5 13.g4 0-0 14.Qd2 b4 15.Ne2 Rfc8 16.Ng3 a5 17.Nh5 a4 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Bd3 a3 21.e5 Kf8 22.exf6 Ke8 23.b3 Qb6 24.Bxh7 d5 25.h5 Bc6 26.Bg8 Kd7 27.Bxf7 Rf8 28.Bg6 Rxf6 29.f4 Raf8 30.f5 e5 31.g5 Rxf5 32.Bxf5+ Rxf5 33.h6 d4 34.h7 Bxh1 35.h8Q Be4 36.Qe2 Qc6 37.Qc4 Qxc4 38.bxc4 Rf2 39.Qxe5 Bxc2+ 40.Kc1 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Liang, A (2592) [B12]
Saint Louis (3.5) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 g6 4.e5 c5 5.dxc5 e6 6.Be3 Nd7 7.Bb5 Qc7 8.f4 Bxc5 9.Bxc5 Qxc5 10.Nc3 a6 11.Bxd7+ Bxd7 12.Nf3 Qe3+ 13.Qe2 Qxf4 14.g3 Qh6 15.h4 Ne7 16.Qf2 0-0 17.Ne2 f6 18.Nf4 g5 19.exf6 Rxf6 20.Ne5 gxf4 21.Nxd7 Rf7 22.g4 Qg7 23.0-0-0 Nc6 24.Nc5 Re8 25.Rhe1 Ne5 26.Qd4 Nxg4 27.Rxe6 Rxe6 28.Nxe6 Qe5 29.Qxd5 Qxd5 30.Rxd5 Rf6 31.Ng5 h6 32.Nf3 Ne3 33.Rd7 Rf7 34.Rd4 Kg7 35.Kd2 Rf8 36.h5 Rf5 37.c4 b5 38.b3 bxc4 39.bxc4 Nf1+ 40.Kd3 Ng3 41.Rd7+ Rf7 42.Rd6 Re7 43.Rg6+ Kf7 44.Kd4 Nxh5 45.Rxa6 Nf6 46.Ne5+ Kg7 47.c5 h5 48.c6 h4 49.Rb6 Kh6 50.Nd7 h3 51.Nxf6 h2 52.Ng4+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb8/c7/c5/b4 2.R(x)b4#; 1…d5 2.Qxe5#; 1…g5 2.Qxf5#; 1…Re6/xe7 2.Qd4#; 1…f4 2.Qxg6#; 1…Kf4 2.Qh4#./PN
