Fabiano Caruana has now a full-point lead at the U.S. Championship, as his closest chaser before round 8, Hans Niemann, was defeated by Ray Robson on Friday. Niemann is now sharing second place with Leinier Dominguez, Wesley So and Abhimanyu Mishra the latter beat Sam Sevian in round 8. Meanwhile, in the U.S. Women’s Championship, Carissa Yip and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova cannot stop winning, as each obtained a fourth consecutive win on Friday and now have a 2-point lead over their closest chasers. | Photo: Austin Fuller
Round eight brought another round of exciting chess in the 2023 U.S. Championships. We can safely say that it was a round with some of the most topsy-turvy results for the standings.
After a thrilling fifth round on Tuesday, the sixth round on Wednesday saw just six draws. Leinier Dominguez had good chances to win, but spoiled a better position in time trouble. In the Women's Championship, things were more exciting. Carissa Yip and Begim Tokhirjonova are battling it out for the title and are winning their games in step. | Photos: Crystal Fuller, Lennart Ootes (Saint Louis Chess Center)
After a full-on bloodbath in round five, the players cooled down a bit in the Open section of the 2023 U.S. Championships. With six drawn games, GM Fabiano Caruana remains in the lead with Niemann following closely at his heels, but this doesn’t mean the games were boring.
An exciting round both at the U.S. Championship and the U.S. Women’s Championship finished with 10 (out of 12) decisive results. In the open, Fabiano Caruana grabbed his third consecutive win to remain as the sole leader, while Carissa Yip and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova also kept their spots at the top of the standings by collecting full points on Tuesday. The highlight of the day, though, was Ray Robson’s 29-move victory over Jeffery Xiong. | Photo: Lennart Ootes