Yesterday's round nine of the 2023 U.S. and U.S. Women's Championships delivered a number of attacking games with lots of cool ideas, occasional blunders, and some missed opportunities. It was also a significant round for the standings as it reshaped the tournament landscape, especially in the women's section.
Fabiano Caruana continues to have a full-point lead over his closest chasers with two rounds to go at the U.S. Championship. Caruana beat Hans Niemann, one of the players sharing second place before round 9, but the remaining three chasers all won to remain one point behind the leader. Meanwhile, in the women’s event, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova grabbed her fifth consecutive win to become the sole leader now only she and Carissa Yip, who stands a half point behind, are in the race for first place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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.
The seventh round of the 2023 U.S. and U.S. Women’s Championships appears quite peaceful with all games in the Open section ending in a draw and half the games in the Women section following suit. However, the round was far from boring. Below I analyze four key games that were significant for the tournament standing. In the Open section, the standings remain unchanged, with GM Fabiano Caruana savoring his half-point advantage over GM Hans Niemann. Following closely behind, there's a neck-and-neck race for third place, shared by GM Leinier Dominguez and GM Wesley So.