At some point, it seemed like the title was going to slip away from her hands, but things finally went Carissa Yip’s way on Tuesday, as she claimed outright tournament victory to become a 2-time U.S. women’s chess champion. The 20-year-old lost her final-round game against Ruiyang Yan (her first loss of the event), and saw title contender Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova failing to find a drawing line and eventually losing to Jennifer Yu. In the open championship, Abhimanyu Mishra finished the tournament in style, beating Levon Aronian to climb to shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Nothing compares to the excitement of the final round. The audience loves the adrenaline, and the raised stakes can aggravate the pressure but also serve as a motivator for the players: a final boost to the finish. Round 11 of the 2023 U.S. Championships certainly lived up to the excitement, with the live cameras capturing nail-biting moments that could have been in a movie.
Fabiano Caruana successfully defended his title at the 2023 U.S. Championship in Saint Louis. The 31-year-old beat Abhimanyu Mishra to secure tournament victory with a round to spare, and thus claimed his third U.S. title Caruana won the championship in 2016, 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, in the women’s event, Carissa Yip beat Anna Zatonskih to leapfrog Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova atop the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The penultimate round of the 2023 U.S. Championships saw a drastic shift in the course of events. In the Open, GM Fabiano Caruana completed his fantastic run with a classical victory over the youngest participant, GM Abhimanyu Mishra.