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US Championship 2024: Sevian records its first victory; Caruana, Shankland Miss Gold Opportunities

US Championship 2024: Sevian records its first victory; Caruana, Shankland Miss Gold Opportunities

GMs Wesley So and Sam Sevian earned victories with White in the second round of the 2024 U.S. Championship, gaining a half-point lead early on over the field. So he won a pawn against GM Christopher Yoo and never let go, while Sevian played creatively to confuse GM Ray Robson in the opening.

For the women, there were four decisive scores in the second round, with IM Carissa Yip the only player to achieve a perfect score. GM Irina Krush and WGMs Atousa Pourkashiyan and Tatev Abrahamyan are half a point behind the defending champions.

The third round of the US Championships begins October 13th at 2:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CEST/11:30 PM IST.

Ranking Round 2: Championship


2nd Round Rankings: Women’s Championship

US Championship

In each of his previous title-winning runs (2017, 2020 and 2021), So won one of his first two games. Therefore, a victory for the white pieces against Yoo is an ominous sign for his competitors in Saint Louis.

Therefore, he is difficult to catch when he is in the lead. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.

The English opening was So’s weapon of choice against Yoo and on move eight the game entered new territory after Yoo chose to play his E-pawn to double So’s central pawn.

So he did what he did best and took preemptive measures to ensure Black couldn’t regain the pawn, and by move 15 he had consolidated his pawn advantage. From that moment on, both players played with precision, which meant So was eventually able to “move on to a technically winning rook endgame,” according to commentator and GM Cristian Chirila.

The other crucial game of the day also featured an original opening game, and that was intentional. Sevian revealed: “I’ve played against Ray so many times that I decided to play something interesting in the opening and take a new, fresh position. It definitely worked out well because it took up a lot of time.”

The Saint Louis Chess Club was a successful hunting ground for Sevian. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

The opening in question was the Jobava Rapport London system, and by move 11 Robson had spent almost an hour on the clock. Then, after 17 minutes of deliberation, Robson made the mistake 11…Sa5?which opens the door for Sevian to attack.

GM Fabiano Caruana ruined what could have been after missing a golden opportunity to convert against one of the tournament favorites, GM Levon Aronian. Aronian opted for the French defense, an opening he rarely plays except in recent editions of Titled Tuesday, and Caruana quickly had a significant advantage.

Was Caruana surprised by Aronian’s French defense in round two? Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Everything seemed to be going well for Caruana as he moved his pieces to the kingside and opened up the board, but when the critical moment came, the defending champion missed the picturesque 34.Ne6!!.

Of the remaining drawn games, GM Leinier Dominguez versus GM Sam Shankland was the most interesting and the two fought a theoretically stimulating battle in the Sicilian defense: Najdorf, English attack. Dominguez initially deviated from the database 13.Be2 But Shankland equalized and began to put pressure on the king’s side.



As with Caruana-Aronian, Shankland misplayed at the crucial moment, allowing Dominguez to draw.

In the third round, So and Sevian will beat the black pieces against Shankland and GM Abhimanyu Mishra respectively, while Robson and Yoo aim to take shots at Caruana and GM Grigoriy Oparin through resilience.

US Women’s Championship

Yip’s Olympic form shows no signs of slowing down and her recent win against FM Rose Atwell makes it a fourth time for the defending champions (Yip defeated GM Anna Ushenina and IM Meruert Kamalidenova in Budapest before arriving in St. Louis).

Having already played a contender for the game of the tournament, Atwell, who praised Yip as “one of the best of the new generation,” was unable to repeat her best chess against Yip. After the game, the 15-year-old went to X to share her thoughts.

The experienced Krush was one of three players to move to 1.5/2 after she delivered a lethal blow against FM Megan Lee in under two minutes.

Krush-Lee was a 72-move grinder. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.

See you as you recognize the move that led to the victory for the eight-time women’s champion.

Meanwhile, WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova and IM Nazi Paikidze both failed to find the most precise continuations in identical finals against Pourkashiyan and Abrahamyan and lost. Tokhirjonova in particular will be disappointed after winning her first game.

The second round winners Abrahamyan and Pourkashiyan will meet in round three. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.

With half of the second round games ending decisively in all divisions, the tournament is starting to heat up. Expect players lower on the leaderboard to take more risks as rounds progress.

How can you watch?

The 2024 United States Chess Championship is a classic invitational event that will determine the United States Chess Champion. The 2024 US Women’s Championship will take place at the same time. Both events begin on October 11 and have the same format: a 12-player, 11-round tournament with prize money of $250,000 for the U.S. Championship and $152,000 for the U.S. Women’s Championship.

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