US Championship 2019

[NickFaulks]

Probably Wesley was lost somewhere near the end of yesterday's game but the online engines may be wrong

I assumed that he was simply following an efficient route to the draw.

[Richard Bates]

Probably Wesley was lost somewhere near the end of yesterday's game but the online engines may be wrong

I assumed that he was simply following an efficient route to the draw.

The online engines didn’t have a clue.

[JustinHorton]

Nakamura punting the Leningrad Dutch

[Roger de Coverly]

Nakamura punting the Leningrad Dutch

Combining the queen side play of a Panno/Yugoslav Kings Indian with f5 thrown in is an idea seen in British amateur tournaments. I don't think it's ever been that highly regarded.


1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. d5 Na5 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 a6 11. Ng5 Rb8 12. Qd3 Qe8 13. Nd1 b5 14. Qd2 Nb7 15. Ne3 Nd8 16. Nh3 Bd7 17. Rad1 *

[JustinHorton]

However, a user on Chessbomb says "I would lose this from either side" and that opinion coincides with my own

[JustinHorton]

Talking about losing with either side, neither So nor Liang are having an optimal performance today

[Mick Norris]

Nakamura punting the Leningrad Dutch

He was seeing it as a must win presumably thinking Dominguez would win

I see Caruana has drawn

[JustinHorton]

Yu has won again and will finish at least two points clear of the field.

Nakamura has looked like clinching it tonight for quite some time, but as I write, he's struggling to kill off Xiong [edit: not really, he's bringing it home all right] while Gareyev hasn't yet manged to clinch the draw against Domínguez. So should lose to Liang, but that might go on all night.

[Mick Norris]

So loses and ends his unbeaten streak at 45 one short of Fisher's record

Nakamura wins a 5th championship

Amazing performance from Yu; gain of 96 rating points according to Chess Mind; as she's already a WGM, I assume IM is the next target

[Mark Ashley]

So loses and ends his unbeaten streak at 45 one short of Fisher's record

Nakamura wins a 5th championship

Amazing performance from Yu; gain of 96 rating points according to Chess Mind; as she's already a WGM, I assume IM is the next target

I think i read that she has the norms already so is presumably just needs the rating points to get to the necessary grade?

[LawrenceCooper]

So loses and ends his unbeaten streak at 45 one short of Fisher's record

Nakamura wins a 5th championship

Amazing performance from Yu; gain of 96 rating points according to Chess Mind; as she's already a WGM, I assume IM is the next target

I think i read that she has the norms already so is presumably just needs the rating points to get to the necessary grade?

Correct. It was also mentioned in an interview, Tatev Abrahamyan is also chasing rating points to complete her title.

[Thomas Rendle]

Nakamura punting the Leningrad Dutch

Combining the queen side play of a Panno/Yugoslav Kings Indian with f5 thrown in is an idea seen in British amateur tournaments. I don't think it's ever been that highly regarded.


1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. d5 Na5 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 a6 11. Ng5 Rb8 12. Qd3 Qe8 13. Nd1 b5 14. Qd2 Nb7 15. Ne3 Nd8 16. Nh3 Bd7 17. Rad1 *

I played a lot of this 7...Nc6, 8...Na5 in my time, with some success against the 'mainlines' of 9.Nd2 and Qa4 - unfortunately it's been well known for a while that 9.b3 is very strong, although this doesn't make the line totally unplayable (as we saw obviously) it certainly doesn't work well if White is well prepared. I don't think this game will see a resurgence of this line tbh!