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Caruana and Theodorou Lead US Masters: Day Three Recap!

Caruana and Theodorou Lead US Masters: Day Three Recap!

CharlotteChessCenter
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We are now past the halfway point of the US Masters tournament, and GMs Fabiano Caruana and Nikolas Theodorou are the only two players on a perfect 5/5 heading into Saturday's rounds. The US Masters is the strongest open tournament in the United States, currently being hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina by the Charlotte Chess Center. At stake is a prize fund of $28,000, as well as FIDE circuit points for the next candidates cycle!

GM Nikolas Theodorou, rated 2612 FIDE, had a fantastic day Friday, defeating GM Guha Mitrabha and then taking down IM Evan Park in the fifth round. Park, who had just beaten three GMs in a row (!), was red hot entering the game, but found himself gradually outmaneuvered in a London System:

GM Nikolas Theodorou is one of only two players still on a perfect score in this tournament!

As for the super GM Fabiano Caruana, he continued winning on board one, employing the French Defense once again in his battle with GM John Michael Burke:

GM John Burke vs GM Fabiano Caruana on board one.

While Fabi and Theo are the only two tied atop the standings, there are plenty of players within striking distance. GMs Andy Woodward and Alexander Donchenko each have 4.5/5, while a whopping 21 players are close behind on 4/5. Most of them are GMs, but IMs Isik Can, Mark Heimann, Juraj Druska, Johnathan Han, and the aforementioned Evan Park are each within this group as well. 

Many other very notable players are participating in the US Masters, such as streamers FM James Canty and WGM Dina Belenkaya, the latter of whom has been streaming her games on her Twitch channel. Here's her win in round five, using the two bishops to achieve a large advantage and ultimately winning material in mutual time pressure:

Women's Grandmaster and Twitch streamer Dina Belenkaya during her fifth round game.

Current standings can be viewed here, with games viewable live right here on chess.com. Additionally, each round is broadcasted live on Twitch, embedded on chess.com, with commentary from GM Kayden Troff in the morning rounds and GM Daniel Naroditsky in the evenings. Between rounds, Naroditsky hosted a "Play the Master Blitz" event for competitors in the US Masters and NC Open tournaments, and will host the next one from 2-3:30 in the skittles room today!

Find GM Daniel Naroditsky at "Play the Master Blitz" tomorrow afternoon!

Thanks so much for reading, a big thanks to Kelly Centrelli again for the photographs in this recap, and we'll update you again tomorrow with the latest news and results from the US Masters.

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NM Dennis Norman

Chess Coach - Club Journalist