US Chess Championships R2: So Joins Leaders, Naroditsky Defeats Xiong
GM Wesley So joined the leaders in the 2021 U.S. Chess Championship after beating GM Dariusz Swiercz with an impressive positional style in round two. GM Daniel Naroditsky bounced back from his first-round loss with a victory over GM Jeffery Xiong, while the other games were drawn.
In the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, WGM Katerina Nemcova scored her second straight win. She defeated WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor and is now the sole leader with 2/2.
Sweircz tried an unusual move in the Sicilian Canal Attack and got a defended passed pawn by move 12. However, So used his extra space to squeeze his opponent in a very nice positional victory:
GM Fabiano Caruana miraculously escaped from a horrible position in his game versus GM Leinier Dominguez. That's a key part of being an elite player: when Caruana is better, he usually wins, but when he is lost, it is extremely difficult (if not nearly impossible) to beat him. Amazing defense by World's number two!
As for other games, the leaders after round one, GMs John M.Burke and Ray Robson drew their games against GMs Aleksandr Lenderman and Sam Sevian, respectively. At some point, they were both significantly better, but the opponents never got close to actually losing the games. GM Sam Shankland did not create any problems with White for GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista, and after all of the pieces got traded, they agreed to split the point.
Naroditsky, who suffered a tough defeat in the first round, came back today by beating Xiong—a great win for the popular streamer and commentator!
U.S. Championship All Games Round 2
Round 2 Standings
In the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, the second round shook up the tournament standings, as now there is only one leader: Nemcova. She outplayed Foisor in a very instructive positional game, having slowly increased her advantage with the Black pieces. We certainly want to learn from this example.
The leader is closely followed by two top seeds and an underdog. Those are GM Irina Krush, who drew versus WGM Anna Sharevich, IM Carissa Yip, who outplayed WGM Tatev Abrahamyan in a sharp gambit line, and WIM Ashritha Eswaran, who had the advantage against IM Nazi Paikidze, but drew.
U.S. Women's Championship All Games Round 2
Round 2 Standings
The 2021 U.S. Chess Championships take place October 5-19, 2021 in St. Louis to determine the next chess champions of the United States. The 2021 U.S. Women's Championship is being held concurrently. Both events have the same format: 12-players, 11-round tournament with a $194,000 prize fund for the U.S. Championship and $100,000 for the Women’s U.S. Championship.
Earlier reports:
