It’s never easy taking down the champ, as the play in the U.S. open and women’s national championships now at the midway point at the Chess Club of St. Louis amply demonstrates.
The talk of the tournament to date has been rising Virginia star FM Jennifer Yu, whose 4-0 start included a tough win over seven-time U.S. women’s champ GM Irina Krush. (A fifth-round draw Sunday against FM Annie Wang eliminated Yu from the chance to claim the vaunted Fischer Prize, a $64,000 bonus for a Bobby-like perfect score.)
Champs like Krush don’t go down without a fight, and for much for her game with Yu it appeared the challenger was on the ropes. Out of a Caro-Kann Exchange (by transposition). White exploits the funky position of Black’s dark-squared bishop to close the center and gobble up massive amounts on space on the queenside.
Krush appears repeatedly on the brink of crashing though, but gets impatient with 28. c6 Bd6 Rc5?! (the more modest 29. Nc2 keeps the position in her favor) Bxc5 30. dxc5 bxc6 31. Nxa6 (Bxa6? Qe4! threatens mate on g2 and the knight on b4) Qe5 32. Nc7 Re7, when 33. a6 is met by 33…Rxc7! 34. bxc7 Qxc7.
The White pawns prove less fearsome than they look, and Black’s kingside counterplay nets another exchange on 33. Qa4 Qg5! 34. g3 Nf3+ 35. Kg2 (Kh1 h4 is crushing) Ne1+ 36. Rxe1 Rxe1.
On 37. Qf4 (a6 Qc1 38. a7 Rg1+ 39. Kf3 g5! 40. a8=Q g4+ 41. Ke2 Qe1 mate) Qg4! 38. f3 (Qxg4 hxg4 39. a6 Reh1 40. a7 R8h2 mate) Qd7 39. a6 Qe7 40. Qd2 Ra1, White resigns at the time control as Black will have ample time to work out wininng lines such as 41. Qf2 d4! 42. a7 (Qxd4 Ra2+ 43. Kh1 Rd8 ends things) Qxc5 43. a8=Q Rhxa8 44. Nxa8 Rxa8 45. b7 Rb8 46. Ba6 Qc3 47. Qf1 d3 48. Qxd3 Qxd3 49. Bxd3 Rxb7, with an easy endgame win.
In the open tournament, we can’t begin to do analytical justice here to GM Jeffery Xiong’s stirring defeat of reigning national champion GM Sam Shankland, who has had a breakout year since his surprise win in last year’s title tournament. Suffice it to say that after 15. Nc3 Ne5 16. Nc5 (Be4!? Be6 17. Qd4 Bc4+ 18. Kg1 Qg5 was another rabbit hole the players could have gone down) Nxf3!!? 17. N3e4! (Qxf3? Re3 18. Qd1 Qf4+; or 17. gxf3?? Bh3+ 18. Kg1 Qe3 mate) Bg4, our silicon overlords were working overtime trying to figure out if Shankland’s exposed king could escape Black’s buzzing pieces.
After — ahem — many vicissitudes, it appears White’s 27. Rg1? (Rh2!, covering the second rank, was the move, as, incredibly, there appears to be no mate after 27…Qf4+ 28. Kg2 Ne5 29. Qb5! Qf3+ 30. Kg1) was the critical defensive lapse, putting the White king in a box from which he never escapes.
Although Black at times fails to find the put-away volley, he still wins the point after 34. Kg1 Bd8! (eyeing a fresh avenue of attack via b6) 35. Rf1?! (Qd4 forces Black to find 35…Nf6! [Bb6? 36. Rxh7+ Kg8! 37. Rg7+ Kf8 38. Rf7+!, with a draw, as a king capture allows the White knight fork on g5] 36. Ng5 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Bb6 38. Qc3 Qxg5 and wins) Bb6+ 36. Nf2 (this pinned knight proves worse than useless in the final assault) Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qf3+ 38. Kg1 Nh3+ 39. Rxh3 Qxh3 40. Qf4 Nf6 41. Bb5 Re4, and White resigns facing 42. Qb8+ Ng8 43. Qh2 Rg4+ 44. Kh1 Qf3+ 45. Qg2 Qxg2 mate.
A fascinating struggle!
With five rounds to go in the two 14-player events after Tuesday’s rest day, Yu has a half-point lead over former women’s champ IM Anna Zatonskih with a 5½-½ score and GM Hikaru Nakamura — a four-time U.S. titleholder himself — clinging to a half-point lead over a quartet of grandmaster pursuers: Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Sam Sevian and Wesley So. There’s still lot of chess left to play, and we’ll have a recap of the action next week.
Krush-Yu, U.S. Women’s Championship, St. Louis, March 2019
1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. a3 Qd7 8. Be2 Rd8 9. Bxf6 exf6 10. c5 g6 11. Nf3 h5 12. b4 Bh6 13. b5 Ne7 14. h4 Kf8 15. a4 Kg7 16. a5 Nc8 17. b6 a6 18. Na2 Ne7 19. Nb4 Qc8 20. Ra3 Rde8 21. Rc3 Bd7 22. O-O Bc6 23. Ne1 Nf5 24. Nxc6 Qxc6 25. Nc2 Nxh4 26. Nb4 Qe6 27. Bd3 Bf4 28. c6 Bd6 29. Rc5 Bxc5 30. dxc5 bxc6 31. Nxa6 Qe5 32. Nc7 Re7 33. Qa4 Qg5 34. g3 Nf3+ 35. Kg2 Ne1+ 36. Rxe1 Rxe1 37. Qf4 Qg4 38. f3 Qd7 39. a6 Qe7 40. Qd2 Ra1 White resigns.
Xiong-Shankland, U.S. Championship, St. Louis, March 2019
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 5. Nb3 Qg6 6. f3 Nf6 7. Bf4 Bb4+ 8. Kf2 O-O 9. a3 Be7 10. Bd3 Nh5 11. Bxc7 d6 12. e5 Bh4+ 13. Kf1 Qh6 14. exd6 Re8 15. Nc3 Ne5 16. Nc5 Nxf3 17. N3e4 Bg4 18. d7 Re5 19. Bxe5 Nxe5 20. Qd2 Qc6 21. h3 Bxd7 22. Nxd7 Nxd7 23. Qc3 Qh6 24. g4 f5 25. gxf5 Re8 26. Qc4+ Kh8 27. Rg1 Qe3 28. Rg2 Nf4 29. Rh2 Nxh3 30. Kg2 Nf4+ 31. Kh1 Qf3+ 32. Kg1 Qg4+ 33. Kh1 Qf3+ 34. Kg1 Bd8 35. Rf1 Bb6+ 36. Nf2 Qg3+ 37. Kh1 Qf3+ 38. Kg1 Nh3+ 39. Rxh3 Qxh3 40. Qf4 Nf6 41. Bb5 Re4 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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