2021 US Championship - commentary on games

[Hans Jung]

A lot of interesting strategy in all of todays games.

[Hans Jung]

Sevian is up two pawns against Caruana in the late middlegame.

So and Dominguez have agreed to a draw.

[Hans Jung]

Fabiano Caruana has a minus score at the half! Losing two games in a row he's in bad shape for the rest of the tournament. It doesnt look as if he will be in the race for first. Lets hope he can recover.
Ray Robson escaped with a draw and is still tied for first with Alex Lenderman.

[Hans Jung]

Rd7 pairings Caruana vs Robson - with Caruana wanting to win with white, leader Ray Robson has a tough game ahead of him.

[Francis Rodriguez]

Fabiano Caruana has a minus score at the half! Losing two games in a row he's in bad shape for the rest of the tournament. It doesnt look as if he will be in the race for first. Lets hope he can recover.
Ray Robson escaped with a draw and is still tied for first with Alex Lenderman.

Really enjoying your daily commentary, Hans.
Thank you for doing this!

[Hans Jung]

Rd 7 Fabiano Caruana took a big step towards getting back into the race for first by defeating coleader Ray Robson. The game started as a battle of wills but by the endgame Caruana with his two bishops was pressing. Still it took more than 40 moves before an elegant breakthru occurred where Fabi sacked a bishop in order to capture black's white squared queenside pawns. Nicely done.
Wesley So also dominated with the two bishops against John Burke and Sam Sevian scored after a horrible blunder by Bruzon.
So and Sevian have caught up to Alex Lenderman in a three way tie for first.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Beautiful wins in endings with 2 bishops against bishop and knight for Lenderman, Wesley and Fabi. 2 Bishops in endings are strong, no matter how long it takes and the position is objectively a draw, lots of winning chances for the bishops, very interesting !

[Hans Jung]

Beautiful wins in endings with 2 bishops against bishop and knight for Lenderman, Wesley and Fabi. 2 Bishops in endings are strong, no matter how long it takes and the position is objectively a draw, lots of winning chances for the bishops, very interesting !

Notice the right timing to exchange a bishop (or sacrifice it!)

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

That is one of the key in 2 bishops endings, it is easier to exchange one of the bishops to enter a favorable B vs N or B vs B ending . Also the bishops can completely block a king and move from side to side in a flash. Also 2 bishops are tough to beat when we are a pawn less, witness the Marshall endings and the likes. I'm a 2 bishop advantage lover !

[Hans Jung]

Rd8 One might say a quiet day with mainly draws but three important draws. Sevian holds against Dominguez, Shankland holds back So, and Xiong holds back Caruana.
The other important game is Swiercz vs Lenderman. Alex Lenderman is a pawn down in a rook and pawns endgame. Can he hold?

[Hans Jung]

Rd8 Carissa Yip wins big to take a one point lead.

[Connor Gherasim]

what a ridiculous move by swiercz, it's easy to say as a spectator but Rh3 is nonsense

[Hans Jung]

Carissa Yip keeps winning. Meanwhile Irina Krush is playing a dominating positional game against Nemcova.
Only Krush or Nemcova can catch her and right now that doesnt look likely.

[Hans Jung]

Very tight field at the US championship. 3 tied for first with 5, two with 4.5, one with 4 (Caruana), four with 3.5, and two with 3. (after 8 rounds out of 11)

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 Irina Krush won her game against Nemcova and at a point back has an outside chance of catching Carissa Yip.