Top seed Fabiano Caruana won his Round 10 game against Aleksandr Lenderman to join the leader board of the 2021 US Men’s Chess Championship in St. Louis, and with a round to go, appears poised to take the championship of the Category 18 (average Elo: 2679) classical single round robin event.
Caruana has tied Samuel Sevian and Wesley So in a share of 1st to 3rd places. Sevian and Wesley drew their Round 10 match, while Lenderman dropped to a tie for 4th to 6th places with Leinier Dominguez Perez and Ray Robson. The other decisive matches of the penultimate round were registered by Sam Shankland over Daniel Naroditsky in 58 moves of a Nimzo, and by Dariusz Swiercz who buried Lazaro Bruzon Batista in the cellar after winning in 42 moves of a London System.
Standings after Round 10: 1-3. Caruana, Sevian, So, 6; 4-6. Dominguez Perez, Lenderman, Robson, 5½; 7. Shankland, 5; 8-9. Xiong, Swiercz, 4½; 10-11. Naroditsky, Burke, 4; 12. Bruzon Batista, 3½.
Swiercz,D (2647)-Bruzon Batista,L (2645) [D37]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 Ne4 8.h4 f5 9.Be2 c6 10.Qc2 Qe8 11.Ne5 Bf6 12.Nxd7 Bxd7 13.f3 Nxc3 14.Qxc3 Rf7 15.Bd6 Qd8 16.h5 b6 17.f4 Be8 18.g4 Rd7 19.g5 Be7 20.Bxe7 Rxe7 21.Ba6 Rb8 22.b4 Rc7 23.h6 g6 24.Kf2 b5 25.a4 Qe7 26.Qd3 Bd7 27.Rhc1 Qe8 28.Ra3 Kf8 29.Qc2 Qe7 30.Qe2 Be8 31.Rc2 Bd7 32.Qf1 Be8 33.Qc1 Qd7 34.Rac3 Qe7 35.Qa3 Qd8 36.axb5 cxb5 37.c6 Rb6 38.Bb7 Qb8 39.Qa5 Ke7 40.Rc5 Kf8 41.Rxb5 Rcxb7 42.cxb7 1-0
Sevian,S (2654)-So,Wesley (2778) [D02]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 e6 5.c3 Bd6 6.Bb5+ Nc6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.Qa4 0-0 10.Qa3 Ne4 11.Nfd2 e5 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Qxc5 Qg6 14.Nd2 exd4 15.Qxd4 Re8 16.0-0-0 Ba6 17.c4 Qe6 18.Qc5 Rad8 19.b3 Bc8 20.Nb1 Qf6 21.Qa5 h5 22.Rd2 Rxd2 23.Qxd2 Qg5 24.Rg1 Qe5 25.h3 Qh2 26.Qd1 Qe5 27.Qd4 Qh2 28.Qd1 Qe5 29.Qd4 Qh2 30.Qd1 ½-½
Robson,R (2669)-Burke,JM (2554) [C84]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Bc2 c5 12.Re1 Re8 13.Nf1 h6 14.Ng3 Bf8 15.d4 cxd4 16.cxd4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Qc7 18.Bf4 Nc4 19.Ndf5 Nxb2 20.Qc1 Nc4 21.Bxh6 gxh6 22.Nxh6+ Bxh6 23.Qxh6 Re6 24.Nf5 Ne8 25.Qg5+ Kf8 26.Qh4 Rg6 27.Qh8+ Rg8 28.Qh6+ Ng7 29.Bb3 Re8 30.Bxc4 bxc4 31.Qxd6+ Qxd6 32.Nxd6 Re7 33.Rab1 Bc6 34.Rb6 Bb5 35.a4 Bxa4 36.Rxa6 Bb3 37.Rc6 Re6 38.Rc8+ Ne8 39.Nxc4 Bxc4 40.Rxc4 Rg5 41.Re3 Nd6 42.Rd4 Rc5 43.g4 Rc4 44.Rxc4 Nxc4 45.Re2 Nd6 46.f3 f5 47.e5 fxg4 48.hxg4 Nf7 49.f4 Rg6 50.Rg2 Re6 51.Re2 Rg6 52.Rg2 Re6 53.Re2 Rg6 54.Rg2 ½-½
Lenderman,A (2607)-Caruana,F (2800) [E62]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nf3 c6 7.0-0 Bf5 8.Ng5 e5 9.d5 a5 10.e4 Bc8 11.h3 cxd5 12.cxd5 Na6 13.Be3 Bd7 14.a4 Rc8 15.Nf3 Rxc3 16.bxc3 Nxe4 17.Qc2 Nec5 18.Nd2 Qc7 19.Ra3 f5 20.f4 Re8 21.fxe5 Bxe5 22.Bf2 b5 23.axb5 Bxb5 24.Rfa1 Nd3 25.Qb1 Nab4 26.Rxa5 Qxc3 27.Be3 Bd4 28.Bxd4 Qxd4+ 29.Kh2 f4 30.g4 Re2 31.Ra8+ Be8 32.Qg1 Qb2 33.Nf3 Kf8 34.R1a7 h6 35.Rb7 Ne5 36.Kh1 Nxf3 37.Bxf3 Re5 38.Rc8 Qd2 39.Rc1 Re3 40.Rf1 Nd3 41.Qg2 Qc3 42.Qh2 g5 43.Bg2 Ne5 44.Rbb1 Bf7 45.Rbc1 Qd4 46.Rcd1 Nd3 47.Rd2 Kg7 48.h4 Qc4 49.Rfd1 Ne5 50.hxg5 hxg5 51.Rd4 Qc3 52.Qg1 Nxg4 53.R1d2 Qc8 54.Qa1 Qh8+ 55.Kg1 Qh2+ 56.Kf1 Rf3+ 57.Bxf3 Ne3+ 58.Ke1 Qg1+ 59.Ke2 Qxa1 0-1
Xiong,J (2700)-Dominguez Perez,L (2760) [D27]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 a6 6.0-0 c5 7.b3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Bb2 0-0 10.Nd2 b5 11.Be2 Bb7 12.Rc1 Qd7 13.N2f3 Bd6 14.a4 bxa4 15.bxa4 Rd8 16.a5 Qe8 17.Qb3 Bd5 18.Bc4 Nc6 19.Nxc6 Bxc6 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Nd4 Be4 22.Qb2 Be5 23.Qe2 Bxd4 24.exd4 Rxd4 25.Qg4+ Kf8 26.Rfe1 Qa4 27.Bxe6 Bd5 28.Qf5 Bxe6 29.Qxf6 Kg8 30.Qg5+ Kf8 31.Qh6+ Kg8 32.Qg5+ Kf8 33.Qh6+ Kg8 34.Qg5+ Kf8 ½-½
Shankland,S (2714)-Naroditsky,D (2623) [E21]
Saint Louis (10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.e3 Bb7 6.Bd3 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.exd4 0-0 9.Na4 Be7 10.a3 d6 11.b4 Nbd7 12.Bb2 Rc8 13.Re1 Re8 14.Nc3 Bf8 15.Bf1 a6 16.Nd2 Rc7 17.a4 d5 18.c5 bxc5 19.bxc5 e5 20.dxe5 Nxe5 21.Nb5 axb5 22.Bxe5 Rce7 23.Bxf6 Rxe1 24.Bxd8 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rxd8 26.Bxb5 Bxc5 27.Nb3 Ba7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc6 Bxc6 30.Bxc6 d4 31.Bb5 Rc8 32.Bd3 Kf8 33.a5 Rc3 34.Kf1 Ke7 35.a6 Kd6 36.Ke2 Rb3 37.Rd2 g6 38.h4 Rb4 39.h5 gxh5 40.Bxh7 Rb8 41.Bd3 h4 42.Kf3 Rh8 43.Kg4 Rg8+ 44.Kh3 f6 45.Rb2 Rg7 46.Rb5 Rc7 47.Rf5 Ke6 48.Kxh4 Rc3 49.Rf3 Kf7 50.Kg4 Rc5 51.Rh3 Rg5+ 52.Kf3 Rg7 53.Rh7 Rxh7 54.Bxh7 Ke6 55.Bd3 f5 56.Kg3 Kf6 57.f4 Bb8 58.Kf3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bh6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bf2+/e1+ 2.Rg4#; 1…Bxf4+ 2.Bg2#; 1…Qa1 2.Qxd2#.
