Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Samuel Sevian finished in a three-way tie for first place at the 2021 US Men’s Chess Championship which ended Monday, October 18th, in St. Louis, According to the rules, the tied players shall contest a rapid round robin (10m +2s delay). If no clear winner is produced, the remaining tied players shall contest a blitz (3m +2s delay) a) round robin. If the contest is still undecided, the match will be decided by a series of Armageddon Games.
In their final round matches, Caruana can only draw with Sam Shankland, Wesley was held by Ray Robson and Sevian had a grandmasters’ draw with Daniel Naroditsky. There was only one decisive game in the last round, and this was hacked out by John Burke at the expense of Jeffery Xiong. Leinier Dominguez Perez tried but failed to subdue Dariusz Swiercz and settled for a dra, while Lazaro Bruzon Batista took Aleksandr Lenderman through a long rough ride before agreeing to draw after 127 moves.
Final standings: 1-3. Caruana, So, Sevian, 6½; 4-6. Dominguez Perez, Lenderman, Robson, 6; 7. Shankland, 5½; 8-9. Burke, Swiercz, 5; 10-11. Naroditsky, Xiong, 4½; 12. Bruzon Batista, 4.
Bruzon Batista,L (2645)-Lenderman,A (2607) [A05]
Saint Louis (11.1) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5 3.e3 a6 4.b3 Bb7 5.c4 bxc4 6.bxc4 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Rb1 Ra7 9.Bg2 0-0 10.0-0 c5 11.Bb2 d6 12.Ba1 Nbd7 13.d3 Qc7 14.Qc2 Rb8 15.Rb3 Bc6 16.Rfb1 Rab7 17.h3 Rxb3 18.Rxb3 Rb6 19.Rxb6 Nxb6 20.Nb1 Qb7 21.Nbd2 Nbd7 22.Qb3 Qa8 23.Bc3 Ne8 24.Bxg7 Nxg7 25.Ne1 Bxg2 26.Nxg2 Ne6 27.f4 Nf6 28.Ne1 Ng7 29.Nef3 Qc8 30.Kg2 Nf5 31.Nf1 Nd7 32.Qb2 Ng7 33.e4 Qb8 34.Qxb8+ Nxb8 35.Ne3 Nc6 36.Nd5 Ne8 37.Kf2 Kf8 38.Ke3 Na5 39.e5 Nc6 40.a3 f6 41.exd6 exd6 42.g4 Kf7 43.Ke4 Ne7 44.Nxe7 Kxe7 45.d4 Nc7 46.dxc5 dxc5 47.f5 Kd6 48.h4 Ne8 49.g5 fxg5 50.hxg5 Ng7 51.Nh4 Nxf5 52.Nxf5+ gxf5+ 53.Kxf5 Ke7 54.Ke5 Kf7 55.Kd5 Kg6 56.Kxc5 Kxg5 57.Kb6 h5 58.c5 h4 59.c6 h3 60.c7 h2 61.c8Q h1Q 62.Qc5+ Kf4 63.a4 Qa8 64.Qd6+ Ke4 65.a5 Kf5 66.Qe7 Qc8 67.Qb7 Qe6+ 68.Ka7 Qd6 69.Qb6 Qa3 70.Kxa6 Kg4 71.Qd4+ Kh3 72.Kb5 Qb3+ 73.Qb4 Qd5+ 74.Ka4 Kh2 75.a6 Qa2+ 76.Kb5 Qd5+ 77.Qc5 Qb3+ 78.Kc6 Qa4+ 79.Kb7 Qb3+ 80.Qb6 Qd5+ 81.Qc6 Qb3+ 82.Kc8 Qg8+ 83.Kc7 Qf7+ 84.Qd7 Qc4+ 85.Qc6 Qf7+ 86.Kd6 Qf6+ 87.Kd5 Qf3+ 88.Kc5 Qe3+ 89.Kd6 Qf4+ 90.Ke6 Qh6+ 91.Kd7 Qg7+ 92.Kd6 Qf6+ 93.Kc7 Qe7+ 94.Kc8 Qf8+ 95.Kb7 Qb4+ 96.Qb6 Qe4+ 97.Ka7 Kh3 98.Qd6 Qe3+ 99.Kb7 Qb3+ 100.Kc7 Qc4+ 101.Qc6 Qf4+ 102.Qd6 Qc4+ 103.Kb6 Qb3+ 104.Ka5 Qa2+ 105.Kb4 Qb2+ 106.Kc4 Qc2+ 107.Kd4 Qd2+ 108.Ke5 Qg5+ 109.Ke4 Qg2+ 110.Kf5 Qg4+ 111.Kf6 Qh4+ 112.Kg6 Qe4+ 113.Kg7 Qg4+ 114.Qg6 Qd7+ 115.Qf7 Qd4+ 116.Qf6 Qa7+ 117.Kg6 Qg1+ 118.Kf7 Qa7+ 119.Kf8 Qb8+ 120.Ke7 Qa7+ 121.Kd8 Qb8+ 122.Kd7 Qa7+ 123.Kc8 Qa8+ 124.Kd7 Qa7+ 125.Ke8 Qa8+ 126.Kf7 Qa7+ 127.Kg8 ½-½
Caruana,F (2800)-Shankland,S (2714) [E06]
Saint Louis (11.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Rd1 h6 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.Nbd2 a5 14.Qd3 Bb4 15.e4 Qe7 16.Ne5 Bd7 17.Ndc4 Rfd8 18.Qe3 Be8 19.h4 Nd7 20.Nxd7 Bxd7 21.e5 Rab8 22.Be4 Be8 23.Qf3 f5 24.exf6 Qxf6 25.Qe3 Bg6 26.Rd3 Bf5 27.Rc1 c6 28.Rc2 Rd7 29.Ne5 Rd6 30.Nc4 Rd7 31.Ne5 Rd6 32.Kg2 Rbd8 33.f3 Bxe4 34.fxe4 Qxe5 35.dxe5 Rxd3 36.Qa7 Be1 37.Qxb7 Rxg3+ 38.Kh2 Rdd3 39.Qc8+ Kh7 40.Qxe6 Rg6 41.Qf5 Bg3+ 42.Kg2 Bxh4+ 43.Kf1 Re3 44.Rc1 c5 45.Rd1 c4 46.e6 Reg3 47.Rd7 Rg1+ 48.Ke2 R1g5 49.e7 Rxf5 50.exf5 Rg1 51.f6 Re1+ 52.Kd2 Re6 53.f7 Bxe7 54.Rxe7 Rf6 55.Kc3 Kg6 56.Kxc4 Rxf7 57.Rxf7 Kxf7 58.b4 Ke6 59.b5 Kd6 60.Kd4 h5 61.Ke4 g5 62.Kf5 h4 63.Kg4 Kc5 64.Kh3 Kd6 65.Kg4 Kc5 66.Kh3 Kd6 ½-½
Dominguez Perez,L (2760)-Swiercz,D (2647) [B33]
Saint Louis (11.3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 a5 13.Qf3 Be7 14.Be2 0-0 15.Rd1 Be6 16.0-0 Bg5 17.g3 Kh8 18.b3 g6 19.h4 Bh6 20.h5 Kg7 21.Qd3 f5 22.c5 dxc5 23.Qb5 Nd4 24.Nxd4 cxd4 25.Nb6 Rb8 26.Qxe5+ Qf6 27.Qxf6+ Kxf6 28.Nd5+ Bxd5 29.exd5 Ke5 30.Bc4 Kd6 31.Rxd4 Rbe8 32.Kg2 Bg7 33.Rdd1 Bc3 34.hxg6 hxg6 35.Rh1 Rh8 36.Rxh8 Rxh8 37.Rd3 Re8 38.a4 Re4 39.Rd1 Re1 40.Rd3 Re4 41.f3 Re2+ 42.Kh3 g5 43.f4 gxf4 44.gxf4 Bd2 45.Rd4 Be3 46.Rd1 Rd2 47.Rf1 Rf2 48.Rxf2 Bxf2 49.Kg2 Be3 50.Kf3 Bd2 51.Bd3 Kd5 52.Bf5 Bc1 53.Bd3 Kd4 54.Bc4 Bd2 55.f5 Ke5 56.Be6 Bg5 57.Bc8 Bd8 58.Ke3 Bf6 59.Be6 Kd6 60.Ke4 Kc5 61.Kf4 Kd6 62.Ke4 Kc5 63.Kf4 Kd6 64.Ke4 ½-½
So,Wesley (2778)-Robson,R (2669) [E36]
Saint Louis (11.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 0-0 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg5 Bb7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.Ne5 h6 12.Bh4 c5 13.f3 cxd4 14.Qxd4 Nxe5 15.Qxe5 Qe7 16.e4 Rfd8 17.Bd3 Rac8 18.0-0 Rc5 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf6 21.Kf2 Kf8 22.Ke3 Ke7 23.Bb1 Rdc8 24.Bd3 Rd8 25.Bb1 Rdc8 26.Bd3 Rd8 ½-½
Naroditsky,D (2623)-Sevian,S (2654) [C54]
Saint Louis (11.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Nbxd2 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Qb3 Na5 11.Qa4+ Nc6 12.Qb3 Na5 13.Qa4+ Nc6 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxd5 2.Qc7#; 1…Nxd5 2.Nd7#; 1..Kxd5 2.Qc5#; 1…Rxd5 2.Bxf4#; 1…Qxd5 2.Nxg6#.
