GM Irina Krush (2429) put on a dazzling undefeated performance and lived up to her top billing to capture the 2020 US Women’s Chess Championship which ended Oct. 29 at the lichess.org playing server. The tournament, which ran simultaneous with the US Men’s Chess Championship which was won by GM Wesley So, has a $100,000 prize fund and a cast of twelve masters representing the best of American distaff players.
Besides Krush, the other players are: IM Anna Zatonskih (2420), IM Carissa Yip (2420), IM Anni Wang (2384), WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2358), WGM Jennifer Yu (2315), WIM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (2311), WIM Emily Nguyen (2280), IM Dorsa Derakhshani (2270), WIM Ashritha Eswaran (2244), WGM Sabina Foisor (2228), and WFM Martha Samadashvili (2215).
Krush earned $25,000 with the title, Yip pocketed $18,000 for taking second, and Derakshani was richer by $13,000.
Final standings: 1. Krush, 8½; 2. Yip, 8; 3. Derakshani, 7½; 4. Yu, 6; 5-6. Eswaran, Abrahamyan, 5½; 7. Nguyen, 5; 8. Samadashvili, 4½; 9-11. Wang, Cervantes Landeiro, Foisor, 4; 12. Zatonskih, 3½.
Krush, I (2429)-Abrahamyan, T (2358) [E35]
lichess.org (9.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 c5 7.dxc5 0-0 8.e3 Nc6 9.Nf3 Bxc5 10.Be2 d4 11.Rd1 Nd5 12.Ng5 g6 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.0-0 Be7 15.Bc4 Qa5 16.h4 dxe3 17.Bxe3 Ne5 18.Bb3 Bf5 19.Qe2 h6 20.Rd5 Qc7 21.Rc1 Nc6 22.Rxf5 hxg5 23.hxg5 gxf5 24.Qh5 Qe5 25.g6 Qg7 26.Bh6 Qf6 27.Bd2 Qg7 28.Bc3 1-0
Wang, A (2384)-Derakhshani, D (2270) [E12]
lichess.org (9.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bf4 Bb7 5.e3 Bb4+ 6.Nfd2 0-0 7.a3 Be7 8.Nc3 d5 9.Bd3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Nb5 a6 12.Nd4 Nbd7 13.b4 e5 14.Bg5 exd4 15.bxc5 Nxc5 16.Qc2 Nxd3+ 17.Qxd3 dxc4 18.Qxc4 h6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.e4 Rac8 21.Qb4 a5 22.Qb5 Rc5 23.Qd3 Rc3 24.Qb5 Rc5 25.Qd3 Rc3 26.Qb5 Ra8 27.Rb1 Ba6 28.Qb2 Rac8 29.Rd1 Qf4 30.Nc4 Bxc4 31.Rxd4 Rc1+ 32.Rd1 Qxe4+ 0-1
Zatonskih, A (2420)-Yip, C (2421) [A49]
lichess.org (10.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 c5 4.c3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.Qb3 Qc8 7.0-0 Bg7 8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.Be3 Qc8 10.a4 Nc6 11.Na3 0-0 12.Rfd1 Na5 13.Qa2 e6 14.Rac1 d5 15.b4 Nc6 16.b5 Na5 17.c4 dxc4 18.Nxc4 Nxc4 19.Rxc4 Qe8 20.Qa3 Nd5 21.Bd4 e5 22.Bb2 Rd8 23.Qa1 Qe6 24.Ng5 Qe7 25.h4 Rfe8 26.e4 Nf6 27.Rxd8 Qxd8 28.Bxe5 Rxe5 29.Qxe5 h6 30.Qc7 Qd1+ 31.Bf1 hxg5 32.Qxb7 gxh4 33.Rc8+ Kh7 34.Qxf7 hxg3 35.fxg3 Qd4+ 36.Kg2 Qxe4+ 37.Kg1 Qe3+ 38.Kg2 Qd2+ 39.Kg1 Ng4 40.Bg2 Qe1+ 41.Qf1 Qe3+ 42.Kh1 Qh6+ 43.Bh3 Ne3 44.Qf3 Qxh3+ 45.Kg1 Ng4 46.Rc2 Bd4+ 0-1
Yip, C (2421)-Cervantes Landeiro, T (2311) [B96]
lichess.org (11.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Qb6 9.a3 Be7 10.Bf2 Qc7 11.Qf3 Nbd7 12.g4 b5 13.h4 h5 14.g5 Ng4 15.g6 Nxf2 16.gxf7+ Kxf7 17.Qxf2 Nf6 18.Bh3 Qc5 19.Rg1 Ng4 20.Bxg4 hxg4 21.0-0-0 Rxh4 22.e5 d5 23.Qg2 g6 24.Rh1 Bd7 25.Rxh4 Bxh4 26.Qxg4 Bf2 27.Nf3 Qe7 28.Rh1 Rg8 29.Rh7+ Rg7 30.Ng5+ Kg8 31.Rh1 Bc6 32.Qh3 Kf8 33.Nxe6+ Ke8 34.Nxg7+ Qxg7 35.Qc8+ 1-0
Krush, I (2429)-Nguyen, E (2280) [D10]
lichess.org (11.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bf5 7.Nf3 a6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.0-0 e6 10.Nbd2 Qb6 11.Nb3 Be7 12.Rc1 0-0 13.Ne5 Rfc8 14.g4 Be4 15.f3 Bg6 16.h4 h6 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Qc2 Kf7 19.Kh2 a5 20.Rg1 g5 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.Bxg5 Rh8+ 23.Kg2 Nxg4 24.fxg4 Bxg5 25.Rgf1+ Ke7 26.Qg6 Bf6 27.g5 Rag8 28.Rh1 Qb5 29.Kf3 Rxh1 30.Rxh1 Rf8 31.Kg3 Qe2 32.gxf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxg7+ Rf7 34.Qg5+ Kd7 35.Nc5+ Kc7 36.Qe5+ Kb6 37.Qb8+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se8/g8/d7/h7/d5/h5/g4 2.R(x)d5#; 1…exf3 2.Sxf3#; 1…e3 2.fxe3#./PN
