Wesley So drew his last two games and went on to convincingly win the 2020 US Chess Championship which ended over the weekend at the lichess.org playing server.
Wesley had quick draws with Ray Robson and defending champion Hikaru Nakamura in Rounds 10 and 11 respectively to cap an impressive performance in the Category 17 (average Elo: 2666) event. The 27-year-old Filipino was also US Chess Champion in 2017.
The win was worth $40,000 for the Cavite-born Wesley who moved to the US Chess Federation in 2014 after a serious disagreement with the National Chess Federation of the Philippines. Jeffery Xiong took second place in the rapid tournament and pocketed $25,000 while Robson, who was defeated in the final round by Aleksandr Lenderman, settled for third and $16,000.
Final standings: 1. So, 9; 2. Xiong, 8½; 3. Robson, 7½; 4. Dominguez Perez, 6; 5-6. Shankland, Liang, 5½; 7-8. Nakamura, Sevian, 5; 9. Lenderman, 4½; 10. Swiercz, 3½; 11-12. Ramirez, Moradiabadi, 3.
So, Wesley (2770)-Nakamura, H (2736) [E32]
lichess.org (11.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Qh4 11.g3 Qh5 12.0-0 g5 13.cxd5 Bxc3 14.bxc3 exd5 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.e6 gxf4 17.exd7 Bxd7 18.Qxe4 fxg3 19.fxg3 b6 20.Nf5 Rae8 21.Qd5 Bxf5 22.Rxf5 Qe2 23.Raf1 Qe3+ 24.R1f2 Qe1+ 25.Kg2 Qe4+ 26.Qxe4 Rxe4 27.Rg5+ Kh8 28.Rgf5 Kg8 29.Rg5+ Kh8 30.Rgf5 Kg8 ½-½
Lenderman, A (2634)-Robson, R (2673) [E62]
lichess.org (11.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Bg5 h6 10.Qxd8 Rxd8 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Nd5 Kg7 13.Nxc7 Rb8 14.Nd5 e4 15.Nd2 e3 16.fxe3 Bxb2 17.Rab1 Ba3 18.Rb3 Bf8 19.Nf3 Bc5 20.Ne1 Bg4 21.Nd3 Bf8 22.Bf3 Be6 23.Rc3 g5 24.Nf6 Kxf6 25.Bxc6+ Kg7 26.Bd5 Bxd5 27.cxd5 Rbc8 28.Rxc8 Rxc8 29.e4 f6 30.Kf2 Bd6 31.Rc1 Re8 32.Rc4 Kg6 33.Kf3 h5 34.h3 a6 35.a4 Kg7 36.a5 Kg6 37.e3 Kf7 38.Nc5 Bxc5 39.Rxc5 Re7 40.h4 Kg6 41.Rc8 Rd7 42.hxg5 fxg5 43.Rg8+ Kf6 44.Re8 Kf7 45.Re6 Kg7 46.d6 Kf7 47.Rh6 Kg7 48.Rxh5 Kg6 49.Kg4 Rxd6 50.Rxg5+ Kf7 51.Rd5 Rg6+ 52.Kf5 Rf6+ 53.Ke5 Re6+ 54.Kd4 b6 55.Rf5+ Kg6 56.Kd5 Re8 57.axb6 a5 58.b7 a4 59.Rf1 1-0
Ramirez, A (2567)-Xiong, J (2709) [B50]
lichess.org (11.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Qc2 Qc7 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.d3 c4 8.dxc4 Qxc4 9.Nbd2 Qc7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Re1 g6 12.a4 Bg7 13.a5 Rc8 14.axb6 axb6 15.Nd4 Qb8 16.b3 0-0 17.Nc4 Rfe8 18.Ba3 Nxe4 19.Rxe4 Bxe4 20.Qxe4 Nc5 21.Qe3 Nxb3 22.Nxb3 Rxc4 23.Nd4 b5 24.Bd5 Ra4 25.Bb3 Ra6 26.Nc2 e6 27.Re1 Qa7 28.Qxa7 Rxa7 29.Bxd6 Bxc3 30.Rb1 Rd8 31.Bf4 Rad7 32.Na3 b4 33.Nc4 Ra7 34.Kf1 Ra1 35.Rxa1 Bxa1 36.Ke2 Bc3 37.Ne5 Ra8 38.Kd3 g5 0-1
Liang, A (2592)-Moradiabadi, E (2555) [C53]
lichess.org (11.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nbd2 a5 8.h3 h6 9.Re1 Be6 10.b3 Re8 11.Bb2 Ba7 12.Qc2 Nh5 13.d4 Nf4 14.d5 Bxh3 15.gxh3 Nxh3+ 16.Kh2 Nxf2 17.dxc6 Qc8 18.Ng1 bxc6 19.Ndf3 d5 20.exd5 Qg4 21.Re2 Qh5+ 22.Kg2 e4 23.Rxf2 Bxf2 24.Qxf2 exf3+ 25.Nxf3 Re4 26.Rg1 cxd5 27.Bd3 Rg4+ 28.Kf1 Rf4 29.Be2 Re8 30.Qg3 Qe5 31.Rg2 g5 32.Bc1 Rf6 33.Bd2 Qf5 34.Rf2 Qb1+ 35.Kg2 Qxa2 36.Bd3 1-0
Swiercz, D (2649)-Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [C67]
lichess.org (11.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.a4 Be7 7.Nc3 a6 8.Bf1 f6 9.d4 Nf7 10.Bc4 d6 11.Nd5 0-0 12.c3 Kh8 13.b4 Be6 14.Bb3 Qd7 15.Rb1 Bd8 16.c4 Ne7 17.Ne3 Nh6 18.c5 Bxb3 19.Qxb3 e4 20.Nd2 d5 21.f4 c6 22.Ndf1 Bc7 23.g3 g5 24.Ng2 Nhf5 25.Qc3 Rg8 26.fxg5 fxg5 27.Nfe3 Raf8 28.Rb2 Nh4 29.gxh4 gxh4 30.Nf1 h3 31.Ng3 hxg2 32.Rxg2 Nf5 33.Rxe4 Nxg3 34.hxg3 dxe4 35.d5+ Qg7 36.Bb2 Bd8 37.Qxg7+ Rxg7 38.Bxg7+ Kxg7 39.dxc6 bxc6 40.Re2 Re8 41.Rd2 e3 42.Re2 Bf6 43.Kg2 Bc3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nxa2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxd4 2.Qg1#; 1…Sa4/c4/d1 2.Bxb4#; 1…Sd3 2.Qc3#./PN
