Suing for Peace

This round of chess was relatively quiet as 11 of the top 16 boards were drawn. Despite this fact, only Wojtkiewicz-Gulko was played without any inspiration. In this late round, there were a lot of norms on the line and thus, a couple of upsets. 

Salvijus Bercys outplayed defending champion Alexander Shabalov in a complicated Tarrasch which featured a vicious attack by the young 15-year old. While looking at the game, one would think the colors were reversed! Commanding the white pieces, Bercys put pieces in menacing positions including a rook which was planted on f6 for several moves. In a tactical skirmish, each side kept trying to sacrifice the exchange for control of the dark squares. Perhaps Shabalov became too obsessed with this idea and ended up losing a piece for little compensation.  Bercys, the tournament's wild-card winner, played with incredible poise in the endgame and has already won an  IM norm with a round to play.

Renier Gonzalez continues his inspired play by holding his second super-GM in Alexander Onischuk. His compatriot Blas Lugo had an early dinner as he basically gave a point away with a ridiculous queen sacrifice… his GM norm hopes were dashed in 16 moves. (Note: The main website reports that Lugo had planned 6…Bxc3+ against 6.d3, but Ibragimov played 6.b4 and Lugo merely had a hallucination.) Marcel Martinez crushed Senior Open champ Fabio LaRota with a dazzling display of tactics. He needs only a draw to earn an IM norm. In addition, Julio Becerra should be considered for the "Bent Larsen" award for the best "fighting spirit." The "Cuban Mafia" have definitely represented!

In the second half of the field, points continue to pile up… only four of the 16 games were drawn.  In the first eight rounds, 128 games were played on boards 17-32… 101 of them were decisive for an amazing 79% score! In addition, there have been few short draws in the tournament. Boris Gulko has been involved in the highest percentage of draws ending in under 25 moves with Aleksander Wojtkiewicz in second place for that dubious distinction.  Besides that, the games have been hard fought and exciting.

This has been by far the most exciting U.S. Championship in decades. The decisive results in the bottom half is indicative of a system that works without imposing fines for short draws.  The presence of Hikaura Nakamura, the Cuban contingent and the variety of players present means that there is less room for backroom deals and pre-arranged draws as is common in American Open tournaments. Combined with Maurice Ashley's "no draw" theme tournaments, this may usher in a new era for U.S. chess.

The inspired play by many of the entrants, many of whom took a different route to get to this tournament, shows that each person has to fight harder for their honor to be here. In the old days, there was no incentive to fight because players knew they'd be able to play next year and the year after that. The U.S. Championship lost its novelty and some titles were decided with the winner drawing 10/14 games.  It appears that this tournament has regained its luster and represents a real U.S. Championship!