Recap

Today’s round saw tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi play it safe against Fabiano Caruana, securing a draw with minimal risk while Anish Giri slid into clear second place thanks to an excellent win against Ding Liren.

Things couldn’t have gone better for tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi today, as he took advantage of an opening disaster to defeat Kirill Alekseenko and extend his lead in the event to a full point, while his main rivals Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri all drew their games. With four rounds to play and White against both Caruana and MVL, Nepo looks to be in excellent shape to qualify to become the next World Championship challenger.

Today’s round provided a lot of excitement as at one point all four boards looked like they could have a decisive result, though only Anish Giri was able to capitalize on his chances, winning an impressive technical effort against Wang Hao to move within half a point of the leader, Ian Nepomniachtchi. This puts Giri in a shared second place with both Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with just five rounds to go in this historic event.

After a year-long hiatus, the highly awaited second half of the 2020 FIDE Candidates tournament finally resumed today, with the eight candidates returning to Yekaterinburg, Russia to fight for first place and the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the 2021 World Chess Championship.

With an incredible run, GM Wesley So became the 2020 U.S. Chess Champion, scoring a fantastic 9.0/11 after finishing the day with two draws to win his second national title. Displaying an amazing performance as well, GM Jeffery Xiong finished in clear 2nd with 8.5/11, while GM Ray Robson took 3rd with 7.5/11.

Three players remained dominant today at the 2020 U.S. Championship as GM Wesley So continues to lead with 8/9 going into the final day tomorrow. Keeping pace with incredible form are GM’s Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson, who both ended with 7/9 to stay within striking distance of the leader. Tomorrow Wesley will have his toughest day yet as he faces Robson and Nakamura in the final two rounds!

GM Wesley So continued his excellent form at the 2020 U.S. Championship, scoring 2.5/3 today to end with 5.5/6 after the second day of play. GM’s Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson have also been in excellent shape so far as they are tied for second with 5.0/6, a full two points ahead of the rest of the field.

The 2020 U.S. Championship kicked off today with twelve of America’s strongest players competing over the course of eleven rounds for a total prize fund of $150,000. After the first day of action, GM Wesley So leads with a perfect 3/3 while GM Jeffery Xiong and GM Ray Robson are tied for second with 2.5/3. Top contenders GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Lenier Dominguez had a slow start, being held to just 1.5/3 and 1.0/3 in the tough championship field.

It was a volatile day at the top of the standings as GM Irina Krush first lost the lead before regaining it during a dramatic third day at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Championship. Things were looking good for the recent U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion, WGM Carissa Yip, who grabbed the lead after winning her first two games of the day, but a critical Round 9 loss to WIM Ashritha Eswaran left Carissa in a tie for second with IM Dorsa Derakhshani.