USDX

Samuel L. Shankland – 梁世奇 (Awonder Liáng)
62th U.S. Chess Championship; Saint Louis, April 29, 2018
Caro-Kann Defence B13

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 e5!? The usually rock-solid 梁世奇 (Awonder Liáng) suddenly feels in the mood to go for adventures in the South. Good luck. 8. h3. If 8. dxe5 then 8. ... Nh5 9. Be3 Nxe5 10. Bb5+ Nc6 11. h3 Be6 12. Qd1 Nf6 13. Nf3 Bd6 14. 0-0 0-0 15. Nbd2 Qd7 16. Re1 a6 17. Bf1 Rac8 18. Nb3 Ne4 19. Nbd4 Bb8∞ 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – David Navara, 2017 “恒大杯” (“Héngdà Cup”) Chess Grandmaster Summit Match, 盐城 (Yánchéng) 2018, tie-break game 2 (5+3). 8. ... exf4 9. hxg4 Qe7+ 10. Kf1 0-0-0!? It may be an improvement over 10. ... Ne4 11. Qc2 0-0-0 12. Nd2 Re8? 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Re1 f5 15. gxf5 e3 16. fxe3 fxe3 17. Rh3 Qc7 18. Rexe3 Rxe3 19. Rxe3 Bd6 20. Ne2 Rf8 21. Rf3 Re8 22. Ne4 Bf8 23. Qd3 Qf7 24. b3 h6 25. Nf4 1 : 0 Demchenko – Yurtseven, 2nd Portugal Open, Lisbon 2018. 11. Nd2 g6 12. Re1 Qc7 13. g5 Nh5 14. Be2 Ng7 15. Ngf3 Ne6 16. Bb5 Bg7 17. Qa4 Rd6 18. Nb3

18. ... b6? A gross mistake that delivers the U.S. Championship title in Shankland’s hands. Black should have played 18. ... a6 19. Bxc6 Rxc6 20. Nc5 Nxc5 21. dxc5 Re6(!) and then invent something to compensate for his weak Pawns on d5, f4 and h7. 19. Nc1 Nb8 20. Nd3 Kb7 21. Nb4 Qd8 22. Ne5 Qc7 23. Qb3! Black is virtually in Zugzwang, and the rest is nothing but a formality. 23. ... Rhd8 24. Rxh7 a6 25. Bd3 Ka7 26. Qa4 a5 27. Bb5 Kb7 28. Nbd3 Rg8 29. Nf3 Rh8 30. Rxh8 Bxh8 31. a3 Nc6 32. Bxc6+ Rxc6 33. Nde5 Bxe5 34. Nxe5 Rd6 35. Qe8 Rd8 36. Qxf7 Nxg5 37. Qxc7+ Kxc7 38. Nxg6 f3 39. Nf4 Kc6 40. gxf3 Nxf3 41. Re6+ Kb5 42. Ke2 Ng1+ 43. Kd3 1 : 0. “Pretty surprised +5 didn’t cut it. Congrats to Sam, excellent play throughout”, Fabiano Caruana tweeted.

Samuel L. Shankland. Photo: Lennart Ootes.