Author: Asim

The pre-tournament favorites, Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush won the 2015 US Chess championship for Men & Women respectively.

Nakamura was in the lead from the very beginning and ended up with 8/11 points. Krush had to fight her way back to the top and wrestle the first spot from Nemcova who was in lead for most part of the tourney. Krush ended with 8.5/11 points!

Final Standings (Men)

1	GM Nakamura, Hikaru	2798	8
2	GM Robson, Ray	2656	7.5
3	GM So, Wesley	2788	6.5
4	GM Onischuk, Alexander	2665	6
5	GM Kamsky, Gata	2683	5.5
6	GM Akobian, Varuzhan	2622	5.5
7	GM Sevian, Samuel	2531	5.5
8	GM Shankland, Samuel L	2661	5
9	GM Troff, Kayden W	2532	5
10	GM Holt, Conrad	2530	4.5
11	GM Gareev, Timur	2604	4
12	GM Naroditsky, Daniel	2633	3

Final Standings (Women)

1	GM Krush, Irina	2477	8.5
2	IM Paikidze, Nazi	2333	7.5
3	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	2279	7.5
4	WIM Ni, Viktorija	2188	7
5	WGM Sharevich, Anna	2267	6.5
6	IM Goletiani, Rusudan	2311	6
7	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	2322	5.5
8	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	2235	5.5
9	WCM Virkud, Apurva	2132	3.5
10	WIM Wang, Annie	1901	3.5
11	FM Melekhina, Alisa	2235	2.5
12	WFM Yu, Jennifer R	2180	2.5

Krush won, Nemcova lost

In the penultimate round (10) of the US Chess championship, women’s top seed Irina Krush (2477) beat Jennifer (2180), while co-leader Nemcova (2279) lost to (2333). With this turn of events, Krush is on 8/10 with a comfortable one point lead over Nemcova (7/10) & Paikidze (7/10)

In the men’s section, there were no changes in the standings, despite some decisive results.

Nakamura continues to lead, Robson second

The much anticipated encounter between Nakamura and Robson ended in a draw. Nakamura is now on 7/10 while Robson is closely following him on 6.5/10.

Wesley So finally found his mojo and beat Kamsky with the Black pieces. He is on 5.5/10 points.

The US Chess Championship round 9 turned out to be the most eventful round of the championship so far, albeit in a rather odd way.

Wesley forfeited!

Wesley So (2788) was forfeited in his game against Akobian (2622), for taking notes on his scoresheet! Apparently he was warned twice before and hence the harsh punishment (of losing the game plus valuable rating points!)

More details on this story at Chess.com

Nakamura continues to lead

Nothing else changed at the top of the table and Nakamura is in sole lead with 6.5/9 points, followed by Ray Robson (2656) with 6.

Krush joins Nemcova

In the women’s section, Irina Krush won her 3rd game on the trot, to finally join Nemcova at

Holt beats Wesley

Wesley So’s woes continued at the US Chess Championship 2015 when he lost to Conrad Holt (2525) in round 8.

With the Black pieces, Wesley made a potential unsound pawn sacrifice to launch attack at the White King. Holt defended well and ultimately Wesley had to resign due to severe material deficit.

Nakamura in sole lead

Nakamura beat Troff with the Black pieces to grab sole lead again with 6/8 points.

Irina wins again

In the women’s section, top seed Irina Krush beat Melekhina to reduce the gap at the top of the table. Nemcova is in sole lead with 6.5/8 closely followed by Irina on 6.

Ray Robson (2656) beat Naroditsky (2633) with the Black pieces to join Hikaru Nakamura in lead with 5 points at the end of round 7. Robson had beaten Wesley So in the earlier round.

Wesley So (2788) got the better of Onishcuk (2665) and is in second spot with 4.5/7 points, while Kamsky (2683) beat Holt (2530).

In the Women’s section, Katerina Nemcova continued her winning spree and beat Virkud to lead with 6/7 points.

The US Chess Championship will be played over 11 rounds.

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura (2798) drew with the white pieces against Shankland (2661) in round 6 and continues to lead the strong US Chess Championship 2015.

Title-hopeful Wesley So (2788) suffered yet another loss, this time at the hands of Ray Robson (2656).

In the women’s section, Katerina Nemcova continues her dream run with 5/6 points!

Wesley So suffered a shock defeat at the hands of young Sam Sevian in the 3rd round of the US Chess championship.

After 3 rounds, top seed Nakamura and Ray Robson are in lead with 2.5 out of 3 points.

In the women’schampionship, Goletiani and Nemcova are in lead with 2.5/3 points