What’s the shortest game you’ve ever lost in a tournament game? I think I managed to call it quits once or twice after just 16 moves after some wretched play, and there were doubtless a few other stinkers that could have been resigned by that point. Fortunately, such disasters have been rare, a sentiment we all share when it comes to our least shining moments. And if we need further consolation, we can point to the remarkable game between Leinier Dominguez and Elshan Moradiabadi, in which the latter managed to lose in just 10 moves. (Following exactly in Jan-Krzysztof Duda’s footsteps!) At least his Petroff disaster went a bit longer than Viswanathan Anand’s most embarrassing moment in that opening.
That was just the beginning of the bloodiest round of the championship. The next-shortest game was Dariusz Swiercz’s win over Hans Niemann, which saw Niemann repeat a line that has led to a lot of misery for him this year. Objectively, there’s nothing wrong with the line Niemann has been playing, but when you lose with it repeatedly it might be worth considering the possibility that something about the opening and one’s style and skill set aren’t a good fit. Anyway, he played it again, and he got butchered. Two moves after varying from an earlier loss in the variation, he played a new move that was inferior to the extant option, and after two further inaccuracies he was lost. Swiercz quickly crushed him with an attractive kingside attack, and as a result Swiercz is now tied for third after his second straight win. As for Niemann, he’s tied for next-to-last after his second straight loss and his third loss in four games. Is Niemann’s failure to be expected, given the strong anti-cheating protocols in place at the U.S. Championship (**Update**: This is the suspicious/cynical interpretation, which I am neither endorsing nor rejecting), or is this random variance or Niemann getting psychologically beaten down by all the controversy and vilification he has suffered over the past couple of months?
Back to the championship, let’s turn to the player who is currently a strong favorite to wind up as the champion. Fabiano Caruana didn’t play his best game, but persistent pressure against Alex Lenderman eventually bore fruit. Lenderman’s kingside was always shaky, and ultimately a blow on the queenside left his defenses overextended. Caruana has scored 4.5 points from his last five games, and only Ray Robson is within a point.
Speaking of Robson, he, like Swiercz, won a beautiful, brutal game against Wesley So. So grabbed a pawn on the black side of something resembling the Huebner Variation in the Nimzo-Indian, and all it took was one mistake for White’s kingside attack to become unstoppable. If Robson writes a “my best games” book someday, this one will have a prominent place - especially if he goes on to win the tournament.
The remaining games were drawn, in two of the three cases after a good struggle. All the games, with my comments to the decisive ones, are here. Here are the pairings for round 8, which is underway:
Sevian (4) - Caruana (5.5)
Yoo (3.5) - Xiong (3.5)
So (3) - Swiercz (4)
Liang (4) - Shankland (3.5)
Lenderman (3) - Dominguez (4)
Aronian (2.5) - Niemann (2.5)
Moradiabadi (1.5) - Robson (4.5)