Fabiano Caruana has not had a good year, to put it mildly, but in the 2022 U.S. Championship he has been making a comeback. In round 4 he defeated Hans Niemann, and after a draw with Wesley So in round 5 he defeated Elshan Moradiabadi in round 6. With 3.5 points in his last four games, Caruana is not only in the lead, but a full point ahead of his closest competitors.
Christopher Yoo was tied for first after three rounds, but slipped back to 50% after losing to Alex Lenderman in round 4. He was close to a win in round 5 against Sam Sevian, but couldn’t finish him off in the middlegame. Sevian had to defend an opposite-colored bishop ending for a very, very long time - and there were a couple of moments early in that ending where Yoo again had winning chances. Ultimately, after 115 moves, there was a peaceful outcome. In round 6 he drew again, against Awonder Liang, after a couple of uncomfortable moments early on.
Sevian was part of the tie for first after round 3, and with three draws (against Liang, Yoo, and Jeffery Xiong) has maintained his +1 score, which leaves him in a tie for second with Liang (who drew in round 4 and crushed Levon Aronian in round 5) and Ray Robson (who defeated Niemann in round 6).
Niemann was the last member of the leading quadrumvirate after four rounds, but now he’s third from the bottom after a couple of losses. His -1 score doesn’t leave him all that far from the heart of things, though, as no fewer than seven players are on 50%, with three more players at +1. Caruana may be out of the picture for now, but the next 11 players in this 14-player field are within a point of each other.
I’ve included all the games, and annotated the decisive games from rounds 4-6, here, and these are the pairings for round 7, which has just gotten underway:
Xiong (3) - Liang (3.5)
Swiercz (3) - Niemann (2.5)
Yoo (3) - Aronian (2)
Caruana (4.5) - Lenderman (3)
Robson (3.5) - So (3)
Dominguez (3) - Moradiabadi (1.5)
Shankland (3) - Sevian (3.5)