Caruana and Liang Join a Four-Way Lead After Round 6

Six decisive games on Thursday reshuffled both U.S. Championships at the halfway point. In the Open, GMs Wesley So, Andy Woodward, Fabiano Caruana and Awonder Liang now share the lead. In the Women’s, WIM Rachael Li beat leader IM Alice Lee, leaving a three-way tie at the top.

Caruana bounces back

Caruana had lost to Woodward the day before, a result that ended his unbeaten streak of 54 games in the U.S. Championship. We covered that game in Woodward Beats Caruana as Eight of 12 Games Are Decisive. After it he said, “I didn’t play too well, and I was under pressure the whole game.” He added that to survive at the end he would have had to sacrifice a piece.

On Thursday he answered with Black against GM Sam Shankland, in an endgame arising from the Queen’s Gambit Declined Magnus Variation. Neither player made a serious mistake in the first 25 moves. Then came 26.Kd3?, and the game turned sharply.

Caruana converted “like a machine,” in Chess.com’s phrase, and the game lasted only 11 more moves. For a player known for rarely giving anything back, it was a tidy way to erase a rare loss.

Liang hands Aronian a second straight loss

Liang also won, defeating GM Levon Aronian, who has now lost two games in a row. That put Liang level with Caruana on the shared lead.

So and Woodward began the day in front and held their places with draws. So drew GM Abhimanyu Mishra, and Woodward drew GM Hans Niemann. A four-way tie with five rounds to play is about as open as a 12-player event gets, and GM Jeffery Xiong is just half a point behind. None of the leaders meet in round seven, but So plays Woodward in round eight.

The stakes for Caruana are historical. If he defends his title he would equal Samuel Reshevsky’s record of five U.S. Championships in a row, a chase we looked at in Caruana Chases a Fifth Straight US Title, and Reshevsky’s Record.

Women’s: Li topples Lee

Li’s win over Lee, the sole leader going into the round, was the day’s main shake-up. Lee still shares first despite the loss. So does WGM Thalia Cervantes, who defeated IM Nazi Paikidze. Li, Lee and Cervantes now form the trio at the top.

There were two other decisive results. IM Carissa Yip scored her first win of the event, against IM Anna Zatonskih. GM Irina Krush scored her third, against IM Anna Sargsyan.

A second-half bonus

The championships are now in their second half, and every player has something to play for. Each event carries a $5,000 prize for the strongest performance across rounds six through 11, regardless of final standing. That gives players who started slowly, such as Yip with her first win, a reason to keep pushing.

Round seven is on Friday, October 16, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.