image from uschesschamps.com

Currently Wesley So is competing in the American Cup, an eight player double elimination format which started on March 12.

The rest of field is composed of:

Fabiano Caruana 2804
Leinier Dominguez 2752
Levon Aronian 2725
Sam Shankland 2674
Ray Robson 2696
Sam Sevian 2697
Grigoriy Oparin 2664

Conspiciously absent are Hikaru Nakamura and Hans Niemann.

This is now the fifth day of the tournament. Earlier, Wesley beat former US Champ Sam Shankland but lost to Ray Robson in the champions bracket. On the other hand, Caruana beat Oparin but lost to Aronian. Robson and Aronian will play in the champions bracket.

image from uschesschamps.com

So and Caruana then moved to the losers bracket and matched against Sam Sevian and Leinier Dominguez respectively.

image from uschesschamps.com

In the first game, Sevian won win the black pieces as he sacrificed the exchange to attack Wesley's kingside. The second game is crucial since Wesley cannot afford to be down 2-0 in the match giving him undue pressure.

Let's review the game. 😀

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Sevian is not afraid of Wesley's expertise in the Italian opening which he released a tutorial on 6 years ago.

'3. ...Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 a5 it's funny that this move is not even a top move in Chessbase's 2011 powerbook but now it's the first or second choice. Wesley even included this quick a5 move in his tutorial.

image from youtube.com

Current position in the game

'8. h3 Be6 9. Bb5 Ba7 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Nf1 Ng6 12. Ng3 c6 13. Ba4 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. d4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Qc7 17. Ngf5 this is where theory or book move ends. Usual choices here are Qf3, Ne4, or Bc2. On the other hand, the f5 square is a natural home for the White Knight in the Italian aimiing for Black's kingside.

'17. ...Rae8 18. Bb3 Bd7 19. Bxd5 cxd5 20. Ng3 Not sure why Sevian retreated the Knight but now Wesley will take the advantage.

'20. ...Rxe1+ 21. Qxe1 f5 Black starts an attack by pushing on the f5 square vacated by the Knight.

'22. Nge2 f4 23. Nf3 Ne5 24. Ned4 White cannot allow Nxf3 gxf3 which will wreck his kingside but Wesley finds another way.

'24. ...Bxd4 25. Nxd4 f3 Wesley presses on forcing the weakening of the light squares. Opposite colored bishop games favor the attacker. Here, Wesley's light squared Bishop will dominate.

'26. g3 Qd6 (26. ...Bxh3 27. Bf4)
Qd6 meets the threat of Bf4. (27. Bf4 Rxf4 28. gxf4 Qg6+)

'27. b3 Nc6 28. Nxc6 bxc6 29. Qf1 Qe5 threatens c3 and eyes h5.

'30. Bd2 Qh5 31. h4 Re8 32. Be3 (32. Re1 Re2 33. Rxe2 fxe2 34. Qe1 Bg4 is also losing)

'32. ...Re4 33. Rd1 Rxh4 what a nice finish to the game with a rook sac. 😀

'34. gxh4 Qg4+ 35. Kh2 Qxh4+ 36. Kg1 Bh3 37. Rd4 Qh5 38. Qd3 Bg2 0-1

After this, Wesley won the next two games for a 3-1 score. He will face Caruana (who beat Dominguez) in the Elimination Bracket. Whoever wins will then play against the winner of Aronian - Robson match in the finals and gain the honor (and prize money) of 2024 US Champion. 😀

Report from Chessbase.com

Thanks for reading and have fun with chess!