The 2023 American Cup Finals kicked off in exciting fashion with the first games between Hikaru Nakamura vs. Wesley So and Irina Krush vs. Alice Lee.
In the Open, Nakamura sacrificed his queen for two rooks in a roller-coaster game that would ultimately end in a draw. Meanwhile Krush took a 1-0 lead after winning a very sharp first game as White.
In this unique double-elimination format, the losers of each match will get relegated to the Elimination Bracket, where they will get a second chance to continue the tournament.
Day 8 recap by IM Kostya Kavutskiy
OPEN SECTION
NAKAMURA – SO | ยฝ-ยฝ, 49 moves
What started out as a relatively quiet English Opening heated up rather quickly, as Nakamura blasted things open with multiple pawn breaks in the center. A few moves later Hikaru decided to sacrifice his queen, leaving himself two rooks and a bishop against Soโs queen and knight.
With several possible mating nets and a strong passed pawn, Nakamura then sacrificed his bishop as well, leaving Blackโs king and knight paralyzed, but it wasnโt winning on the spot as So could still defend.
A tremendously complicated position arose, where Wesley then missed a chance to consolidate his material advantage and possibly win the game, instead letting Nakamura off the hook with a draw and ending with an unexpected stalemate.
WOMENโS SECTION – CHAMPIONโS BRACKET
KRUSH – LEE | 1-0, 48 moves
In a rematch of last yearโs final, Krush started with 1.c4 against which Lee chose a very modern pawn sacrifice, leading to a chaotic middlegame with opposite sides castling. But Lee then made a critical mistake in trading off her light-squared bishop, giving Krush total control over the light squares.
From there Irina nicely side-stepped Blackโs attack while advancing her own initiative. As Whiteโs attack was breaking through Lee was forced to give up material, and Krush navigated the complications well to emerge with an extra piece.
The 2023 American Cup continues Saturday, March 25 with tournament action live starting at 1:20PM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and IM Jovanka Houska on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Clubโs YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.
Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
