“This game is a message” said Hans Niemann after beating 15-year-old Christopher Yoo in Round 1 of the 2022 US Championship. He refused to analyse and left the interview in under a minute, commenting, “it was such a beautiful game I don’t even need to describe it”. Sam Sevian was the only other player to win in the Open section, while four of the seven games were decisive in the Women’s section.
Hans Niemann: "This game is a message to everyone" | photo: Lennart Ootes, St. Louis Chess Club
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There are 28 players in this year’s expanded US Championships, but the publication of Chess.com’s report on Hans Niemann ensured that almost all the talk was about one player.
You never know! | photo: Lennart Ootes, St. Louis Chess Club
The broadcast of the games was delayed half an hour, no spectators were allowed, and instead of just a metal detector the players were checked for any silicon devices or radio signals. Memes were inevitable.
Everything then conspired to keep the focus on Hans. A potential upset in Caruana-Dominguez fizzled out into a draw when Leinier lost his way in time trouble, while Levon Aronian’s debut ended in a 17-move draw against Alex Lenderman, and reigning Champion Wesley So made a similarly quick draw against wildcard Awonder Liang.
Meanwhile Yoo-Niemann was interesting right from the start, as Christopher went for Hans’ own weapon.
It backfired, as Hans was soon on top.
An interesting discussion arose about this position, with FIDE Director General Emil Sutovsky calling 25…f5!? “an incredible move”.
Dutch no. 1 Anish Giri brought things down to earth with the reply, “I think he wanted to make the pony on c7 smile (Ne8-Nf6).” They continued:
When Yoo did play 28.Re5! a few moves later he would have had a strong position if the rook was taken immediately, but Hans successfully delayed the capture to a better moment, and after the unnecessarily weakening 36.e6?! Black was winning.
After 36…Bxe6 37.gxf5 Bxf5 38.Nxf5+ Qxf5 39.Nd4 Qf6! Christopher could have played 40.f5!? and tested if Hans could find the best move 40…Kh8! with seconds on his clock. Instead 40.Bxe4 allowed 40…Re8!, and the outcome of the game was decided.
There was no way back as Hans wrapped up victory, also taking himself back into the 2700 club, which he first entered by beating Magnus!
Hans had been refusing post-game interviews since he was last in St. Louis, but this time he did talk to Cristian Chirila, if only briefly!
He commented:
I think that this game is a message to everyone. This entire thing started with me saying chess speaks for itself and I think that this game spoke for itself and showed the chess player that I am, and also showed that I’m not going to back down and I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure that I’m under, and that’s all I have to say about this game. Chess speaks for itself, is all I can say.
Hans was referring to his even briefer interview after crushing Magnus Carlsen in game 1 of their match from the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami (Magnus went on to win the match 3:1).
Would Hans take us through the win over Christopher Yoo?
It was such a beautiful game I don’t even need to describe it.
21-year-old Sam Sevian was the only player to keep pace with Niemann | photo: Lennart Ootes, St. Louis Chess Club
For a while it looked as though that would be the only win on Day 1 of the US Championship, but Sam Sevian finally broke through the defences of Elshan Moradiabadi with 47.f5!
The only, but sufficient, defence here was 47…Ra1+! 48.Kg2 Rg1+, while in the game after 47…Rf2? 48.Rf8+ Kh7 49.Rf7+ Kh8 50.Ra7 gxf5 51.g6! White was unstoppable. At the end it was mate-in-3.
The Women’s US Championship provided four decisive games, and it could have been more, since Irina Krush looked completely in control against Tatev Abrahamyan, but by the end was even in trouble, while Nazi Paikidze missed a win at the very end against another former Champion, Sabina Foisor.
Tatev Abrahamyan vs. Irina Krush saw chances for both players | photo: Lennart Ootes, St. Louis Chess Club
There were wins for Jennifer Yu (in 84 moves!) against Anna Zatonskih, Megan Lee over Rochelle Wu, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova over Sophie Morris-Suzuki and for 12-year-old Alice Lee over Ashritha Eswaran.
Ashritha had the chance for a stunning attack in that game.
There are different ways to attack, but the most spectacular is 14.Bxh7+! Nxh7 15.Nxb5! axb5 16.g6! and White is crushing, with the b2-bishop and g1-rook targeting g7.
Alice Lee, making her US Championship debut, said she hadn’t seen Bxh7 at all, but after 14.g6?! in the game it turned out Black could defend.
In fact defence turned to a crushing counter-attack, with just one curious moment near the end.
34…Qxe4+ was absolutely sufficient for Black to win, with resignation coming four moves later, but an instant checkmate with 34…Nd4# was stronger!
Round 2 of the US Championship is unlikely to get any easier for Christopher Yoo, who has Black against Wesley So, while Hans Niemann has White against Jeffery Xiong.
Follow all the games from 1:30pm in St. Louis (20:30 CEST, 00:00 IST): Open, Women
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