by National Life Master Loal Davis
Wesley So
There was one decisive game in Round Four from the hand of Wesley So; you can just call him Mister Squeeze. To pull this off against Alexander Onischuk, Mister Solid, is really something to see. Wesley is now in First Place with pack of hungry hounds at his heels.
“U.S. Championship 2017”
Round “4”
White “So, Wesley”
Black “Onischuk, Alexander”
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. Bb2 Bb7 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. d4 Nd7 10. Re1 c5 11. e4 N5f6 12. Nc3 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Ne5 14. Qe2 Bc5 15. Red1 Qe7 16. Na4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Nc6 18. Be3 Rfd8 19. Nc3 Qb4 20. Qb2 Ng4 21. Bf4 Nce5 22. a3 Qc5 23. Na4 Qb5 24. Nc3 Qc5 25. Na4 Qb5 26. h3 Nd3 27. Rxd3 Rxd3 28. hxg4 Qxb3
(28… Rxb3 29. Qd4 Rc8 30. Bf1 Qe8 Here White still has problems extricating his Knight from the rim. 31. Rc1 Rd8 32. Qc4 Rxa3 and I think Black has got to be at least equal.
29. Bf1 Qxb2 30. Nxb2 Rb3 31. Nc4 Rd8 32. Nd6 Ba8 33. g5
Wesley sure knows how to squeeze.
Rc3 34. a4 Rc5 35. e5 Rd7 36. Be3 Rxe5 37. Rc1 Rd8 38. Rc7 Rd5 39. Nxf7 Rf8 40. g6 hxg6 41. Ng5 Rd1 42. Nxe6 Re8 43. Rxg7+ Kh8 44. Rxg6 Be4 45. Bd4+
Final Position
Well Done.
1-0
| # | Name | Pts | SB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | So, Wesley | 3 | 4.5 |
| 2 | Naroditsky, Daniel | 2.5 | 5.25 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2.5 | 4.5 | |
| Zherebukh, Yaroslav | 2.5 | 3.25 | |
| 5 | Caruana, Fabiano | 2 | 4.75 |
| Shankland, Samuel L | 2 | 4.75 | |
| Xiong, Jeffery | 2 | 4.25 | |
| Robson, Ray | 2 | 3.25 | |
| Onischuk, Alexander | 2 | 2.75 | |
| Akobian, Varuzhan | 2 | 2.25 | |
| 11 | Kamsky, Gata | 1 | 2.5 |
| 12 | Shabalov, Alexander | 0.5 | 1 |