2024 U.S. Championship

Anybody watching or keeping up with it? It just started yesterday. There are 12 players and all round 1 games were drawn.

I wonder if Hikarus not playing because he's scared of Hans?

The report on here said that Hans was the only one that had winning chances in his game against Fabiano. Go Hans, I hope he does well.

Hikaru made prior commitments to play in the GCL in London. I strongly doubt that Hikaru is scared of Hans after eviscerating him, in the SCC last month, to the tune of 21-9.

Oh I wasn't thinking Naka was afraid of Hans in the chess skill sense, Naka is better than Hans right now, I was thinking maybe he was physically intimidated. Hans might give Naka the good ol Eric Hansen treatment.

Why would a Cane Corso fear a Chihuahua???

I'm just joking about all that y'all. It'll be a good test though for Hans to see how he follows up his recent performances that have got him into the worlds top 20. If he scores 6 then his rating will stay about the same. I think 7 points will push him to #15.

I think that what will be more important is how he handles himself away from the board. If he tones down his personality just enough so that his "chess can speak for itself," he is much more likely to get invited to the invitational tournaments and the elite players that frequent them In regards to rating, he has a shot to get to top 12-13 depending on his performance.

He just reached #15 after today's game. I agree his away from the board personality will be a huge factor in big event invites. After the recent final 4 speed championship in Paris he did become nicer in interviews afterwards and he mentioned putting the past behind and mentioned Magus had invited him to a tournament that Magnus is involved in. So good news there.

I noticed a common trend of materialism today.

Especially in the Carissa Yip vs Jennifer Yu game:

Jennifer Yu played f6??

A huge strategic blunder, as it creates a forever backward e7-pawn. Additionally, it weakens the crucial e6 square, giving White a long-lasting positional advantage. Jennifer instead should've castled and sacrificed the e7 pawn for a powerful initiative on the c and e files.

Carissa Yip looks well on her way to achieving another US Women's Champion title.

That game by Rose was crazy!

My question about Hans is what happens when he get in the top 4 US players, in regard to the Olympic team, I mean who decides who plays, is it the top 4 by elo, does the USCF choose the team, can the other 3 players vote to eliminate him based on his abrasive personality etc.?

I thought he was top 5 before the team was chosen. I'm guessing some players don't get invited for reasons other than rating.

Ok I guess he was in the top 5, but my question would be who invites him?

I guess the US chess federation.

Hans is a top 7 player at worst. The teams were announced in July but it is highly unclear which rating list was made to finalize their decision (Anything pre-July 2024 would justify a Ray Robson selection based on rating).

What could have been a deciding factor in regards to why Hans didn't play in the Olympiad is the fact that his USCF Membership is on probation for one year through May 13, 2025 (Likely due to the St. Louis Hotel Incident).

What was the hotel incident?

Google "Hans Niemann Hotel."

They put his membership on probation just because he demolished a hotel room? That's wild.

lol i doubt it he demolished him in the SCC plus the way he acted in the interviews then