Fabiano Caruana has won back-to-back US championship titles in a field featuring a variety of youngsters, claiming his third trophy overall. The win offered him an opportunity to increase his rating lead over rival Hikaru Nakamura, who opted for the Qatar Masters Open instead of attempting to secure his sixth national title.
Caruana, who became the youngest American Grandmaster in 2007—breaking the record set by Nakamura—was made to do it the hard way in St. Louis. As a new generation of youngsters is gunning for top spots all around the world, it’s becoming tougher and tougher for the old guard to stay ahead of these tiny calculation monsters.
For the time being, Caruana stemmed the tide of time, triumphing in a field that featured 20-year-old Hans Niemann, 22-year-old Jeffery Xiong, 23-year-old Andrew “PenguinGM” Tang,” and 14-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra with a round to spare.
Early on, it was Niemann and Mishra who leaped to the front of the pack, but three wins in a row from Caruana clearly established him as the frontrunner by the first rest day. Later in the event, it became clear that he’d play against his direct challengers in the final three rounds of the event, swiftly dispatching the first two with impressive victories and ensuring that his clash with Wesley So would be a non-affair tomorrow.
Ultimately, Caruana clinched his tournament title with a comfortable victory over 14-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra, a phenom who made headlines a few years ago by becoming the world’s youngest-ever grandmaster.
It’s been a banner year for Caruana so far, who is rapidly closing back to the super-impressive 2800 Elo barrier. Having qualified for next year’s Candidates Tournament, which determines the next world championship challenger, he also won’t have as much pressure at the upcoming FIDE Grand Swiss as many of his rivals will. Nakamura’s participation in the eight-player invitational, meanwhile, is still very much up in the air.
Caruana and Nakamura have been trading blows this year, going back and forth in the No. 2 position in the world standings and pipping one another to the post at prestigious events like Norway Chess. Fans no doubt hope that they’ll battle it out directly at next year’s Candidates—but for Nakamura to qualify, he’ll need to either earn a spot offered by the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, make an unlikely comeback in the 2023 FIDE Circuit, or secure the highest spot in the world rankings.
As for the ranking invite, Caruana’s successes actually helps him here. With his compatriot’s qualification already secured and Carlsen likely rejecting the invitation as the No. 1 rated player, even third place might be good enough for him.
Meanwhile, it’s still all to play for in the women’s section, as just half a point separates IM Clarissa Yip and WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, each with remarkable scores heading into the final round (8.5/10 and 8/10, respectively).
