US Championship 2015 - Round 3

Opening: D45: QGD: semi-Slav

Player(s): So, Sevian

IM Christof Sielecki recaps round 3. What a round! In a super-complicated and tactical game, the 15-year-old GM Sam Sevian beat Wesley So, in an unexpected upset. Hikaru Nakamura got a won position against defending champion Gata Kamsky, but missed a defending move that allowed Gata to force a draw. Ray Robson won again, and now leads with Nakamura, at 2.5/3. Wesley So is alone in third, with 2.0/3, followed by Kamsky, Onischuk, Akobian, Troff and Sevian half a point behind. One interesting note about the game Akobian-Gareev. The first moves were simply stunning: 1. d4 d6; 2. Nf3 h6; 3. 4e g5. A very unusual way to start a game by Timur Gareev, especially in a top event like this. Timur managed to draw, and in the post-game interview he said it was not so strange to play that way: "Didn't Spassky play that line?" - A light note in a really eventful and somewhat thrilling day in St. Louis.