Yoo Expelled From U.S. Championship Due To "Gross Violations" Of Code Of Conduct
The Saint Louis Chess Club has expelled GM Christopher Yoo from the 2024 U.S. Championship, saying in a statement after round five that the 17-year-old was guilty of "gross violations" of the event's "Code of Conduct" and the "US Chess Safe Play Policy."
After losing his fifth-round game to GM Fabiano Caruana, Yoo is alleged to have "crumpled his scoresheet, stormed out of the tournament hall and struck a videographer from behind," according to the Saint Louis Chess Club, who say the police were called and responded. They add:
"We take player conduct seriously and do not tolerate violations of our standards. We acted swiftly to address this situation, ensuring a respectful and safe environment for everyone involved in the tournament."
The remainder of the tournament will continue uninterrupted with the following regulations put in place, since less than half the event had been completed:
"Yoo's results from rounds 1-5 will be annulled and the tournament standings will be adjusted accordingly. Players scheduled to face Yoo in the remaining rounds will receive a bye, granting them an additional rest day."
Saint Louis Chess Club official statement regarding the expelling of GM Christopher Yoo from the 2024 U.S. Chess Championship. pic.twitter.com/BvolnLYaQ5
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 17, 2024
While the victory for Caruana won't count, so he no longer leads by a point, his title defense is still on track. Three other players managed to score full points in round five; GMs Awonder Liang, Levon Aronian, and Ray Robson.
A bloodbath in the women's event resulted in six decisive games with IM Carissa Yip, WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, and GM Irina Krush being among the victors. Sitting on 5/5, Yip holds a point-and-a-half lead over second-placed Abrahamyan and has one eye on a Fischer-esque 11/11 score.
The sixth round of the U.S. Championships will start on October 17 at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CEST/11:30 p.m. IST.
Adjusted Round 5 Standings: Championship (Post-Expulsion)
Round 5 Standings: Women's Championship
U.S. Championship
An entertaining, albeit controversial fifth round of the U.S. Championship, which culminated in four decisive results (before the expulsion of Yoo) was marred by the aforementioned incident, which was only announced at midnight local time.
Yoo-Caruana played their game in full without incident during the game. Yoo also appeared to have Caruana on the ropes before the defending champion mounted a comeback.
With this being his third win in a row, Caruana has moved up into the number-two spot on the live ratings list ahead of GM Hikaru Nakamura.
It's not often that a player "accidentally" wins a game of chess, yet according to Liang, that is exactly what happened in his round-five game against GM Abhimanyu Mishra. The 21-year-old, who could probably moonlight as a stand-up comic, summed up the game:
"I was trying to go for a draw but then I accidentally won, which was disappointing. Luckily I was out of here pretty fast and that was the main goal overall."
The nail in the coffin for Mishra was 27.Nc4?, which came about as he tried to contend with Liang's harmoniously coordinated pieces.
"Like in my game against Levon (Aronian), I was trying to draw and he (Mishra) was trying to lose and so, unfortunately today he came out stronger in that respect."
Aronian was also relieved by his win over GM Sam Shankland in round five after his opponent "surprised" him by playing the Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon. A lapse in concentration from Shankland in a better middlegame saw his advantage disappear and two knight sacrifices later, Aronian would claim his first victory of the tournament.
In a post-match interview Aronian spoke about Shankland's bad luck in the event so far:
"Today he was playing better than me but you know, chess is like boxing, you can have 11 great rounds and get knocked out by one silly mistake."
A moment of panic with 20 seconds on the clock cost GM Leinier Dominguez a half point on Wednesday, which opened the door for Robson to score a second win on the fly. To Robson's credit, he managed to ask enough questions of his struggling opponent even with minimal pieces left on the board.
GM Hans Niemann vs. GM Wesley So and GM Grigoriy Oparin vs. GM Sam Sevian ended in draws with relative tranquility.
Due to Yoo's results for the tournament being annulled, Caruana's one-point lead is no more and he will head into round six with everything to prove again with White against Oparin. After a quick round on Wednesday, Liang will receive the bye in round six.
U.S. Women's Championship
Coming into the Women's event with a 2418 FIDE rating and following an outstanding performance at the 2024 Budapest Olympiad, Yip was considered the pre-tournament favorite, however, no one could predict that the 21-year-old would start with a 5/5 score.
With Krush and WGM Gulrukbegim Tokhirjonova already out of the way, an 11/11 score is starting to become a feasible outcome for Yip if she can control her nerves. Much like in her game against Krush, Yip outplayed Tokhirjonova as the two dueled while in time pressure. Analysis of Yip-Tokhirjonova will be added shortly.
As commentator and GM Yasser Seirawan pointed out, a perfect performance by Yip would skyrocket her rating to within range of 2500 and make her the most realistic candidate to win Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield's Cairns Chess Queens Award, a $100,000 prize for any U.S. women's player who achieves the title of GM in the next five years.
Courtesy of Yip's outrageous scores, other title aspirants have been forced to start taking more risks to stay in touch with the lead and it's no surprise that all six games ended decisively. IM Alice Lee, who quietly drew her first four games, played into WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan's Basman-Palatnik Double Gambit and pounced on a move-20 blunder...
Abrahamyan and Krush also played provocatively with Black against IM Anna Zatonskih and WGM Thalia Cervantes, respectively.
WGM Jennifer Yu also managed to topple FM Rose Atwell and score her first win after dodging Atwell's attempts to muddy the waters, while FM Megan Lee dealt IM Nazi Paikidze her third loss of the event.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Katerina Nemcova and GMs Yasser Seirawan and Cristian Chirila.
See what happenedYou can follow the games from the U.S. Championships on our Events Pages: Open | Women.
The 2024 U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational classical event that determines the chess champion of the United States. The 2024 U.S. Women's Championship is being held concurrently. Both events start on October 11 and have the same format: a 12-player, 11-round tournament with a $250,000 prize fund for the U.S. Championship, and $152,000 for the U.S. Women’s Championship.
