American Chess - June 2017

Just imagine that the two newly crowned US champions are by your side, explaining their most crucial games, move by move… Well, this is precisely what the third number of the American Chess Magazine brings you, exclusively, thanks to the contributions of Wesley So and Sabina Foisor.
And there is much more. From the men’s championship, third-place Varuzhan Akobian explains how he and Alexander Onischuk managed to upstage the big guys, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura! Then Ivan Sokolov highlights three of the most interesting and significant games played in St.Louis, while Jaan Ehlvest reveals current trends in opening theory by identifying theoretical novelties unloaded by the American players.
For the women’s championship, Alisa Melekhina presents an interview with Sabina Foisor and then dissects moments from key games in the title race – including a spectacular forced checkmate in nine, which represented a grand finale for the eventual winner.
The magazine also devotes plenty of pages to recent tournaments played across the USA, such as the Chicago Invitational where the performances of several participants are highlighted, including that of the winner Ilya Smirin who provides a personal perspective on his overall tournament victory. Participating grandmaster Alex Fishbein writes on the North Carolina Invitational, while another of our regular columnists, Mackenzie Molner, puts on display sparkling chess played in the Philadelphia Open.