Fabiano Caruana Wins US Masters: Day Five Recap & Event Summary!
With wins in both of his games on Sunday, Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana has won the strongest open tournament in the United States, the US Masters, with an 8/9 score.
Caruana's loss to GM Nikolas Theodorou in round six put him half a point out of first place entering the final day, but his two wins, coupled with Theodorou drawing both of his games, allowed Fabi to take clear first by the event's conclusion. It was this win with the black pieces against IM Mark Heimann (who had a tremendous tournament in his own right!) that gave him the top spot:
Caruana's reward was the $7,500 prize for clear first place (as well as crucial FIDE Circuit points!), with Theodorou finishing in clear second and taking home $3,500 himself. GMs Ilya Nyzhnyk and Grigory Oparin, each finishing the event undefeated, tied for third place with 7/9, winning $1,700 each. A key moment from Nyzhnyk's eighth game:
Also scoring 7/9 was IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, who not only tied for third with the two aforementioned GMs but also won the Top U2500 and the Top Woman prize, which combined to net her a whopping $3,300 in tournament winnings.
Players earning GM norms were IMs Isik Can, Tianqi Wang, Evan Park, and the aforementioned Mark Heimann, while FM Avi Kaplan and NM Gunnar Andersen earned IM norms from the tournament.
A whopping total of 737 unique players participated in the events this weekend, including the US Masters, the North Carolina Open, the Norm Invitational, and more! A total of 36 states and 39 countries were represented, including 47 Grandmasters!
Full standings of the US Masters with all prizewinners can be found at this link, with results from the North Carolina Open viewable here and the blitz tournament on Saturday night here. Thanks one last time to Kelly Centrelli for the photos in these recaps, as well as to organizer FM Peter Giannatos and the team of tournament directors here at the Charlotte Chess Center who made this event possible!
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
