Both the 15-year-old Woodward and the 16-year-old Mishra finished with 7 points from 11 games, sharing 5th to 19th place, and both recorded significant Elo gains. Mishra improved his rating in Samarkand by 32 points, while Woodward even achieved a gain of 33.4 points.
Mishra started the tournament with 3 out of 4 and then faced World Champion Gukesh in round 5, against whom he scored a convincing win.
After that, Mishra slowed his pace and finished the tournament with six draws — which meant he missed the Candidates, but is now unbeaten in 67 consecutive games.
In June 2021, at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest grandmaster of all time. | Photo: Michal Walusza
Woodward started more cautiously and was on 50% after 5 rounds with 2.5/5. But with 4.5/6 he had a strong finish, highlighted above all by wins against Levon Aronian and Parham Maghsoodloo.
He defeated Maghsoodloo in a fine positional game.
And against Aronian he showed his skill in tactical positions.
Hans Niemann, Awonder Liang, and Samuel Sevian also finished with 7 points from 11 games, sharing 5th to 19th place. And had Niemann not lost to Anish Giri in the final round but won instead, he would have taken first place in the tournament and qualified for the Candidates.
Of the ten U.S. players who competed in Samarkand, only Levon Aronian scored below 50%, finishing with 5/11. However, after a string of outstanding results and successes over the past months, this was Aronian’s first minor disappointment.
The results of the U.S. players
| Snr | Name | Elo | Land | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pkt. | Rg. | Gruppe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2744 | USA | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 5 | 84 | Open |
| 12 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | 2733 | USA | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 | Open |
| 19 | GM | Liang Awonder | 2698 | USA | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 7 | 11 | Open |
| 22 | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2692 | USA | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 18 | Open |
| 30 | GM | Robson Ray | 2674 | USA | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5,5 | 66 | Open |
| 34 | GM | Shankland Sam | 2670 | USA | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5,5 | 64 | Open |
| 39 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2660 | USA | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 6 | 43 | Open |
| 59 | GM | Xiong Jeffery | 2640 | USA | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 33 | Open |
| 86 | GM | Mishra Abhimanyu | 2611 | USA | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7 | 5 | Open |
| 108 | GM | Woodward Andy | 2557 | USA | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7 | 7 | Open |
The good form of the U.S. players in Samarkand points to a promising championship in St. Louis. Of the ten U.S. participants in Samarkand, only Jeffrey Xiong will not be taking part in the U.S. Championship — but Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Darius Swiercz will.
Participants U.S. Championship
| No. | Title | First | Last | Location | Invitational Rating* | Qualification Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Fabiano | Caruana | Saint Louis, MO | 2825 | 2024 U.S. Champion |
| 2 | GM | Levon | Aronian | Saint Louis, MO | 2786 | Rating |
| 3 | GM | Wesley | So | Excelsior, MN | 2783 | Rating |
| 4 | GM | Hans | Niemann | Weston, CT | 2777 | Rating |
| 5 | GM | Ray | Robson | Saint Louis, MO | 2730 | Rating |
| 6 | GM | Awonder | Liang | Madison, WI | 2727 | Rating |
| 7 | GM | Sam | Sevian | Holden, MA | 2725 | Rating |
| 8 | GM | Sam | Shankland | Walnut Creek, CA | 2707 | Rating |
| 9 | GM | Grigoriy | Oparin | Columbia, MO | 2698 | Rating |
| 10 | GM | Abhimanyu | Mishra | Englishtown, NJ | 2657 | Wildcard |
| 11 | GM | Andy | Woodward | McKinney, TX | 2611 | 2025 U.S. Junior Champion |
| 12 | GM | Dariusz | Swiercz | Saint Louis, MO | 2595 | 2025 U.S. Open Champion |
*Invitational ratings are taken from the US Chess July Invitational Ratings List
