GM Hans Niemann won a dramatic game against GM Sam Shankland in round four of the 2025 U.S. Chess Championship to join GMs Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian in second place on 2.5/4, half a point behind leader GM Wesley So. Niemann’s was the only win before the rest day, after GMs Awonder Liang and Grigoriy Oparin missed clear chances against GMs Andy Woodward and Ray Robson respectively.
IM Anna Sargsyan‘s lead in the 2025 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship has grown to a full point after she beat FM Megan Paragua to move to 3.5/4. Co-leader IM Nazi Paikidze was beaten and caught by IM Anna Zatonskih, with those players joined in second place by IM Alice Lee. There were first wins for WGM Jennifer Yu, over GM Irina Krush, and IM Tatev Abrahamyan, over FM Thalia Cervantes, while FM Rose Atwell inflicted a third loss in a row on WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan.
The fifth round of the U.S. Championships starts on Friday, October 17 at 1:30 p.m. ET/19:30 CEST/11 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 4: Open
A draw was enough for So to retain the sole lead, but Niemann moved into the three-player tie for second place.
Standings After Round 4: Women
Sargsyan’s dream start to her debut U.S. Women’s Championship continued, with Zatonskih moving up into second place, a point behind.
Open: Niemann Wins Thriller
There was only one win in round four, but it could easily have been more.
Round 4 Results: Open
So had two minutes more than he started with on move 22 of a Catalan against GM Abhimanyu Mishra. He also had a pawn less, but that proved no issue as he made an easy draw—Mishra’s 71st classical game unbeaten—which proved enough to keep the sole lead after Caruana and Aronian were unable to win.
Caruana’s draw against GM Sam Sevian featured wild opening preparation, with Sevian later explaining both players were in “theory” until 18.a3!? in an Open Ruy Lopez. GM Anish Giri joked “Qh1!N is reserved for the Candidates, I guess” on X, when Caruana putting all his pieces on the back rank would have made an impression.
The game soon fizzled out into a draw by repetition, with Sevian saying he didn’t look at anything else when he saw 22…Nxe5, though he may have had some small chances for more.
Sevian talked about facing monsters such as Caruana: “The first time we played was seven years ago, so I was of course very nervous at the start, but when you keep playing against these top players you kind of start understanding how they think, what their tendencies are, and Fabiano’s one I definitely like playing.”
Fabiano’s one I definitely like playing!
—Sam Sevian
Aronian won a pawn against GM Dariusz Swiercz, but was held to a 69-move draw. 39.b3?!, played when Aronian had 25 minutes to Swiercz’s one, looks to be the moment at which any winning chances slipped away.
Niemann took the chance by scoring his first classical win over Shankland in a game of multiple sacrifices and hard to fathom decisions. The writing seemed to be on the wall for Shankland when he allowed a black knight to embed itself on c2.
White had to give the rook for the knight, but that was far from the end of the story. On move 31 the winning move for Niemann was to sacrifice a bishop on g3, while, down to five minutes, he went for a rook sacrifice on h4 instead.
It was also a strong move, but Shankland found the best defense and, after a wobble by both players at the time control, was incredibly close to making a draw. In the end it came down to putting the king on the wrong, but seemingly natural, square, when Niemann took over and grabbed a win.
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes below.
Niemann commented, “I think I played really well,” and added, “It’s a great start considering I had three Blacks in four games!”
It’s a great start considering I had three Blacks in four games!
—Hans Niemann
The remaining two games could easily have been decisive. Liang was too trusting of Woodward’s 44.Rb7? and missed the chance to queen a pawn and win what had earlier been a tough game for him.
Oparin was also very close to a second win in a row but let a win slip against Robson in a pawn-up queen endgame.
After the rest day So vs. Aronian is the blockbuster clash on Friday, while Niemann-Mishra and Swiercz-Caruana will also be crucial for the standings at the top.
Round 5 Pairings: Open
Women: Sargsyan Grows Lead On Day Of 5 Wins
In the Women’s section there was just one draw, and that featured an almost miraculous escape.
Round 4 Results: Women
It was a perfect day for Sargsyan, whose third win in four games, against 12-year-old Paragua, was all but effortless. By 16.d4! any doubts about the outcome of the game had gone.
The only surprise was that it lasted until move 63.
That gave Sargsyan a full-point lead after all her closest rivals struggled. Co-leader Paikidze could have swapped off queens against Zatonskih but insisted on an attack, perhaps partly inspired by her opponent’s perilous situation on the clock. When the attack ran out of steam, White won easily.
Four-time champion Zatonskih noted she’d had good positions in all her games so far, though this was the first win.
Another high-flyer before round four, Krush, fell to a great rival in recent years, Yu, who said taking more energy drinks has boosted her play.
The Harvard graduate was thrilled when Krush went for a position with opposite-side castling and took over in the complications, though near the end there was an astonishing chance for the eight-time champion to escape!
The other player who could have kept within half a point of Sargsyan was Lee, who came very close to making it three wins in a row since celebrating her 16th birthday. In the end, however, defending champion IM Carissa Yip found a great resource to draw.
There was fire on all boards, with 16-year-old Atwell relatively smoothly outplaying Pourkashiyan, who has slipped to three losses in a row after winning in round one.
The final game was a first win for Abrahamyan, who won smoothly an exchange down, though she could have been punished by Cervantes after 22.fxe4?.
The players richly deserve a rest day after that action, while the crucial clashes in Friday’s round five will be Yip vs. Sargsyan and Paikidze vs. Lee.
Round 5 Pairings: Women
How to watch?
The 2025 U.S. Chess Championship and 2025 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship are 12-player single round-robins that run October 12-24 in St. Louis and determine the chess champions of the United States. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment from move 1. The Open event has a $250,000 prize fund and $55,000 for first place, while the Women’s is $152,000, with $35,000 for first.
