Annotated Games News Today

As covered in last night's Flash Report, 1,586 players from 42 states competed in the National Elementary School Championship in Columbus, Ohio from April 26 through 28. Below is a detailed report with photos and annotated games from our newest national champions. Full standings are available here.   

Day two is in the books at the 2024 National Elementary Championship. With a final total of 1,586 players — up nearly 50% over the 2022 NES, also held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center — the chess has been fast and furious, with a number of storylines clarifying as we enter the third and final day.  

Almost 1,600 students from grades kindergarten through sixth grade begun their chess-filled weekends on Friday, April 26 in Columbus for the 2024 National Elementary School (NES) Championship. Play continues today, with three rounds. Top boards can be followed on uschess.live all day.  

For the better part of Sunday's last-round games in Toronto, at least one of the 2024 FIDE Candidates events appeared headed to a playoff match. Instead, both challengers were determined in regulation.

The penultimate round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates’ Tournament and Women’s Candidate Tournament took two divergent paths on Saturday in Toronto. In the Women’s event, five players entered with a mathematical chance (albeit a slim one for three of them), but now the situation is clear. GM Tan Zhongyi wins the tournament outright with at least a draw, whereas a loss and then a GM Lei Tingjie win forces a tiebreak. This scenario — where the leaders have separated from the field by the 14th r...

“Only” half of the eight games played during Thursday’s 12th round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates tournaments ended in decisive games (down from six on Wednesday), serving to illustrate just how high the “baseline” for drama and suspense has risen over the course of the last few weeks in Toronto. Enjoy a number of annotations from WGM Gulrukhbegim "Begim" Tokhirjonova, including incredibly detailed and instructive analysis of Nakamura – Firouzja and ...

The players have finally reached the halfway point of the event. After today’s rest day, round eight resumes tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. CDT, with the players picking up the second leg of the Double Round Robin event. All players will play each other in the same order, with colors reversed.   

The second round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament saw four decisive results in the Open section. Today was the Women's Candidates Tournament's turn to deliver four victors. Without further ado:  

After seven rounds in Baltimore, Maryland, Ohio senior IM Jason Wang is the 2024 National High School (K-12) Champion. Our flash report covers more results, and all results are available here.  

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