Oparin opens with the English Opening, aiming for a flexible, positional setup.
Aronian develops his knight to a natural square, reinforcing control over the center.
Oparin develops his knight, influencing key central squares.
Aronian moves his pawn, opening the diagonal for his dark-squared bishop.
Oparin advances his pawn, seeking control of the central squares.
Aronian pushes his central pawn, challenging Oparin’s hold in the center.
Oparin advances his pawn, now attacking Aronian's knight.
Aronian ignores his threatened knight and plays an in-between move, targeting Oparin’s knight in return.
Oparin captures Aronian’s knight with his pawn.
Aronian recaptures Oparin’s knight with his pawn, restoring material balance.
Oparin develops his bishop with a tempo, delivering check to Aronian’s king!
Aronian shields his king with the knight, countering Oparin’s check.
Oparin gives another check, this time with his queen.
Aronian blocks the queen check with his bishop, developing a piece while neutralizing the threat.
Oparin develops his knight, preparing to castle kingside and secure his king.
Aronian coordinates his bishops and queen toward Oparin’s kingside, signaling a potential attack.
Instead of castling, Oparin redirects his knight toward Aronian’s bishop, eyeing an exchange to neutralize the dangerous bishop pair.
Aronian secures his king with kingside castling, finally completing development.
With a knight capture, Oparin removes Aronian’s strong bishop pair.
Instead of recapturing, Aronian moves his rook to the e-file, aligning against Oparin's pieces.
Oparin retreats his bishop, attacking Aronian's queen.
Aronian recaptures with his queen, offering a trade. Oparin now faces a choice: exchange queens or block with his bishop to keep tension.
Oparin chooses simplification and trades queens.
Aronian recaptures the queen back with his rook, delivering a check!
Both Oparin and Aronian have blitzed their moves. With queens traded early, the game transitions quickly into an endgame!
Aronian moves his pawn, attacking Oparin's bishop.
Oparin retreats his bishop, to a safe square.
Aronian retreats his knight, eyeing a central post on the next move.
Oparin brings his rook to the e-file. The position has two opens files here, d-file and e-file and both the players will look to control and contest it.
➡️ An open file is a column on the board with no pawns blocking it. Rooks and queens can use it to attack, control key squares, or invade the opponent’s position.
Aronian centralizes his knight, aiming to trade it for one of Oparin’s bishops.
Oparin retreats his bishop, declining the exchange and keeping his bishop pair intact.
Aronian brings his second rook to the d-file, fully contesting the open files.
Oparin moves his king off the d-file, avoiding Aronian’s rook alignment.
Aronian’s rook eyes Oparin’s g-pawn, but Oparin's bishop pair gives him a small advanatge in this endgame .
Oparin misses a small window to seize an advantage. A timely f-pawn push could have activated his pieces and preserved his bishop pair!
Aronian plays precisely, forcing Oparin to exchange a bishop for his knight. With this move, the bishop pair advantage disappears, and the position is equalized.
Aronian is threatening to exchange his knight for one of Oparin's bishop. Oparin chooses to keep his light-squared bishop.
Oparin has around 1 hour on his clock, while Aronian sits at 1 hour 30 minutes. Aronian has blitzed his moves so far!
Oparin advances his flank, gaining space on the queenside.
Aronian moves his rook to the e-file, offering an exchange and aiming to simplify the position.
The remaining rooks are traded, and we reach an equal bishop endgame.
Neither player finds a breakthrough in this equal bishop endgame. A draw now seems the most likely outcome.
The first game to finish in Round 10 ended in a draw after 43 moves, keeping Levon Aronian on his unbeaten streak. Interestingly, looking at the clock, Oparin had about one hour remaining, while Aronian had almost an hour and a half, a clear sign he blitzed through most of the game!
The opening was the English Defense, and within moments, the game transitioned into a simplified endgame with numerous piece exchanges and queens off the board early. Oparin had a small window to press for an advantage, but he missed the opportunity, and Aronian, unambitious and pragmatic, was content to secure the draw and maintain his solid standing on the leaderboard.
With this eighth draw of the tournament, Aronian keeps his unbeaten streak alive and sets up a crucial showdown tomorrow in Round 11 against current tournament leader Fabiano Caruana, a game that could be decisive in the title race!
Welcome to Round 10 and our live commentary! With just two rounds remaining, the tension is high as the U.S. Championship enters its decisive phase. After Round 9, Fabiano Caruana leads with 6.5/9, followed by Wesley So at 6/9, and Levon Aronian close behind on 5.5/9.
Today, we’re following Aronian’s game against Grigoriy Oparin. Aronian has been solid this event, unbeaten with seven draws in nine games, but now he needs wins if he wants to stay in the title race. In Round 9, he drew with Abhimanyu Mishra, while Oparin, currently on 4/9, will look to finish the tournament strong.
Can Aronian strike today, even with the black pieces, and close the gap to the leaders?