U.S. Championship: Nimzo-Indian Classical

Hess is just fine on the black side of this Nimzo-Indian after Krush's novelty of 13.f5.  He's even in command of the game after14.Qe7.  From there, however, Krush manages a slow buildup until Hess collapses at 33.Qxf5. 

U.S. Championship: French Burn Variation

Hess plays a good game. Review 5...Nbd7, the secondary move in the variation, being played about half as often as 5...Be7. The ending is not looking easy to convert until the very nice move 31.c5.

U.S. Championship: Winawer French

9.h4 has brought White good statistics, but it's edgy, and not likely objectively best. As such it's vulnerable to home analysis. We may know soon whether that's what happened here. Nakamura succeeds in creating a dynamic position quickly, but in doing so gives away the White advantage by move 12. Interestingly, both players are serious French players.

The novelty in the game is 19.Re1. It's most certainly not prepared and probably won't enter into theory. By the time Nakamura plays 23.Rh2??, he's already on the ropes.

U.S. Championship: Bogo-Indian

Want to play the Nizmo, but don't want to chase the theory of the related Queen's Indian? The Bogo-Indian remains an option. Shabalov's novelty is 10.c5, and this is after the dubious but sometimes played 8.Be3. White has the better of the opening after the usual 8.e3, and there should be no reason to go looking for virgin ground quite so early in these lines. Of course, it could be that Shabalov was surprised by the Bogo.

U.S. Championship: Semi-Slav--Yet another way to avoid the Meran

Kraai avoids the Meran with 6.Bd2; it's not a new move but seldom played. Bhat responds with the novelty 6...g6, which doesn't appear to be worth repeating. The usual move is 6...Bd6. Despite a dubious opening novelty, Black carries on and holds his own until 20...d4?. The game's worth a look for those who play the Semi-Slav.