2025 U.S. Chess Championships off to a good start (for some)

The 2025 U.S. Chess Championships have kicked off. Round 1 featured some interesting games and decisive results, with two in the open section and three in the women's, including one by GM Irina Krush shortly after she was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. GM Fabiano Caruana won by taking his opponent (and normally his second) GM Grigoriy Oparin out of normal lines early - a good strategy against someone who knows your usual preparation.

Full round 1 coverage from Chess.com is at https://www.chess.com/news/view/2025-us-championship-round-1

The main tournament site can be found on the host St. Louis Chess Club's event page - https://saintlouischessclub.org/event/2025-us-chess-championships/

I've already begun downloading selected games of interest for at least an initial review. Some of those then I expect will be added to my (longstanding) queue for full commentary game analysis (see "Analyzing master games for training").