Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com

In this episode:

• GM Andrew Tang, No. 21 on the US Chess overall list, shared first in the Premier section of the 30th Annual Eastern Chess Congress in Princeton, New Jersey, on 4.5 points with Jianchao Zhou and Viktor Matviishen, in a 432-player event that led a weekend in which US Chess newly rated 102 events across 29 states.
• GM Alexander Ivanov (FIDE 2365), No. 17 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, shared first in the Greater Boston Open's Premier section on 3 points with Jerry Chen and Hrishikesh Sai Vedula, who beat WIM Kateryna Odnorozhenko (2084) of Ukraine along the way; at the 54th Capps Memorial, GM Christopher Yoo (2588), No. 3 on the Under 21 list, beat Vivaan Pavuluri and FM Andrew Boekhoff on Sunday to stay perfect.
• Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown opens Tuesday in St. Louis with Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov playing 18 rapid games over three days for $425,000, under rules that bar draw offers before Black's 60th move and make a last-day win worth three first-day ones — Sindarov's final event before the world championship match, ChessBase India notes; the outlets split on the clock, 10 minutes plus 5 seconds a move at ChessBase, 15 plus 10 at ChessBase India.
• Asked by the Times of India to size up the Geneva match a month out, Ian Nepomniachtchi called Sindarov "of course a clear favourite" and said Gukesh's progress over the past couple of years has been negative, while Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Wei Yi each argued against writing the champion off.
• The English Chess Federation, which supports Bodhana Sivanandan, names the full grandmaster title as her next target after her International Master qualification in Budva at 11 years and seven months, with international director Malcolm Pein crediting Rishi Sunak and Rachel Reeves for government support of chess through the DCMS and setting the FIDE Swiss at the 16th London Chess Classic as her next event; across the table, Luxembourg's Gambit Bonnevoie calls its women's silver "a historic first" for the country's sport.

The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.