Overview
- Fabiano Caruana defeated Hans Niemann with Black after a direct kingside pawn storm, converting a mating attack in 28 moves to rebound from his missed win the round before.
- Wesley So beat 15-year-old Andy Woodward to keep pace, leaving Caruana and So tied on 5/7 with Levon Aronian and Niemann a half-point back.
- The Open featured five decisive games as Sam Sevian beat Grigoriy Oparin, Sam Shankland defeated Abhimanyu Mishra, and Dariusz Świercz overcame Awonder Liang, with Ray Robson–Aronian the lone draw.
- Alice Lee overcame Atousa Pourkashiyan with Black to reach 4.5/7 and take the outright lead in the U.S. Women’s Championship.
- Anna Zatonskih drew Tatev Abrahamyan to stay undefeated, and Anna Sargsyan beat Thalia Cervantes to remain a half-point behind Lee.