Dear chess fans,
in a surprising decision the Saint Louis Chess Club has expelled the youngster GM Christopher Yoo (17y) from the 2024 U.S. Championship! In a press release after round 5 it says that the 17-year-old was guilty of "gross violations" of the event's "Code of Conduct" and the "US Chess Safe Play Policy".
What happened?
After losing his fifth-round game against Fabiano Caruana (getting mating after he had had a better position during the game), Yoo crumpled his scoresheet (in the live video coverage this can be seen clearly), stormed out of the tournament hall and apparently struck a videographer from behind. In such a way, that even the police was called!
Yoo's results from rounds 1-5 will be annulled which means that the wins Fabi and Wesley So have achieved are gone, a bit unfortunate for both but it makes the tournament more interesting. Now other players than Fabi might have a chance still to win. With the Yoo result Fabi would have been the clear leader with impressive 4 out of 5 games!
New standings after removing Yoo from the table:
Read more about it here:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/2024-us-championship-round-5
Do you think the decision to kick him out from the tournament was justified?