2008 US Championships: Shulman and Zatonskih lead

The 2008 FKB US Chess Championship The championships are being sponsored by IA Frank K. Berry and are held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, at the Radisson Hotel. The championship is a 9-round Swiss with 24 players, and the women’s championship is a ten-player round robin. The rate of play is 40 moves in 100 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with with 30 seconds increment per move.Games start at 14:30 local time (20:30h UTC). First prize is $13,000 with a Caribbean cruise.

The games of the US Championships can be watched live at the official MonRoi site with photos, videos and live commentaries. Video commentaries of the best game each round are produced by IM Alan Stein.

Prizes

There is a $55,000 guaranteed minimum prize fund, which is distributed as follows: 1st: $8,000 + a Caribbean Gambit Chess Cruise worth over $5,000 plus expenses provided by CruisingThroughLife.com; 2nd $6,000; 3rd $4,500; 4th $3,500; 5th $3,000; 6-7th $2,500; 8-12th $2,000; 13-18th $1,500; 19–24th $1,000. In addition there is a "Fighting Spirit Award" of $100 per round, with $75 going to the winner and $25 to the loser.

The winner of the Championship receives the title of U.S. Champion and an automatic slot on the U.S. Olympiad Team.

For the Women’s Championship the guaranteed minimum prize fund is $25,000, distributed between the places 1-10 as follows: $5,000, $4,000, $3,000, $2,750, $2,500, $2,000, $1,750, $1,500, $1,250, $1,250, plus a $350 "Fighting Chess" prize. The winner of the Championship receives the title of U.S. Women’s Champion.

Standings after six rounds

Defending champion Alex Shabalov lost in the first round to Alex Yermolinsky and has been trying to catch up ever since. He needs to win his last three games for a chance at first place. Yury Shulman has two draws, against GMs Fedorowicz and Onischuk, and wins against GMs Gregory Kaidanov and Boris Gulko. In round six he won an endgame with a passed d-pawn in the Gruenfeld against Sergey Kudrin to take the lead with 5/6.

Shulman,Y (2606) - Kudrin,S (2549) [D85]
Frank K Berry ch-USA Tulsa USA (6), 18.05.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Qd3 e6 12.Bg5 Qc7 13.Qe3 Nd7 14.Rfd1 Nf6 15.Nd2 cxd4 16.cxd4 Rac8 17.h3 Qc2 18.Bd3 Qa4 19.Bb5 Qc2 20.Re1 Qc3 21.Bd3 e5 22.d5 Nd7 23.Bb5 Qxe3 24.Rxe3 Bf6 25.h4 Bxg5 26.hxg5 Nc5 27.Nc4 h6 28.Nxe5 hxg5 29.f3 Kg7 30.Ra3 Ra8 31.Bc6 Rfb8 32.Rc3 f6 33.Bxb7 Rxb7 34.Rxc5 fxe5 35.Rc6 Re8 36.Kf2 g4 37.Rbc1 gxf3 38.gxf3 Rf7 39.Rc7 Ref8 40.Ke3 Kh6 41.Rxf7 Rxf7 42.Rc6 b5 43.Re6 a5 44.Rxe5 b4 45.Re6 Rb7 46.Ra6 b3 47.axb3 Rxb3+ 48.Kf4 Ra3 49.d6 Kg7 50.Ke5 Rxf3 51.d7 1-0.

Standing in the open championship after six rounds

In the Women’s Championship IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih are in a race for first, with the latter taking a half-point lead in round six. Zatonskih has won all her games so far. She will meet Irina Krush in round eight in what will surely be the deciding game.

Abrahamyan,T (2239) - Zatonskih,A (2458) [C02]
Frank K Berry ch-USA w Tulsa USA (5), 17.05.2008
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Rc8 7.a3 c4 8.0-0 Na5 9.Nbd2 Bc6 10.g3 Qd7 11.Nh4 Ba4 12.Qe1 Ne7 13.f4 h5 14.h3 Kd8 15.g4 hxg4 16.hxg4 Kc7 17.Qg3 Kb8 18.Ndf3 Ka8 19.Be3 Bc2 20.Rac1 Bh7 21.Ng5 Bg8 22.f5 exf5 23.gxf5 f6 24.e6 Qe8 25.Nh3 Bh7 26.Bg4 Rd8 27.Nf4 g5 28.fxg6 Bxg6 29.Rce1 Be4 30.Nfg2 Bg7 31.Bf3 Bxf3 32.Rxf3 Rg8 33.Bf4 Nac6 34.Bc7 Rc8 35.Bd6 Qh5 36.Qf2 Rh8 37.Rg3 Qh7 38.Qf4 Bh6 39.Qf3 Bg5 40.Rh3 Rcg8 41.Kh2 Bxh4 0-1.

Standing in the women's section

Links Official US Championship web site USCF report All games in PGN from the open and the women's section. To replay the games in PGN you should use ChessBase Light, which also gives you immediate access to the Playchess server. You can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light here.