
For the sixth consecutive year, the best chess players in the U.S. have gathered in Saint Louis to fight for the title of U.S. Champion and U.S. Women's Champion. GM Gata Kamsky is defending his title while recently anointed grandmaster Irina Krush is looking for her sixth title at the 2014 U.S. Women's Championship. The events are being held simultaneously from May 7 through May 20 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL). The games start each day at 1 p.m., with every move broadcast live and discussed by the powerful commentary team of GMs Yasser Seirawan, WGM Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley on the official web site.
Round 7: Reigning champs trail on rest day
By Brian Jerauld
Varuzhan Akobian (5.0/7), the No. 4 seed seeking his first national crown, turned in his third quality win in a row, leaving him in sole possession of first place of the 2014 U.S. Championship, unbeaten through seven rounds. Also without defeat is reigning champion Gata Kamsky (4.5/7), who trails in clear second after knocking down previous tournament leader Aleksandr Lenderman. Four players share a tie for third with four points.

Disappointed: Ray Robson with two wins and three losses so far in this tournament
Akobian had treaded water with four straight draws through the U.S. Championship’s opening, leading some to question his long-term tournament strategy. The critics have been silenced after his third consecutive victory – two of them with the black pieces, including Wednesday’s impressive stand against Ray Robson.
“I had been trying, but sometimes you can try really hard and it just wasn’t working out,” Akobian said of his drawing start. “In those openings I was just not getting the positions I like to play. But winning as black is very important in this kind of field. You think maybe a draw is a good result, but whenever you have the opportunity, you have to play for a win.”

Aleksandr Lenderman (above) was looking strong as tournament leader, collecting three wins through the first four rounds, but has since gone ice cold with just a draw over the last three. Not favorable is the schedule: He drew the black pieces against reigning champ Gata Kamsky, and is slated as black again against Alex Onischuck after the rest day. The two are tied in third with 4.0/6.

On Wednesday, Kamsky knocked Lenderman out of preparation early in a King’s Indian Attack, setting up a positional battle early to take the 22-year-old on in the middlegame, later stating: “Once you feel that a guy is in great form, you take a cautious approach," said Kamsky. "You don’t go in swinging right from the opening. Alex has been a hard-working guy, slowly improving over the last four or five years. “I remember that all of my games with him were really tough, and the way he played here, the way he just took off in the start like that, was no surprise to me. I’m sure he is still going to leave his mark, as long as he doesn’t take these two losses badly. He just has to forget about these games and just start the tournament anew.”
Men results of round seven
White |
Rtng |
Result
|
Black |
Rtng |
GM Gareev, Timur |
2653 |
½-½
|
GM Onischuk, Alexander |
2668 |
GM Ramirez, Alejandro |
2595 |
0-1
|
GM Friedel, Joshua E |
2505 |
GM Robson, Ray |
2631 |
0-1
|
GM Akobian, Varuzhan |
2643 |
GM Erenburg, Sergey |
2633 |
½-½
|
GM Molner, Mackenzie |
2522 |
GM Shankland, Samuel L |
2634 |
0-1
|
GM Naroditsky, Daniel |
2543 |
GM Kamsky, Gata |
2713 |
1-0
|
GM Lenderman, Aleksandr |
2582 |

Daniel Naroditsky defeated Sam Shankland in a 29-move classical King's Indian
Replay all games of this round

1.e4 | 1,185,008 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 959,510 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 286,503 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 184,834 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,892 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,600 | 54% | 2428 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,954 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,911 | 50% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,791 | 48% | 2379 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,250 | 54% | 2406 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,081 | 49% | 2409 | --- |
1.d3 | 969 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 670 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 466 | 54% | 2382 | --- |
1.c3 | 439 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 289 | 56% | 2420 | --- |
1.a4 | 118 | 60% | 2461 | --- |
1.f3 | 100 | 47% | 2427 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 93 | 66% | 2506 | --- |
1.Na3 | 47 | 62% | 2476 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.d3 0-0 6.Nbd2 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Re1 b5 9.e5 Nd7 10.Nf1 b4 11.h4 a5 12.h5 a4 13.h6 g6 14.N1h2 Ba6 15.Ng4 Nd4 16.Nxd4 cxd4 17.b3 a3 18.Nh2 Rc8 19.Nf3 Qb6 20.Bg5 Bxg5 21.Nxg5 Rc6 22.Qd2 Qc5 23.Nf3 Qxc2 24.Qxb4 Qc5 25.Qd2 Rfc8 26.Rad1 Qb6 27.Qg5 Qb4 28.Rd2 Rc1 29.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 30.Kh2 Qf8 31.Bh3 Rc3 32.Nxd4 Kh8 33.Ne2 Rc8 34.d4 Bxe2 35.Rxe2 Kg8 36.Qd2 Nb8 37.b4 Rc4 38.b5 Nd7 39.Qe3 Qb4 40.Rd2 Rc8 41.Rd3 Qxb5 42.Rxa3 Qb6 43.Bf1 Qd8 44.Ra7 Nb8 45.Qf4 Qf8 46.Bb5 Nc6 47.Bxc6 Rxc6 48.Kg2 1–0
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Kamsky,G | 2713 | Lenderman,A | 2582 | 1–0 | 2014 | A08 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.1 |
Robson,R | 2631 | Akobian,V | 2643 | 0–1 | 2014 | E09 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.2 |
Gareev,T | 2653 | Onischuk,A | 2668 | ½–½ | 2014 | E20 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.3 |
Shankland,S | 2634 | Naroditsky,D | 2543 | 0–1 | 2014 | E94 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.4 |
Ramirez,A | 2595 | Friedel,J | 2505 | 0–1 | 2014 | C80 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.5 |
Erenburg,S | 2633 | Molner,M | 2522 | ½–½ | 2014 | B90 | ch-USA 2014 | 7.6 |
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Men's standings after seven rounds

Joshua Friedel

Josh Friedel, 27, was born and raised in New Hampshire. He learned chess at the early age of three and began tournament play at age six. In 1995, he scored his first tournament victory, winning the New Hampshire State Amateur Championship at age eight. His first major tournament victory was in 2001 when he won the Pan Am Open.
At the age of 19, Josh moved to the San Francisco Bay area. In 2007 he earned the prestigious Samford Scholarship, allowing him to focus on chess full-time for two years. He earned his grandmaster title after the 2008 U.S. Championship. Josh has now relocated to Milwaukee where serves as an instructor for the Wisconsin Chess Academy. [Source: Tournament site] |
Women's Championship round six

In the women’s competition, Anna Zatonskih (above) now leads with 5.0/6 after waiting out Camilla Baginskaite, who hung herself in a 102-move rook-and-knight vs. rook endgame late Wednesday evening. Reigning champion Irina Krush (4.5/6), who had entered the day tied with Zatonskih, lost pace with a draw against Alisa Melekhina after barely making time control for the second day in a row. Krush sits alone in second place, with Iryna Zenyuk (4.0/6) in clear third.
White |
Rtng |
Result
|
Black |
Rtng |
GM Krush, Irina |
2489 |
½-½
|
FM Melekhina, Alisa |
2151 |
IM Zatonskih, Anna |
2469 |
1-0
|
WGM Baginskaite, Camilla |
2267 |
WGM Nemcova, Katerina |
2282 |
1-0
|
NM Eswaran, Ashritha |
1979 |
WIM Zenyuk, Iryna |
2249 |
1-0
|
WIM Ni, Viktorija |
2206 |
WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev |
2366 |
1-0
|
WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca |
2238 |
Irina Krush was setting up familiar storylines as leader with 3.5 points through four rounds, but she has struggled to collect draws out of the last two. Just after the now-former leader was forced to race through a complex endgame against Tatev Abrahamyan in round five, playing the last ten moves on her clock’s 30-second per-move increment, she found herself in even warmer waters at time control against Alisa Melekhina in round six.
Melekhina’s Blumenfeld Gambit earned her fantastic play in the opening and complicated matters early, quickly challenging the development – and the clock – of the reigning champion. Krush was late arriving to her castle on move 19, and when she got there, the black army had it well surrounded. 19...g5 threw the kitchen sink.
Both players’ clocks had fallen below ten minutes with fifteen moves until time control, though Krush was under duress. Melekhina’s 26.Rxa4 was the first of two exchange sacrifices – this one admittedly unsound – which proved to be fantastic plays against Krush’s clock: one of her moves was made with just one second remaining.
“I couldn’t see any concrete wins, and I took a big risk with the exchange sacrifice in time trouble,” Melekhina said. “That probably shouldn’t have worked, but I was playing on her time, and in the end I managed to get an advantage. I sacked again, right at the time control.” Indeed, Black’s second sacrifice at 40...Rxh3+ was a bit more sound and left Krush staring at a losing position for the first portion of her bonus time control. Melekhina didn’t have quite enough resources to close in the endgame, however, taking a well-earned half-point by perpetual check.
Women's standings after six rounds

Replay all games of this round

Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 e6 4.c4 b5 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.cxb5 d5 7.Nc3 Bb7 8.e4 d4 9.e5 Nfd7 10.Na4 a6 11.bxa6 Nxa6 12.Bc4 Nc7 13.b3 Be7 14.Bf4 0-0 15.Bg3 Rf5 16.Be2 Nd5 17.Rc1 Nf4 18.Bxf4 Rxf4 19.0-0 g5 20.Ne1 Qf8 21.Nd3 Rh4 22.Bg4 Bd5 23.f4 Qh6 24.h3 gxf4 25.Qe2 Bg5 26.Bf3 Rxa4 27.bxa4 c4 28.Nb4 d3 29.Qb2 Be7 30.Nxd5 Bc5+ 31.Kh2 exd5 32.Bxd5+ Kf8 33.Rxc4 Qg5 34.Rf3 Nxe5 35.Qb8+ Ke7 36.Qc7+ Kf6 37.Qd8+ Be7 38.Qb6+ Kg7 39.Rc1 Nxf3+ 40.Bxf3 Rxh3+ 41.gxh3 Qg3+ 42.Kh1 Qxf3+ 43.Kg1 Qg3+ 44.Kf1 Qxh3+ 45.Kg1 Qg4+ 46.Kh1 Qf3+ 47.Kg1 Qg4+ 48.Kh1 Qh5+ 49.Kg1 Qg4+ ½–½
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Krush,I | 2489 | Melekhina,A | 2151 | ½–½ | 2014 | E10 | ch-USA w 2014 | 6.1 |
Zatonskih,A | 2469 | Baginskaite,C | 2267 | 1–0 | 2014 | D40 | ch-USA w 2014 | 6.2 |
Abrahamyan,T | 2366 | Foisor,S | 2238 | 1–0 | 2014 | C54 | ch-USA w 2014 | 6.3 |
Nemcova,K | 2282 | Eswaran,A | 1979 | 1–0 | 2014 | A22 | ch-USA w 2014 | 6.4 |
Zenyuk,I | 2249 | Ni,V | 2206 | 1–0 | 2014 | A41 | ch-USA w 2014 | 6.5 |
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Alisa Melekhina

Alisa Melekhina started playing at age five and entered her first tournament at age seven. In less than three years, she was winning prestigious international tournaments. The 2014 U.S. Women's Championship marks her fifth time competing for this sought-after title. Alisa has already earned an International Master norm, which she considers her top chess accomplishment so far. But her ultimate goal is to become a grandmaster.
Alisa learned chess from her father, who was her first coach and remains a strong influence today. Although chess has been central to her life for many years, Alisa is set to graduate from law school at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 22, and she will begin a full-time job at a law firm in New York City this fall, specializing in intellectual property litigation. She wrote an in-depth article for Chess Life Online that discusses how her chess was impacted by her commitment to law school.
Undoubtedly, Alisa is looking to make a statement at this year's U.S. Women's Championship. With the distractions of law school nearing an end, she is now free to focus on a championship run before her legal career begins this fall. [Source: Tournament site] |
Both tournaments enjoy a rest day on Thursday. Round eight of the U.S. Championship and round seven of the U.S. Women’s Championship will take place on Friday, May 16, at 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CEST.
Report: Brian Jerauld + ChessBase, photos by Lennart Ootes