2009 US Chess Championship
The 2009 US Chess Championship is being held, this year for the first time,
in St. Louis, Missouri, at the brand new St.
Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center, which is located at 4657
Maryland Avenue, just east of the intersection of Euclid and Maryland.
The Championship dates back to 1845 and this year offers a purse of more than
$130,000 in prize money. It is a nine-round Swiss, with one round per day and
a rest day between rounds seven and eight. Time controls are the classical 40
moves in two hours, with one hour allowed for all remaining moves and a five
second increment for all move.
Round seven – three top seeds plus rising star lead
Alexander Shabalov and Irina Krush on their way to the tournament
After seven of nine rounds we have three top seeds in the lead, with a cheeky
17-year-old rising star sitting there at the top of the table with them. Number
one seed Gata Kamsky, number two Hikaru Nakamura and number three Alexander
Onsichuk have 5.0/7 points apiece. But so does Robert Hess, who is playing almost
three hundred points better than his nominal 2485 rating.
Anna Zatonskih, who had to drop out of the event due to illness,
has recovered enough to ring the starting bell for round seven
Defending champion Yury Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian shared the lead after
the sixth routh, but fell into second place after losing to Onischuk and Nakamura,
respectively.
Yury Shulman in the game he lost to Alexander Onischuk with the white pieces
Another fateful game: Hikaru Nakamura vs Varuzhan Akobian – Nakamura
won in 40
Gata Kamsky defeated three-time US champion Joel Benjamin...
... and Robert Hess (right) defeated Josh Friedel with black, to join the
leaders
Gata Kamsky takes a keen interest in the game Friedel vs Hess
Michael Brooks of Kansas City, Mo., (above right) had a dramatic turnaround
in his game, putting him closer to earning grandmaster status. Brooks, 47, beat
the youngest player in the field, 14-year-old super-talent Ray Robson, to end
the day with 4.0 points.
|
IM Michael Brooks, Kansas City, MO
Highlights: 1994 North American Open.
Bio: Michael Brooks has been an International Master
since 1989 and has been the Missouri state champion six times, losing
only five times since in tie-breaks. In 1982, Brooks tied for first place
in the Midwest Masters Tournament in Chicago and tied for second in the
event in 1989. In 1994, Brooks won the North American Open in Las Vegas.
|
Not only will his above-par performance raise his chess rating, but if he manages
to score 1.5 points over his final two games, he will be on course for a grandmaster
norm. No Missourian has become a grandmaster.
Addendum – John Crooks of Stilwell, KS, USA tells us:
Michael Brooks is a really talented chess player that has suffered from growing
up in a country in which is nearly impossible to make a living from playing
chess, and where GM norm opportunities are few and far between. Were the championship
not being held in St Louis this year, he would not have had this opportunity
either. However, I want to point out that I believe your statement that he needs
1.5 out of 2 to obtain a GM norm is incorrect. Since he is playing Nakamura
next round (2701 FIDE) and currently has a 2602 performance rating he should
be able to obtain a GM norm by scoring only 1 out of 2. A win against Nakamura
would guarantee it. A draw with Nakamura ensures a pairing in the next round
in which another draw would earn him the norm. His nightmare scenario is a loss
against Nakamura (obviously a very real possibility) and then a pairing with
Krush or Hughes, who could both make 4.0 with a win. In that case he would
need 5.5 for a GM norm, which would be impossible. That pairing should be unlikely,
given that they would both be sorted to the bottom by rating, but at the end
of a nine round tournament all kinds of odd pairings can occur due to players
already having met. I wish Michael luck, and will be watching the remaining
games with both fingers crossed for him!
GM Julio Becerra vs NNM Charles Lawton in round seven (Becerra won in 39).
The latter has been a steady fixture in Missouri chess, known for an aggressive
style and playing offbeat lines. He’s a two-time Missouri Open Champion.
|
GM Julio Becerra, Miami, Florida
Highlights: 2006 Florida Champion, 2006 U.S. Chess League
MVP, 1995 and 1998 Cuban Champion.
Bio: Julio Becerra earned his Grandmaster title in 1997
and decided to relocate to the U.S. two years later after attending the
1999 World Championship in Las Vegas. Until 2005, however, he was unable
to travel internationally to play chess because he had no American passport.
He since has become a U.S. citizen and has steadily increased his rating.
Becerra is first board for the Miami Sharks of the U.S. Chess League and
was league MVP for two years in a row.
Click
for full bio
|
|
GM Melikset Khachiyan, Los Angeles, California
Highlights: Frank K. Berry 2007 U.S. Championship, tied
for first in the 2006 American Open.
Bio: Melikset Khachiyan began playing chess at the age
of 8, won the Baku Junior Championship two years later and became a Soviet
Candidate Master two years after that. He began coaching early in his
career and has brought up three Junior World Champions. In 2001, he immigrated
to the U.S., where he participated in the National Open in Las Vegas.
He earned his Grandmaster title in 2006.
Click
for full bio |
Friday is a rest day. Round eight of the nine-round championship will be on
Saturday. The tournament concludes Sunday.
Current standings
All pictures by Betsy Dynako of Inspiring
Art
