2012 U.S. Championships News
By FM Mike Klein
The bell curve of scores began to take shape after today's round three of the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship. With six of the 11 games pitting first-time opponents against each other, a lot of unknowns preluded the afternoon. The top two rated players pulled ahead in both competitions, with one surprising party crasher in the women's tournament.
The ascent of GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Gata Kamsky, who are joint leaders with 2.5/3, took divergent yet typical paths. Nakamura used investigative research of a topical variation that led to a swashbuckling game. Kamsky avoided a rigorous theoretical test and slowly took over the board with his bishops. A chess fan could probably guess which player was which without even seeing the names attached to the games.
Nakamura played 1. e4 for the second time in the championship, and hoped to steer his match with GM Ray Robson into a prepared line. Repeating the moves of an earlier Robson game from this year's Aeroflot Open, Nakamura unleashed a powerful kingside attack in the Yugoslav Dragon, an opening Robson plays frequently. “I've played the Dragon quite a bit recently with both colors,” Nakamura said. “I figured it would lead to a sharp position and there's certainly play for both sides, but I just felt this suited my style a bit more.”
Robson had not focused as much on 1.e4 during his preparation. “I wasn't sure what to do against 1. e4 because all of the lines I thought about, somehow there are some small holes I thought [Nakamura] could play into,” he said. His prescience proved accurate. Robson was forced to invest a small amount of material to quash the h-file invasions. He then became resourceful in his counterplay given his limited material. Nakamura's king hiked up the board to avoid the relentless checking, and in a study-like position he allowed Robson to promote to a queen. But as is often the case, a friendly knight shielded any further checks and soon Robson's chances were exhausted, forcing him to resign.
For the defending champion Kamsky, no such bravery was needed to beat third-seeded GM Alex Onischuk. In only his second win ever against him (the first was during the quad finals of the 2010 Championship), Kamsky used the London System, an opening rare at professional levels due to its benign reputation. Eventually he acquired the two bishops, or the “mini exchange” as GM Garry Kasparov once termed it. In the final position, Kamsky can deftly avoid the threats to his own king by trading queens on d7, whereupon his pawn becomes unstoppable. Onischuk has the burden of playing the other frontrunner, Nakamura, tomorrow. Earlier in the tournament, GM Alejandro Ramirez also had the daunting one-two punch, scoring one loss and one draw. Looking ahead, Nakamura and Kamsky are slated to meet in round 10.
GMs Alex Lenderman and Gregory Kaidanov, two of the lowest-rated players in the tournament (and for Kaidanov, the oldest), continued their unbeaten ways with a 30-move draw agreement, which is the shortest allowed under the rules. They both sit on 2/3 and are in a tie for second. Lenderman had a second consecutive rook and bishop ending. “In the end I feel like I was lucky to draw,” Kaidanov said. He added that ignorance is bliss when it comes to others' perception of his play. “I try to forget about the outside world when I play in tournaments...I don't think about what other people think about my play. I think this is the most important part of being a chess player.”
Lenderman claimed he was not at his best, but for a reason not heard much in chess circles. “I felt like I wasn't seeing the board clearly today; I think I overprepared,” he said, adding that he planned to study less for the next games.
Joining Lenderman and Kaidanov with two points was GM Yury Shulman, the only player of that trio to have won a U.S. Championship. Shulman squeezed the veteran GM Yasser Seirawan, who is still without any points.
GM Alex Stripunsky earned his first win, springing the unpredictable piece sacrifice 10. h4 and beating GM Varuzhan Akobian, thus puncturing Akobian's chances of a first championship. Stripunsky said he is recovered from his first-round blunder. “I fought back, and I am OK now.”
Young GMs Robert Hess and Alejandro Ramirez drew in their first matchup ever, not counting a quick draw at last year's Thanksgiving Open in Saint Louis.
In the women's tournament, IM Irina Krush won and caught up to her main rival, IM Anna Zatonskih. Krush beat WIM Viktorija Ni with the quieter 1. c4, instead of 1 .d4 and a likely King's Indian Defense, which is a mainstay in recent years at the U.S. Women's Championship. “I was a little bit confused by this move Bg5,” Krush said. “I wasn't expecting it. Then I thought, 'Oh, that's an interesting idea, stopping me from playing Ne3.'” But Krush called her “bluff”, playing 16. Ne3 anyway. Ni decided against doubling Krush's pawns at the cost of weakening her dark squares, but the resulting knight invasion to d5 proved no bargain either. Like Nakamura, Krush marched her king to the sixth rank for victory. She said she plans to use tomorrow's rest day to conserve her energy.
Zatonskih endured a rarity at this year's championship – the higher-rated player getting surprised out of the opening. While Kamsky has played an offbeat Sicilian and Nakamura has essayed the Evans Gambit, it was the lower-rated WGM Sabina Foisor that uncorked the Chigorin Defense with 2...Nc6. A bewildered Zatonskih spent 25 minutes on her reply, and could not engineer any activity for her light-squared bishop. The game ended in a draw, but not before Zatonskih's queen's rook also took an interesting sojourn, traveling a1-d1-d2-d3-d4-f4-h4-h1 and switching places with her king's rook. Luckily, Zatonskih is a big fan of puzzles and compositions, and perhaps has seen a solution with rooks inverting their normal positions.
Zatonskih and Krush are joined at 2.5/3 with WIM Iryna Zenyuk, the 8th seed out of ten players. Zenyuk won for the second day in a row, this time against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Zenyuk already has more points that she scored in all of last year's seven-game event. She will face one of her biggest challenges in round four - Zenyuk cedes more than 250 ratings points against Krush.
Close behind with 2/3 is IM Rusudan Goletiani, who rebounded from her unsuspecting late-game errors in round two. Coming off that painful loss leaves the next game difficult to predict. She stifled FM Alisa Melekhina's pieces all game. “I was so mad at myself yesterday, I was determined to do really well today,” Goletiani said. She went out to eat with a large group of playing partners and was in good spirits by night's end, helping her to rebound today.
WFM Alena Kats got her first win today by beating the winless WGM Camilla Baginskaite.
The women are off tomorrow, but the U.S. Championship returns for round four at 1 p.m Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Turn in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Ben Finegold.
By FM Mike Klein
After two rounds of play at the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship, only one player out of 22 remains with an unblemished record. Defending champion IM Anna Zatonskih continued her unparallelled recent success at the event by beating WGM Camilla Baginskaite. No other player in either tournament could string together a second win in a row. A large swath of men are all tied at 1.5/2 in the U.S. Championship.
Zatonskih's choice of the Nimzo-Indian Defense led to a cluster of pawns in the center. But what began as a stable maneuvering game quickly gave way to open files and diagonals. Zatonskih faced two menacing bishops, but she neutralized their combined power by trading one set, then took control of the open e-file. Baginskaite's 18. Rf3 should have been immediately punished by 18...Nc2 with twin threats of 19...Nxa1 and 19...Re1+, winning the queen. “I'm still experiencing jet lag,” Zatonskih said. She traveled from her home in Germany to attempt to defend her title. Although she is up a half point on her closest competition, Zatonskih pointed out that three of her toughest games will be in the final three rounds. “I have a very tough finish,” she said. “I have to save some energy.”
It seemed to most that she would have company at 2/2, as 2005 champion IM Rusudan Goletiani took a dominating position down to the wire. However, short of time, she overpressed, first losing her a-pawn, then allowing a crucial knight invasion to seal her own king's fate. WGM Sabina Foisor benefited to score her first win.
Second-seeded IM Irina Krush could not keep pace, as she could only draw with FM Alisa Melekhina. Like their matchup at last year's championship, Melekhina diverged from her usual Sicilian Alapin to play the Moscow Variation. Unlike last year, she went with an immediate 6. d4 instead of preparing it with 6. c3. “I was looking to play something more aggressive,” Melekhina said. “I feel like theory is my weakness, and I just wanted a playable position. I feel like she might overextend; she's the higher-rated player.”
After losing a string of games at the outset last year, Melekhina has now opened this year with two draws to women she lost to last year, Krush and WIM Iryna Zenyuk. “I'm content. Last year I lost to both Irinas.”
Zenyuk used the Benko Gambit to win against WIM Viktorija Ni. Much like WGM Tatev Abrahamyan's round one game, Zenyuk's queen's rook infiltrated the b-file in the Benko. Then followed her queen, which delivered the decisive triple fork of Ni's rook and two bishops. Zenyuk stands at 1.5/2 and is off to one of her best starts in the event.
Abrahamyan sacrificed a center pawn on d5 to open lines for her light-squared bishop, then attacked on the light squares. Coupled with her methodical g-pawn plodding up the board and resting on the seventh rank, WFM Alena Kats could not resist the buffeting. Kats is still seeking her first points of the tournament. “My bishop is just dominating the whole position,” Abrahamyan said. “It's a pretty standard line in the Najdorf.” She was more pleased with her effort today as opposed to the erratic game yesterday, when her opponent missed a crushing queen invasion. Abrahamyan is playing in her first tournament in two months, which for her is a longer layoff than normal.
In the U.S. Championship, everyone now has a pocked record, leaving a collection of players leading with 1.5/2. Defending champion GM Gata Kamsky surprised everyone with the exceedingly rare 2...b6 in the Sicilian Defense. While he had played it before online, Kamsky decided only at the last minute to essay it over the board. “It's fun to play away from theory on the second move,” Kamsky said. His opponent, GM Ray Robson, was not aware of Kamsky's Internet repertoire, but was unfazed by the choice. He reasoned that if he played normally he should not be worse against such an obscure choice.
In the post-game analysis, Kamsky marveled at Robson's analytical celerity. “This guy is really good at tactics,” Kamsky said. After 24...Ra8, Kamsky said he initially did not see Robson's king oscillation between b1 and c1, which is the only way to hold the draw. The last try for an advantage was 24...Bxe4, which simultaneously wins a pawn and brings a much-needed piece to the defense of Kamsky's king.
GM Hikaru Nakamura, widely considered Kamsky's biggest hurdle to winning three championships in a row, also drew. GM Alejandro Ramirez had his pressure on f7 quickly rebuffed, then scrambled after Nakamura's knight infiltrated to the center. “I kind of underestimated his position,” Ramirez said. “After ...Nd4 my position [was terrible] ... my time management was atrocious.”
Now with better prospects, Nakamura spent a lot of time prior to 27...f5, believing that his opponent could unearth the inventive resource 28. Qd1 Re7 29. exf5 Rxe1 30. Qxe1 Bxg2 31. Bxd4, followed by a queen invasion on e6 to hold the balance by either continuously checking or grabbing a handful of pawns. During the game, Ramirez assumed Nakamura had something up his sleeve in the variation, and instead pitched the exchange to reduce the pressure. It worked, as his dark-square pressure was enough to prise Nakamura's king out in the open for a draw by repetition.
Also on 1.5/2 is GM Robert Hess, who bided his time in an uncomfortable position against GM Yasser Seirawan until the tactic 18...Rxg4 appeared. Hess presumed Seirawan simply overlooked the pin to the rook on h1. While still not without pressure, the worse was then behind him. “I misplayed the opening as per usual,” Hess said. “I didn't remember the line very well." Seirawan's loss was his second in a row.
GM Gregory Kaidanov also has a win and a draw, as his active pieces created too many problems for the luckless GM Alex Stripunsky. Kaidanov's bishops, knights and rook harassed the enemy queen relentlessly unless she had to be given up. Kaidanov later offered his own queen in return to achieve the notorious outside passed pawn, which duly marched to victory.
GM Varuzhan Akobian used nearly all of his time in the opening, at one point only keeping six minutes with a 30-second increment for the next 23 moves. “I made all logical moves – in principle it should be better for me,” a frustrated Akobain said. “I'm not happy with my play today.” GM Yury Shulman tried all he could to keep the position complicated to stress Akobian, but had to settle for a static position that allowed his opponent to make easy choices and hold the draw. The split point also gets Akobian to 1.5/2.
In the day's only battle of first-round winners, GMs Alex Onsichuk and Alex Lenderman played an exciting draw that also got them both to 1.5/2.
The lack of perfection means that no player will win the $64,000 Fischer prize for a perfect score. Fischer was the only person to achieve the feat, scoring a perfect 11-0 in 1963. Round three begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from WGM Jennifer Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence, Ben Finegold. Pairings for round three can be found at www.uschesshcamps.com/standings-and-games.
By FM Mike Klein
After two rounds of play at the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship, only one player out of 22 remains with an unblemished record. Defending champion IM Anna Zatonskih continued her unparallelled recent success at the event by beating WGM Camilla Baginskaite. No other player in either tournament could string together a second win in a row. A large swath of men are all tied at 1.5/2 in the U.S. Championship.
Zatonskih's choice of the Nimzo-Indian Defense led to a cluster of pawns in the center. But what began as a stable maneuvering game quickly gave way to open files and diagonals. Zatonskih faced two menacing bishops, but she neutralized their combined power by trading one set, then took control of the open e-file. Baginskaite's 18. Rf3 should have been immediately punished by 18...Nc2 with twin threats of 19...Nxa1 and 19...Re1+, winning the queen. “I'm still experiencing jet lag,” Zatonskih said. She traveled from her home in Germany to attempt to defend her title. Although she is up a half point on her closest competition, Zatonskih pointed out that three of her toughest games will be in the final three rounds. “I have a very tough finish,” she said. “I have to save some energy.”
It seemed to most that she would have company at 2/2, as 2005 champion IM Rusudan Goletiani took a dominating position down to the wire. However, short of time, she overpressed, first losing her a-pawn, then allowing a crucial knight invasion to seal her own king's fate. WGM Sabina Foisor benefited to score her first win.
Second-seeded IM Irina Krush could not keep pace, as she could only draw with FM Alisa Melekhina. Like their matchup at last year's championship, Melekhina diverged from her usual Sicilian Alapin to play the Moscow Variation. Unlike last year, she went with an immediate 6. d4 instead of preparing it with 6. c3. “I was looking to play something more aggressive,” Melekhina said. “I feel like theory is my weakness, and I just wanted a playable position. I feel like she might overextend; she's the higher-rated player.”
After losing a string of games at the outset last year, Melekhina has now opened this year with two draws to women she lost to last year, Krush and WIM Iryna Zenyuk. “I'm content. Last year I lost to both Irinas.”
Zenyuk used the Benko Gambit to win against WIM Viktorija Ni. Much like WGM Tatev Abrahamyan's round one game, Zenyuk's queen's rook infiltrated the b-file in the Benko. Then followed her queen, which delivered the decisive triple fork of Ni's rook and two bishops. Zenyuk stands at 1.5/2 and is off to one of her best starts in the event.
Abrahamyan sacrificed a center pawn on d5 to open lines for her light-squared bishop, then attacked on the light squares. Coupled with her methodical g-pawn plodding up the board and resting on the seventh rank, WFM Alena Kats could not resist the buffeting. Kats is still seeking her first points of the tournament. “My bishop is just dominating the whole position,” Abrahamyan said. “It's a pretty standard line in the Najdorf.” She was more pleased with her effort today as opposed to the erratic game yesterday, when her opponent missed a crushing queen invasion. Abrahamyan is playing in her first tournament in two months, which for her is a longer layoff than normal.
In the U.S. Championship, everyone now has a pocked record, leaving a collection of players leading with 1.5/2. Defending champion GM Gata Kamsky surprised everyone with the exceedingly rare 2...b6 in the Sicilian Defense. While he had played it before online, Kamsky decided only at the last minute to essay it over the board. “It's fun to play away from theory on the second move,” Kamsky said. His opponent, GM Ray Robson, was not aware of Kamsky's Internet repertoire, but was unfazed by the choice. He reasoned that if he played normally he should not be worse against such an obscure choice.
In the post-game analysis, Kamsky marveled at Robson's analytical celerity. “This guy is really good at tactics,” Kamsky said. After 24...Ra8, Kamsky said he initially did not see Robson's king oscillation between b1 and c1, which is the only way to hold the draw. The last try for an advantage was 24...Bxe4, which simultaneously wins a pawn and brings a much-needed piece to the defense of Kamsky's king.
GM Hikaru Nakamura, widely considered Kamsky's biggest hurdle to winning three championships in a row, also drew. GM Alejandro Ramirez had his pressure on f7 quickly rebuffed, then scrambled after Nakamura's knight infiltrated to the center. “I kind of underestimated his position,” Ramirez said. “After ...Nd4 my position [was terrible] ... my time management was atrocious.”
Now with better prospects, Nakamura spent a lot of time prior to 27...f5, believing that his opponent could unearth the inventive resource 28. Qd1 Re7 29. exf5 Rxe1 30. Qxe1 Bxg2 31. Bxd4, followed by a queen invasion on e6 to hold the balance by either continuously checking or grabbing a handful of pawns. During the game, Ramirez assumed Nakamura had something up his sleeve in the variation, and instead pitched the exchange to reduce the pressure. It worked, as his dark-square pressure was enough to prise Nakamura's king out in the open for a draw by repetition.
Also on 1.5/2 is GM Robert Hess, who bided his time in an uncomfortable position against GM Yasser Seirawan until the tactic 18...Rxg4 appeared. Hess presumed Seirawan simply overlooked the pin to the rook on h1. While still not without pressure, the worse was then behind him. “I misplayed the opening as per usual,” Hess said. “I didn't remember the line very well." Seirawan's loss was his second in a row.
GM Gregory Kaidanov also has a win and a draw, as his active pieces created too many problems for the luckless GM Alex Stripunsky. Kaidanov's bishops, knights and rook harassed the enemy queen relentlessly unless she had to be given up. Kaidanov later offered his own queen in return to achieve the notorious outside passed pawn, which duly marched to victory.
GM Varuzhan Akobian used nearly all of his time in the opening, at one point only keeping six minutes with a 30-second increment for the next 23 moves. “I made all logical moves – in principle it should be better for me,” a frustrated Akobain said. “I'm not happy with my play today.” GM Yury Shulman tried all he could to keep the position complicated to stress Akobian, but had to settle for a static position that allowed his opponent to make easy choices and hold the draw. The split point also gets Akobian to 1.5/2.
In the day's only battle of first-round winners, GMs Alex Onsichuk and Alex Lenderman played an exciting draw that also got them both to 1.5/2.
The lack of perfection means that no player will win the $64,000 Fischer prize for a perfect score. Fischer was the only person to achieve the feat, scoring a perfect 11-0 in 1963. Round three begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from WGM Jennifer Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence, Ben Finegold. Pairings for round three can be found at www.uschesshcamps.com/standings-and-games.
Former World Champion GM Garry Kasparov and world number-one female player GM Judit Polgar have agreed to judge the best game prizes for the 2012 U.S. Championship & U.S. Women's Championship. Thanks to our sponsors, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis has added $5,000 to the total prize fund, which will be awarded to the top three games from each event. Games will be judged on overall quality, accuracy and aesthetic appeal.
Kasparov, who is arguably one of the strongest players chess has ever seen, will evaluate all games from the U.S. Championship and pick the best three. For their efforts, players can win $1,500 for first, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. Should the best game be a hard-fought draw, the two players will split the purse.
Judit Polgar, a resident of Budapest, Hungary, became a Grandmaster in 1991 when she was 15 years old. Polgar is ranked 36th in the world and is the only female player in the top 100 by rating. She will judge the best game prizes for the 2012 U.S. Women's Championship. Players can receive $1,000 for first, $600 for second and $400 for third.
The best game prizes will be announced at the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 U.S. Championships on May 20th. Check back soon for more information, including Garry's and Judit's picks.
By FM Mike Klein
SAINT LOUIS, May 8, 2012 -- There were running starts and standing starts and very little in between to open the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship. All but three games in the events produced a decisive result. The tournaments are being hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis for the fourth consecutive year.
In a turn of the unexpected, the grandmasters in the U.S. Championship played more provocative chess than their female counterparts. Their early imbalanced positions meant the first three games to finish came from their event.
The first result shocked everyone. GM Alex Stripunsky overlooked a simple capture on move 11 and resigned immediately against GM Alexander Onischuk. According to U.S. Championship statistical guru Ed Gonsalves, the game was the third shortest to produce a winner since the modern tournament began in 1936. Onischuk felt some of his playing partner's chagrin and was disappointed with the way he won. “We are really good friends, and I feel sorry for him,” Onischuk said. Several other players offered various possible reasons for the blunder, but at the end they were simply left guessing. Onischuk took a walk with Stripunsky afterward but could only speculate on whether Stripunsky could recover mentally. “It depends on the personality,” he said. “Some people will never recover.” The loss is particularly handicapping for Stripunsky, as he squanders one of the cherished opportunities with the white pieces. Onischuk's good fortune allowed him to be the only player to win as black in either championship.
Top-seeded GM Hikaru Nakamura scored the second point of the day by converting an opening advantage against GM Robert Hess. Nakamura skipped last year's championship and came prepared this time, opening with 1. e4 and making his unsuspecting opponent think on move one. Hess took three minutes before playing his usual 1...e5 but the next surprise lurked only a few moves later when Nakamura played 4. b4, the Evans Gambit, an opening only a shade younger than the incorporation of Saint Louis as a city.
“I just felt like trying something new,” Nakamura said. “It's almost like when [Nakamura] plays 1. e4, you know he's got something up his sleeve,” said Jennifer Shahade, one of the two on-air commentators. Nakamura questioned 9...Ba3, which was only played one other time in 1967. Hess was attempting to free his light-squared bishop and give back his extra pawn, but Nakamura suggested 9...b6 as a possible improvement. Hess said he was weary of playing a more topical variation against the Evans, especially since he had not studied the opening in a long time. He added that while his 12-page college paper analyzing the writings of Jorge Luis Borges was turned in prior to the game, that was not an excuse for his theoretical shortcoming. “Nakamura is so hard to prepare for anyway,” Hess said. “I lost because he completely outplayed me.”
Defending champion GM Gata Kamsky finished next, besting tournament newcomer GM Alejandro Ramirez. Kamsky played in the style that has allowed him to elude defeat for the past several U.S. Championships. “My style of play is called constrictor,” Kamsky said. “I'm a great admirer of (former World Champion Tigran) Petrosian. He came up with that style of play.” With Ramirez's backward pawn on d6 sitting helplessly, Kamsky marshaled all of his pieces into position, then pushed a pawn one square on the edge of the board. The move was cunning in its subtlety, and Ramirez admitted that he could not find a good move afterward.
In other round one action, two of the younger players squared off. GM Alex Lenderman played the most attacking-minded game against GM Ray Robson. He got a pawn to f7 early, opened the file his opponent's king sat on, and jettisoned a piece into the foray to gain time for the whirlwind. Robson complicated the issue by walking his king to f6, an unexpected maneuver for Lenderman. “It's such an unusual idea,” Lenderman said. “I just didn't see it. I kind of underestimated it.
“I was actually trying to steer the game away from dynamic complications, but Ray went for it, so I had to. I'm a little surprised I won this game.” Robson survived until the endgame, when Lenderman claimed he won by a single tempo.
In their first-ever meeting, GM Varuzhan Akobian and GM Yasser Seirawan faced each other. The two are at opposite ends of their chess careers. Akobian is seeking his fist U.S. Championship title and a return to qualifying for the U.S. national team, while Seirawan already has a handful of titles and has returned after a long layoff to play in the tournament for the second straight year. Like 2011, he got off to a slow start, as Akobian edged him out today. “Somehow I was slipping, and I just couldn't stop slipping,” Seirawan said. Akobian's pieces overwhelmed his opponent's, but the timing of when to convert his activity into a material advantage was crucial. “I was better,” Akobian said. “But you never know if you win the pawn, if you're going to win the game.” Still, his position was devoid of risk, and allowed him to ease his way into the tournament. “I was definitely enjoying the position.”
GMs Yury Shulman and Gregory Kaidanov played a see-saw affair that ended in the only draw of the championship. “I'm sure Yury was worse,” Kaidanov said. “I just couldn't find ...” and the end of his sentence was as elusive as the clinching move of the game.
In the U.S. Women's Championship, reigning champion IM Anna Zatonskih began her title defense with a painless win over 17-year-old Alena Kats, who is playing in her first championship. Zatonskih had the classic dominant knight against an imprisoned bishop, and a stranglehold of both sides of the board. “She probably doesn't have experience in such positions,” Zatonskih said.
Kats said preparing for Zatonskih is mostly guesswork. “I was expecting anything really,” she said. “Maybe I don't know anything?” Zatonskih jokingly replied. “I'm just playing!”
IM Irina Krush, who since 2006 is the only other woman to win the event besides Zatonskih, kept pace with a convincing win over WGM Sabina Foisor. The two also played in the first round last year, when Krush survived an onslaught only to hang her queen and scramble later in the tournament to try to qualify for the finals. Besides getting off to a better start, Krush was particularly pleased with the planning that helped her win the game.
“All these ideas I studied I actually got to use,” she said. “It was a product of all my work. The onus is on white when black plays ...g6 lines.” Krush liked her early a4 and was ready to push the pawn again to restrain the knight on d7. She gave back her surplus pawn at just the right moment, then in a better position found a knight retreat that forked Foisor's rook and bishop. She admitted that it took her a few minutes to find the elementary idea, but was completely satisfied with the quality of her play.
IM Rusudan Goletiani came out of an equal middlegame to land a dominant queen in the center of the board. WGM Camilla Baginskaite could only wait, and Goletiani's kingside pawns marched up the board and then used her queen for an indefensible pin to net a piece and the game. Goletiani was rooted at her own board and was one of the few players who did not even know about the 11-move game in the U.S. Championship. “I guess I don't get as bored as other players,” she said.
FM Alisa Melekhina reversed an unfortunate trend by drawing WIM Iryna Zenyuk, whom she had lost to at three consecutive championships. She actually came close again. Melekhina pitched her weak isolated pawn but received insufficient counterplay, eventually scrambling for a pawn-down ending with queens still on the board. Zenyuk couldn't create a passed pawn without uncovering her own king. The two settled for peace after Melekhina's queen chased Zenyuk's king in the latter's fruitless search for shelter.
The last game to finish was WIM Viktorija Ni's unlikely draw of WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Ni found herself down two pawns in the endgame after Abrahamyan's Benko Gambit netted her the typical control of the b-file and subsequent rook invasion. Both women ran short of time and Abrahamyan faced just enough difficulties to have the win elude her.
Round two begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence, Ben Finegold. Pairings for round two can be found at www.uschesshcamps.com/standings-and-games.
By FM Mike Klein
SAINT LOUIS, May 8, 2012 -- There were running starts and standing starts and very little in between to open the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship. All but three games in the events produced a decisive result. The tournaments are being hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis for the fourth consecutive year.
In a turn of the unexpected, the grandmasters in the U.S. Championship played more provocative chess than their female counterparts. Their early imbalanced positions meant the first three games to finish came from their event.
The first result shocked everyone. GM Alex Stripunsky overlooked a simple capture on move 11 and resigned immediately against GM Alexander Onischuk. According to U.S. Championship statistical guru Ed Gonsalves, the game was the third shortest to produce a winner since the modern tournament began in 1936. Onischuk felt some of his playing partner's chagrin and was disappointed with the way he won. “We are really good friends, and I feel sorry for him,” Onischuk said. Several other players offered various possible reasons for the blunder, but at the end they were simply left guessing. Onischuk took a walk with Stripunsky afterward but could only speculate on whether Stripunsky could recover mentally. “It depends on the personality,” he said. “Some people will never recover.” The loss is particularly handicapping for Stripunsky, as he squanders one of the cherished opportunities with the white pieces. Onischuk's good fortune allowed him to be the only player to win as black in either championship.
Top-seeded GM Hikaru Nakamura scored the second point of the day by converting an opening advantage against GM Robert Hess. Nakamura skipped last year's championship and came prepared this time, opening with 1. e4 and making his unsuspecting opponent think on move one. Hess took three minutes before playing his usual 1...e5 but the next surprise lurked only a few moves later when Nakamura played 4. b4, the Evans Gambit, an opening only a shade younger than the incorporation of Saint Louis as a city.
“I just felt like trying something new,” Nakamura said. “It's almost like when [Nakamura] plays 1. e4, you know he's got something up his sleeve,” said Jennifer Shahade, one of the two on-air commentators. Nakamura questioned 9...Ba3, which was only played one other time in 1967. Hess was attempting to free his light-squared bishop and give back his extra pawn, but Nakamura suggested 9...b6 as a possible improvement. Hess said he was weary of playing a more topical variation against the Evans, especially since he had not studied the opening in a long time. He added that while his 12-page college paper analyzing the writings of Jorge Luis Borges was turned in prior to the game, that was not an excuse for his theoretical shortcoming. “Nakamura is so hard to prepare for anyway,” Hess said. “I lost because he completely outplayed me.”
Defending champion GM Gata Kamsky finished next, besting tournament newcomer GM Alejandro Ramirez. Kamsky played in the style that has allowed him to elude defeat for the past several U.S. Championships. “My style of play is called constrictor,” Kamsky said. “I'm a great admirer of (former World Champion Tigran) Petrosian. He came up with that style of play.” With Ramirez's backward pawn on d6 sitting helplessly, Kamsky marshaled all of his pieces into position, then pushed a pawn one square on the edge of the board. The move was cunning in its subtlety, and Ramirez admitted that he could not find a good move afterward.
In other round one action, two of the younger players squared off. GM Alex Lenderman played the most attacking-minded game against GM Ray Robson. He got a pawn to f7 early, opened the file his opponent's king sat on, and jettisoned a piece into the foray to gain time for the whirlwind. Robson complicated the issue by walking his king to f6, an unexpected maneuver for Lenderman. “It's such an unusual idea,” Lenderman said. “I just didn't see it. I kind of underestimated it.
“I was actually trying to steer the game away from dynamic complications, but Ray went for it, so I had to. I'm a little surprised I won this game.” Robson survived until the endgame, when Lenderman claimed he won by a single tempo.
In their first-ever meeting, GM Varuzhan Akobian and GM Yasser Seirawan faced each other. The two are at opposite ends of their chess careers. Akobian is seeking his fist U.S. Championship title and a return to qualifying for the U.S. national team, while Seirawan already has a handful of titles and has returned after a long layoff to play in the tournament for the second straight year. Like 2011, he got off to a slow start, as Akobian edged him out today. “Somehow I was slipping, and I just couldn't stop slipping,” Seirawan said. Akobian's pieces overwhelmed his opponent's, but the timing of when to convert his activity into a material advantage was crucial. “I was better,” Akobian said. “But you never know if you win the pawn, if you're going to win the game.” Still, his position was devoid of risk, and allowed him to ease his way into the tournament. “I was definitely enjoying the position.”
GMs Yury Shulman and Gregory Kaidanov played a see-saw affair that ended in the only draw of the championship. “I'm sure Yury was worse,” Kaidanov said. “I just couldn't find ...” and the end of his sentence was as elusive as the clinching move of the game.
In the U.S. Women's Championship, reigning champion IM Anna Zatonskih began her title defense with a painless win over 17-year-old Alena Kats, who is playing in her first championship. Zatonskih had the classic dominant knight against an imprisoned bishop, and a stranglehold of both sides of the board. “She probably doesn't have experience in such positions,” Zatonskih said.
Kats said preparing for Zatonskih is mostly guesswork. “I was expecting anything really,” she said. “Maybe I don't know anything?” Zatonskih jokingly replied. “I'm just playing!”
IM Irina Krush, who since 2006 is the only other woman to win the event besides Zatonskih, kept pace with a convincing win over WGM Sabina Foisor. The two also played in the first round last year, when Krush survived an onslaught only to hang her queen and scramble later in the tournament to try to qualify for the finals. Besides getting off to a better start, Krush was particularly pleased with the planning that helped her win the game.
“All these ideas I studied I actually got to use,” she said. “It was a product of all my work. The onus is on white when black plays ...g6 lines.” Krush liked her early a4 and was ready to push the pawn again to restrain the knight on d7. She gave back her surplus pawn at just the right moment, then in a better position found a knight retreat that forked Foisor's rook and bishop. She admitted that it took her a few minutes to find the elementary idea, but was completely satisfied with the quality of her play.
IM Rusudan Goletiani came out of an equal middlegame to land a dominant queen in the center of the board. WGM Camilla Baginskaite could only wait, and Goletiani's kingside pawns marched up the board and then used her queen for an indefensible pin to net a piece and the game. Goletiani was rooted at her own board and was one of the few players who did not even know about the 11-move game in the U.S. Championship. “I guess I don't get as bored as other players,” she said.
FM Alisa Melekhina reversed an unfortunate trend by drawing WIM Iryna Zenyuk, whom she had lost to at three consecutive championships. She actually came close again. Melekhina pitched her weak isolated pawn but received insufficient counterplay, eventually scrambling for a pawn-down ending with queens still on the board. Zenyuk couldn't create a passed pawn without uncovering her own king. The two settled for peace after Melekhina's queen chased Zenyuk's king in the latter's fruitless search for shelter.
The last game to finish was WIM Viktorija Ni's unlikely draw of WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Ni found herself down two pawns in the endgame after Abrahamyan's Benko Gambit netted her the typical control of the b-file and subsequent rook invasion. Both women ran short of time and Abrahamyan faced just enough difficulties to have the win elude her.
Round two begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence, Ben Finegold. Pairings for round two can be found at www.uschesshcamps.com/standings-and-games.