2012 U.S. Championships News
By FM Mike Klein
The battle all chess fans waited to see at the 2012 U.S. Championship did not disappoint. GM Hikaru Nakamura beat GM Gata Kamsky for the first time ever in classical chess to take over the lead by one-half point with one game to go. Nakamura has 7.5 points to Kamsky's seven.
Playing black in round ten, Nakamura chose the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense because he wanted a volatile position. During their last encounter, at the Tata Steel Tournament in January, Nakamura's Dragon Variation did not produce any winning chances. Today, he needed more from the opening.
Kamsky uncharacteristically labored in the opening, spending more time than his opponent for one of the first times in the event. He spent 30 minutes after 11...Na5. Lacking his usual confidence, he was down 45 minutes on the clock a few moves later.
Later, Nakamura won a pawn, but refused to go for more. In the post-game press conference, Nakamura said that he was not sure of the complications arising from 25...Nxc3 26. bxc3 Qxc3 27. Ng4 Qxa5 28. Nxh6+ gxh6 29. Qg4+ Kh8. While it seems Black is simply up an armada of pawns, white can chase the black queen around the board until she gives herself away for two rooks. Nakamura said he thought it was still technically winning, but he was worried about his king's safety. The alternative plan from the actual game left Nakamura up the exchange, but with a different set of difficulties ahead.
“Optically the knights are very strong, but at the same time, they don't have very many squares,” Nakamura said. He wanted to avoid an endgame where one of Kamsky's knights would sacrifice for his lone queenside pawn, as an ending with pawns on only one side can often reduce winning chances.
The defending champion's lack of time came back to hurt him on the 40th and final move of time control. According to Nakamura, 40. Kh4 is an unrecoverable mistake. The forcing sequence beginning with the pinning of one knight and the sacrifice for another led to Kamsky searching fruitlessly for counterplay against the inexorable march of his opponent's a-pawn. While Kamsky attempted to conjure an attack with his limited material, Nakamura did not need any moves to rebuff the plan, and simply marched onward with his pawn.
“A lot of moves Gata played in this game surprised me,” Nakamura said, adding the opinion that neither he nor Kamsky is playing his best at the championship.
Nakamura thought that he was due for some good fortune, as he had better positions in several of the games that he drew.
Tomorrow, Nakamura assured everyone that he was out to win, as he gets white versus GM Yasser Seirawan. If he is able to do so, he will clinch the title, his first since 2009. Kamsky meanwhile needs some help to win his third consecutive championship. He will likely need to win as black against GM Robert Hess, then get some help from Seirawan. Should there be a tie at the end of the 11th round, the playoff will be Sunday at noon Central time.
All other games Friday were drawn, except GM Alejandro Ramirez, who beat GM Alex Stripunsky.
GM Alex Onischuk retained his position in third by easily drawing GM Varuzhan Akobian.
Tomorrow's final day for the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship will begin at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com for live commentary from GM Ben Finegold and WGM Jennifer Shahade.
In other round 10 action:
By Mike Klein
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky entered round nine of the 2012 U.S. Championship tied with six points apiece. They could not have had more different days.
Kamsky won largely without any over-the-board effort, defeating GM Yasser Seirawan in a little more than two hours by using a spectacular combination. He had most of the moves worked out well in advance.
Nakamura labored for nearly six hours and 121 moves but could not break through against the stubborn defense of GM Alex Lenderman. He reluctantly agreed to a draw. His matchup with Kamsky tomorrow will mean he is playing from behind for the first time in the tournament. Kamsky now has seven points, while Nakamura is at 6.5.
Kamsky played the first 25 moves effectively in negative time, as the 30-second increment for every move offered him five more minutes than he began. His sacrifice 22. Bxh6 was played automatically, and a stunned Seirawan ran low on time contemplating the combination. The superior preparation netted the defending champion Kamsky a pain-free win.
“I knew yesterday he would play the Caro-Kann,” Kamsky said. He reviewed the opening again this morning, and Seirawan walked right into some preparation that Kamsky had saved from several years ago. “There are so many lines to prepare for, the chance that you will go into this one is terribly small,” Kamsky said.
Seirawan guessed that he may have actually seen the trap before, but failed to remember the intricacies. Unbeknownst to him, all moves up until 24...Nxd7 had occurred over Kamsky's practice board before. If Seirawan had not sacrifice his queen, then after 23...Nxd7 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Ng4 is incontrovertible proof of the soundness of the attack.
Meanwhile, Kamsky's rival Nakamura had his hands full trying to inject life into his game with the much lower-rated Lenderman. The night before, Lenderman lost his first game of the tournament to Kamsky, and remarked that he needed more practice playing against 2700s. He got copious amounts of board time with another 2700 today.
After Nakamura reverted back to his usual 1. d4, a Nimzo-Indian led to both kings castling on the queenside. The board soon locked up, and Nakamura spent 40 moves shuffling his pieces around the back ranks searching for the right time to break through. His king traveled east as far as it could, and finally a c-file breakthrough was attempted. Just when it seemed the newfound pressure would be too much to bear, Lenderman deftly sacrificed a few pawns to engineer an endgame blockade. Two pawns to the good, Nakamura admitted he was out of ideas and whispered, “Draw?” to his opponent. After playing the sixth-longest game in U.S. Championship history, mostly idling or on defense, Lenderman agreed without hesitation.
Fellow competitors GM Robert Hess and GM Alejandro Ramirez came up to ask Lenderman why he did not play on, as they deemed his position better. “I didn't expect I could possibly have winning chances,” Lenderman said.
Kamsky will take white versus Nakamura tomorrow. If Kamsky is able to win, he will clinch his third consecutive national championship.
GM Alex Onischuk, the third seed, maintained exactly that place by sacrificing the exchange against GM Gregory Kaidanov. His multiple passed pawns were too much to handle in the endgame. Onischuk, whose performance rating is more than 2700, is the only other player who is mathematically alive for the title, though his chances are extremely slim.
In the 2012 U.S. Women's Championship, both leaders won to keep pace with each other, though IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih were both worse in their respective games today.
“I did get what I wanted from the opening, but I played a really bad move – Rb1,” Krush said. “I played this game like a patzer.”
Hess said that if Krush's opponent, the lowest-ranked player in the field WFM Alena Kats, played 19...Ba4 instead of 19...Bc4, then Krush's rook would either be lost, or would move away and allow the advance of Kats's dangerous d-pawn. “My openings are terrible,” Kats said. “I'm going to study more. My junior year in high school was so busy.”
Zatonskih also had a worse position according to pundits. Her opponent, IM Rusudan Goletiani, had a healthy space advantage and the only bishop on the board. Zatonskih cleared out the long diagonal, then began focusing on Goletiani's errant knight on h4. Goletiani had to retreat to rescue her steed, and Zatonskih's pieces overwhelmed the position. Goletiani tried the same desperate strategy as yesterday, pushing all of her pawns at her opponent's king, but without queens on the board, there was not enough counterplay.
Goletiani dropped into a three-way tie for third with WGM Sabina Foisor and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Foisor drew miraculously today when her opponent, WIM Viktorija Ni, played beautifully but inexplicably botched a king-and-pawn ending. Instead of 67. f3, which resulted in a draw, the direct 67. Kxh6 wins, as Foisor would then have to chase down Ni's pawns even farther.
The title will go to either Krush or Zatonskih. If one woman manages to win in round nine and the other does not, a clear winner will emerge. If not, a playoff Sunday will ensue. The women get an off day tomorrow while the U.S. Championship resumes Friday for round 10.
Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern for live commentary from GM Ben Finegold and WGM Jennifer Shahade.
In other action today:
By Mike Klein
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky entered round nine of the 2012 U.S. Championship tied with six points apiece. They could not have had more different days.
Kamsky won largely without any over-the-board effort, defeating GM Yasser Seirawan in a little more than two hours by using a spectacular combination. He had most of the moves worked out well in advance.
Nakamura labored for nearly six hours and 121 moves but could not break through against the stubborn defense of GM Alex Lenderman. He reluctantly agreed to a draw. His matchup with Kamsky tomorrow will mean he is playing from behind for the first time in the tournament. Kamsky now has seven points, while Nakamura is at 6.5.
Kamsky played the first 25 moves effectively in negative time, as the 30-second increment for every move offered him five more minutes than he began. His sacrifice 22. Bxh6 was played automatically, and a stunned Seirawan ran low on time contemplating the combination. The superior preparation netted the defending champion Kamsky a pain-free win.
“I knew yesterday he would play the Caro-Kann,” Kamsky said. He reviewed the opening again this morning, and Seirawan walked right into some preparation that Kamsky had saved from several years ago. “There are so many lines to prepare for, the chance that you will go into this one is terribly small,” Kamsky said.
Seirawan guessed that he may have actually seen the trap before, but failed to remember the intricacies. Unbeknownst to him, all moves up until 24...Nxd7 had occurred over Kamsky's practice board before. If Seirawan had not sacrifice his queen, then after 23...Nxd7 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Ng4 is incontrovertible proof of the soundness of the attack.
Meanwhile, Kamsky's rival Nakamura had his hands full trying to inject life into his game with the much lower-rated Lenderman. The night before, Lenderman lost his first game of the tournament to Kamsky, and remarked that he needed more practice playing against 2700s. He got copious amounts of board time with another 2700 today.
After Nakamura reverted back to his usual 1. d4, a Nimzo-Indian led to both kings castling on the queenside. The board soon locked up, and Nakamura spent 40 moves shuffling his pieces around the back ranks searching for the right time to break through. His king traveled east as far as it could, and finally a c-file breakthrough was attempted. Just when it seemed the newfound pressure would be too much to bear, Lenderman deftly sacrificed a few pawns to engineer an endgame blockade. Two pawns to the good, Nakamura admitted he was out of ideas and whispered, “Draw?” to his opponent. After playing the sixth-longest game in U.S. Championship history, mostly idling or on defense, Lenderman agreed without hesitation.
Fellow competitors GM Robert Hess and GM Alejandro Ramirez came up to ask Lenderman why he did not play on, as they deemed his position better. “I didn't expect I could possibly have winning chances,” Lenderman said.
Kamsky will take white versus Nakamura tomorrow. If Kamsky is able to win, he will clinch his third consecutive national championship.
GM Alex Onischuk, the third seed, maintained exactly that place by sacrificing the exchange against GM Gregory Kaidanov. His multiple passed pawns were too much to handle in the endgame. Onischuk, whose performance rating is more than 2700, is the only other player who is mathematically alive for the title, though his chances are extremely slim.
In the 2012 U.S. Women's Championship, both leaders won to keep pace with each other, though IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih were both worse in their respective games today.
“I did get what I wanted from the opening, but I played a really bad move – Rb1,” Krush said. “I played this game like a patzer.”
Hess said that if Krush's opponent, the lowest-ranked player in the field WFM Alena Kats, played 19...Ba4 instead of 19...Bc4, then Krush's rook would either be lost, or would move away and allow the advance of Kats's dangerous d-pawn. “My openings are terrible,” Kats said. “I'm going to study more. My junior year in high school was so busy.”
Zatonskih also had a worse position according to pundits. Her opponent, IM Rusudan Goletiani, had a healthy space advantage and the only bishop on the board. Zatonskih cleared out the long diagonal, then began focusing on Goletiani's errant knight on h4. Goletiani had to retreat to rescue her steed, and Zatonskih's pieces overwhelmed the position. Goletiani tried the same desperate strategy as yesterday, pushing all of her pawns at her opponent's king, but without queens on the board, there was not enough counterplay.
Goletiani dropped into a three-way tie for third with WGM Sabina Foisor and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Foisor drew miraculously today when her opponent, WIM Viktorija Ni, played beautifully but inexplicably botched a king-and-pawn ending. Instead of 67. f3, which resulted in a draw, the direct 67. Kxh6 wins, as Foisor would then have to chase down Ni's pawns even farther.
The title will go to either Krush or Zatonskih. If one woman manages to win in round nine and the other does not, a clear winner will emerge. If not, a playoff Sunday will ensue. The women get an off day tomorrow while the U.S. Championship resumes Friday for round 10.
Tune in to www.uschesschamps.com at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern for live commentary from GM Ben Finegold and WGM Jennifer Shahade.
In other action today:
By FM Mike Klein
The 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship did not change leadership today, though the two tournaments produced much different levels of excitement.
With the two top seeds in each division pulling away from the pack, GM Gata Kamsky exuded his usual perfection in positional chess to give GM Alex Lenderman his first loss of the event. That left the crowd watching to see if GM Hikaru Nakamura, the top seed in the U.S. Championship, could keep pace.
After an unusual French Defense led to a stolid middlegame with no obvious breakthrough, it looked like Nakamura and GM Alex Stripunsky would admit the impasse and agree to a draw. After his own game ended, Kamsky looked on from the press room and had a different opinion. He suggested Nakamura prepare his f-pawn's advance, which Nakamura managed in due time. “White has no counterplay and is lost completely,” Kamsky concluded almost instantly.
Sensing the infiltration, Stripunsky was unwilling to wait for the inevitable. He sacrificed a piece, then the exchange, then later, with his time running out, another exchange. The final salvo proved too much. Though he engineered a quintet of passed pawns, Nakamura's rook took post on the eighth rank to parry all the possible promotions. Stripunsky saw his pawns were stuck and resigned. After the game, a quick analysis by the players produced a myriad of variations. Enlisting the help of other players produced more questions than answers. “White's winning, no black's winning, no white's winning,” GM Yasser Seirawan said.
Kamsky's win lacked similar drama. After repulsing any queenside attacking ideas, he eventually advanced five pawns to the fifth rank in picturesque uniformity. After 18...Bh5, Kamsky said his position was “completely OK.” Then he took a closer look and declared, “Actually, maybe it's not so pleasant for white.” The space advantage, coupled with a belligerent knight, was too much for Lenderman to handle.
“The game got away from me quickly somehow,” a flummoxed Lenderman said. “There were so many choices for white, but I couldn't find a way to make the maximum of all my pieces. I was trying to calculate lines before outlining strategic possibilities.” In a moment of extreme candor from the 22-year-old, he added, “The position was just too complicated for me. Chess understanding is just not there for me. Good thing I am playing in this tournament. I keep trying to make 'professor' moves where I try to do too much. I keep making this mistake against 2700s.”
Kamsky and Nakamura both have 6/8 and will play each other on Friday. Should there be a winner, he will be the betting favorite to win the title.
Chasing the two leaders is a trio of grandmasters. GMs Alex Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Yury Shulman all have 4.5/8. Taken together, the top five men comprise the U.S. Olympiad team from 2008, the last time the squad won a team medal.
Akobian won the only other decisive game of the day, besting GM Alejandro Ramirez in a wild game. “It was an unusual position,” Akobian said. Ramirez pushed ...c5, ...b5, ...f5 and ...g5 all in the first 11 moves. He left his center pawns at home while traversing his queen from one rook file to the other. “I was a little too optimistic,” Ramirez replied. “I wanted to play something interesting, but it backfired.”
Akobian said he spent 20 minutes in the opening calculating the unusual tactic 8. b4. If 8...axb3 e.p., the queen hangs. If 8...Qxb4, 9. Rb1 skewers the queen to the bishop. But if 8...cxb4 the pawn blocks the diagonal pin so 9. Nxe4 is possible. A possible variation is 9...b3+ 10. Ned2 b2 11. Ra2 a3 12. e4 Na6 (heading to b4) 13. Bxa6 Bxa6. Upon seeing this position, both players liked their position. Ramirez thought the b2-pawn and white's inability to castle offset his material loss. Ultimately, Akobian said he could not accurately evaluate the position, and headed for calmer waters with 8. c3.
GM Gregory Kaidanov played his second queen versus three minor piece game, this time departing with the monarch to try his hand with the knights and bishops. Earlier in the tournament, GM Robert Hess trapped Kaidanov's queen on the back rank. This time the queen had more space, but with no major weaknesses for either side, Kaidanov and his former student, GM Ray Robson, agreed to a draw.
In the women's side of the playing hall, IMs Zatonskih and Krush renewed their annual rivalry in round 7. Though a great majority of the their previous contests had produced a winner, Krush had little incentive to go for an unbalanced game. Playing Black, Krush liquidated the position's energy and the ladies agreed to a lifeless draw. They both still lead with 5/7.
Zatonskih regretted the move 12. Bf4, which allowed Krush to centralize with 12...Nd5 and win a tempo. “It is just fantastic how I played this,” Zatonskih said, chastising herself. She was using the literal connotation of “fantastic,” expressing that the move was unexplainable and bad. Afterward, she thought for 40 minutes.
Krush said a plan with b4 would have created a few problems for her, but ultimately she was never worried. “I just tried to play solid today,” she said. Although her pairings for the final two rounds are significantly easier than Zatonskih's, Krush said, “The tournament is not over. There's no reason to be joyous.”
The players shared a funny possible drawing line. If 15...a6 16. Nbc3 Nd4 17. Rc1 Nb3 18. Rc2 Nd4 19. Rd2 Nb3 20. Rd3 Nc1 and the rook either returns or goes wandering aimlessly.
IM Rusudan Goletiani took sole possession of third place after her win against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. With a pawn deficit and short on time, Goletiani threw all of her pawns at her opponent's castled king, breaking through for the point. While she does not control her own destiny, Goletiani faces Zatonskih tomorrow as white in a game both women will be trying to win to stay alive for first place. If Zatonskih wins, Goletiani will be mathematically eliminated from title contention.
WGM Sabina Foisor was the only other winner of the round. She used the Samisch Variation to beat FM Alisa Melekhina's favorite King's Indian Defense. With king's castled on opposite sides, Melekhina could not open an attack, and eventually ceded control of the only open file. Foisor's rook took control and dominated in the endgame. Foisor is in sole fourth place with 4/7.
In other action today:
Round nine for the U.S. Championship and round eight for the U.S. Women's Championship will begin tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Come visit the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis or tune in to www.uschesschamps.org for live commentary from WGM Jennifer Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence Ben Finegold.
By FM Mike Klein
The 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship did not change leadership today, though the two tournaments produced much different levels of excitement.
With the two top seeds in each division pulling away from the pack, GM Gata Kamsky exuded his usual perfection in positional chess to give GM Alex Lenderman his first loss of the event. That left the crowd watching to see if GM Hikaru Nakamura, the top seed in the U.S. Championship, could keep pace.
After an unusual French Defense led to a stolid middlegame with no obvious breakthrough, it looked like Nakamura and GM Alex Stripunsky would admit the impasse and agree to a draw. After his own game ended, Kamsky looked on from the press room and had a different opinion. He suggested Nakamura prepare his f-pawn's advance, which Nakamura managed in due time. “White has no counterplay and is lost completely,” Kamsky concluded almost instantly.
Sensing the infiltration, Stripunsky was unwilling to wait for the inevitable. He sacrificed a piece, then the exchange, then later, with his time running out, another exchange. The final salvo proved too much. Though he engineered a quintet of passed pawns, Nakamura's rook took post on the eighth rank to parry all the possible promotions. Stripunsky saw his pawns were stuck and resigned. After the game, a quick analysis by the players produced a myriad of variations. Enlisting the help of other players produced more questions than answers. “White's winning, no black's winning, no white's winning,” GM Yasser Seirawan said.
Kamsky's win lacked similar drama. After repulsing any queenside attacking ideas, he eventually advanced five pawns to the fifth rank in picturesque uniformity. After 18...Bh5, Kamsky said his position was “completely OK.” Then he took a closer look and declared, “Actually, maybe it's not so pleasant for white.” The space advantage, coupled with a belligerent knight, was too much for Lenderman to handle.
“The game got away from me quickly somehow,” a flummoxed Lenderman said. “There were so many choices for white, but I couldn't find a way to make the maximum of all my pieces. I was trying to calculate lines before outlining strategic possibilities.” In a moment of extreme candor from the 22-year-old, he added, “The position was just too complicated for me. Chess understanding is just not there for me. Good thing I am playing in this tournament. I keep trying to make 'professor' moves where I try to do too much. I keep making this mistake against 2700s.”
Kamsky and Nakamura both have 6/8 and will play each other on Friday. Should there be a winner, he will be the betting favorite to win the title.
Chasing the two leaders is a trio of grandmasters. GMs Alex Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Yury Shulman all have 4.5/8. Taken together, the top five men comprise the U.S. Olympiad team from 2008, the last time the squad won a team medal.
Akobian won the only other decisive game of the day, besting GM Alejandro Ramirez in a wild game. “It was an unusual position,” Akobian said. Ramirez pushed ...c5, ...b5, ...f5 and ...g5 all in the first 11 moves. He left his center pawns at home while traversing his queen from one rook file to the other. “I was a little too optimistic,” Ramirez replied. “I wanted to play something interesting, but it backfired.”
Akobian said he spent 20 minutes in the opening calculating the unusual tactic 8. b4. If 8...axb3 e.p., the queen hangs. If 8...Qxb4, 9. Rb1 skewers the queen to the bishop. But if 8...cxb4 the pawn blocks the diagonal pin so 9. Nxe4 is possible. A possible variation is 9...b3+ 10. Ned2 b2 11. Ra2 a3 12. e4 Na6 (heading to b4) 13. Bxa6 Bxa6. Upon seeing this position, both players liked their position. Ramirez thought the b2-pawn and white's inability to castle offset his material loss. Ultimately, Akobian said he could not accurately evaluate the position, and headed for calmer waters with 8. c3.
GM Gregory Kaidanov played his second queen versus three minor piece game, this time departing with the monarch to try his hand with the knights and bishops. Earlier in the tournament, GM Robert Hess trapped Kaidanov's queen on the back rank. This time the queen had more space, but with no major weaknesses for either side, Kaidanov and his former student, GM Ray Robson, agreed to a draw.
In the women's side of the playing hall, IMs Zatonskih and Krush renewed their annual rivalry in round 7. Though a great majority of the their previous contests had produced a winner, Krush had little incentive to go for an unbalanced game. Playing Black, Krush liquidated the position's energy and the ladies agreed to a lifeless draw. They both still lead with 5/7.
Zatonskih regretted the move 12. Bf4, which allowed Krush to centralize with 12...Nd5 and win a tempo. “It is just fantastic how I played this,” Zatonskih said, chastising herself. She was using the literal connotation of “fantastic,” expressing that the move was unexplainable and bad. Afterward, she thought for 40 minutes.
Krush said a plan with b4 would have created a few problems for her, but ultimately she was never worried. “I just tried to play solid today,” she said. Although her pairings for the final two rounds are significantly easier than Zatonskih's, Krush said, “The tournament is not over. There's no reason to be joyous.”
The players shared a funny possible drawing line. If 15...a6 16. Nbc3 Nd4 17. Rc1 Nb3 18. Rc2 Nd4 19. Rd2 Nb3 20. Rd3 Nc1 and the rook either returns or goes wandering aimlessly.
IM Rusudan Goletiani took sole possession of third place after her win against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. With a pawn deficit and short on time, Goletiani threw all of her pawns at her opponent's castled king, breaking through for the point. While she does not control her own destiny, Goletiani faces Zatonskih tomorrow as white in a game both women will be trying to win to stay alive for first place. If Zatonskih wins, Goletiani will be mathematically eliminated from title contention.
WGM Sabina Foisor was the only other winner of the round. She used the Samisch Variation to beat FM Alisa Melekhina's favorite King's Indian Defense. With king's castled on opposite sides, Melekhina could not open an attack, and eventually ceded control of the only open file. Foisor's rook took control and dominated in the endgame. Foisor is in sole fourth place with 4/7.
In other action today:
Round nine for the U.S. Championship and round eight for the U.S. Women's Championship will begin tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. Come visit the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis or tune in to www.uschesschamps.org for live commentary from WGM Jennifer Shahade and the club's GM-in-Residence Ben Finegold.