2012 U.S. Championships News
Chris Bird, the chief Arbiter for the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship, is an International Arbiter (awarded 2010) and USCF National Tournament Director (awarded 2012). He has directed at numerous major events across the U.S., including the 2009 U.S. Championship, the 2007, 2009 and 2010 U.S. Women’s Championships, 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship and various National Scholastic events. Chris has directed at more than 200 events over the past 10 years and most recently was the chief arbiter for the Kings vs. Queens event held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
As well as being an arbiter, Chris is also well known for his chess website work and providing live broadcasts and onsite coverage at major events such as the World Open, Chicago Open and North American Open. Chris has been the bulletin editor at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival (National Open) since 2004 and has authored articles and provided photography for Chess Life, Chess Life Online and New in Chess. Chris is also a former president and board member of Nevada Chess, Inc. and former general secretary and league secretary of the Hull and District Chess Association.
Born and raised in Hull, England, Chris moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1998 and has lived in the U.S. ever since, currently residing near Boston, Massachusetts, where his full-time occupation is as an administrator at Harvard Medical School.
Tony Rich, the assistant arbiter for the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, is a FIDE Arbiter (2011) and USCF Senior Tournament Director (2011). He has served as an arbiter and director for various events including the U.S. Championship (2010, 2011), U.S. Women’s Championship (2010, 2011) , U.S. Junior Championship (2010, 2011), U.S. Open (2010), and an international match between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Rusulan Ponomariov. Most recently, Tony was the chief arbiter for two GM-norm tournaments held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
In addition to work as a tournament director and arbiter, Tony is one of only 20 FIDE International Organizers in America. In this role he has successfully organized major events including three U.S. Championships, three U.S. Women’s Championships, two U.S. Junior Closed Championships, international matches and a variety of other high-level tournaments.
Tony has traveled extensively since 2008, serving as the head of delegation for the American teams at the FIDE Olympiad and World Team Championships. He is a member of the FIDE Swiss Pairing Program Committee and the USCF International Relations Committee. In 2009 and again in 2010, the U.S. Chess Federation recognized Tony as the Organizer of the Year.
Tony is an amateur photographer and journalist and has covered many events including the 2010 World Team Championship (Bursa, Turkey), 2011 FIDE Olympiad (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) and 2011 World Team Championship (Ningbo, China). His contributions can be seen in Chess Life Magazine, Chess Life Online and various chess websites. Tony also worked as the editor for the Missouri Chess Bulletin and has served on the MCA board of directors, on and off, since 2006.
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, Tony is currently the Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. During his four years in this role, he took the club from concept to inception and saw involvement grow to 800 members and nearly 100 schools across the Saint Louis area.
SAINT LOUIS, February 22, 2012 -- The fields are set for both the 2012 U.S. Championship and 2012 U.S. Women’s Championship, scheduled to be held simultaneously May 7 through May 20 in Saint Louis. Grandmaster Gata Kamsky and International Master Anna Zatonskih each look to defend their respective titles against strong and determined fields.
For the fourth consecutive year, these prestigious events will be held at Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL).
The 2012 U.S. Championship will feature an elite field of 12 grandmasters and a guaranteed prize fund of more than $160,000. With an average USCF rating of 2714 according to the USCF’s January rating supplement, this marks the strongest field in the history of the event.
After sitting out of the 2011 U.S Championship, GM Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No. 6 in the world, has accepted an invitation to participate this year. Nakamura, 24, is seeking his third U.S. Championship title. GM Yasser Seirawan, who came out of retirement to play in last year’s U.S. Championship, has accepted the final invitation for the U.S. Championship. Seirawan had a stellar performance at the 2011 World Team Championship in Ningbo, China, where he defeated three top-30 players on his way to a silver medal performance.
The field for the 2012 U.S. Championship is as follows:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2848)
- GM Gata Kamsky (2804)
- GM Alexander Onischuk (2736)
- GM Yasser Seirawan (2723)
- GM Robert Hess (2717)
- GM Varuzhan Akobian (2709)
- GM Alexander Stripunsky (2700)
- GM Ray Robson (2674)
- GM Alejandro Ramirez (2668)
- GM Yury Shulman (2666)
- GM Aleksandr Lenderman (2665)
- GM Gregory Kaidanov (2658)
The CCSCSL also will sponsor the “$64K Fischer Bonus,” to be awarded to anyone that scores a perfect 11-0 in the U.S. Championship, in honor of Bobby Fischer’s 11-0 result at the 1963-64 U.S. Championship.
Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Camilla Baginskaite, the 2000 U.S. Women’s Champion, and 17-year-old Alena Kats, who was the youngest female to become a master in 2010 at age 15, have accepted the final two invitations for the Women’s event. The 2012 U.S. Women’s Championship will feature a guaranteed prize fund of $64,000 and 10 players, including:
- IM Anna Zatonskih (2563)
- IM Irina Krush (2500)
- WGM Camilla Baginskaite (2419)
- WGM Sabina Foisor (2413)
- WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2350)
- WIM Viktorija Ni (2349)
- IM Rusudan Goletiani (2337)
- FM Alisa Melekhina (2321)
- WIM Iryna Zenyuk (2298)
- NM Alena Kats (2233)
Tickets for the opening ceremony, which will take place on May 7, and the closing ceremony, scheduled for May 20, will be available soon. Round one for each event begins on May 8.
The U.S. Championship and the U.S. Women’s Championship will both be classic round-robin tournaments, in which each participant will play every other participant exactly once.
For more information, visit www.uschesschamps.com, or call (314) 361-CHESS (2437).