“That’s exactly what playing chess
is about. It’s a sequence and then you have overlapping motives. And I think it’s actually really beautiful.”
GM Gata KaMsKy after repeatinG as U.s. chaMpion.
“G.K.”
are Good initials to have in chess. Gata
Kamsky, who came out of retirement just before Garry Kasparov entered it, used a different style than his nominal twin to defend his title at the 2011 U.s. championship. he won his third career championship and became the first american since GM lev alburt in the 1980s to win in back-to-back years. G.K. might also mean “good knockout”
player as Kamsky’s prudent play fit the new format of the tournament. Kamsky rarely found himself in danger for the entire two-and-a-half week event in april. as the top seed, he finished both the pre- liminary round-robin and the four-player elimination portions without any losses. last year’s 24-player swiss-cum-round- robin morphed this year into two eight-player round-robins, and Kamsky advanced with three wins and four draws. he beat upstart GM-elect sam shankland in the semifinals and then faced a famil- iar foe. the match win in the finals over GM yury shulman, a repeat of last year’s finale, came with much less drama than in 2010. Before the tournament began, the organ-
izing chess club and scholastic center of saint louis faced the possibility that nei- ther of the country’s top two players would attend. Kamsky was slated to face GM Veselin topalov in the fide candidates’ Matches in early May. the highest-rated american, GM hikaru nakamura, was now a fixture on the world stage in becom-
uschess.org
ing a recent top-ten player. Kamsky accepted while nakamura declined. “the thought crossed my mind,” Kam-
sky said when asked about whether he considered skipping the championship. “But this is the premier national event. the players sort of have this, i can’t say it’s an obligation, but this moral thing— to compete here, to show their best.” he added that he hoped young players would gain experience that they could not oth- erwise get domestically. “i really need to focus on the top (world)
players,” nakamura said. “they’re all preparing for me. i could be like (Vassily) ivanchuk who plays in everything but has some wild swings ... i don’t enjoy having major swings.” nakamura, fresh off sev- eral major european events including the final amber chess tournament, came to the club often during the championship to analyze, fraternize and comment on the games. Many of his peers agreed with his decision, including Kasparov. “it would be really nice if [nakamura]
would have played,” Kamsky said. “But it’s his decision.” Besides the participation of the two
2700s, the other talk prior to the first games focused on the return of GM yasser seirawan, who had not played in a chess tournament since 2003 in china (he had played some games in the dutch league, which are spread over several weeks). seirawan said his wild-card invite to the championship came when he cold-called the
club to say how much he appreciated the quality of the last two U.s. championships. While angling to be a commentator, he was instead offered a chance to be a player. “it was a trick,” seirawan said. “i fell
into a self-mate. i was like, ‘no! player! oh gosh!’ But i accepted.” Guesses as to his performance varied wildly, and the four- time champion himself did not even know what to predict. “in the intervening eight years literally every novelty that i may have had has now been played. i feel like my pockets are empty.” he continued to downplay his knowledge at the players’ meeting. When told the time controls included a 30-second increment, he joked, “What’s ‘increment?’” When round one began, a few trends
became apparent—seirawan did not have much to offer in his openings, and it was going to be exceedingly difficult to beat the defending champion. in fact, Kamsky’s first-round opponent barely even tried. GM alex ivanov played the four Knights opening as White and pro- duced one of the most lifeless games of the entire event. “i’m so happy to draw Gata,” ivanov said after the game, which was the first to finish. GM larry christiansen got off to a fast
start just like last year. he beat GM alex shabalov with a pretty but obvious pawn advance. “this is grueling,” said chris- tiansen. “i can’t wait for the free day already.” Unfortunately for him and some others who felt fatigue, there was no free
Chess Life — July 2011 17
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