2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS Chief Tournament Director: Carol Jarecki April 13-28, 2011
# Name Rating
1 GM Gata Kamsky (S) (F) 2733 2 GM Yury Shulman (S) (F) 2622 3 GM Ray Robson
4 GM Alexander Ivanov 5 GM Varuzhan Akobian 6 GM Jaan Ehlvest
2522 2540 2611 2586
7 GM Alexander Stripunsky 2578 8 IM Daniel Naroditsky
2438
1 x
½ 2 3 4 5
½ ½ ½ 1 x
½ ½ ½ 0
x 0
6 7 8 1 ½ 1
½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 x
0
0 ½ ½ 0 0
0 ½ ½ ½
½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1
0 ½ ½ 0
1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 x
x
x 0
x
Score 5
4½ 4
3½ 3 3
2½ 2½
# Name 1 GM Robert Hess (S)
Rating 2565
2 GM Alexander Onischuk 2678 3 IM Samuel L. Shankland (S) 2512 4 GM Yasser Seirawan
2636
5 GM Alexander Shabalov 2590 6 GM Gregory S. Kaidanov 2569 7 GM Larry M. Christiansen 2586 8 GM Benjamin Finegold
2500 (S) = semifinal (F) = final
got a terrible Moscow Variation and struggled just to draw. “I should have shown some fight, not like this. I didn’t expect to win today, but I expected a fight. Like Lasker used to say, ‘I’m in charge of the quality of the game, not the result.’” Shulman finished second again, but had a bigger prize waiting for him at home—he became a first-time father in the middle of the event. “He should have done what he did last
year against me—played slowly to build up pressure,” Kamsky said. “After he played 7. e4, I realized it is almost done.” Kamsky was always balancing the
desire to perform well at the U.S. Cham- pionships whilst simultaneously not tipping his hand for Topalov. “I was try- ing to hide my preparation for the match and at the same time not get busted,” he said, explaining that his experience gives him a “backup system” that allows him to
uschess.org
understand many systems. Kamsky said he did not take Sutovsky’s advice to play the Gruenfeld against Shulman because he was afraid to reveal too much of his preparation for the Candidates’ Matches (he indeed used the Gruenfeld in his match against Topalov and later against GM Boris Gelfand). The defending champ seemed satisfied
with his play, save one game. He chas- tised himself for being worse as White as early as move nine against GM Alex Stripunsky, though he held the draw after some effort. His $40,000 first-place prize couples
with two $2,000 bonuses for the best game and for winning his group. USCF Executive Director Bill Hall also presented Kamsky with a private collection of money from the executive board to offset train- ing and travel costs for his world championship quest. The Chess Club
and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis con- tributed $5,000 to the cause as well. Kamsky joked at his accomplishment:
“Being the best player in whole United States is really nice, especially consider- ing it is the strongest chess-playing country in the whole of the Americas. And Topalov—he’s from what, Bulgaria? Some small country. “I’m looking forward to that match because I lost it last time and felt that I didn’t give it all. This time’s going to be a little bit different.”
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See much more reporting from St. Louis by Mike Klein about the U.S. Champi- onship on Chess Life Online, April archives. Also see the official website,
uschesschamps.com. Turn to page 54 of this issue to see GM Pal Benko’s analysis of endings from the championship in “Endgame Lab.”
Chess Life — July 2011 27
1 x
0
2
3
4
5
1 ½ ½ 1 x
½ ½ x ½ ½ ½
6 1
1
7
½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 x
0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1
0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0
½ 0 ½ 0
½ ½ 0 0 x 0
x
1 0
8
1 ½ 1
0 1 x
1 ½ 1 1 0
1 ½
½ x
Score 5½
4 4
3½ 3 3
2½ 2½
GROUP B GROUP A
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