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Cover Story / Nakamura, Krush are champs “Basically, people want to ~NAKAMURA


instantly. Seirawan went into a deep think. “If Gata hadn’t played so fast, maybe I would’ve woken up,” Seirawan said. As he informed after the game, he analyzed 21. ... Bxc5 before and knew it was a mistake, but forgot why. “I got the feeling I could not take the pawn,” he said, but the feeling came too late.


22. ... gxh6 23. Rd7! Attempting to deflect the knight away


from its post. 23. ... Qxd7 23. ... Nxd7 leads to immediate capit-


ulation after 24. Qd2 Kh7 (24. ... Nf6 25. Qxh6+ Nh7 26. Qg7 mate) 25. Ng4! Qe5 26. Qxh6+ Kg8 27. Nf6 mate.


24. Nxd7 Nxd7 25. Qd2


... and White wins the knight. Black’s position is too eviscerated to hope for a fortress, and Kamsky makes quick work.


25. ... Kh7 26. b4 Rad8 27. bxc5 Nf6 28. Qf4 Ne8 29. Qe4+ Kh8 30. Qxb7 Ng7 31. Qxa7 Rc8 32. Rd1 Nf5 33. Rd7 Kg7 34. a4 Kf6 35. a5, Black resigned.


Kamsky’s game was the first to finish.


At a little more than two hours, he had a workday five hours shorter than Naka- mura, his next opponent. The theoretical preparation advantage grew larger after Nakamura’s marathon draw with Len- derman ended. The champion said he wanted to get his mind off the emotional swings of the game and so he went out for a few drinks and did little preparation for the Kamsky game.


“I’m not used to having my head handed


to me,” Seirawan said. The win put Kam- sky on 7/9, one-half point ahead of Nakamura going into their tenth round meeting. After Nakamura won the matchup, he iced the victory by playing 2. f4 against Seirawan in round 11. Seirawan said he had never faced it before and again labored to counter the opening. With his clock run- ning on fumes, he did not make it out of the middlegame as Nakamura’s long diagonal attack was too much to bear. The defeats for Seirawan were a triple whammy. Besides finishing tied for last, he lost 22 ELO points, 23 USCF points,


at her peak rating). According to Hall, the squad for the


see blood.”


and the guarantee of a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympiad team in Istanbul. Accord- ing to USCF Executive Director Bill Hall, after all ratings and under-21 bonus points were calculated, the five players receiving invitations will be Nakamura, Kamsky, Onischuk, Akobian and Hess. In the U.S. Women’s Championship,


Krush also got off to a fast start. Unlike last year, when finishing in the top four amongst eight players allowed a woman to advance to the semifinals, this year a ten-player round-robin meant that round one counted as much as round nine. She followed Nakamura’s lead—alternating white wins and black draws through the first five rounds. She then drew fellow IM Rusudan Gole-


tiani in round six to set up the encounter with Zatonskih in round seven. Goletiani recovered from a disastrous 2011 champi- onship to finish in a satisfactory clear third. Playing black, Krush drew Zatonskih


easily in round seven, keeping them equal, where they finished after both won their final two games. Krush had more favorable pairings in the last two rounds, but in round eight she needed help from tourna- ment newcomer WFM Alena Kats, who allowed a late fork. “It looked like I had an advantageous tournament position, but I played horribly,” Krush said. She then needed to win in round nine as black; fortunately Kacheishvili flew to St. Louis the day before. High-schooler Kats finished last but


represents some new blood in the event. Her only win, against WGM Camilla Baginskaite, netted Kats the best game prize of $1,000 for the Women’s Champi- onship. Another notable performance came from graduate student WIM Iryna Zenyuk, who after many years of compet- ing achieved her first even score at the event. WIM Viktorija Ni, who gave birth during last year’s event to her and Shul- man’s first child, finished fourth in her first championship. Shulman went unde- feated in 2012 with one win and ten draws, but will be left off the Olympiad team. He joked that shortly after becom- ing parents he lost 50 FIDE rating points while his wife gained 50 (Ni played in the 2011 Chicago Open less than one month after becoming a mother; she is currently


U.S. Women’s Olympiad team will be Krush, Zatonskih, Goletiani, and WGMs Sabina Foisor and Tatev Abrahamyan. Baginskaite, like Seirawan, fell out due to her underperformance at the champi- onship, which is the final tournament for qualification purposes. As has become the yearly routine, Hall announced at the closing ceremony that the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host the U.S. Champi- onship and U.S. Women’s Championship again in 2013. It will be the fifth year in a row for both events. Players have yet to voice any grievances with the location or the conditions. Chief Arbiter Chris Bird capably ran a smooth event without issue. Assistant Arbiter and Club Director Tony Rich assures happy competitors by mak- ing the same sort of phatic offer at the players’ meeting every year. “If it is some- thing complicated, like you want a giraffe or a pony, I’ll work on that,” Rich said. Krush wanted to win the Championship


for those close to her. “I wanted to win today for these people, for the people who love me. I wanted to make them happy.” She pondered a sense of fortuitous fatal-


ism. Kacheishvili decided to come to St. Louis only after round eight, when Krush had one round to go to keep pace with Zatonskih. “Whenever you need to win as black it’s a huge challenge. I had to play something I don’t normally play. Would I have the knowledge to play this? Would I have the confidence?” She said she got both from her coach. “Everything aligned for it to work. I got a non-stop flight for him cheaper than my flight I booked months ago. That was a piece of luck.” Krush pointed out the day Kacheishvili arrived, May 18, was St. Irene day according to the Julian calendar. “When he came here I became much


calmer. He took on such a load in terms of preparation. Giorgi is so dedicated and puts so much of his heart into his stu- dents. I don’t feel like I could have won without his help.” While coaching scholas- tic students the previous weekend at the elementary nationals, Kacheishvili passed up on a steak dinner one night to go back to his hotel room to help prepare Krush by phone. “His friend was just flabbergasted. “I promised him three steak dinners, but


in fact I would take him to an infinite number. He can eat steak forever, as long as I have the money.” Krush will take her purse back to Brooklyn $18,000 heavier, good enough for one porterhouse every day of the year at Peter Luger Steak House.


Read more of our U.S. Championship reporting on Chess Life Online at uschess.org. Download .pgn files for this issue at the Chess Life magazine link.


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