US Chess Championship starts

[Jack Maguire]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

The top 3 boards all promise to be intriguing affairs. The 14-year-old Sam Sevian puts his 2711 TPR on the line against Nakamura, playing him for the very first time in his young career. Ray Robson has only scored 0.5/3 against today's opponent, Daniel Naroditsky. And Wesley So has not fared well against Alexander Onischuk, scoring 0.5/2, albeit both those games were played in 2010 at the Spice Cup. While yesterday I thought the Sam Shankland draw odds screamed 'bet me', I can't say I see anything quite so attractive today.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betting/Chess/

[Wayne Komer]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

U.S. Chess Championship 2015
Round Six
April 7, 2015

IM John Donaldson joins Maurice Ashley in the second hour for an interview. He is an author, organizer and captain of the U.S. team at Olympiads.

His books include The Life and Games of Frank Anderson, The Unknown Bobby Fischer, Legend on the Road (Bobby Fischer’s 1964 simul tour) and Akiba Rubinstein.

He is in St. Louis and giving a lecture at the World Chess Hall of Fame on Thursday, April 9 on Bobby Fischer. Specifically, his early development from 1956 to 1958 when he went from being a player with a strength of about 2200 to one of the best in the world. The title is A Prodigy’s Progress.

He says that Sam Sevian became a grandmaster at the age of 14 and is a stronger player than Bobby Fischer was at that age. This seems like a golden time for American chess. John will be going to the Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan next summer, where the team will be at full strength. For the Team Championship in Armenia later this month, So and Nakamura have commitments elsewhere and Kamsky will not be playing because of a self-imposed limit of 40 years of age.

A problem is that when the Team Championship is on in Armenia, Azerbaijan is holding the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. If you look at the map of the two locations of the two events, you will see that they are less than 100 miles apart but because of the bad blood between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, they might well be 100,000 miles apart.

The team the U.S. is fielding has Naroditsky, Akobian, Lenderman, Onischuk and Shankland. The tournament is so tough that the U.S. is seeded ninth out of ten. We are arriving in Yerevan about four days before the start to acclimatize. It is held an hour north of Yerevan in a former Soviet training camp.

With the team at full strength for the Olympiad, the two highest countries in terms of rating are Russia and China, so the Americans will be in the hunt for medals.

Just before John Donaldson was introduced, Jennifer Shahade said that “repetition is the soul of wit” but Yasser and Maurice did not seem to agree.

The actual quote is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet where Polonius says that “Brevity is the soul of wit”. Philidor wrote that “the pawns are the soul of chess”. Probably it is best to stay away from quotes about things that are the soul of other things!

U.S. Chess Championship 2015
Round 6, April 7, 2015
Nakamura, Hikaru – Shankland, Samuel
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance Variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.O-O Nd7 7.Nbd2 h6 8.Nb3 g5 9.Ne1 Qc7 10.Nd3 Ng6 11.Ne1 Ne7 12.f4 O-O-O 13.Nd3 Ng6 14.Bg4 Bxd3 15.cxd3 gxf4 16.Bxf4 Nxf4 17.Rxf4 f5 18.Bh5 Nf6 19.Kh1 Nxh5 20.Qxh5 Qg7 21.Rf3 Rg8 22.Rg3 Qh7 23.Rxg8 Qxg8 24.Rf1 Qg5 25.Qxg5 hxg5 26.g4 fxg4 27.Rf7 Re8 28.Kg2 Be7 29.Kg3 b6 30.Kxg4 Kd7 31.Rf3 1/2-1/2

Ray beats Wesley in mutual time trouble. The commentators are talking of a meltdown. One viewer says, “a meltdown is what happens when a nuclear reactor is running so hot, that the fuel melts, causing a catastrophic failure of the reactor. Basically, So was running "too hot" (under too much pressure and stress) and self destructed.”

Round 6, April 7, 2015
Robson, Ray – So, Wesley
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, Open Variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re1 Nf6 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.d4 c6 14.Be3 b6 15.Bd3 Bc7 16.d5 Be5 17.c3 cxd5 18.Qg4 d6 19.Qa4 Qd8 20.Rad1 Be6 21.Bb5 a6 22.Bc6 b5 23.Qa3 Rb8 24.Qxa6 b4 25.Ba7 Rc8 26.cxb4 Qh4 27.Rxe5 dxe5 28.Bc5 Rfd8 29.a4 d4 30.Bb7 Rb8 31.Ba7 Qe7 32.Bxb8 Rxb8 33.Bf3 Qxb4 34.a5 g5 35.h3 Qxb2 36.Qd6 Rc8 37.Qxe5 h6 38.Qxd4 Qxd4 39.Rxd4 Rc1+ 40.Rd1 Rc7 41.a6 Ra7 42.Bb7 1-0

Onischuk takes Kamsky

Round 6, April 7, 2015
Onischuk, Alexander – Kamsky, Gata
D15 QGD Slav Accepted (4…a6)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. e3 Bf5 6. Qb3 Ra7 7. Nh4 Bg6 8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. a4 e6 10. g3 a5 11. Bg2 Nbd7 12. O-O Qb6 13. Qxb6 Nxb6 14. cxd5 Nbxd5 15. e4 Nb4 16. Rd1 Ra8 17. Bf4 Be7 18. d5 Nd7 19. dxc6 bxc6 20. Na2 e5 21. Nxb4 Bxb4 22. Be3 Ke7 23. Rac1 Rac8 24. Rc2 f6 25. Rdc1 Kd6 26. h4 Rc7 27. Bh3 Rb8 28. Bg4 Nb6 29. b3 Nd7 30. Kg2 Ba3 31. Rd1+ Ke7 32. Rd3 Nf8 33. Rdc3 Kd6 34. f4 Nd7 35. Bxd7 Kxd7 36. fxe5 fxe5 37. Kh3 Be7 38. Bd2 Ra8 39. Kg4 Ra6 40. Be3 Rb7 41. Rd3+ Ke6 42. Bc5 Bxc5 43. Rxc5 Rb4 44. Rc4 Rab6 45. Kg5 Rxb3 46. Rxc6+ Rxc6 47. Rxb3 Kf7 48. Rb7+ Kg8 49. Ra7 Kh7 50. Rxa5 Rc4 51. Rxe5 Rxa4 52. Re7 Ra3 53. g4 Rf3 54. Re8 Rf1 55. Rd8 Re1 56. Rd4 Re2 57. Kf4 Kg8 58. Ke5 Kf7 59. Rd7+ Kf8 60. Kd5 Ra2 61. Ke6 Ra6+ 62. Rd6 Ra8 63. e5 Rb8 64. Rc6 Rd8 65. Rc7 Ra8 66. Kd7 Re8 67. Kd6 Rd8+ 68. Rd7 Ra8 69. Kd5 Ra5+ 70. Ke6 Ra8 71. Rf7+ Kg8 72. Rc7 Kf8 73. Rc6 Rb8 74. Kd5 Kf7 75. e6+ Kf8 76. Rc7 Ra8 77. Kd6 Rd8+ 78. Rd7 Ra8 79. Rf7+ Kg8 80. Rc7 Kf8 81. Rf7+ Kg8 82. Rb7 Kf8 83. Kd7 Re8 84. Rb1 Re7+ 85. Kd6 Re8 86. Rf1+ Kg8 87. Kd7 Ra8 88. Rc1 1-0

Nemcova delivers her second mate of the tournament:

Round 6, April 7, 2015
Yu, Jennifer – Nemcova, Katrina
A18, English, Mikenas-Carls, Flohr Variation

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4 Nc6 8.Nf3 e5 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.Qe2 Bg4 11.Qxe5+ Qxe5+ 12.dxe5 O-O-O 13.f3 Bf5 14.g4 Bc2 15.Bg5 Rd7 16.Kf2 Bc5+ 17.Be3 Bxe3+ 18.Kxe3 Re8 19.Rc1 Ba4 20.f4 g5 21.Bg2 Rde7 22.Rb1 b6 23.Be4 f6 24.Bf5+ Kb7 25.e6 Bd7 26.Be4+ Kc8 27.exd7+ Kxd7 28.Rhd1+ Kc8 29.Kd3 Rxe4 30.fxg5 fxg5 31.Rg1 Re2 32.h4 R8e3+ 33.Kd4 c5+ 34.Kd5 Kc7 35.Rbd1 Re5# 0-1

The predictions for the eventual winners are for Hikaru and Irina.

Standing after Round Six (Men)

Nakamura 4.5
Robson 4
Onischuk 3.5
Sevian 3.5
So 3.5
Kamsky 3
Troff 3
Shankland 2.5
Akobian 2.5
Holt 2.5
Gareev 2

Standing after Round Six (Women)

Nemcova 5
Krush 4
Goletiani 4
Abrahamyan 3.5
Paikidze 3.5
Ni 3
Foisor 3
Sharevich 2.5
Virkud 2.5
Melekhina 2
Yu 1.5
Wang 1.5

Round Seven Matchups

Sevian-Nakamura
Naroditsky-Robson
So-Onischuk
Kamsky-Holt
Akobian-Troff
Shankland-Gareev

[Jack Maguire]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Ray Robson and Wesley So who were roommates at Webster U (and took almost all the money at the Millionaires Open last year) faceoff today. Will it be interesting? I hope so.

Wesley is +3 =2 in 5 previous encounters so it's no surprise that Wesley is the prohibitive betting favourite despite wielding the Black pieces. Wesley is 17/10 while Ray's at 61/10, with 81/100 draw odds.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betting/Chess/

Tangentially, given Samuel Shankland has only lost once in the past 70 games or so, to Wesley So in R2, I rather like his 62/25 draw odds against Naka (:

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Ray Robson and Wesley So who were roommates at Webster U (and took almost all the money at the Millionaires Open last year) faceoff today. Will it be interesting? I hope so.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Today is a rest day, play resumes tomorrow.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

R Goletani decided to go for Irina Krush's king and developed a dangerous attack. At one point she was winning but was too eager to play Bxg2 wrecking the kings position. There were better alternatives. Irina came up with an amazing defence and turned the game around. This key game was the difference between burying Irina in the middle of the pack and where she is now a half point back challenging for the lead.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Timur Gareev is a great blindfold player who has played 33 boards and will probably soon challenge the worlds blindfold record. However in this tournament his attempts to outpsych his opponents have led to greater confusion in his own mind. Against Wesley So he ventured a "normal" opening and obtained an equal position but after further thinking came up with h5, and then Kf8?, and Rh6?? just making his position bad. It didnt take much more for Wesley to take over. As Wesley was thinking about his last move of the game Timur offered him a handshake. As Wesley said in the postgame interview Im a gentleman so I had to shake his hand but I looked to see if he put draw or 1-0 on his scoresheet. Fortunately he chose 1-0!

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Against Gata Kamsky Ray Robson was doing well and looked to have things under control defending his kingside against Gata's potential threats. Then he did a classic mistake. In looming time pressure he was attracted to a pawn move (b3) that released good squares for his knight. Nothing wrong with the move or idea. But in further play he attempted to justify it and moved his pieces away from the kingside and finally played Kh6??!?? a real howler which attacked the Ng5 and forced it away but to a good square. The entire commentary team was stunned (Yassers face especially as he kept saying over and over Kh6?? in disbelief). I feel better of my own chess if a great grandmaster can be reduced to that.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Gata Kamsky in the post game interview said he walked by the Holt Troff game and saw the wild tactics happening and couldnt bear to watch it - an old guy like me. Give me my positional chess!

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

The game proceeded, both players were in time pressure, and time control was reached with no blunders. At this point Conrad Holt was up two pawns with a big plus but had to choose between Kf3 attacking an attacking knight or the looked to be safe Kh3. He played Kh3. Kayden came up with g5,g4+ which conrad must have sen but thought he could trade queens and no more attack. Yup the queen exchange could happen but the rook recapturing would be lost to a Nf5 fork. So no revenge and Conrad lost to a cheapo. He rushed from the room and disappeared. Oh the pain of it!

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

At that moment white had a few winning moves that would lead to game over (a slaughter) but you had to see 3 or 4 moves deep to get the picture. Instead there was a move that almost any chessplayer would play (Bc7) which was visually attractive. Yup Conrad played Bc7. Kayden went into a deep tank and came up with Qe3 in front of the white king - still lost (-3) but the move smelled of great cheapo potential.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

One example: Conrad Holt was white against Kayden Troff and was looking for revenge as lifetime he was 0-4 against Kayden. The game went into a trap in the Grunfeld where black plays Nxf2 and Nxh1 and the computer evals swung to +5 for white.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Rd5 was definitely the best round (so far!?) of the tournament in terms of entertainment and excitement.

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

I was surprised to see Yasser trying to outdo Maurice yesterday and they actually posted a list of Yasserisms on the screen. The most ridiculous had to be when he asked Jennifer Shahade when did she first drink the poison from the Grunfeld chalice? Huh???

[Hans Jung]

Re: US Chess Championship starts

Wayne already pointed out a Maurice Ashleyism from rd 5: right the ship. I would like to point out another. In referring to Irina Krush's attempts to defend against Goletianis dangerous attack Maurice said shes digging a gimungous hole for herself (gimungous?? yup). However in the post game interview Irina was right in her assessment of the position and Maurice was wrong.