U.S. Chess 2014 Men R6, Women R5: Akobian, Lenderman and Krush, Zatonskih in Joint Lead
Hello Chess Blog friends, here's the latest updates from the U.S. Chess Championships 2014 in Saint Louis where the men have played six rounds and the women have played five rounds. Brian Jerauld catches all the action in which leaders of both the sections slipped! Unfortunately, now none of the players will be able to break Bobby Fischer's record of a perfect 9 at the U.S. Chess Championships.
Read more »Championship begins today at 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET. Catch all the action live at www.uschesschamps.com/live.
Ranking after round 6 Men's section
1 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 4.0
2 GM Lenderman, Aleksandr 4.0
3 GM Kamsky, Gata 3.5
4 GM Onischuk, Alexander 3.5
5 GM Gareev, Timur 3.0
6 GM Shankland, Samuel L 3.0
7 GM Robson, Ray 3.0
8 GM Naroditsky, Daniel 3.0
9 GM Friedel, Joshua E 3.0
10 GM Ramirez, Alejandro 2.5
11 GM Erenburg, Sergey 2.0
12 GM Molner, Mackenzie 1.5
Ranking after round 5 Women's section
1 GM Krush, Irina 4.0
2 IM Zatonskih, Anna 4.0
3 WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev 3.0
4 WIM Zenyuk, Iryna 2.5
5 WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca 2.5
6 NM Eswaran, Ashritha 2.5
7 WGM Nemcova, Katerina 2.0
8 FM Melekhina, Alisa 2.0
9 WIM Ni, Viktorija 1.5
10 WGM Baginskaite, Camilla 1.0
SAINT LOUIS (May 14, 2014) -- Now the fists are flying - though nobody is coming out of the pile.
Despite a slow, draw-filled start, the U.S. Championship heated up as it passed its halfway point, with Tuesday’s sixth round featuring another day of bloodshed to shake up the standings. Aleksandr Lenderman, who had raced out to an early lead with three wins through the first four rounds, has now been slowed to a crawl with just a half point over the last two. Sam Shankland issued the frontrunner his first loss of the tournament on Tuesday, while Varuzhan Akobian (4/6) turned in his second quality win in a row to catch pace with Lenderman on top.
Tied for third a half-point behind the leaders are Gata Kamsky and Alex Onishuck (3.5/6), who stayed unbeaten after a straightforward 32-move draw; and five other players trail in a logjam with 3 points apiece. Ray Robson and Josh Friedel both won on Tuesday to join the cluster, while Timur Gareev suffered his second consecutive loss.
Lenderman’s method of operations through the first portion of the 2014 U.S. Championships had been formed around well-prepared openings, confidently played and designed to surprise - which made it all the more obvious that things had gone wrong early on Tuesday.
Lenderman was rocked back into his seat just after the day began, tentatively progressing through the opening after being the first to admit that Shankland’s 2...e6 - the first time ever played by his opponent - had completely destroyed his preparation.
1 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 4.0
2 GM Lenderman, Aleksandr 4.0
3 GM Kamsky, Gata 3.5
4 GM Onischuk, Alexander 3.5
5 GM Gareev, Timur 3.0
6 GM Shankland, Samuel L 3.0
7 GM Robson, Ray 3.0
8 GM Naroditsky, Daniel 3.0
9 GM Friedel, Joshua E 3.0
10 GM Ramirez, Alejandro 2.5
11 GM Erenburg, Sergey 2.0
12 GM Molner, Mackenzie 1.5
Ranking after round 5 Women's section
1 GM Krush, Irina 4.0
2 IM Zatonskih, Anna 4.0
3 WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev 3.0
4 WIM Zenyuk, Iryna 2.5
5 WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca 2.5
6 NM Eswaran, Ashritha 2.5
7 WGM Nemcova, Katerina 2.0
8 FM Melekhina, Alisa 2.0
9 WIM Ni, Viktorija 1.5
10 WGM Baginskaite, Camilla 1.0
SAINT LOUIS (May 14, 2014) -- Now the fists are flying - though nobody is coming out of the pile.
Despite a slow, draw-filled start, the U.S. Championship heated up as it passed its halfway point, with Tuesday’s sixth round featuring another day of bloodshed to shake up the standings. Aleksandr Lenderman, who had raced out to an early lead with three wins through the first four rounds, has now been slowed to a crawl with just a half point over the last two. Sam Shankland issued the frontrunner his first loss of the tournament on Tuesday, while Varuzhan Akobian (4/6) turned in his second quality win in a row to catch pace with Lenderman on top.
Tied for third a half-point behind the leaders are Gata Kamsky and Alex Onishuck (3.5/6), who stayed unbeaten after a straightforward 32-move draw; and five other players trail in a logjam with 3 points apiece. Ray Robson and Josh Friedel both won on Tuesday to join the cluster, while Timur Gareev suffered his second consecutive loss.
Meanwhile, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Championship - previously showing no shortage of decisions - had its closest round of balance yet. Anna Zatonskih turned in the lone win of the day over Ashritha Eswaran, gaining a half point on the rest of the field with all draws. Combined with tournament leader Irina Krush’s nailbiting escape with a draw from Tatev Abrahamyan, Zatonskih has now caught back up with the leading pace. Abrahamyan (3/5) trails by a point in clear third.
Lenderman’s method of operations through the first portion of the 2014 U.S. Championships had been formed around well-prepared openings, confidently played and designed to surprise - which made it all the more obvious that things had gone wrong early on Tuesday.
Lenderman was rocked back into his seat just after the day began, tentatively progressing through the opening after being the first to admit that Shankland’s 2...e6 - the first time ever played by his opponent - had completely destroyed his preparation.
“Normally Sam plays the Grunfeld, maybe the Slav - he has never started with this particular move order,” Lenderman said. “I still had ambitions to maybe outplay my opponent later on, in equal position, but he just kept finding all these good moves, creating problems for me out of nowhere.”
Labels: krush, lenderman, us chess championships 2014
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 11:52 AM
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