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Sunday, April 17, 2011
US Chess Championship R2: Perfect scores for Sabina Foisor in women's, Larry Christiansen in men's sections
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Sabina Foisor defeated Alisa Melekhina in round two to maintain a perfect score at the 2011 U.S. Women's Championship.
Hi everyone,
The news from the US Chess Championships is that women's defending champion Irina Krush went down fighting to Sabina Foisor in the first round. The tournaments are being held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The championships involve preliminary round-robins and finals and conclude April 28. Tatev Abrahamyan also won a nice game against Camilla Baginskaite.
In the men's section, wins were notched up by Alexander Onischuk and three-time winner Grandmaster Larry Christiansen. After the first week of play, the two championships will advance their top players to the finals. The U.S. Championship is split into two groups of eight players each while the U.S. Women's Championship has one group of eight players. The top two players from each group of the U.S. Championship advance to the finals and the top four women will advance to a quad knockout to determine the U.S. Women's Champion.
Round 2
By the second round, in the women's section, it is only Sabina Foisor with a perfect score. In the men's section it is Grandmaster Larry Christiansen. He beat Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan. In the women's section, defending Champion IM Irina Krush recovered after her first round loss to beat Tatev Abrahamyan. Anna Zatonskih also scored her first win of the tournament and is the only player on 1.5 after her first round draw. Four women out of the eight will advance to the semifinals after round-robin play. WGM Camilla Baginskaite beat Rusudan Goletiani.
In the men's section, GM Gata Kamsky bubbled beat GM Varuzhan Akobian while all other games were a draw. Kamsky leads in the first group in the men's section while Christiansen in the second group.
Irina Krush is U.S. Women's National Chess Champion
IM Irina Krush
Hello Everyone!
IM Irina Krush's struggle paid off in the ninth round when she beat WFM Abby Marshall to win the 2010 U.S. Women's Chess Championship title with a score of 8/9. She was tied with IM Anna Zatonskih with 7 points each at the end of the eighth round. Zatonskih could only manage a draw against against WGM Sabina Foisor allowing Krush to win the title.
Krush has won the title for the third time this year. She had won it in 2007 and 2008. Anna Zatonskih was the defending champion this year.
Krush told the media that "I tried to be aggressive with Black and kind of principled with White. So no one was just going to get any easy points.”
In round nine, Krush had White against Marshall. The latter has had a disappointing tournament - this being her first U.S. Women's Championship - as she managed to score just 0.5/9. Ironically, Krush said her game against Marshall was the worst in the tournament.
Zatonskih, on her part, said she missed a lot of opportunities in this tournament. She tied with WFM Tatev Abrahamyan with 7.5/9 points.
You can check the official website for videos, photos and other statistics. Meanwhile, here is the nice Krush-Marshall game that you can run through our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Zatonskih keeps lead after six rounds
WGM Abby Marshall
Hello Everyone,
IM Anna Zatonskih looks in top gear at the U.S. Women's Chess Championship as she kept her lead after six rounds at St. Louis. She obtained a nice win with black over WFM Abby Marshall even as IM Irina Krush to crushed WGM Sabina Foisor. All the other games were displays of fighting chess with none of the games ending in draws.
Sabina Foisor wins the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award
Hello everybody!
I have been glued to the screen, watching the final of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships, which was just won by Anna Zatonskih in the tie-breaks against Tatev Abrahamyan. It was so interesting, we will make shortly a special post about it with the games.
Before anything else, I'd like to congratulate the Saint Louis Chess Club for putting up such a prestigious event in such great style, and also all the players for showing such great sportsmanship! The live commentary by GM Maurice Ashley and Jennifer Shahade was wonderful!
Thanks also go to Goddesschess, who is continuing its effort to support women's chess in the world, and has offered to sponsor a Fighting Chess Award to go to the most deserving player from the U.S. Championship.
I was chosen as the judge for this award, and I had a very hard time, as many players are deserving, starting with the eventual winner, Anna Zatonskih, but also certainly Tatev Abrahamyan who fought to the end, and Irina Krush, who won the initial tournament. However, after looking over most of the games, I saw that Sabina Foisor's style was also uncompromising, and she was the only player to have beaten Irina Krush in the preliminary tournament. I have decided to vote for the Fighting Chess Award to go to Sabina Foisor, congratulations!
U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Krush, Zatonskih tied at top spot with one round to go
WIM Iryna Zenyuk lost a tough game against
her friend IM Irina Krush in the eight round.
Hello Everyone!
The U.S. Women's Championship is poised for an exciting finish with the top seeds IM Irina Krush and defending champions IM Anna Zatonskhi both tied at 7.0 points each after eight rounds. There is one round to go.
Interestingly, the eighth round saw four wins by black and just one draw. Krush won her game to draw level with Zatonskih who had the only draw of the round against Abrahamyan. The latter is on the third spot.
Krush WFM Abby Marshallmeets a relatively easier opponent in in the ninth round while Zatonskih will play WGM Sabina Foisor.
Results of Round 8
-----------------------
1.WGM Sabina Foisor-WIM Alisa Melekhina0-1
2.WIM Iryna Zenyuk-IM Irina Krush0-1
3.WFM Abby Marshall-WGM Camilla Baginskaite0-1
4.WIM Beatriz Marinello-WGM Katerina Rohonyan0-1
5.WFM Tatev Abrahamyan-IM Anna Zatonskih½-½
Standings after Round 8
------------------------------
1.IM Anna Zatonskih7.0
2.IM Irina Krush7.0
3.WFM Tatev Abrahamyan6.5
4.WIM Alisa Melekhina4.5
5.WGM Katerina Rohonyan4.5
6.WIM Iryna Zenyuk3.0
7.WGM Sabina Foisor2.5
8.WGM Camilla Baginskaite3.0
9.WIM Beatriz Marinello1.5
10.WFM Abby Marshall0.5
Here is the nice game between WIM Iryna Zenyuk and IM Irina Krush which you can run in the pgnplayer or watch in flash below. Also check the official website for videos, photos and articles.
U.S. Women's Chess Championship off to an exciting start
Defending chess champion IM Anna Zatonskih
Hello Everyone,
The U.S. Women's Chess Championship first and second rounds saw five decisive games each at the St. Louis Chess Club. The defending champion IM Anna Zatonskih won her games without much trouble even as IM Irina Krush earned two points as well. Here are the Round 1 and 2 results. Zatonskih takes on Krush in the third round.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everybody,
Two tie-break matches will decide the final list of semi-finalists at the US Chess Championships 2011 on Friday. Gata Kamsky, Yuri Shulman, Robert Hess, Irina Krush, Tatev Abrahamyan and Camilla Baginskaite have qualified for the next stage of the U.S. Championships. Today, in two-game rapid matches, Sam Shankland and Alexander Onischuk, and also Anna Zatonskih and Sabina Foisor, will fight for the last places.
The 2011 U.S. Championship and 2011 U.S. Women’s Championship are taking place from April 14-28 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The games of the Championships can be followed live here. Like last year, there’s a daily live show with GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade, produced by Macauley Peterson, including trivia, polls, viewer questions and lots of prizes given away.
(Photo: Seirawan just missing qualification)
Earlier, in Round 7, GM Gata Kamsky and GM Yury Shulman, the reigning champion and the past champion, played a short draw to ensure that they both qualified for the next stage. The two players were the highest seeds in Group A. Kamsky’s half-point got him to 5/7 while Shulman scored an undefeated undefeated 4.5/7. Robson beat Ivanov to score 4/7 and qualify.
In the women's section Sabina Foisor despite a great start lost her way and is now in a tie-break with Anna Zatonskih for the last qualification spot.
U.S. Chess Championships 2014 R2: Krush, Foisor Perfect; Robson, Lenderman Lead
Hello chess lovers, here's the U.S. Chess Championships Round 2 update excerpted from the official report by Brian Jerauld.
SAINT LOUIS (May 9, 2014) -- In the women's section, Sabina Foisor stayed perfect after two days following a quality come-from-behind win over Alisa Melekhina, as did reigning Women’s champion Irina Krush, who made quick work of 13-year-old phenom Ashritha Eswaran on Friday afternoon. Krush, in search of a three-peat and her sixth national title, turned in 7-of-9 wins in last year’s event.
Krush vs Eswaran in Round 2 - lots of chess still to come...
The two share the lead, with Anna Zatonskih trailing in clear third with 1.5/2. Zatonskih will defend the black pieces against Foisor in the third round, set to begin today at 1 p.m. CST. Krush defends in the namesake battle versus Iryna Zenyuk.
Ray Robson and Aleksandr Lenderman lead the U.S. Championship with 1.5/2, with the only two wins turned in through two rounds.Today, Robson will attack reigning champion Gata Kamsky with the white pieces, while Lenderman defends against Alejandro Ramirez (1/2).
US Chess 2014 - Searching for 'Ms Fischer' worth $64,000! Women chess players in the US have a special chess prize to fight for -- the $64,000 Fischer Bonus Prize! In the 1964 U.S. Chess Championship, the then 20-year-old Bobby Fischer dominated the event scoring a perfect 11-0 score. In 2014, it is the 50th anniversary of that record. Rex Sinquefield - the St Louis benefactor - wants to do his best to give away that prize this year! (Read further)
Lenderman made a quick exit from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis after pickpocketing Timur Gareev for a half point in the second round. Gareev came out ready to prove himself on Friday, one day removed from the two-seed’s first-round quickdraw with Kamsky, setting up a Nimzo-Indian against Lenderman.
After 7. d5 set up early tension, Gareev’s 18...Bxb4 earned him a pawn up in a cramped position, while Lenderman enjoyed a strong pawn chain through the center and wide-open activity. Gareev held, however, through a tactics-filled middlegame with a paradoxical 25...Kg6 that walked his king into discovered check - correctly.
Akobian, Zatonskih Create Space; 2014 U.S. Women’s Title On the Line
Hello chess friends, the round after a rest day in a chess tournament is usually quite interesting - will the overnight leader extend lead or lose rhythm? What happened at the U.S. Chess Championships? Read report by Brian Jerauld to find out more!
SAINT LOUIS (May 17, 2014) -- Rest days are meant for relaxation and preparation, a chance to collect one’s self and focus on the finish line. It’s a time to tighten up your stride for the home stretch.
But nobody got the memo in Saint Louis.
GM Varuzhan Akobian has pushed his lead to a
full point with just three rounds to go in
the U.S. Championship. Image Credit Lennart Ootes.
The 2014 U.S. Championships, hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, returned from its break for one of the most chaos-driven rounds since the tournament began. In an afternoon that began with Camilla Baginskaite’s instant resignation after a touch-move snafu on move 15, picking up her a-pawn out-of-order instead of first tending to her double-attacked knight, the majority of Friday’s games followed a similar theme of head-scratching play amidst bruising back-and-forth drama.
Timur Gareev and Alejandro Ramirez settled on a fairy-tale draw that featured a two-pawn gambit in the opening, a crushing pendulum-swing of an attack in the middlegame and a magic recovery in the endgame. Tatev Abrahamyan fell horribly behind early in a Grunfeld, yet outmuscled Viktorija Ni in an endgame to win back her half-point.
But despite the methods, both U.S. Championship leaders, Var Akobian (6/8) and Anna Zatonskih (6/7), increased their respective leads entering the final weekend while their closest chasers fell away.
Irina Krush (5/7) struggled to her third consecutive draw, falling a full point behind Zatonskih and setting up a do-or-die match for Saturday afternoon, another chapter in the duo’s epic decade-long rivalry. Akobian gained ground after reigning U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky was fearlessly attacked to a draw by U.S. Junior champion Daniel Naroditsky.
None of America’s 22 best players made better use of their rest day than Aleksandr Lenderman. Lenderman was the early leader of the U.S. Championship, but he was headed in the wrong direction with just a draw over the last three rounds after suffering a shocking loss to Sam Shankland in round 6, and then getting rolled by Kamsky the following afternoon. The promise of the black pieces against bend-but-never-break Alex Onischuk loomed large through a rainy rest day.
But Lenderman found a reset button.
“My approach was to try and completely forget about what happened through the first half of the tournament,” Lenderman said. “Approach like it is a new tournament. (Onischuk) never loses - but he does sometimes … it could happen, and I figured today he’s going to try and battle against me because I lost two games in a row. He was going to try and pressure me, so I knew I would get more chances than maybe I would normally get; and I was pretty optimistic that if I had a good mindset, then I would have my chances.”
U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Zatonskih leads with Krush, Abrahamyan just half point behind
Katerina Rohonyan who won against
Abby Marshall in round seven.
Hi Everybody!
The top seeds - IM Anna Zatonskih and IM Irina Krush - at the U.S. Women's Championship being held in St. Louis are matching each other step to step. Krush is barely half a point behind tournament leader Zatonskih after seven rounds. Both won their Round 7 game to stay ahead of the rest of the field with 6.5/7 and 6.0/7 points respectively. WFM Tatev Abrahamyan is also in joint second place with 6.0/7. She faces Zatonskih in the eighth round and it could be a crucial game for the tournament.
Hello Everyone!
Results of Rround 7
--------------------------
1.WFM Tatev Abrahamyan-WGM Sabina Foisor1-0
2.IM Anna Zatonskih-WIM Beatriz Marinello1-0
3.WGM Katerina Rohonyan-WFM Abby Marshall1-0
4.WGM Camilla Baginskaite-WIM Iryna Zenyuk0-1
5.IM Irina Krush-WIM Alisa Melekhina1-0
Standings after Round 7
------------------------------
1.IM Anna Zatonskih6.5
2.IM Irina Krush6.0
3.WFM Tatev Abrahamyan6.0
4.WIM Alisa Melekhina3.5
5.WGM Katerina Rohonyan3.5
6.WIM Iryna Zenyuk3.0
7.WGM Sabina Foisor2.5
8.WGM Camilla Baginskaite2.0
9.WIM Beatriz Marinello1.5
10.WFM Abby Marshall0.5
You can check the official website for videos, photos and reports. Meanwhile, here are the games of the day for you to run through our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Krush, Zatonskih keep joint lead after 4 rounds
WIM Alisa Melekhina who had a tough game
against IM Anna Zatonskih in Round 4
Hello Everyone!
IM Irina Krush and defending champion IM Anna Zatonskih maintained their joint lead with victories in the fourth round at the U.S. Women's Chess Championship being played at St. Louis along with the U.S. Junior Chess Championship. Both the IMs have 3.5 points each.
Incidentally, there is a difference of only three Fide rating points between Zatonskih (2518) and Krush (2521) while both of them are at least 150 Fide rating points more than the next contender. Naturally, both Krush and Zatonskih are clear favorites in the tournament.
You can watch some videos and check interesting reports at the official website of the tournament.
Results of Round 4
--------------------------
1.WGM Sabina Foisor-WGM Camilla Baginskaite½-½
2.IM Irina Krush-WGM Katerina Rohonyan1-0
3.WIM Alisa Melekhina-IM Anna Zatonskih0-1
4.WIM Iryna Zenyuk-WFM Tatev Abrahamyan0-1
5.WFM Abby Marshall-WIM Beatriz Marinello½-½
Standings after Round 4
---------------------------------
1.IM Irina Krush3.5
2.IM Anna Zatonskih3.5
3.WFM Tatev Abrahamyan3.0
4.WIM Alisa Melekhina2.0
5.WIM Iryna Zenyuk2.0
6.WGM Camilla Baginskaite1.5
7.WGM Sabina Foisor1.5
8.WIM Beatriz Marinello1.5
9.WGM Katerina Rohonyan1.0
10.WFM Abby Marshall0.5
Here are the two games played by IM Irina Krush-WGM Katerina Rohonyan and
WIM Alisa Melekhina-IM Anna Zatonskhi in Round 4. You can run them in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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