2005 US Chess Championship

Round Two
Bd
White
Res
Black
1   GM Yury Shulman  
½
  GM Gregory Kaidanov
2   GM Alexander Goldin  
0-1
  GM Sergey Kudrin
3   GM Dmitry Gurevich  
½
  GM Boris Gulko
4   GM Igor Novikov  
½
  GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz
5   GM Alexander Onischuk  
½
  GM Julio Becerra
6   IM Cyrus Lakdawala  
0-1
  GM Hikaru Nakamura
7   GM Ildar Ibragimov  
1-0
  GM Alexander Fishbein
8   IM Yury Lapshun  
½
  GM Varuzhan Akobian
9   IM Stanislav Kriventsov  
0-1
  GM Alex Stripunsky
10   WGM Anna Zatonskih  
½
  GM Nick DeFirmian
11   IM Ben Finegold  
½
  IM Renier Gonzalez
12   GM Larry Christiansen  
½
  GM Walter Browne
13   GM Gata Kamsky  
½
  IM Dmitry Schneider
14   GM Alex Yermolinsky  
½
  IM Jesse Kraai
15   GM Alexander Ivanov  
0-1
  FM Dmitry Zilberstein
16   FM Bruci Lopez  
½
  GM Joel Benjamin
17   GM Gregory Serper  
1-0
  WIM Anna Hahn
18   IM Eugene Perelshteyn  
½
  FM Fabio La Rota
19   FM Robby Adamson  
0-1
  IM Levon Altounian
20   WIM Esther Epstein  
0-1
  GM Alexander Shabalov
21   FM Tegshuren Enkhbat  
0-1
  WIM Jennifer Shahade
22   FM Michael Casella  
0-1
  IM Irina Krush
23   FM Marcel Martinez  
1-0
  Jake Kleiman
24   WFM Tatev Abrahamyan  
0-1
  FM Joshua Friedel
25   WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg  
1-0
  FM Lev Milman
26   FM Stephen Muhammad  
0-1
  WFM Laura Ross
27   Chouchanik Airapetian  
0-1
  GM Anatoly Lein
28   IM Ron Burnett  
1-0
  WFM Olga Sagalchik
29   Salvijus Bercys  
1-0
  Vanessa West
30   IM Blas Lugo  
1-0
  Iryna Zenyuk
31   WFM Anna Levina  
½
  FM Matt Hoekstra
32   Tatiana Vayserberg  
0-1
  WGM Rusudan Goletiani

Fireworks in San Diego

Despite this being the round where draws begin to mount, the lower half had 14 decisive result from 16 games!  Despite only five decisive games on the first 16 boards, many games were hard fought including the Christiansen-Browne and Lopez-Benjamin battles which virtually ended with two kings. Perhaps one player who is not happy to make draws is  Gata Kamsky, the top seed. This time Dmitry Schneider nicked him for a half-point. One of the tournament's wildest draws occurred between Alexander Onischuk and Julio Becerra.

This game was destined for fireworks as Onischuk trotted out the Shirov-Shabalov Gambit  against the Slav with 7.g4!? By the 12th move, white already had a pawn on the 7th rank, but material was hanging everywhere. The position after 15…Bf4 (see diagram) appeared to come from a "play and win" diagram.

In  fact, there was no win for either side as  Oniscuk was forced to find a cute draw by sacrificing yet another piece with
26.Bd6+ Kxd6 27.Qc6+ Ke5 28.Qe4+ draw. The final position looks very amusing with some of the combatants ended up in strange places.  Exciting game by two gladiators!

Alexander Shabalov got back on track with an impressive knight romp over Esther Epstein. Pre-tourney favorite Hikaru Nakamura kept pace by beating the local-favorite, Cyrus Lakdawala. Four players maintain perfect scores: Nakamura, Ildar Ibragimov, Sergey Kudrin and Alexander Stripunsky.

The two players arrived at this position in less that 20 moves! Julio Becerra uncorked 15...Bf4.  After 16.Qh3, the game ended in a spectacular draw moves later.

The two players arrived at this position in less that 20 moves! Julio Becerra uncorked 15...Bf4.  After 16.Qh3, the game ended in a spectacular draw moves later.

The Better Half?

The lower half of the field is certainly were much of the damage was done to opposing kings.  Only two games ended in draws and those who have been tracking the female players may have been pleased with the silver-medal Olympiad players. Jennifer Shahade outplayed Enkhbat Tegshsuren; Irina Krush crushed Michael Casella in 19 moves; Anna Zatonskih held Nick DeFirmian in an exciting draw in a Najdorf.

In another exciting battle,
Laura Ross notched her first win with a nice finish against Stephen Muhammad. After getting a good position out of the opening, she later squandered her advantage and Muhammad appeared to be turning the tables. Ross placed her hopes in an active piece play and an attack against Muhammad's king. The game took on a peculiar symmetry with each side employing a rook for defense and advancing a queen, rook and knight in the opposing camp. However, Ross' attack would break through first after she dealt a combination ending in mate. Muhammad will bounce back.

Another exciting game took place between
Blas Lugo and Iryna Zenyuk. The Cuban player was facing an onslaught on his queenside castled king. However Zenyuk had her own issues with king safety. Lugo kept his composure, beat back the attack and launched an attack on her exposed king. Under pressure, Zenyuk could no longer hold and allowed a one-move mate. A classic battle on opposite wings!


Round #2 Information Center

Selected Games

GM Alexander Onischuk - GM Julio Becerra, ½-½
WIM Esther Epstein - GM Alexander Shabalov, 0-1
GM Larry Christiansen- GM Walter Browne, ½-½
FM Enkhbat Tegshsuren  - WIM Jennifer Shahade, 0-1
FM Stephen Muhammad - WFM Laura Ross, 0-1
IM Blas Lugo - Iryna Zenyuk, 1-0

PGN download (all 32 games)


The Chess Drum

| Round 1 | Round 2 Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 |
| Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9 | playoffs |

| Home | Championship News |