Kamsky, Krush lead at the break

Going into the second half of the tournament, odds-on favorites Gata Kamsky (4.5/5) and Irina Krush (5/5) lead the 2013 U.S. Championship after five rounds. While this is not particularly surprising, there are some efforts that have impressed, most notably the young talent that is on display. Kamsky actually beat two of the young upstarts in IM Kayden Troff (2.5/5) and GM Conrad Holt (3/5). Other surprises self-admittedly was Joel Benjamin’s strong start (3.5/5). Benjamin has played in a record 26 U.S. Championships.

GM Gata Kamsky gets set for another epic battle with Alexander Onischuk. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

GM Gata Kamsky gets set for another epic battle with Alexander Onischuk. This was from their 2009 encounter.
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

With Hikaru Nakamura competing in a Super-GM event in Norway, Kamsky has run the tables thus far. Nakamura calling in from Norway remarked that of course Kamsky was the favorite of the event but was impressed by the play of Troff and John Bryant (3/5). He also mentioned that while he is missing this year’s event, he plans to compete in future editions. In the meantime, Kamsky leads the field by a slim half-point margin with Alexander Onishuk on his heels. Onischuk will play Kamsky today as play resumes after the rest day.

In the women’s field, Irina Krush is on a perfect score, but there is no $64,000 prize for the women’s event. A player (in the overall championship) earning a perfect score would have win the so-called “Fischer Prize” reminiscent of Bobby Fischer’s incredible 11/11 performance back in 1963-1964. Most of the women’s players have played on national Olympiad teams with only the youngest contestants Alena Katas and Sarah Chiang having yet to enter that realm. Chiang is making her debut and has had a tough going losing all five of her encounters… shades of Hana Itkis years ago.

WFM Sarah Chiang vs. IM Irina Krush.

WFM Sarah Chiang (left) is on the other end of the spectrum from tournament leader IM Irina Krush. Krush will attempt to continue her winning streak against WGM Camilla Baginskaite. Photo by uschesschamps.com.

Selected Games

2013 U.S. Chess Championship
USA USA USA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Standings
Rank Name Score M/F Rating TPR W-We 1 2 3 4 5
1 GM Kamsky, Gata 4.5 M 2741 2884 +0.61 1 1 1 1 ½
2 GM Onischuk, Alexander 4.0 M 2666 2776 +0.62 ½ ½ 1 1 1
3 GM Ramirez, Alejandro 3.5 M 2551 2673 +0.82 ½ 1 0 1 1
4 GM Benjamin, Joel 3.5 M 2534 2807 +1.83 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½
5 GM Gareev, Timur 3.0 M 2674 2625 -0.32 1 0 ½ ½ 1
6 GM Christiansen, Larry M 3.0 M 2579 2667 +0.61 1 1 0 1 0
7 GM Holt, Conrad 3.0 M 2513 2660 +0.99 1 ½ 1 0 ½
8 FM Bryant, John Daniel 3.0 M 2442 2647 +1.38 ½ 1 1 0 ½
9 GM Robson, Ray 2.5 M 2620 2519 -0.67 ½ 0 0 1 1
10 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 2.5 M 2616 2510 -0.70 ½ ½ 1 0 ½
11 GM Shankland, Samuel L 2.5 M 2612 2540 -0.49 0 ½ 1 1 0
12 GM Kaidanov, Gregory S 2.5 M 2593 2477 -0.78 1 ½ 0 ½ ½
13 GM Shulman, Yury 2.5 M 2570 2524 -0.30 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½
14 GM Stripunsky, Alexander 2.5 M 2570 2513 -0.38 0 ½ 1 0 1
15 Norowitz, Yaacov 2.5 M 2451 2568 +0.79 0 ½ ½ 1 ½
16 IM Troff, Kayden W 2.5 M 2421 2565 +0.90 1 0 0 ½ 1
17 GM Hess, Robert L 2.0 M 2595 2444 -1.03 ½ 0 ½ 0 1
18 GM Shabalov, Alexander 2.0 M 2544 2511 -0.24 0 1 1 0 0
19 GM Khachiyan, Melikset 2.0 M 2518 2541 +0.14 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0
20 GM Ivanov, Alexander 1.5 M 2529 2393 -0.92 ½ 0 0 ½ ½
21 GM Finegold, Benjamin 1.5 M 2505 2422 -0.57 ½ ½ 0 0 ½
22 FM Sammour-Hasbun, Jorge 1.5 M 2463 2374 -0.59 0 0 1 ½ 0
23 FM Sevian, Samuel 1.5 M 2371 2361 -0.07 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0
24 GM Arnold, Marc T 0.5 M 2538 2227 -1.63 0 ½ 0 0 0
Women
1 IM Krush, Irina 5.0 F 2470 2982 +1.17 1 1 1 1 1
2 WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev 4.0 F 2280 2526 +1.54 1 1 ½ 1 ½
3 IM Zatonskih, Anna 3.5 F 2466 2427 -0.14 1 1 0 1 ½
4 WGM Baginskaite, Camilla 2.5 F 2278 2246 -0.22 ½ 0 1 ½ ½
5 WIM Zenyuk, Iryna 2.5 F 2243 2278 +0.23 1 0 1 0 ½
6 WGM Foisor, Sabina 2.0 F 2300 2141 -1.08 0 0 0 1 1
7 WGM Belakovskaia, Anjelina 2.0 F 2263 2247 -0.14 0 1 1 0 0
8 WIM Ni, Viktorija 2.0 F 2262 2207 -0.41 ½ ½ 0 0 1
9 WFM Kats, Alena 1.5 F 2144 2169 +0.10 0 ½ ½ ½ 0
10 WFM Chiang, Sarah 0.0 F 2098 1605 -1.05 0 0 0 0 0
All PGN Games (Men, Women)

Official Site: https://www.uschesschamps.com/live
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2013/05/03/2013-u-s-championships-st-louis/

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