GMs rocked in Round One!

Group A is said to be the stronger of the two groups and perhaps the first set of games demonstrated this. The first shocker of the day had to be Emory Tate's crushing victory over Varuzhan Akobian. This battle was a matchup of contrasting styles, but Tate decided to surprise his opponent by trotting out the Réti Opening.

Tate, who has played 1.e4 mostly of his career, actually outplayed Akobian on a positional level before launching a virulent attack on the king beginning with 29.Bxh6! (diagram) His performance brought much praise from the commentators and cheers from fans around the world!

Hikaru Nakamura who blazed to victory in last year's championship fell on the bamboo spikes against Josh Friedel. In that game, the defending champion played a strange opening salvo with 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 e6 4.Qc2 Bd6 5.Nc3 f5 6.h3 Nf6 7.g4!? The middlegame exploded as the young Friedel gave up his queen for three pieces (after 15.Nxd5!?) and gradually formed his pieces into a well-oiled machine stifling white's roaming queen. Nakamura tried to compliment matters, but it would be an upset as the defending champion would have a to score a "Fischeresque" run to retain his title.

Group A is dotted by young talent and three rising stars nicked strong opponents for draws. Salvijus Bercys played 153 moves to hold Benjamin Finegold. World under-16 champion Alexander Lenderman and top junior Igor Schneider held GMs Alexander Goldin and Sergey Kudrin, respectively.

Beauty taming the Beast

Group B is populated by diverse characters including wily Grandmasters who would like to show what they have left. However, six of them were nicked for draws. The Kamsky-Browne was a classic matchup between a former world championship contender and a six-time U.S. Champion. Kamsky ground the poker expert down in fine form.

There was a strange occurrence in the Zatonskih-Gulko game. Anna Zatonskih amassed an overwhelming advantage and appeared poised to steal a point from Boris Gulko. Apparently she failed to realize she had repeated the position three times and Gulko claimed a draw. In a side story, previous Mongolian U.S. qualifiers WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg and FM Enkhbat Tegshsuren must have been elated that WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs toppled Alexander Fishbein in fine style. ICC commentator IM Bill Paschall had a lot of problems pronouncing the strong-sounding Mongolian names.

Stephen Muhammad drew with Alexander Ivanov in a game that started uncharacteristically for the  first player. Muhammad is typically a 1.d4, London System advocate, but after 1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7, he found himself in a 1.e4 line. It is even more ironic that the game took on a Sicilian nature. There were some very interesting lines pointed out in the post-game analysis which was carried live at the Internet Chess Club. This result bodes well for Muhammad who usually scores good results when he starts on a positive note.