Some Will Rest, Some Will Play Tiebreaks

Uscc round seven 19 (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

After seven rounds of play in the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship, GM Gata Kamsky and GM Yuri Shulman earn an advance in group A with a quick draw and GM Robert Hess moves on from group B after his draw against GM Yasser Seirawan. Also agreeing to a draw, GM-elect Sam Shankland and GM Alexander Onischuck will play tiebreaks today to decide who will go on.

Uscc round seven 03 (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

In the women's tournament, IM Irina Krush and WGM Camilla Baginskaite agreed to a draw and guaranteed their advancement. WFM Tatev Abrahamyan secured her place with a draw against WIM Irenya Zenyuk. IM Anna Zatonskih defeated IM Sabina Foisor to send the two into a playoff match for the final spot.

See the latest crosstables and results along with PGN's of the games to download here.



See more game scores after the break:

Hess Joins Shankland at the Top

Hess and Shankland, Postgame Day 1 (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

GM Robert Hess scored a win against GM Alexander Shabalov in the 4th round to join GM-elect Sam Shankland with 3 points for the lead in the B group at the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship. Defending champion GM Gata Kamsky and GM Yuri Shulman are at the top of group A with the same score.

In the women's tournament, WGM Sabina Foisor bested WIM Iryna Zenyuk to go for 3.5 points out of 4 and remain a half point ahead of her nearest competitor, WGM Irina Krush. Foisor had upset Krush in the 1st round. Check out some of the game scores below:





More scores after the break:

Timely Tactics #9 - Kaidanov vs. Shankland

Shankland Bags a Win (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

GM Gregory Kaidanov has erred here with 17. Bc1 (the safer offer of a trade with Qf2 might have still left a chance). GM-elect Sam Shankland grabbed his sword and threatened to storm the castle, making the loss of material imminent and soon causing his opponent to resign.

You can see the full game score after the break.

Shankland Storms the Barricade !

After drawing against GM Robert Hess and defeating GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM-elect Sam Shankland pulled off a win against GM Larry Christiansen to take the best score so far of 2.5 at the 2011 U.S. Championships! Larry moved his queen to the b8 square twice, a mistake both times, and Sam grabbed the opportunity to  put the game away (game score follows).

Christiansen and Hess are right behind with 2 points in Group B. GM Gata Kamsky, GM Yuri Shulman, and GM Alexander Ivanov lead Group A with 2 points. WGM Sabina Foisor keeps her grip on the lead in the Women's Championship with a draw against WFM Tatev Abrahamyan.

Foisor Earns a 2nd Win



Piercing Stares (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0



Proving the determination that you can see here in her eyes, Sabina Foisor went 79 moves against a King's Indian Defense to win a second point against Alisa Melkhina in the 2nd round of the 2011 U.S. Women's Championsip. While the point seemed in hand for most of the game, it took a lot of hard work to prove the win. Though she might have missed a chance to end it on move 41, Sabina's 72. Rh8 seemed to close the door on Alisa.

Christiansen Perfect Against Seirawan



Staring Down the Barricades (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0



GM Larry Christiansen only made 22 moves, but they were enough to defeat GM Yasser Seirawan and keep a perfect score after 2 rounds of the 2011 U.S. Championship being held at the St. Louis Chess Club. The two grandmasters already hold 7 U.S. Championship titles between them (Larry has 3 and Yasser has 4). If you are unsure about snatching pawns on b2 with your queen, perhaps this game will provide some guidance.

Timely Tactics #8 - Krush vs. Foisor



Krush v Foisor, Day 1 (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

Even at the U.S. Women's Championship, single motif tactics can be found. Here's a position from the first round game with IM & WGM Irina Krush facing WGM Sabina Foisor. Irina has erred with 30. Bb3, dropping the coverage of the queen that the bishop had provided from the c2 square. Can you see what motif wins the game for Sabina?

You can see the full game score after the break.

Christiansen Scores in the 1st Round

Larry Christiansen, Day 1 (jstrand) / CC BY-SA 3.0

GM Larry Christiansen scored a win in the first round of the 2011 U.S. Championship in St. Louis against GM Alexander Shabalov to give him a leg up on a shot at this year's title. Christiansen is already a 3-time winner of this title in 1980, 1983 and 2002. Shabalov is himself a 4-time winner of the title. Check out the game score below.




Also winning in the 1st round was the 2006 titleist GM Alexander Onischuk with the black pieces against the local favorite and resident GM Ben Finegold. In the U.S. Women's Championship, winners were WGM Sabina Foisor with the black pieces against 3-time Women's U.S. Champion IM & WGM Irina Krush and WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (tying for a win in 2005 but missing the title in a tiebreak) with white against WGM Camilla Baginskaite (winner of a share of the title in 2000).

Endgme Study #14 - D. Joseph 1922

This study by D. Joseph was found in 1234 Modern End-Game Studies by Sutherland and Lommer. The board is filled with stalemate possibilities. Can you sort them out and find a path to win?

The photo is from the British Chess Magazine 1922 where the study was first published showing the October issue. The illustration shown is of Philip H. Williams, a problem composer and author of the book The Modern Chess Problem. He was also known to pen a bit of music. Thanks for the photo by Adam Raoof. You can see more of his work here.



Find all of the endgame studies posted on The Pied Chessman here.

Judith Polgar Takes Third

Judith Polgar showed that she's still a top world chess contender with a third place finish at the European Championships 2011, nearly overshadowing 1st place Vladimir Potkin and 2nd place Radoslaw Wotjaszek by becoming the first woman to claim a top spot ever at this tournament.

Entering at a rating of 2686, her performance will likely take her back over the 2700 mark and into super-grandmaster status. The performance also earns her a spot at the World Cup 2011 which will be held at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from August 26th-September 21st.


She played boldly in this game against Viorel Iordachescu's (2626) Caro-Kann in the 10th round, and it paid off with a commanding win.