Kamsky Makes His Return

Like a comet, Gata Kamsky repeated his win of the U.S. Chess Championship of 1991! Having remained America's top rated player through many of those years, after multiple tries for the world title, and after several years absent from international chess before playing in public again in 2004, Kamsky bid 25 minutes against 60 for the black pieces with draw odds in a tiebreak playoff against Yuri Shulman, the 2008 champion. The bet paid off when Kamsky took a draw with a winning position, but only seconds left on each player's clock. Yuri himself achieved the playoff with a brilliant win against Hikaru Nakamura, the 2009 champion, in the next-to-last regular round of play. Kamsky delivered a shocker in the same round when Alexander Onischuk, the 2006 champion, refused a draw offer and then lost the game to the eventual champion. Then Kamsky stunned Shulman with a draw with the black pieces while using virtually no time on his clock for most of the game in the final regular round, setting up today's tiebreak victory! For complete game scores from the tournament, go to the official tournament site or TWIC.