After 3 rounds at the 2006 US Championship, the only player with a perfect 3-0 score is GM Alex Onischuk, my teammate in the match USA vs. Russia last year. Alex is one of the pre-tournament favorites along with Nakamura and Kamsky.
There are other two MAJOR stories so far after 3 rounds:
* Nakamura lost to WGM Baginskaite today. He was completely lost against Kleiman yesterday as well. He scored 1/2 point in 3 games against 1 IM, 1 NM and 1 WGM. The average rating of his opponents is nearly 400 points lower than his! Ouch!
* WFM Tuvshintugs scored 2 / 3, beating GM Fishbein and Kreiman! Impressive!
The leaders for the women’s side include Goletiani (defeated Tate), Tuvshingtugs (defeated Kreiman) and Baginskaite (defeated Nakamura). They all have 2 points. Zatonskih (defeated Abrahamyan) is right behind with 1.5 points. 
What happens if the top finishers in both A and B are women?? What happens then to the “women’s final” playoff? =)
I know it’s highly improbable, but it’s nice to see some women score full points against much higher rated opponents!
Are those really Nakamura’s openings? I can understand that Nakamura might want to save his novelties for a tournament that is not a Swiss, but it seems that he is playing inferior moves out of the opening to avoid the main lines. Sometimes I follow on the website and it seems that Nakamura is playing too quickly.
Kamsky on the other hand seems to be playing more normal-looking openings and getting draws. His games are so weird: it seems that he always gets boring positions and for a player like me I see nothing you can do in those types of positions and I would move my pieces around aimlessly but when Kamsky moves all of a sudden I see what he is trying to do and I am amazed that in such a dead position one can actually try to improve the position very subtlely. Today Kamsky had that backward pawn on c3 and a game ago Kamsky looked like he won a pawn if he didn’t play Rd4 (it seemed his opponent could not just wait around for Kamsky to gain up on the a-file so gave up the pawn). Those positions look very dead to me but it is amazing to me how Kamsky actually plays such positions, even though the small advantages were not enough for wins but only draws.
Nakamura is a major disappointment for all. I am sad to see a grandmaster play chess so badly.
Jolly, that is good point, and what would happen I guess is that the women would be playing for the US final championship, and there would be a “men’s final” playoff.
However, that is not probable given the ratings of the women.
However, if Susan were there, she would be playing in the US final championship and you would have a “mixed final” playoff.
I think that’s how it works at least.
Dear Susan,
I wish to congratulate you on being more up to date than the US San Diego website!!
http://www.uschesschampionship.com
says on the front page:
“Grandmaster Yury Shulman (above) is one of only four players with a perfect 2/2 score after the second round.”
yes the web site is very slow to post results. I am surprised by this.
I do not think Nakamura is playing so bad. He has a few mistakes and he paid very heavily for them. this is the luck of chess. I hope everyone continues to support Nakamura. We do not want to lose him as a chess player. he is still a teenager and top level competition must be very hard on him.
Yes Kamsky does seem to be playing a conservative brand of chess. I dont think this is the same kind of chess he played when he was young. I am concerned however, that he is not showing the creativity and level of play that might be needed in the Candidates Matches. But I do think he is playing smart. he is not blowing his points as Nakamura has. but then Nakamura is young and he will learn.
I am particularily proud of the women. they are doing a real good job so far. I hope they can keep up the wins.
I do this site because of my love for chess and not for money 🙂 I was also the first to update the results after San Luis and Morelia (Linares) as well. This is 2006. Fans should not wait for a day to see updates.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
What is happening to Nakamura is unfortunate however everyone is entitled to a bad tournament. He has a solid performance in Mexico earlier. Remember he is young and he is still finding his professional self.
Look at Karjakin. He did well in Corus however suffered in Mexico. One issue I can see for Nakamura, in my opinion, is that he does not have opportunities to continually play serious chess against strong opponents. Strong events in the US are in short supply. This is true for him and for many other top class players. This will improve over time but I think this is one of the reasons for spotty performance.
Good Chess to All,
Sevan A. Muradian
I think Nakamura needs a serious coach. His game is flawed. He’s too cocky to ask for help. He even pissed off Kamsky who tried to help him.
Don
Hi Susan,
I’ve been following the championship live online for the first time this year, which is very exciting. I’m curious though, as to why you aren’t playing? It can hardly be considered a real women’s championship when you and Irina Krush (and Jennifer Shahade, too!) withdrew… as a fan, I’m glad to see the women doing so well, but I would have loved to see you play, too!
Best,
Susannah
PS — I watched you play a blindfold blitz game against Kaidanov at WisChess camp years ago and it was an inspiration for me at age 13 as the only girl playing in my town. Thanks!
Hi Susannah,
The organizer changed the schedule and it conflicts with the women’s world championship. That is why Irina Krush cannot play. I do no know about Jennifer Shahade.
As for myself, I needed to have all the details of the tournament by December 31, 2005. They were not able to offer that. When you are a world champion, you have different expectation, unlike just being a grandmaster.
I needed the time to properly prepare and work out arrangements to have my children care for since I am a single Mom. This is a 2 weeks event, not just a few days.
Even for an exhibition for me, it is usually booked 1-2 years in advance. I do not think the organizer fully understand this.
That is why I did not play and I will probably not play in the future unless things can be worked out adequately, timely and properly.
You do not go to Kasparov and ask him to play in the Russian Championship with 1-2 months notice. All conditions and arrangements must be worked out at least 6-12 months in advance. Same with Topalov, Kramnik, Xie Jun, Stefanova and others.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Probably grandmaster Nakamura is the only one who really knows the reasons of failing the 1st three rounds!? We have to wait for his personal comment (and of his coach, if he has). I shouldn’t worry about losing him as a chess player. Chess is too much addictive, once you start with it!! Unfortuantely for grandmasters, once they start losing or not winning, they become front page stories, and we have to, like it or not, critisize them for their own good, don’t we? We won’t critisize FMs as much. I’ll skip wishing good luck to Nakamura, as that would mean wishing bad luck for his opponents?!