Doug Eckert (left) playing a friendly game outside of the St. Louis Chess Club on Friday.
Anna felt ill and was taken to the hospital by Mikhail Korenman and his wife Tamara. Doug Eckert will take her place for the rest of the U.S. Championship.
FM Doug Eckert was one of the promising juniors back in the early 80’s. Doug represented his state MO in the US Junior Championship in 1984. He along with my husband Paul Truong, Ilya Gurevich, Patrick Wolff and Stuart Rachels represented the U.S. in a clock match against Garry Kasparov around 1984. His peak USCF rating was above 2350.
Doug retired from chess to focus on college, followed by a successful professional career. He is now a VP of Corporate Taxation for http://gardnerdenver.com/ and plays chess for leisure. He is married with three children.
Doug came to the U.S. Championship to serve as a substitute. Since everyone showed up, he went home today only to be called back to take Anna’s spot starting tomorrow.
Round 4 – Monday, May 11, 2:00 pm
| Board | White | Rating | Result | Black | Rating |
| 1. | GM Gata Kamsky (2½) | 2798 | – | GM Joshua Friedel (2½) | 2568 |
| 2. | GM Yury Shulman (2½) | 2697 | – | GM Hikaru Nakamura (2½) | 2757 |
| 3. | GM Alexander Onischuk (2) | 2736 | – | IM Robert Hess (2) | 2545 |
| 4. | GM Varuzhan Akobian (2) | 2664 | – | GM Julio Becerra (2) | 2672 |
| 5. | GM Gregory Kaidanov (1½) | 2662 | – | GM Jaan Ehlvest (2) | 2649 |
| 6. | IM Michael Brooks (1½) | 2419 | – | GM Joel Benjamin (1½) | 2650 |
| 7. | GM Melikset Khachiyan (1½) | 2632 | – | IM Irina Krush (1½) | 2496 |
| 8. | IM Enrico Sevillano (1½) | 2549 | – | IM Samuel Shankland (1½) | 2464 |
| 9. | GM Larry Christiansen (1) | 2681 | – | GM Alexander Shabalov (1) | 2620 |
| 10. | IM Ray Robson (1) | 2542 | – | GM Ildar Ibragimov (1) | 2628 |
| 11. | Tyler Hughes (1) | 2293 | – | Charles Lawton (0) | 2350 |
| 12. | GM Boris Gulko (0) | 2631 | – | Doug Eckert (0) | 2278 |
Source: http://saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009-Round-4
Hope everything is ok and that Anna will be back for future rounds.
I thought they would pair Kaidanov as a draw in round 3, but they paired him with as a win in round 3. It’s a terrible shame if Anna has to withdraw. God Bless her during this time.
I thought they would pair Kaidanov as a draw in round 3, but they paired him with as a win in round 3. It’s a terrible shame if Anna has to withdraw. God Bless her during this time.
Since it is a Swiss, it seems to me that it would be OK to not have a replacement and then give a bye with the normal method.
Get well Anna!
I don’t get it…why this guy Doug Eckert? Why not get the next guy on the ratings list?
Stupid decicion, the better is to eliminate Mr. Lawton, if the guy is losing with an extra rook (!), look on the game with Seviliano, he does not belong to the field, I hear that for example WIM with IM norm Iryna Zenyuk currently in Sant Louis, why not she instead of Zatonskih?
You can pay $200,000 to host the US Championship then you can invite anyone you wish. Eckert is from St. Louis. It’s normal for the organizer to invite a few local players.
I thought it was strange to have a substitute player instead of a bye, but it is acceptable under USCF rule 28M1, the house player.
Do not agree!
You can pay whatever you want and made a private tournament whatever you want, made an Open Missori or Midwest Championship, but it is the US National Tournament and you can not do whatever you want.
That is the USCF problem: rules first, sponsor – second, other way you will got Class B playing girl with 0:9 score, a playing hall near the hotel pool, and losing a game with an extra rook. I am not very big fan of Ms. Polgar (sorry, Susan), but at least looks on three her tournaments; by quality standards it is much closed to the what has to be the real tournament.
Susan, by the way, may be you could find possibility to run some the US Championship in a future? Probably start with the Women Championship for beginning.