The top scoring ladies took a set back today. “Chimi” lost with White against Sir Gata Kamsky. Goletiani lost with Black against the H-Bomb Nakamura. Zatonskih lost with Black against Mr. Cool Kaidanov. Baginskaite also lost with Black against GM Serper.
The bright spots for the women came from Vicary and Abrahamyan who defeated FM I. Schneider and IM Muhammad respectively. Chouchanik drew against IM Ginsburg. Young Vanessa West drew against IM Vigorito. IM Vigorito has often voiced his displeasure with “women’s chess” system. I wonder how he feels about drawing against West. I am just kidding of course.
Natasha Christiansen drew her first game of the tournament against Hana Itkis. We will cheer hard for Kelly in the next three games. She is still fighting hard every game.
On the men’s side, Larry Christiansen drew against Shulman. Therefore, Yury is still in clear first in his section with 5 / 6. However, Novikov won and he is closing in on Yury Shulman.
In group A, Alex Onischuk won a beautiful Rook and Pawn on the Black side against GM Kudrin. He is now also 5 / 6 and he stays in clear first. The 2 Dmitry (Gurevich and Schneider) both stay within striking distance with 4.5 points.
Expect a lot more excitement in the last 3 rounds! 
Onischuk was great tonight. I. Schneider hung a knight in 1 move.
Susan, is it really you, or was this entry ghost-written? Dave Vigorito has nothing against women playing chess. In fact, he is dating one of the US Championship participants. He was against a qualifying system that allowed any person to play in the National Championship, with only requirement to be female, but not even to know the rules of the game. (I am referring to qualification from the National Open in Las Vegas). I am sure the way he feels about his draw with Vanessa is mild disappointment over giving an upset to someone rated 400 points below, at the same time giving his opponent due respect for having played a very good game.
Michael Langer
Please, no more “B” or even “A” players at the National Championships in the future. Good players in their own right, but this is like watching Woody Allen or in this case Sally Field, step into a ring and try to go toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson. At an Open Tournament sure, but at a National Championship it’s just not right. In fact, I’m beginning to think it’s pathetic.
Class A and Class B players play moves like I do (when I am having a good day!), so I can see how the moves I play are bad when the moves are marked wrong by graduates! It may help me learn how to graduate from Class A and Class B (assuming I can pass C and D and F first), because when a fellow classmate plays me, I can mimic the people who have already graduated!
Michael, I am having fun with Dave 🙂 If you tell people that Hikaru played 3 female players in this US Championship, nobody would believe it either 🙂
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
I hope Hikaru Nakamura gets to play Alex Onischuk. Alex has 1.5 more points than Hikaru, meaning that if Alex draws every game and Hikaru wins every game they still might not play each other since there are only 3 rounds left. I am too dumb to calculate if there is an outside chance that if Hikaru wins everything and some of the people with higher scores that have not played Alex lose, that Alex and Hikaru would play in the 9th round game for group A honors.
Kamsky is one point behind with 3 rounds to go and has not yet played the leader Yuri Shulman, so he controls his own destiny (I think – math makes me dizzy). Oh actually they would be tied, so whoever wins the head-to-head matchup (hopefully they don’t concentrate too hard and bang heads!) owns the tiebreaker!
Whoops! Sorry! I cannot see humor anymore unless there is a big sign >> LAUGH HERE
I agree the US Chess is exciting. I am enjoying the US Chess more than Linares.
I knew round 6 was going to be difficult for me. those who I have been cheering for were playing against each other. I was left in Limbo not knowing who to cheer for. so I had to sit back and allow the players to decide.
After 6 rounds now.
Group A. first 17 players all rated above 2500. remaining players in Group A. none above 2500.
Group B. first 13 players all rated above 2500. remaining players a few rated above 2500.
there is the introduction of all kinds of luck when the lower rated players are in the same section with the higher rated players. that is a statement of fact.
if you look closely at the tournament chart you will see that an amazing number of lower half players have lost to the first 10 players. there is no need for the top 10 players to play the bottom 10 players. that is not the way to pick the champion. this is a measure of “luck”.
I want to see a Champion who has played 9 rounds against 9 Grandmasters and proven he is the best US Player and deserves to be called US Champion.
David Vigorito is one of the nicest people I have ever met. I dont know what his position is on women in chess. but I know he is a very nice person and I have been watching all of his games. I know Dave from when he used to live and play in the Boston area.
My 3 top cheers go for Nakamura Kamsky and Vigorito. not necessarily in any order. I watch all 3 of these in every round. I also cheer for all the women. I am a great fan of all the women doing better in chess.
I have been watching how every round plays out for both the women and the men. I am not so sure that the women get the best deal in a unified tournament. There seems to be a big element of luck based on who they play. If the object is to get the best player then luck needs to be held to a minimum. the more luck introduced the less chance that the best player will win.
One idea might be to hold the womens championship first. then allow all women to participate in the open or mens championship but they need to qualify for that the same as everyone. then add in a spot for the womens champion even if she does not otherwise qualify.
for example lets say we use a 2500 rating floor for the mens championships plus a spot for the womens champion. this would eliminate a lot of the ratings problems now in the tournament.
with a floor of 2500 everyone will be within 150 or 200 rating points. more than enough to get a champion. All women rated 2500 or above will be eligible for the mens championship plus the womans champion.
the womens championship will not have to face players like nakamura and kamsky etc. they can settle down to finding who is the best womens player. So far what I see, the present format of the US Championships does not provide the best format to find the best US Women’s Champion. and it does not provide the best format to find the best US Mens Champion. and that is a statement of fact not of prejudice of any kind.
I love you Susan, I love all the women players. I can only present my honest view of the championship format. Everything I said is my opinion. I have a right to my opinion. and I fully respect your opinion even if it is the opposite of mine. Hopefully we will open our hearts to love and find the best format for everyone.
Peace and Spiritual Love
tommy
Michael,
Blogspot has a problem posting sometimes. This is what I put. You can read it here
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
2006_03_01_susanpolgar_archive.html
Unfortunately, sometimes, it does not refresh fast enough. The best thing to do is click the latest archive month (which is now March 06). It will show the latest posting even though when the main page may not show it.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Didnt know GM Kamsky was knighted !
– Vinay
vinay,
Kamsky was knighted at my chess center along with Stripunsky, Gulko, Onischuk, Shulman, Yudasin, Dlugy, Benjamin, Novikov, Wojtkiewicz, and about 20 more.
That’s what we do with all the visiting GMs. They get honorary life membership 🙂
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Why is are 1663 or 1872 rated players in the national championships?
It is funny to see a 1663 play an 2550 and just get pulled apart. Even so I’d enjoy playing some titled players to see if I could do any better? (doubtful)
Tommy,
Your format is a heck of a lot better than what is currently taking place.
I have to admit at first I thought it might be interesting, but now I wonder what I was thinking. This is a National Championship and club players (amateurs) have no place in it with professionals. It wouldn’t work in golf or tennis etc., and it doesn’t work here.
I apologize if this sounds elitist and I am not trying to denigrate any of the lower rated players, especially since I fall into that category myself; but when I look at this objectively it appears, for whatever reason, that the N.C. has been “dummied down” this year.
I need to visit your chess center GM Polgar :))
– Vinay