Hess just defeated the American legend Larry Christiansen in round 1. Here are the updated results:
Round 1, Friday, May 8, 2:00 pm
| Board | White | Rating | Result | Black | Rating |
| 1. | GM Yury Shulman (0) | 2697 | 1-0 | IM Enrico Sevillano (0) | 2549 |
| 2. | GM Ildar Ibragimov (0) | 2628 | 0-1 | GM Gata Kamsky (0) | 2798 |
| 3. | GM Hikaru Nakamura (0) | 2757 | 1-0 | GM Alexander Shabalov (0) | 2620 |
| 4. | GM Joshua Friedel (0) | 2568 | ½-½ | GM Alexander Onischuk (0) | 2736 |
| 5. | IM Robert Hess (0) | 2545 | 1-0 | GM Larry Christiansen (0) | 2681 |
| 6. | GM Julio Becerra (0) | 2672 | 1-0 | IM Ray Robson (0) | 2542 |
| 7. | IM Anna Zatonskih (0) | 2503 | 0-1 | GM Varuzhan Akobian (0) | 2664 |
| 8. | GM Gregory Kaidanov (0) | 2662 | ½-½ | IM Irina Krush (0) | 2496 |
| 9. | IM Samuel Shankland (0) | 2464 | ½-½ | GM Joel Benjamin (0) | 2650 |
| 10. | GM Jaan Ehlvest (0) | 2649 | 1-0 | IM Michael Brooks (0) | 2419 |
| 11. | Charles Lawton (0) | 2350 | 0-1 | GM Melikset Khachiyan (0) | 2632 |
| 12. | GM Boris Gulko (0) | 2631 | 0-1 | Tyler Hughes (0) | 2293 |
Full results are available here.
[Event “US Championship”]
[Date “2009.05.08”]
[Round “1”]
[White “GM Hess”]
[Black “GM Christiansen”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B30”]
[WhiteElo “2545”]
[BlackElo “2681”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. Ba4 b5 8. Bc2 g6 9. d4 Bg4 10. a4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Bg7 12. Nc3 b4 13. Ne2 O-O 14. d5 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Na5 16. Be3 Nh5 17. Bd3 e6 18. Rc1 exd5 19. exd5 Re8 20. Qc2 Qh4 21. Ng3 Nf4 22. Bb6 b3 23. Qd2 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Nxd3 25. Re4 Ne5 26. Rxh4 Nxf3+ 27. Kg2 Nxd2 28. Bxa5 Bxb2 29. Bxd2 Ba3 30. Ne4 Rc8 31. Rh3 b2 32. Rb3 Rc1 33. Rb8+ Kg7 34. Bc3+ Kh6 35. Bxb2 Bxb2 36. Rxb2 f5 37. Nxd6 Rd1 38. Rb6 Rxd5 39. Rxa6 Kh5 40. Ne8 {White wins} 1-0
Click here to replay the game.
That Hess is one fearless chess player. I like the fact that he is a regular kid too. Go Hess!
Hess made me Mess!
Don’t Mess with Hess.
Hess is playing some great chess right now. It wouldn’t surprise me if he breaks 2600 FIDE by the end of the year.
I thought by move 21 that Hess was doomed. I come back later to discover that Hess had won!
-Seth