Onischuk vs. Shulman: The Prequel

This month’s “Polgar’s Pick” is in honor of a good friend. Our new U.S. Champion, Alexander Onischuk, was already a worldclass grandmaster when he immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine more than four years ago. He has been ranked as the top American player in both USCF and FIDE ratings.

A full-time student at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County (UMBC) since his arrival, he lives in Baltimore with his wife and young son. He is not only a great player but also a true professional and a very kind, friendly person! Alex was my teammate last year in the historic USA vs. Russia televised match.

He recently joined seven-time World Champion Anatoly Karpov and me in Moscow to welcome a big group of young American and Russian juniors as part of the Chess for Peace initiative. In the latest U.S. Championship, he went undefeated in all 11 games, with a USCF performance rating over 2800! In 2004, he played first board for our Olympiad team and had a FIDE 2700 performance against supertough opposition.

His chess style is mostly positional, with a deep understanding of strategy and endgames. This game was played between Alex and his good friend Yury Shulman at last year’s HB Global Chess Challenge in Minnesota. Little did they know at that time that they would face each other in the Championship Match of the 2006 U.S. Championship less than a year later! Enjoy this dynamic and fascinating game.

HB Global Chess Challenge 2005
White: Onischuk, A.
Black: Shulman, Y.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Bd6 b6 10.Nf3 Bb7 11.O-O c5 12.Nh4 Qxh4 13.Qa4+ Kd8 14.Rad1 Kc8 15.Qe8+ Qd8 16.Qxd8+ Kxd8 17.Bf8+ Kc7 18.Bxg7 Nf6 19.Bxf6 Rhg8 20.g3 Nb8 21.Be5+ Kc8 22.f4 Bc6 23.Rd6 Rd8 24.f5 Rxd6 25.Bxd6 Nd7 26.fxe6 fxe6 27.Rf7 Kb7 28.Rxh7 Be4 29.Re7 Rh8 30.Rxd7+ Kc6 31.Be5 1-0

Click here to read my full analysis.

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , , ,