The leaders continued to win. GM Onischuk took care of IM D. Schneider to lead group A by a full point while GM Shulman came out on top against GM Kaidanov in a very exciting game. Unless something drastic happens in the last two rounds, it looks like Shulman will face Onischuk in the “Rapid” final.
However, don’t count Hikaru out yet. He has won 4 straight games. Kamsky defeated Novikov in an incredible 92 move endgame. He is now within 1 point from Shulman and they have not played each other yet. Therefore, Kamsky still has a shot.
On the women’s side, WGM Goletiani drew today to lead group A by 1/2 point over WGM Baginskaite and WFM Ross. IM Zatonskih drew GM Becerra while “Chimi” lost to GM Yermolinsky. They now tie with 3.5 points for the lead in group B. WFM Abrahamyan lost to GM Federowicz to remain 1/2 point back.
Now here are some of the upsets of the day:
NM Kleiman 0-1 I. Zenyuk
WGM Baginskaite 1-0 IM Lenderman
IM Friedel 1-0 GM Dlugy
IM Vigorito 1/2 GM Browne
Two rounds to go. Aren’t you excited? 
I can’t do math but if Novikov had moved his king to c8 instead of b8 on move 91, then Kamsky would have to play Nd6+ and then Qe8+, but then does not the 50-move rule come in and it is an automatic draw, since the last pawn move or capture was on move 43 by black?
oh oops, never mind that was pretty dumb.
Kamsky won today. I am so happy. Kamsky showed wonderful fighting spirit. I am so happy with this win. I feel that in this game he returned to his old super chess form of 10 years ago. He never gave up. he pressed and kept going. Tonight Kamsky showed why he was #3 in the world.
I am more focused on his play at the Candidates Matches. I dont mind if he does not win the US Championships this week. I am sure he will do so next year. but I really want to see him perform at his old level at the Candidates.
Hooray. Kamsky is back. Long live Kamsky.
I am so happy.
Just one happy crazy Kamsky chess fan.
tommy
by the way other people won. I am happy with those wins also. nakamura did very well. I am very pleased with the way he won his game also. I mostly watched these 2 games.
Naka showed how dangerous he is. wonderful. give him an inch and he will come in and overwhelm and crush you. Great chess.
A crazy Nakamura chess fan.
tommy
What are the time controls in the final two ‘rapid chess’ games between the group A and group B leaders? If it’s on the event web site, it is very well hidden.
Kamsky seems to have that “taking away squares from his opponents via piece coordination” thing down. Maybe that’s his style as opposed to a more open game where both players have squares to go to.
This championship is a big disappointment. So many weak players, so many weak matches. Women playing men for the women’s title? Men playing women for the men’s title? Lousy low quality blitz rapid games to decide the champion? Who’s jokin’ with chess in the US? That rhymed.. I think USCF related people should resign their posts. US is far behind Australia & Europe in chess organization. OK, that’s enough truth from me. As if anybody is reading this anyway.
Nakamura is still in big trouble. He may get 6.5 but his tiebreaks will be horrible.