Yury Shulman, a formidable rapid player who eliminated a number of big name players at past World Cups, defeated rising star Robert Hess in the second rapid playoff game to face Gata Kamsky in the final. This pair faced each other last year and Gata won the 2010 US Championship by drawing the Armageddon game.
The other two women’s games are still in progress with unclear positions.
Update: Krush won the 2nd game with Black to even up the score to 1-1! They will now go into the controversial time bidding game where black needs to draw to win and advance. Abrahamyan won the 2nd game for a seat in the final match!
Update 2: I am assuming that Anna won the bid at 27 minutes. That means that she will have Black and 27 minutes and draw odd and Irina will have 45 minutes in a must win game.
Update 3: It looks like Anna will advance to the final against Tatev unless a miracle can happen.
Update 4: Anna won. It will be Kamsky vs Shulman and Zatonskih vs Abrahamyan in the final.
So much for encouraging players to win. The message is to play for draw to win. Who the hell came up with this idea? Does this person even play chess?
Susan, are you kidding or are you serious? Players have to bid for time? I don’t get this. Is this USCF or FIDE approved? I’ve never heard of it.
Susan, are you kidding or are you serious? Players have to bid for time? I don’t get this. Is this USCF or FIDE approved? I’ve never heard of it.
What’s with all the whiners about the format? Let’s hear some better alternatives, rather than just mindless complaining.
Better format? How about anything that is chess legal? Can you point out in the FIDE or USCF rulebooks about this “gambling” format?
How about a straight RR like any other country and the top 2 will play a 4 game regular time control match?
What’s next? Players have to bid on how many pieces of clothing they have to take off to win? Or the one who does the craziest monkey dance win?
When it’s stupid, can the fans say it’s stupid? Don’t people have opinions when Ilyumzhinov organizer the knockout word championships? The same sponsor was on Karpov side claiming that Ilyumzhinov is crazy and now they want the same luck format to decide the champion? I would like to know who created this format? Why is it such a secret?
And what happens when the 4 game slow time control match is tied???
Then they’ll play rapid playoff (2 games). In case of tie, they will continue to play rapid until the first player wins. If the organizer wants to have a match format then this is the way.
I like to see them duke it out in rock, paper, scissors. That’s exciting.
They’ve had armageddon games in chess before with a static time difference like 6/5. The difference here is the players bid on that difference and it is a much longer game than blitz.
Almost every tournament or match reaches a point where one player needs only a draw and the other has to win.
Who cares? If you have money to pay for this show then you can make any rule you want. It’s the golden rule. The man with the money bag gets to make any rule he wants. If you don’t like it then shut up and don’t watch.
I like this format. This gives a chance to the lower rated player to win like Khalifman, Kasimdzhanov, and Ponomariov. It’s good for chess to see the less deserving players win. Let’s spread the wealth people.
I like the idea of drawing to win. It’s good for chess. No other sport has this so let’s chess be unique.
undeserving winner? We have Kamsky-Shulman for the US title, who’s undeserving there? In the Women’s, the winner will have had to beat one of the top two players in the country in match play. Again, how is that undeserving.
I’ts a good system! Bidding is more fair then flipping a coin.
This is a great format. That’s why all the top chess countries like Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, England, Hungary, Bulgaria, China, France, India, and Israel don’t use it. We know better than everyone else. How typical of the arrogant Americans.
Abrahamyan over Krush or Zatonskih? Really? Think before you speak.
I vote for flipping a coin. Head I win, tail you lose.
I don’t care what format it is. I want to see Nakamura win every year. He’s born and raised in St. Louis and he should be given every possible advantage.
I think a great addition would be to add an electronic slot machine. The person with the best “pull” wins. If they want to make it look like gambling then why not go all the way!
I like McGaugh’s idea. It’s the best one yet. ESPN would be in line to cover this. In fact, every move should be a slot machine pull. This is the way to go.
Arrogant Americans? Typical sniveling foreigners. I guess you guys don’t want our protection and foreign aid anymore.
All the best ideas weren’t thought up a century ago, believe it or not.
Food fight! Let’s bet on every move. Let’s make this a total chance game. This sells.
If this is such a good system, Bill Goichberg and the USCF should demand for FIDE to use the same time bid format in all candidates and world championships matches. The world should follow the arrogant Americans.
Listen to all the laughable comments. Somehow bidding on time is now like a slot machine. Really? Please try harder trolls.
All the Yanks are just the same.
Yes, a national two week championship event is exactly like a two year world championship cycle. LOL.
Are you saying that the US Championship is meaningless so they can use any crappy system they want?
Congrats to finalists.
The ‘crappy’ system you mention has resulted in a Kamsky-Shulman final two, just like last year. Seems like chess justice.
It is also a system, unlike many of the archaic ones used elsewhere, that requires you to prove yourself in both round-robin tournament play and head-to-head match play. That sounds like the truest definition of a chess champion to me.
It’s an asinine system. Period. If it’s a good system, the whole world would be using this. No country or organizer use this system except the nut who created it. Show me one other federation out of 172 FIDE member nations which use this. I’m waiting. You Yanks think you’re so brilliant.
According to your mindset, there could never be any innovation because “no one else is doing it”. What a sad, pathetic mindset.
But you’re right, proving yourself in round robin tournament and match play is a terrible way to prove who’s actually good at chess. LOL.
Don’t forget, almost everyone thought the world was flat at one time; And they were wrong too.
Finally the order is restored. Congrats Anna!I wonder what will Krush complain this time about
Yeah, good for Anna. Looks like she didn’t have to cheat to beat Krush like she did a few years ago.
Aw Come On!