2013 U.S. Championships Celebrate 5 Years in Saint Louis
SAINT LOUIS, April 11, 2013 — The fields are set for both the 2013 U.S. Championship and 2013 U.S. Womens Championship, scheduled to be held simultaneously May 2 through May 13 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL).
This marks the fifth consecutive year that each of these prestigious events will be held in Saint Louis. The opening ceremony takes place on May 2, and the first round for both events will kick off at 1 p.m. CDT on May 3.
In honor of the five-year anniversary, the 2013 U.S. Championship will feature a 24-player Swiss, the same format that was featured the first time the CCSCSL hosted a national championship in 2009.
This years event will feature a guaranteed prize fund of more than $180,000.
Tony Rich, executive director of the CCSCSL, said the expanded field is sure to encourage fighting chess with many decisive results. With such a dynamic field, this years event is shaping up to be our most exciting U.S. Championship to date, Rich said.
GM Hikaru Nakamura, the reigning U.S. Champion, declined his invitation to play in this years event, opting instead to compete in the Norway Chess 2013 super tournament featuring World Championship challenger GM Magnus Carlsen.
With Nakamura out, a number of youthful challengers hope to usher in a changing of the guard including reigning World Champions IM Kayden Troff (U-14 World Champion) and IM-elect Sam Sevian (U-12 World Champion).
Among other new faces at the U.S. Championship is GM Timur Gareeev, who recently transferred federations from Uzbekistan and is coming off of an undefeated, first-place finish at the North American Open in Las Vegas this past December.
The complete list of players and their current USCF ratings is as follows:
GM Gata Kamsky (2815)
GM Timur Gareev (2766)
GM Alexander Onischuk (2732)
GM Ray Robson (2700)
GM Sam Shankland (2698)
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2690)
GM Alex Stripunsky (2680)
GM Gregory Kaidanov (2673)
GM Alexander Ivanov (2664)
GM Robert Hess (2661)
GM Larry Christiansen (2657)
GM Yury Shulman (2639)
GM Alex Shabalov (2633)
GM Marc Arnold (2626)
GM Melikset Khachiyan (2625)
FM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2621)
GM Joel Benjamin (2618)
IM-elect Yaacov Norowitz (2612)
GM Alejandro Ramirez (2606)
GM Conrad Holt (2591)
GM Ben Finegold (2570)
FM John Bryant (2542)
IM Kayden Troff (2505)
IM-elect Sam Sevian (2467)
In addition to the $180,000 prize fund, the CCSCSL again will sponsor the $64K Fischer Prize, to be awarded to anyone that scores a perfect 9-0 in the U.S. Championship, in honor of Bobby Fischers result at the 1963-64 U.S. Championship.
The 2012 U.S. Womens Championship will feature 10 players and a guaranteed prize fund of $65,000.
IM Irina Krush looks to defend her U.S. Womens Championship crown. Invitations for the 2012 U.S. Womens Championship are as follows:
IM Anna Zatonskih (2506)
IM Irina Krush (2489)
WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2409)
WGM Sabina Foisor (2397)
WGM Camilla Baginskaite (2358)
WIM Viktorija Ni (2353)
WIM Iryna Zenyuk (2341)
WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia (2334)
WFM Sarah Chiang (2238)
WFM Alena Kats (2229)
For the first time in the five years the CCSCSL has hosted the event, organizers are bringing in three commentators to provide even more extensive live coverage of the games and more in-depth player interviews and post-game analysis.
Nakamura would crush this field. They’re lucky that he decided to go beat up on Carlsen instead.
Kamsky should inhibit himself as well like Naka. Obviously he will use this for the sole purpose of racking up more ELO points and its a no-contest.
The likes of Robson or other GMs between 2675-2710 would make this event worth following. I hope other SPICE GMs will participate.
The organizers should be more active in luring these types of high-quality GMs, unless they run in conflict with their prior commitments. They should be cognizant that this supposedly-Open tournament is an opportunity for them to popularize the sport in the United States.
Anna Zatonskih is ELO 2471 (not 2506).Fix that!
^^^ The posted 2506 is Anna’s USCF rating, her 2471 is her ELO equivalent.