A US Open Pictoral Photos Report!

Congrats to the 6 winners (GM Alex Lenderman, GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Jacek Stopa, GM Jesse Kraai, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Dimitry Gurevich) who all tied for first and additional congratulations to the 5 who will be at the 2010 US Championship in St. Louis. While the politicians were playing their dirty game during the day, 453 players came to play chess during the night! A fantastic event even if the host city was quite barren of things to do. A bit of irony, Lenderman might have set a record by winning a tournament 7.5/9 and STILL losing rating points. Usually those two things do not go hand in hand!

And now it is time for the 110th US Open Photo Report:

In the game 15 side event, GM Alex Lenderman won 4.5/5.

In rd3, WIM Alisa Melekhina- GM Alex Lenderman



Lenderman is already slightly better, play continued with: 1... Rxh3 2. Rxf7 Rh2+ 3. Ke3 Na5 4. Kd3 b6 where Alisa blunders with 5. Rb1?? and Lenderman tactically finishes the game Nc4 6. a3 e5 7. Rf6+ Ke7 8. Rxf5 e4+ 9. fxe4 dxe4+ 10. Kxe4 Nd6+ 11. Kf4 Rf2+ resigns 0-1

In rd4, GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Kaufman:


It can be seen that Kaufman has 7 seconds left, the following moves are played
1. Bd3 Qc2 2. Qd5 d2 which creates the following position:



Play continued 3. b5 Bc5 and Lenderman blunders with 4. Qc6?? (and the amazing 4. Be2 keeps equality!) and ... d1=Q 5. Bxd1 Qxf2+ 6. Kh3 Qf1+ 7. Qg2 Qxd1 8. Qa8+ Bf8 9. b6 Qh5+ and Kaufman manages to draw by perpetual check with 2 seconds on his clock!

Co Winners GM Sergey Kudrin and GM Alex Lenderman battling out their 9th round draw:


GM Alexander Shabalov





2009 US Champion, San Sebastion 2009 Winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura at the beginning of his 25 person simul (which he won 25-0).






Local Hero Fide Master Jim Dean vs Official winner GM Dimitry Gurevich:






A trendmendous event for the young Eric Rosen who finished on 6.5/9 by defeating GM John Fedorwicz in the final round (and drawing Co-winner GM Jesse Kraii in rd3!) to become Illinois' newest National Master. Congratulations to Eric Rosen! Here is a photo of Eric and two of his games:

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Fedorowicz, John P"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h3
Nbd7 9. f4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Nf3

Pictured left to right are IM Emory Tate, GM Mesgen Amanov, NM! Eric Rosen making his 11th move.



... Qd6 12. f5 Qg3+ 13. Kd2 Ne4+ 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Qf2+ 16. Kc3 Bb4+ {resigns in light of} 17. Kxb4 Qxb2+ 18. Qb3 (18. Kc5 Qa3#) (18.
Ka5 Qc3#) 18... c5+ 19. Kxc5 Bxb3 0-1

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kraai, Jesse"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2584"]
[BlackELO "2184"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nc3 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Bd6 13. e3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Rg1 Ne4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 Be7 19. Rag1 Bxg5 20. Rxg5 g6 21. Rc1 c6 22. a5 Qe7 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Rgxc5 Rfd8 25. Kg2 Rd5 26. b4 Rad8 27. h4 h5 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Ke4 Kf6 30. Kd3 Ke7 31. Kc4 Ke8 32. Rg1 Ke7 33. Rb1 Ke8 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. e4 Rb5 36. Rg1 Kd7 37. Rg5 Kd6 38. f3 b6 39. axb6 Rxb6 40. Ra5 Kd7 41. f5 exf5 42. exf5 Rb5 43. fxg6 fxg6 44. Rxa6 Rf5 45. Ra7 Kd6 46. Rg7 Rf6 47. Rg8 Kc7 48. Kc5 Rf5 49. Kc4 Rf6 50. b5 cxb5 51. Kxb5 Rxf3 52. Rxg6 Rf4 53. Kc5 Rxh4 54. Rg7 Kd8 55. Rh7 Rg4 56. Rxh5 Rg6 57. Rh8 Kc7 58. Rh7 Kd8 59. Ra7 Rh6 60. Rb7 Rg6 61. Rh7 Rf6 62. d5 Rg6 63. Rh5 Rf6 64. d6 Rf1 65. Kc6 Rc1 66. Rc5 Rxc5 67. Kxc5 Kd7 68. Kd5 Kd8 69. Kc6 Kc8 70. d7 Kd8 71. Kd6

1/2-1/2

A picture of the playing hall:

US Championship (with round2 photos) Trip

590 miles traveled on the great American interstate all with one thought in mind: viewing great chess games from the 2009 US Championship.

It turned out there was only one problem with that thought... "viewing." The very enthusiastic organizers of the St. Louis chess club must be applauded for their heart and effort... but condemned on their results. They created the most non friendly spectator environment I could ever have imagined. I could complain all day on the errors of these first time organizers... but I will chalk it all up to as a learning experience. I will say though that I finally understand the sentiment of just spectating from home. Nothing prevents the organizers from creating these non-spectator friendly environments. I will never again wonder about why chess is not a spectator friendly sport for I will always remember the setup of the 2009 US Championships. My friend and I decided to leave late on Saturday night after round 2 instead of staying for round 3 as originally planned as a result of the poor spectating conditions.


Even though the club staff did their best to prevent photos by taking away your camera and cellphone at the door... and constantly wanding you and patting you down like an airport security checkin point. I did manage to steal some illegal photos!

I hope that at least some people will enjoy my photos as I went to great lengths to dupe the stupid security guards. I would have videos as well but it seemed too risky.




A young future GM plays skittles prior to round2's start outside the club with a prestigious on looker: IM Michael Brooks!


Wall of photos of the 24 participants taken by Betsy Dynako.


GM Alexander Onischuk in deep thought against NM Tyler Hughes.



GM Melikset Khachiyan ponders his position in the winawer french against defending 2008 US Champion GM Yury Shulman of Chicago, IL!


Local NM Charles Lawton in deep thought against IM Enrico Sevillano.


The most interesting game of the round to participants... GM Joshua Friedel vs GM Gregory Kaidanov with GM Robert Hess, GM Alexander Onischuk and GM Alexander Shabalov spectating.



My favorite photo: IM Anna Zatonskih ponders her position in a very cat like posture... as the picture of IM Michael Brooks from the wall of photos stares on with her.

I have learned my lesson. No need to spectate live unless its your home town or a side event for you to play in.... because the last thing organizers think about is spectators.