Kings Dominate Queens In St.Louis Opener
The Kings took a substantial 7-3 lead against the Queens on the first day of the innovative challenge at the St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center.
Only Kateryna Lahno won her mini-match against young St.Louis NM Kevin Cao. Cao is taking the place of Anatoly Karpov, who had to withdraw from the event due political obligations (Karpov is reportedly hoping to be selected as a candidate for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party).
The format is a Scheveningen-paired tournament, where each of the five team members play each of the opposing team members twice: first in a Fischer Random (Chess960) game at 25 mins plus 10 second increment, then a regular rapid game at 25 mins plus 5 second increment.
The event celebrates the opening of the World Chess Hall of Fame in St.Louis, where a collection of artifacts from the rich history of chess are on permanent display, as well as interesting temporary exhibitions on all aspects of the game.
Excellent live video coverage and commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan and WGM Jennifer Shahade is available at the official website. Play starts each day at 15:00 local time (20:00 UTC).
The results on the first day:
| CHESS 960 | ||
| IM Anna Zatonskih | 0-1 | GM Ben Finegold |
| IM Marc Arnold | 1-0 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| GM Kateryna Lahno | 1-0 | Kevin Cao |
| IM Jacek Stopa | 1-0 | IM Irina Krush |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 1-0 | IM Martha Fierro |
| RAPIDPLAY | ||
| GM Ben Finegold | 1-0 | IM Anna Zatonskih |
| GM Alexandra Kosteniuk | 1-0 | IM Marc Arnold |
| Kevin Cao | 0-1 | GM Kateryna Lahno |
| IM Irina Krush | 0-1 | IM Jacek Stopa |
| IM Martha Fierro | 0-1 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
St.Louis area Boy Scouts play a game of human chess to launch the first ever Chess Merit Badge
NASA Astronaut Greg Chamitoff presented merit badges. Seirawan and Shahade commentated!
GM Hikaru Nakamura was the black king!
The World Chess Hall of Fame, is a cultural institution that showcases art, history, science and sports through the lens of chess, officially opened on Sept. 9 in St. Louis’s historic Central West End neighborhood - located across the street from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The Hall of Fame relocated from Miami and chose Saint Louis as its new home due to the city’s growing reputation as a center of chess.
