Live Blogging Round 4 - US Chess Championship 2009 - Positional Updates and Early Results

Final Results from Round 4 from the CCSCSTL www.uschesschamps.com

IM Brooks is still playing strong in a field of heavy weights. He pulled off another draw today playing GM Joel Benjamin. I got really lucky and had the opportunity to talk with Benjamin after the game and he expressed his delight at possibility that Saint Louis will be the new home for the US Chess Champsionship.

Joel Benjamin was a player in the development of IBM's Deep Blue defeating Kasparov 12/13 years ago. Joel had no problem expressing his dislike for Kasparov who's criticism of the programmers and claims of cheating soured the developers team. Joel has appeared in more US Chess Championships than all but one player in the tournaments history, but holds the record for the most consecutive appearances is in the tournament. His bio is here http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009-Player-Bios

Below is the Brooks/Benjamin game.

New player Doug Ekert has lost his first US Chess Championship game to GM Gulko. Doug is in the commentary room giving his thoughts on the game. First lost and Doug has entered a whole new world of chess after a long time off from tournament play. I may get a chance to interview him here in a second. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: With only one female player remaining in the field Irina Krush has played strong but needs a win to progress toward GM. Today she's facing GM Kachiyan. Current Position is posted below with IM Krush playing black.

UPDATE: Here's the current Kamsky position.

My chess.com live blog just got a shout out on twitter! Wheeeee! Media Success! check out the Chess Club twitter site @CCSCSTL on twitter.com.

They're talking quite a bit right now about the draw rule. GM Sutovsky believes that it actually disintegrates the quality of the competition because players fatigue in longer tournaments can lead to bad chess and generally boring positions if they're unable to occaisionally take a half day with a quick draw.

Does chess belong on televsion? Sutovsky believs that if that became the focus of chess promotions, the entire focus and set up of tournament chess must change.

Interesting side note, the players have agreed to a no quick draw rule, meaning no player or players can agree/offer a draw before the 30th move. This keeps the chess positions fairly aggressive and has shown to draw out the games more.

I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome of IM Brooks game against GM Joel Benjamin the game is still in the opening below is the current position. 3 time US Chess Champion GM Benjamin has the black peices.

UPDATE: Here's the current Shulman vs. Nakamura position, with Shulman trading rooks on the 8th rank.

UPDATE: The 2009 US Chess Championship site, www.uschesschamps.com clocked over 10,000 uniques visitors yesterday, with an international online audience coming together from 149 different countries.

UPDATE: Current Kamsky vs Friedel

UPDATE: GM Kaidanov has been awarded a full point after the temporary draw was recorded vs. Zakonskih.

LIVE! Games have begun, commentators are discussing Zatonskih's withdrawl, she's fealing much better, and might be back to visit the tournament and "is excited to return in October for the Women's US Chess Championship..."

Watch and listen live at the Saint Louis Club site, http://saintlouischessclub.org/

UDATE: Players are starting to arrive for the 2pm kick off of round 4.  Exciting games to come from the top boards of the tournament as Kamsky squares off with white against Friedel, both with 2.5 points. And Yuri Shulman faces has white vs. Hikaru Nakamura who also have 2.5 points.

Awesome Video!

UPDATE: More on Doug Kekert. Doug has been here hanging out at the club for the last 4 days, playing pick up blitz with club members and generally just hanging out being a nice guy. He currently lives in Quincy, Illinois (where I went to college in case anyone cared :) ) And hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to him before the rounds start today. He'll be playing GM Boris Gluko in the 4th round today.

Anna Zatonskih fell ill on Sunday morning and requesting a personal day due to her illness with the game planned to be rescheduled. Unfortunately the illness was a little bit more than an off day for Anna and she is flying back to Germany to receive medical treatment. She has been replaced by stand in FM Doug Ekert of Missouri. 

Much more exciting Chess to come today, i'm looking forward to it, but first I'm off to find a cup of coffee! Stay Tuned for more updates. 

Round 4 Pairings.

Here's some photos from yesterday in the media room. 

Top: Shabalov talks to Chess FM's Mcauly / Middle: Media Room featuring WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Emil Sutovsky, GM Shabalov / Bottom IM Shankland and GM Kachiyana