Live Blogging US Championship Round 2! Game Updates, Results!
UPDATE The first score is in and young Tyler Hughes has fallen to GM Onischuk. Hopefully the players will come down to the media room and give their own analysis as they did yesterday.
| Board | White | Rating | Result | Black | Rating |
| 1. | GM Gata Kamsky (1) | 2798 | 1-0 | GM Varuzhan Akobian (1) | 2664 |
| 2. | GM Jaan Ehlvest (1) | 2649 | ½-½ | GM Hikaru Nakamura (1) | 2757 |
| 3. | GM Melikset Khachiyan (1) | 2632 | - | GM Yury Shulman (1) | 2697 |
| 4. | IM Robert Hess (1) | 2545 | - | GM Julio Becerra (1) | 2672 |
| 5. | Tyler Hughes (1) | 2293 | 0-1 | GM Alexander Onischuk (½) | 2736 |
| 6. | GM Joshua Friedel (½) | 2568 | - | GM Gregory Kaidanov (½) | 2662 |
| 7. | GM Joel Benjamin (½) | 2650 | - | IM Irina Krush (½) | 2496 |
| 8. | GM Larry Christiansen (0) | 2681 | - | IM Samuel Shankland (½) | 2464 |
| 9. | IM Ray Robson (0) | 2542 | - | GM Boris Gulko (0) | 2631 |
| 10. | IM Anna Zatonskih (0) | 2503 | - | GM Ildar Ibragimov (0) | 2628 |
| 11. | GM Alexander Shabalov (0) | 2620 | - | IM Michael Brooks (0) | 2419 |
| 12. | IM Enrico Sevillano (0) | 2549 | - | Charles Lawton (0) | 2350 |
Moving into the Middle Game! Many of the games are moving forward through the tactical middle game. The commentators have taken few breaks as they continue to push forward with their analysis of the game. GM Emil Surtovsky has turned his attention to IM Krush vs GM Benjamin "The position is very very interesting..." Krush has her GM title in her sights and Surtovsky says she "is clearly capable of reaching the title."
So things are heating up. I'm really enjoying local St. Louisan Charles Lawton's game right now, which I will post shortly.
UPDATE: WGM Shahade and GM Surtovsky are analyzing Kamksy's game vs. GM Akobian and "it's looking very very bad for black."
UPDATE Latest Nakamura Position
There's a lot of conversation about the balance of the board in this position, commentator GM Sutovsky believes there's hope for black, while most of the crowd seems to think otherwise. There's a lot of talk whether the Fischer Memorial Prize is a factor in the move...(see below)
UPDATE: Nakamura just sacked his queen and no one can see why...
GM Sutovsky has blundered his way into a conversation about women chess players and how they "handle losing" compared to men. WGM co-commentator Jennifer Shahade has taken him to task however calling him on some fairly ridiculous lines of argument. If you're not listening it's live at the CCSCSTL site. http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009-Live
UPDATE: There is a lot of French Defense showing up today in the second round plus a couple of Ruy Lopez Exchange games.
UPDATE: DGT Board's are OUT! After technical difficulties the games are being broadcasted live now with MonRoi tech instead.
The commentators WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Emil Sutovsky are gathering here in the media center as the broadcast will begin shortly for round two. The new MonRoi web interface is much sleeker and you can view and listen at http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009-Live
You can follow live updates at the CCSCSTL via http://twitter.com/CCSCSL
I'm here again Live at the US Chess Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. If you can make it come on down! The club is beautiful and the players are beginning to gather here again for round 2. After some exciting chess yesterday, some upsets and some predictable outcomes today should be equally exciting.
If you didn't know about the Fischer Memorial Prize, let me tell you! $64,000 will be awarded as a bonus to anyone who can recreate Fischer's lossless performance in the '64 tournament. All the first round winners including Kamsky, and Nakamura will hopefully continue playing "fighting chess."
Watch it live at
http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009-Live
