Nakamura, Krush Add More National Titles | Update: VIDEO
[Update 4/13/15: a video with Hikaru Nakamura has been added to the report.]
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush both sealed victory today at the 2015 U.S. Championships.
For Nakamura, he won his fourth career title, while Krush won her fourth in a row and seventh overall.
Nakamura needed to win to prevent any chance of GMs Alex Onischuk or Ray Robson from forcing a tiebreak tomorrow. He got a position which had no risk, and his life was made even easier when Onischuk walked into a fork.
After capturing 31. Nxe2, the final move of the game, Onischuk simply laughed, apparently not realizing that it was en prise.
Analysis by GM Ben Finegold:
"If you can keep the pawn on b3, White can never do anything," Nakamura said during some post-game analysis. He said his plan was to get the pawn to b4, then play a combination of Nc6 and Ra5 to break the blockade. He ended up not needing any of that as Onischuk's pieces became untenable in White's end of the board.
As it turned out, Nakamura's win (for 8.0/11) was needed since Robson beat GM Timur Gareev today to take clear second with 7.5/11.
Chess.com recorded an exclusive video interview with Nakamura after the game, in which he discussed the tournament, the FIDE Grand Prix series, and the possibility of playing for a world championship in the U.S.
Onischuk was in great spirits despite the loss. "I equalized easily," he said, explaining that Black has no problems after castling in this line of the Scotch Gambit. "That's the thing -- when I equalize I start playing badly."
"I lost to two guys that are better than me," he said. Onischuk's other loss came to GM Wesley So earlier in the tournament.
So won again today, going two for two after his forfeit loss in round 9 (better than even GM Bobby Fischer, who "only" went 1.5/2 after forfeiting Game 2 in the 1972 World Championship). So (6.5/11) thus leapfrogs Onischuk (6.0/11) for clear third place. So only played one draw over the fortnight.
Robson's second-place finish is easily the best of his career in St. Louis, and maybe anywhere. His performance rating ended north of 2750 over the 11 rounds. Today, he may have been aided by a late-arriving Gareev, whose hair was still wet when he got to the board.
"I think Timur's absolutely lost it," GM Yasser Seirawan said of some of his moves. "He's having a terrible day. The computer is puking!" (Before the first dozen moves were played, the numbers came in at -2.0.)
GM Gata Kamsky's title run at the U.S. Championships "officially" ended today at two in a row. He drew GM Daniel Naroditsky today.
Many pundits wondered how So would handle the psychology of forfeiting a game. Yesterday's convincing win over Kamsky was coupled with another smooth victory today against GM Kayden Troff, which ended one move before a pretty knight mate.
Meanwhile the titles keep tallying up for Krush. Her task was much easier today -- she only needed a draw to secure victory.
She earned it without complications. WGM Katerina Nemcova was delighted with a draw nonetheless, explaining that her second place tie was good enough for an invite for the Women's World Championship (IM Nazi Paikidze also earns a spot as the other second place finisher).
Krush has been in this situation before. "c4 is an abstract move," she said of her opening choice. "Absolutely anything can happen with this move. I'm showing that I'm ready for a fight."
"My collection's growing," Krush said. "It's a nice number...I'd like to break the record (9) one day. If I get to 10, that'll be pretty good."
As has become her custom, Krush gave a lot of credit to her coach, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili. She said he helped her get through tough results, most especially failing to win in round six versus WGM Anna Sharevich. "He understood what a psychological blow it was. He said, 'Now we'll see what you're made of.'"
Finally, we close with GM Sam Sevian versus GM Conrad Holt, the longest, and perhaps craziest game of the entire tournament. The game ended well after the commentary concluded, which is a shame considering we had king walks, four queens, and, sadly, a player who flagged on the 100th move despite being ahead by two pawns.
2015 U.S. Championship | Final Standings
| Rank | Name | Score | Rating | TPR |
| 1 | GM Nakamura, Hikaru | 8 | 2798 | 2803 |
| 2 | GM Robson, Ray | 7.5 | 2656 | 2774 |
| 3 | GM So, Wesley | 6.5 | 2788 | 2694 |
| 4 | GM Onischuk, Alexander | 6 | 2665 | 2676 |
| 5 | GM Kamsky, Gata | 5.5 | 2683 | 2638 |
| 6 | GM Akobian, Varuzhan | 5.5 | 2622 | 2644 |
| 7 | GM Sevian, Samuel | 5.5 | 2531 | 2652 |
| 8 | GM Shankland, Samuel L | 5 | 2661 | 2604 |
| 9 | GM Troff, Kayden W | 5 | 2532 | 2616 |
| 10 | GM Holt, Conrad | 4.5 | 2530 | 2587 |
| 11 | GM Gareev, Timur | 4 | 2604 | 2543 |
| 12 | GM Naroditsky, Daniel | 3 | 2633 | 2468 |
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2015 U.S. Women's Championship | Final Standings
| Rank | Name | Score | Rating | TPR |
| 1 | GM Krush, Irina | 8.5 | 2477 | 2444 |
| 2 | IM Paikidze, Nazi | 7.5 | 2333 | 2366 |
| 3 | WGM Nemcova, Katerina | 7.5 | 2279 | 2368 |
| 4 | WIM Ni, Viktorija | 7 | 2188 | 2345 |
| 5 | WGM Sharevich, Anna | 6.5 | 2267 | 2301 |
| 6 | IM Goletiani, Rusudan | 6 | 2311 | 2269 |
| 7 | WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev | 5.5 | 2322 | 2233 |
| 8 | WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca | 5.5 | 2235 | 2239 |
| 9 | WCM Virkud, Apurva | 3.5 | 2132 | 2115 |
| 10 | WIM Wang, Annie | 3.5 | 1901 | 2114 |
| 11 | FM Melekhina, Alisa | 2.5 | 2235 | 2028 |
| 12 | WFM Yu, Jennifer R | 2.5 | 2180 | 2033 |
Previous reports:
- Preview: 2015 U.S. Championship Youngest, Strongest In History
- Opening Ceremony: U.S. Championship Opens, Shabalov Inducted
- Round 1: Leaders Challenged In U.S. Championships Openers
- Round 2: Top Seeds Nakamura, So, Krush Cruise In Round 2
- Round 3: Bad Day For Best Players In St. Louis
- Round 4: Nakamura Holds Off So, Nemcova Takes Clear Lead
- Round 5: Nakamura, Nemcova Stay On Top; Krush, So Half-Step Behind
- Round 6: Nakamura Draws; Robson In 2nd By Beating So
- Round 7: Robson Reduced To 1 Second, Wins To Tie Nakamura
- Round 8: Krush Gets Closer, Nakamura Wins With 'Moronic' Play
- BREAKING: Wesley So Forfeited In Round 9 U.S. Championship
- Round 9: Krush Catches Nemcova, Robson-Nakamura Tomorrow
- Round 10: Top Seeds Krush, Nakmaura LEad Going Into Final Day
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
