US Championships Round 3

The very slim chance of any of the competitors at the 2009 US Championships winning the $64,000 Fischer bonus for winning all nine of their games has already disappeared after the conclusion of round three.

Of the previous joint leaders on 2/2, Kamsky and Shulman drew one another, while Hess lost to Nakamura.  At the other end of the leaderboard, Gulko's dreadful start continued as he lost to Krush to stay on nil points.

However, the biggest news of the day came away from the board when Anna Zatonskih (pictured) failed to appear due to illness. Her scheduled opponent, Gregory Kaidanov generously chose not to claim a forfeit win in the hope that their game could be re-arranged for the planned rest day on Friday.  However, Zatonskih has since sadly withdrawn (reports say she needs an operation due to gallstones) from the event and is to be replaced by FM Doug Eckert.

Doug was a promising junior back in the 1980's but isn't a professional player and will need to be at his best to compete in this high-powered company.  Good luck to Doug and best wishes to Anna for a swift and full recovery.

The full results in round three:

The standings after three rounds: