US Chess Championships 2011
The 2011 US Chess Championships are set to start tomorrow at the St.Louis Chess Club & Scholastic Center.
The first round gets underway at 2pm local time (7pm UTC) on 15 April, and the final day's play is on 27 April (or 28 April if a playoff is necessary).
The field of 16 competitors are divided into two groups of 8 who will play separate single round-robin contests with the top two in each group going forward to play semi-final matches, and then the last two standing meet in the final.
The total prize fund is $166,000 with the winner taking home $40,000.
The reigning champion, Gata Kamsky is back to defend his title and is top seeded. He will have plenty of competition again this year, although Hikaru Nakamura declined his invitation.
Kamsky celebrates his 2010 championship victory
There is also a separate 8 player single round robin Women's US Championship, with the top 2 finishers facing off in a final match for the title. 2010 champion Irina Krush has elected to defend her women's title rather than play in the main event.
The official website has more information, and will be providing live coverage with commentary from GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade.
| Group A | |||
| Title | Name | Elo | |
| 1 | GM | Kamsky, Gata | 2733 |
| 2 | GM | Shulman, Yuri | 2622 |
| 3 | GM | Akobian, Varuzhan | 2611 |
| 4 | GM | Ehlvest, Jaan | 2586 |
| 5 | GM | Stripunsky, Alexander | 2578 |
| 6 | GM | Ivanov, Alexander | 2540 |
| 7 | GM | Robson, Ray | 2522 |
| 8 | FM | Naroditsky, Daniel | 2438 |
| Group B | |||
| Title |
Name | Elo | |
| 1 | GM | Onischuk, Alexander | 2678 |
| 2 | GM | Seirawan, Yasser | 2636 |
| 3 | GM | Shabalov, Alexander | 2590 |
| 4 | GM | Christiansen, Larry | 2586 |
| 5 | GM | Kaidanov, Gregory | 2569 |
| 6 | GM | Hess, Robert | 2565 |
| 7 | IM | Shankland, Samuel | 2512 |
| 8 | GM | Finegold, Benjamin | 2500 |
| Women's Group | |||
| Title |
Name | Elo | |
| 1 | IM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2499 |
| 2 | IM | Krush, Irina | 2472 |
| 3 | IM | Goletiani, Rusudan | 2367 |
| 4 | WGM | Foisor, Sabina-Francesca | 2350 |
| 5 | WGM | Baginskaite, Camilla | 2342 |
| 6 | WFM | Abrahamyan, Tatev | 2326 |
| 7 | FM | Melekhina, Alisa | 2304 |
| 8 | CM | Zenyuk, Iryna | 2245 |
Picture from the CCSCSL website.
