 | Comments From
GM Michael Rohde
GM Rohde will be providing the live commentary for our 1997 Interplay US Championship Feature Section: Autoplay Coverage during the SemiFinals and the Finals.
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Kaidanov/Benjamin
Kaidanov is the most professional player in America, in both attitude and preparation for tournaments. Benjamin has that Deep Blue connection: he's spent almost a year looking at the game in a whole different way than most top grandmasters. I think it will be a match with a number of opening surprises. |
Christiansen/Seirawan
Seirawan is hot, coming off a streak of 3 wins in the Preliminaries. Christiansen got to coast in, since he got his wins early. Both are great players, both going for wins. Christiansen's relative restedness may be a factor.
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NM Matt Guthrie
Matt is on the staff at the site, and has provided us with a number of feature articles, as well as distributing the game scores for all rounds. | |
I've looked at some of the other stuff about the championship that you've
been putting out and I think it's really high quality. Kudos. I would,
however, quibble with your description of Seirawan as a tactical player. I
think that this is true only in a very profound sense, in that he uses his
great tactical skills to keep positions under control and accomplish small
positional ends. In this way he is very Karpovian, and indeed he readily
identifies Karpov as a role model. |
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IM Jack Peters, chess columnist, Los Angeles Times | |
I think Yasser will win. He was rusty at the start of the first stage,
but he seems battle-hardened now. When he plays well, he is the best
player in the country, with the possible exception of Gata Kamsky. |
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GM Yasser Seirawan (after his first round victory over Christiansen in the SemiFinals) | |
Larry and I play two types of games." said Yasser. "Quiet, positional
ones that I win or draw, and wild ones that he wins. I have never beaten
Larry in a tactical game. |
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GM Joel Benjamin (after his second round loss to Christiansen in the Finals) |
I guess I found out I'm not 'invincible' today. [After going 11 games in the event without a loss.] | |
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IM Jeremy Silman, chess columnist, Chess Life Magazine | Benjamin appears to be in excellent form and I hear that the Deeper
Blue chip has been successfully implanted into Joel's skull. Edge to Benji. |
Seirawan is the best player in the country when he is in good form.
He's a magnificent positional player and a brilliant technician. Christiansen is a tactical genius. This matchup is a real battle of
opposing styles: edge to Seirawan.
Place your money on the Yaz to win it all. He will grab the
millions and secure the worship of the screaming female fans. |
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[Editor's Note: Seirawan went out in style in the SemiFinals, where he and Christiansen ended the regulation match tied 2.0 - 2.0. There followed a series of two game speed chess matches, none ending in draws, that took 10 games before Christiansen finished as the victor. So while Seirawan didn't make it to the finals, the prediction of battle and opposing styles definitely held true. And that Deeper Blue chip does seem to be working... --Ed. ] |
Looking for even more Buzz on the 1997 Interplay US Chess Championships? Wonder why International Arbiter Carol Jarecki was outside in the 103 degree heat spray-painting chess sets before round 1? Or which game IM Jeremy Silman called "beautiful and theoretically important"? Check the List of Features in our section on the Championship.
Chess Buzz for September 5, 1997
