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Report from the 1998 Interplay Chess Championships

International Arbiter Carol Jarecki files this report at the end of the Prelimary phase of the 1998 Interplay US Championships. The Preliminaries were divided into two sections of 8 players each. Each section played a 7 round round robin. The top two finishers from each section advanced to the SemiFinals.

Preliminaries Report

Sunday, November 8th The day began early with Frenklakh's game against Sagalchik at 10 a.m. so Jennie could make a plane home in time for school. She still hadn't done her homework. Although she had brought all her books the pressure and excitement of the championship had totally immersed her in chess.

Three local TV stations sent camera crews for the women's final games, drawn by the phenomenal result of the youngest player, Irina Krush, who had already clinched first place the previous evening. She didn't disappoint, winning against Ivona Jezierska for a final point total of 8 1/2. This must be the best result ever in the history of the Women's Championship. Jen Shahade defeated Angie Belakovskaia to earn her WIM norm and third place. Both Krush and Shahade have their qualifications for the WIM title. Anna Kahn took second and will join Krush next September in Moldova to compete for the Women's World Championship in its first knock-out format with a $500,000 total prize fund.


Jezierska       0-1     Krush

Shahade         1-0     Belakovskaia

Frenklakh       1-0     Sagalchik

Epstein         1-0     Zitserman

Burtman         0-1     Kahn

Krush wins $5000, Kahn $4000, Shahade $3500, Burtman $3000, Epstein and Belakovskaia $2500 each, Frenklakh $2100, Sagalchik $1900, Jezierska $1800 and Zitserman $1700.

Meanwhile, although deFirmian and Gurevich could take it relatively easy, several others were scheduled for multiple tiebreak games that began at 2 o'clock and eventually lasted until 9:30 at night.

Group A had a three-way tie for third place, meaning a chance at the World Championship Knock-out when it finally happens. This became a match between Seirawan and Kudrin when Dzindzichashvili refused to play a series of G/25 (+10 seconds) tiebreakers, for what he felt was not worth the effort since the semi-final places had already been decided. Negotiations, which had started the night before, to shorten the time control or reduce the double round robin format to a single one, had continuously broken down because one or another of the three would not agree to one thing or another. The first two-game match resulted in two draws. Next came a two-game match at G/15 +10 seconds. No one was more surprised than Kudrin himself when he won both of them. His comment, "This is the best chess I've played in my entire life!"

Meanwhile Group B was contesting its own playoffs. First was a double round robin amongst the four players at G/15 +10 seconds. The players do not have to keep score during any of these games so volunteers did the job while others manned demo boards. The first three sets of matches resulted in six draws. The fourth saw another one between Benjamin and Shaked but Gulko broke the ice by defeating Fedorowicz. Next set had Benjamin doing the same to Gulko while Shaked and Fed drew again. Then came two more draws leaving Benjamin in first place with 3 1/2, Gulko and Shaked tied with 3 and Fedorowicz with 2 1/2. Joel immediately progressed to the semis and John earned the first alternate spot to the WCT. A double match at G/10 +10 began between Gulko and Shaked to choose the second semi place while both will be seeded to the WCT. Tal got black first and lost, turning the tables when he had white the next game. Then they tried G/5 +3 but the exact same thing happened. So it came down to the final tiebreak--the PCA method of 6 minutes for white and 5 for black with draw odds. Nerves of steel! Gulko won the toss to choose colors and picked white--and lost on time.

Nick deFirmian will play Tal Shaked and Dmitry Gurevich will play Joel Benjamin when the Semi-finals begin at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a much-needed rest day and closing luncheon reception for all, and departure day for most. President Don Schultz and Executive Director Mike Cavallo will award prize checks and the winner's trophy, a crystal clock, to Irina.

1st SemiFinals Report

The luncheon for the closing reception went well. Denver was covered in about 2 or 3 inches of snow overnight but daytime temperatures were above freezing so the roads cleared up in time for most of the players to get to the airport easily. The trees, still in yellow leaf, were beautiful with their white blankets and the air was fresh invigorating.

Yasser Seirawan had brought the team's Olympiad silver medal to show everyone. It was used as the "coin toss", red, white and blue ribbon and all, to determine the starting colors for the semi-finalists. Defending champion Joel Benjamin called heads to be white for the higher seeded players but, when it came up tails, he and Nick de Firmian had to be satisfied with black.

Tuesday the games, beginning at 3 p.m. will be

GM Dmitry Gurevich vs. GM Joel Benjamin
GM Tal Shaked vs. GM Nick de Firmian