Half-time Report from GM Michael Rohde
After 4 rounds in the U.S. Championhip, we have passed the midpoint in the Preliminaries. Each 8-player prelim section is a 7 Round Robin (all play all) event, and this year there is a tremendous amount at stake. The top two players in each 8-player section advance to the U.S. Championship Semi-Finals starting November 10; the semis are 4-game matches, the winners of which will continue on to the Finals starting November 15.
In addition, the third-place finisher in each 8-player section will join the top two in each prelim section in qualifying to the 100-player FIDE World Championship Tournament, to be held in Las Vegas next spring. The World Championship Tournament is a match / knockout event where losers of the first round knockout matches will still take home $6,000; players who survive even a few rounds in the World Championship Tournament stand to make a lot more.
Thus, finishing at least third in the 8-player preliminaries is the goal on every player's mind. A tie for 2nd place (entry into the Semi-Finals) or 3rd place (qualification to the World Championship Tournament) will necessitate a playoff.
In Group A, Nick deFirmian has a commanding lead with 3 1/2 points (out of 4), and 5 players are tied for 2nd place with 2 points - Roman Dzindzihashvili, Dmitry Gurevich, Igor Ivanov, Sergey Kudrin and Yasser Seirawan. deFirmian established his lead with victories over Shabalov, Gurevich and Kudrin, while drawing with Ivanov. Critical round 5 pairings in this group are Dzindzihashvili - Seirawan and Ivanov - Kudrin.
Group B features a much tighter race, as 3 players lead with "plus one" at 2 1/2 points (out of 4) - John Fedorowicz, Boris Gulko and Alexander Yermolinsky. Each of these players achieved this position by winning one game and drawing 3; Fedorowicz scored against Kaidanov, while Gulko and Yermolinsky both defeated Browne. 3 players are currently tied for 4th place one-half point back with an even score of 2-2: Joel Benjamin, Tal Shaked and Leonid Sokolin. Big games for Round 5 include Yermolinsky - Benjamin and Shaked - Fedorowicz.
There should be real fireworks in the next couple of rounds as some players try to break from the pack. Stay with us!
