This week's updates

This day saw the third games of the Semi Finals. Only 2 players will advance to the Finals out of the original 100. We will have four game mini-matches in this round. A score of 2.5 advances to the Finals in Round 7. If the two players are tied at the end of the four regulation games, then a play-off sequence takes place the fifth day of the round. (For information on play-off rules, see the official FIDE site.)

American Participants

Nine Americans competed in the event. Eight played in Round 1, of whom three advanced into Round 2, and one had an automatic entry into Round 2. All four Americans were eliminated in the second round.

USCF coverage, including GM Rohde's commentary, will continue throughout the event.

Round 6 Pairings

• Adams (ENG, 2708) - Akopian (ARM, 2646)
• Khalifman (RUS, 2628) - Nisipeanu (ROM, 2584)

Results of Round 6, Game 3

Khalifman defeated Nisipeanu in their third game, resulting in a match score of 2 - 1. Nisipeanu will have the White pieces in Round 4, and must win to stay in the contest. After a long-fought game, Akopian defeated Adams with some excellent end-game play, and will advance to the Finals. The match score for Akopian - Adams was 2.5 - 0.5. No fourth game will be played in the Akopian - Adams SemiFinal.

Advancing to the Finals

• Akopian

Eliminated in the SemiFinals

• Adams

Matches Still Underway

• Khalifman - Nisipeanu, current match score: Khalifman 2, Nisipeanu 1.

Player Background

Many Western chess fans have heard little of Akopian and Nisipeanu prior to this event. Akopian has been a junior World Champion three times, under 16, under 18, and under 20. He is now 27 and is rated 2646. Armenia is a country with a long chess tradition, and produced World Champion Petrosian. (GM Garry Kasparov is also half-Armenian.) Akopian has been a Grandmaster for about 8 years, and was seeded #31 into this event.

GM Nisipeanu turned 23 years old on August 1st. His current rating prior to this event was 2584. (He has been rated as high as 2600). He was the Romanian champion in 1996, and has had good results in international tournaments, tieing for 3rd or 4th in some important events, including the 36th Gronigen where he achieved the same score as Tiviakov and Miles, with a performance rating of 2681. He became a Grandmaster just two years ago. He was seeded #46 of the 100 players in the event.

GM Khalifman of Russia, 2628 is better known, having been a Grandmaster for about 10 years. He was already a top 10 player in 1990 when he won the strong New York Open. He has been a top 50 world player throughout the 90s. He is 33 years old and is an active player on the international circuit. He was the #36 seed for this event.

GM Mickey Adams of England was a chess prodigy in the West, achieving his Grandmaster title at the age of 17 and winning the British Championship in the same year. He is now 27. He has competed for England in many international events. In 1990 he scored equal first with Khalifman and Piket at the Groningen tournament. In the 1997 FIDE World Championship Tournament, he reached the Semi Finals, where he was eliminated by Viswanathan Anand of India. He has been a top 10 world player for several years, and was the #5 seed in this event.

Viewing the Commentary

Both games each day are available in auto-play format (one diagram per move) with commentary from GM Rohde in our Games Archives. No Java is required to view these games. See the FIDE Official site for additional details.

Round by Round Results Summaries

Quarter Finals (8 Players Remain)

Semi Finals (4 Players Remain)

Press Releases

Schedule and Player Information

The US Chess Federation is the official sanctioning body for tournament chess in the United States, and for US participation in international chess events. It has over 80,000 members. In addition to rating tournaments, the USCF supports and promotes chess activities in scholastics and correspondence chess. The USCF publishes two national magazines, CHESS LIFE and SCHOOLMATES (for children).