This week's updates

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Kamsky wins, Shaked loses, while Gulko and Yermolinsky draw with White in their first games in Round 2.

Benjamin, Gurevich, de Firmian, Kudrin, and A. Ivanov are eliminated.

Yesterday was the first game of the two-game mini-matches for Round 2.

A score of 1.5 (one win and one draw) will advance to Round 3. If the two players are tied at the end of the two games, then there will be a play-off sequence on the third day of the round. (For information on play-off rules, see the official FIDE site.

Nine Americans are competing in the event. Eight played in Round 1, of which three advanced into Round 2, and one has an automatic entry into Round 2. A total of 72 players were entered in Round 1; 70 of them showed up to play.

GM Gata Kamsky (USA, 2720), the highest rated American player, won his first game after a two year layoff, grinding down Russian GM Alexander Khalifman on the White side of a Sicilian Defense.

Kamsky, a former World Championship Challenger, has been inactive for about two years while attending medical school.

GM Boris Gulko (USA, 2618), the #1 rated player on the US Chess Federation's Top 50 Lists of current active players, drew with GM Alexei Federov of Belarus with White to start off Round 2.

GM Yermolinsky (USA, 2588) also drew (he also had White) with Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky.

Junior Champion Tal Shaked (USA, 2471) lost his first game (with Black) to Bulgarian GM Kirl Georgiev, and needs to win today in order to force a playoff tomorrow. If he loses or draws, he is eliminated.

GM Dmitry Gurevich (USA 2537) drew both his Round 1 games with Russian GM Sergei Tiviakov but lost the rapid play playoff in six games Monday. He is thus eliminated.

GM Joel Benjamin (USA, 2579), the 1997 US Champion, drew with GM Nielsen (DEN, 2560) in both Round 1 games and lost a five game rapid play tiebreak on Monday. He is eliminated.

Current US Champion Nick de Firmian (USA, 2598) drew with GM Kobalija (RUS, 2573) on Saturday, but then lost on Sunday and was eliminated. GM Alexander Ivanov (USA, 2515) lost to GM Milos (BRA, 2586) and could only manage a draw on Sunday, which knocked him out of the event. GM Sergei Kudrin (USA, 2525) lost his first game to GM Sokolov (BIH, 2656) and drew the second, which also eliminated him from the event in this knock-out format.

Many of the American's games 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. Note, however, that there were problems with the FIDE feeds for this day and not all games are current.See the FIDE Official site for complete results.

GM Gata Kamsky, 2720, won the first game in Round 2.

GM Boris Gulko, 2618, drew the first game in Round 2.

GM Alex Yermolinsky, 2588, drew the first game in Round 2.

1997 FIDE World Junior Champion, GM Tal Shaked, 2471, lost the first game of Round 2.

GM Joel Benjamin, 2579, eliminated in Round 1 after a five game playoff.

GM Dmitri Gurevich, 2537, eliminated in Round 1 after a six game playoff.

Current US Champion, GM Nick de Firmian, 2598, eliminated in Round 1.

GM Sergei Kudrin, 2525, eliminated in Round 1.

GM Alexander Ivanov, 2515, eliminated in Round 1.

Pairings, Schedule, and Other Information

Official Press Release on the Event

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).