This week's updates

Yesterday was the second 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 today, 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.

Gata Kamsky (2720) lost Game 2 of his match with Russian GM Alexander Khalifman and lodged a protest about players disturbing him during play. He now goes to the quick-play tiebreak mini-matches today since his second round mini-match was drawn after he won the first game and lost the second.

Alex Yermolinsky (2588) drew both Round 2 games and also plays a quick-play mini-match today to determine who will advance. His opponent is Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky.

Boris Gulko was eliminated in Round 2 by Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov.

Tal Shaked was eliminated in Round 2 by Rumanian GM Kirl Georgiev.

GM Alexei Shirov of Spain, the world's Number 2 or 3 player, lost the first game of his Round 2 match to Bosnian GM Ivan Sokolov with the White pieces, but came back in the second game to win with Black. They will decide the match in the quick-play playoff today.

The other world Number 2 or 3, Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik, advanced routinely, drawing with Black and winning with White against Russian GM Sergei Tiviakov.

Hungary's GM Judit Polgar, by far the strongest women player in the world and the only women left in this event, advanced to Round 3 against Denmark GM Peter Nielsen.

A couple upsets in the second round included Armenian GM Karen Asrian (#52) taking out English GM Matthew Sadler (#20) and Brazil GM Gilberto Milos (#50) shutting out Russian GM Valery Salov (#18) 2-0.

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 won the first and lost the second games against Russian GM Alexander Khalifman in Round 2 and will face off against him in the quick-play playoffs today.

GM Alex Yermolinsky drew both games with Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky and will face off against him in the quick-play playoffs today.

GM Boris Gulko was eliminated in Round 2 by Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov.

1997 FIDE World Junior Champion GM Tal Shaked was eliminated in Round 2 by Rumanian GM Kirl Georgiev.

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.

Schedule and Player Information

Round by Round Results Summaries

Quarter Finals (8 Players Remain)

Semi Finals (4 Players Remain)

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).