This week's updates

Yesterday the first game of Round 3 was played. A score of 1.5 (one win and one draw) advances to Round 4. If the two players are tied at the end of the two games, then a play-off sequence takes place the third day of the round. (For information on play-off rules, see the official FIDE site.) Nine Americans competed in the event. Eight played in Round 1, of which three advanced into Round 2, and one had an automatic entry into Round 2. All four Americans were eliminated in the second round. A total of 72 players were entered in Round 1; 70 of them showed up to play.

The two remaining Americans, Gata Kamsky and Alex Yermolinsky, both bowed out quietly in the second round rapid-play playoffs. The fourth seed, Kamsky (2720) lost the first Game/25 contest and drew the second to go down 21/2-11/2 to Russian GM Alexander Khalifman (the 36th seed, [2628]), while the Yermonator (45th seed Alex Yermolinsky [2588]) lost both Game/25 playoffs to 13th seeded Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky (2660) to go down 3-1. Boris Gulko was eliminated in Round 2 by Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov. Tal Shaked was eliminated in Round 2 by Rumanian GM Kirl Georgiev.

Three players won their first games with Black: Nigel Short defeated Alexander Beliavsky, Vadim Zvjaginsev took out Michal Krasenkow, and Alexei Fedorov beat Jan Timman. Winning with White in Game 1 were Vassily Ivanchuk against Sergei Shipov, Alexei Shirov over Gilberto Milos, Kiril Georgiev in a big upset over Peter Svidler, and Veselin Topalov downing Lev Psakhis. The other games were drawn.

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 lost in the Game/25 playoffs of the second round to Russian GM Alexander Khalifman and so is eliminated.

GM Alex Yermolinsky was eliminated in the second round Game/25 playoffs by Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky.

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).