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U.S. Championship Begins Print E-mail
By Jennifer Shahade   
May 15, 2007
Image
Irina Krush in Oklahoma

by Jennifer Shahade

Besides four draws (Krush-Kaidanov, Shulman-Bradford,Gulko-Mulyar, Bonin-Ivanov), the first round of the 2007 Frank Berry U.S. Championship (May 15-23) saw expected results.

Board 1 was a grudge match between recent Samford awardee IM Josh Friedel and top seed Hikaru Nakamura. Josh upset Hikaru in round 1 last year but this year Hikaru got his revenge:





706

On board three, Irina Krush drew an interesting game with Gregory Kaidanov.

705

Kudrin defeated crowd favorite Ray Robson with a pretty combination featured above and displayed in full below: (Scroll all the way down for the solution.)


White to Move

Ehvlest won nicely against Bay Area IM David Pruess's Benoni:

704

U.S. Championship Standings after Round 1


Name Rtng St Rd 1 Tot
1 GM HIKARU NAKAMURA 2738 NY W23 1
2 GM ALEXANDER ONISCHUK 2712 MD W24 1
3 GM JAAN EHLVEST 2683 NY W25 1
4 GM ILDAR IBRAGIMOV 2680 CT W26 1
5 GM ALEXANDER SHABALOV 2671 PA W27 1
6 GM ALEXANDER STRIPUNSKY 2664 NY W28 1
7 GM VARUZHAN AKOBIAN 2651 CA W29 1
8 GM SERGEY KUDRIN 2612 CT W30 1
9 GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN 2611 MA W31 1
10 GM JULIO BECERRA 2608 FL W32 1
11 GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY 2588 CA W33 1
12 GM DMITRY GUREVICH 2583 IL W34 1
13 IM ENRICO M SEVILLANO 2566 CA W35 1
14 GM MELIKSET KHACHIYAN 2550 CA W36 1
15 GM GREGORY KAIDANOV 2686 KY D19 0.5
16 GM YURY SHULMAN 2667 IL D20 0.5
17 GM BORIS GULKO 2660 NJ D21 0.5
18 GM ALEXANDER IVANOV 2623 MA D22 0.5
19 IM IRINA KRUSH 2488 NY D15 0.5
20 FM JOSEPH MARK BRADFORD 2457 TX D16 0.5
21 IM MICHAEL MULYAR 2420 CO D17 0.5
22 IM JAY BONIN 2383 NY D18 0.5
23 IM JOSHUA E FRIEDEL 2542 NH L1 0
24 GM WALTER S BROWNE 2520 CA L2 0
25 IM DAVID PRUESS 2473 CA L3 0
26 FM ROBERT L HESS 2472 NY L4 0
27 IM JUSTIN SARKAR 2470 NY L5 0
28 IM BRYAN SMITH 2441 PA L6 0
29 IM RONALD W BURNETT 2396 TN L7 0
30 FM RAY S ROBSON 2378 FL L8 0
31 FM MICHAEL LANGER 2334 TX L9 0
32 MICHAEL AIGNER 2300 CA L10 0
33 FM MOVSES MOVSISYAN 2274 OK L11 0
34 WFM IRYNA ZENYUK 2229 NY L12 0
35 WFM CHOUCHANIK AIRAPETIAN 2188 WA L13 0
36 TOM BRAUNLICH 2136 OK L14 0

 


Fantasy U.S. Championship Standings after Round 1: (Top ten out of 410 players)

1. Darrian Robinson XXXXX651 5.0 (2506)

Alexander Shabalov
Eugene Perelshteyn
Julio Becerra
Alex Yermolinsky
Melikset Khachiyan
Ray Robson
Irina Zenyuk

2. John Sheatsley XXXXX013 5.0 (2507)

Hikaru Nakamura
Jaan Ehlvest
Julio Becerra
Alex Yermolinsky
Enrico Sevillano
Chouchanik Airapetian
Irina Zenyuk

3. Matthew Leong XXXXX124 4.5 (2505.1)
4. Walter Carrara XXXXX827 4.5 (2506.5)
5. John Evans XXXXX526 4.5 (2506.8)
6. Harrison Termott XXXXX387 4.5 (2507.7)
7. Frank Bloise XXXXX044 4.5 (2508.5)
8. Ed Feldman XXXXX919 4.5 (2509.2)
9. Bran Whitcomb XXXXX831 4.5 (2509.7)
Gary Walters XXXXX923 4.5 (2509.7)

Round two pairings

Bd White Player Name
Black Player Name
1 GM HIKARU NAKAMURA
GM SERGEY KUDRIN
2 GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN
GM ALEXANDER ONISCHUK
3 GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY
GM JAAN EHLVEST
4 GM ILDAR IBRAGIMOV
GM JULIO BECERRA
5 GM DMITRY GUREVICH
GM ALEXANDER SHABALOV
6 IM ENRICO M SEVILLANO
GM ALEXANDER STRIPUNSKY
7 GM MELIKSET KHACHIYAN
GM VARUZHAN AKOBIAN
8 GM GREGORY KAIDANOV
FM JOSEPH MARK BRADFORD
9 GM YURY SHULMAN
IM IRINA KRUSH
10 GM BORIS GULKO
IM JAY BONIN
11 GM ALEXANDER IVANOV
IM MICHAEL MULYAR
12 FM RAY S ROBSON
IM JOSHUA E FRIEDEL
13 GM WALTER S BROWNE
FM MICHAEL LANGER
14 IM DAVID PRUESS
FM MOVSES MOVSISYAN
15 MICHAEL AIGNER
FM ROBERT L HESS
16 IM JUSTIN SARKAR
WFM IRYNA ZENYUK
17 IM BRYAN SMITH
WFM CHOUCHANIK AIRAPETIAN
18 IM RONALD W BURNETT
TOM BRAUNLICH

Solution to Kudrin-Robson problem: Bb6!+ Qb6 Rxd7!+ picks up the queen.

 


 






































































 
 
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