Ildar Ibragimov. Photo Irina Krush

by Jennifer Shahade

In round 2 of the Frank Berry U.S. Championship (May 15-23), Ildar Ibragimov, Alex Stripunsky, and Alex Shabalov share the top of the scoretable with perfect scores.

Ildar Ibragimov defeated Julio Becerra, who seemed particularly bloodthirsty on the black side of a two knights defense. Ildar calmly rebuffed his sacrificial onslaught.




712

Alex Shabalov played aggressively with black to take control against Dmitry Gurevich.

711

Alexander Stripunsky won against IM Enrico Sevillano in a strange Sicilian.

713

Round three will see Ibragimov and Shabalov on board one, while the always hungry Hikaru faces off against Stripunsky on board two.

Standings after 3 Rounds

1-3- 2.0- GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Alexander Stripunsky and GM Ildar Ibragimov
4-15-1.5-GM Alexander Onischuk, GM Jaan Ehlvest, GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Eugene Perelshteyn, GM Alex Yermolinsky, GM Melikset Khachiyan, GM Alexander Ivanov, GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Yury Shulman
16-25- GM Julio Becerra, IM Jay Bonin, GM Dmitry Gurevich, IM Enrico Sevillano, IM Justin Sarkar, IM Bryan Smith GM Boris Gulko, Walter Browne, David Pruess and Ronald Burnett
26-31-IM Irina Krush, FM Joseph Mark Bradford, IM Michael Mulyar, FM Robert Hess, IM Josh Friedel and FM Ray Robson
32-36- FM Michael Langer, FM Movses Movsisyan, Tom Braunlich, Iryna Zenyuk and Chouchanik Airapetian

Round 3 pairings

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

Greg Shahade leads the fantasy chess competition on tiebreak over five other teams with 8.5 points. Greg purposely picked a low rated team in anticipation of squeaking by on tiebreaks. Greg says: ""Not surprisingly my team is already running away with the championship. However I see a strong contender, Walter Carrara in second place with an incredible 5/7 players on his team named Alex. I'm not sure if my team can withstand the onslaught of Alex's but we will try. Too bad that because I am a family member of the webmaster I am ineligible for any prizes :( "

Fantasy Standings by points:

8.5 pts: 1st-7th place
8 pts: 8th-29th place
7.5 pts: 30th-70th place
7 pts: 71st-159th place
6.5 pts: 160th-281st place
6 pts: 282nd-346th place
5.5 pts: 347th-377th place
5 pts: 378th-387th place

Top Ten Fantasy Teams

1. Greg Shahade (2504.5714)- 8.5 points

Yury Shulman 2662 <1.50
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Alex Yermolinsky 2571 <1.50
Melikset Khachiyan 2550 <1.50
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Ray Robson 2359 <0.50
Michael Aigner 2282 <0.50

2. Walter Carrara (2506.5714)-8.5

Alex Onischuk 2712 <1.50
Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Alex Ivanov 2626 <1.50
Alex Yermolinsky 2571 <1.50
Irina Zenyuk 2186 <0.00
Tom Braunlich 2148 <0.00

3. Drew Hollinberger (2507.1429)- 8.5

Ildar Ibragimov 2675 <2.00
Jaan Ehlvest 2675 <1.50
Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Ray Robson 2359 <0.50
Michael Aigner 2282 <0.50

4. Frederick K Kleist (2507.2857)-8.5

Yury Shulman 2662 <1.50
Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
Varuzhan Akobian 2652 <1.50
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Ron Burnett 2396 <1.00
Michael Aigner 2282 <0.50

5. Harrison Termotto (2507.7143)- 8.5

Hikaru Nakamura 2755 <1.50
Ildar Ibragimov 2675 <2.00
Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Jay Bonin 2381 <1.00
Movses Movsisyan 2292 <0.00
Tom Braunlich 2148 <0.00

6. Mark Neil (2509.1429)-8.5

Player Name Rating Score
Yury Shulman 2662 <1.50
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Eugene Perelshteyn 2612 <1.50
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Jay Bonin 2381 <1.00
Ray Robson 2359 <0.50

7. Yevgeniy Gershov (2509.2857)-8.5

Player Name Rating Score
Jaan Ehlvest 2675 <1.50
Yury Shulman 2662 <1.50
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Ron Burnett 2396 <1.00
Michael Aigner 2282 <0.50

8. Raymond Griffith (2498.8571)-8

Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Alex Yermolinsky 2571 <1.50
Melikset Khachiyan 2550 <1.50
Walter Browne 2520 <1.00
Irina Krush 2480 <0.50
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Michael Aigner 2282 <0.50

9. Mark Meibers (2499.2857)-8

Ildar Ibragimov 2675 <2.00
Jaan Ehlvest 2675 <1.50
Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
Irina Krush 2480 <0.50
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Jay Bonin 2381 <1.00
Irina Zenyuk 2186 <0.00

10. Kerry Magee (2499.7143)-8

Alexander Shabalov 2656 <2.00
Alex Stripunsky 2647 <2.00
Alex Ivanov 2626 <1.50
Irina Krush 2480 <0.50
David Pruess 2461 <1.00
Justin Sarkar 2442 <1.00
Irina Zenyuk 2186 <0.00

Keys to Success: (The number of times each player shows up on the top 10 teams)

Alex Stripunsky 7
Justin Sarkar 7
Alexander Shabalov 6
David Pruess 6
Michael Aigner 5
Yury Shulman 4
Jaan Ehlvest 3
Ildar Ibragimov 3
Alex Yermolinsky 3
Irina Krush 3
Jay Bonin 3
Ray Robson 3
Irina Zenyuk 3
Alex Ivanov 2
Melikset Khachiyan 2
Ron Burnett 2
Tom Braunlich 2
Hikaru Nakamura 1
Alexander Onischuk 1
Varuzhan Akobian 1
Eugene Perelshteyn 1
Walter Browne 1
Movses Movsisyan 1
Gregory Kaidanov 0
Boris Gulko 0
Sergey Kudrin 0
Julio Becerra 0
Dmitry Gurevich 0
Enrico Sevillano 0
Josh Friedel 0
Joseph Bradford 0
Robert Hess 0
Bryan Smith 0
Michael Mulyar 0
Michael Langer 0
Chouchanik Airapetian 0