Irina Krush poses at Eskimo Joe's, Stillwater's most famous restaraunt. Photo Betsy Dynako

by Jennifer Shahade

With a last round win over Tatev Abrahamyan, Irina Krush scored 7/9 to take her second U.S. Women's Championship title! Nobody was surprised by Irina's victory- she has been playing excellently lately, repeatedly missing her second GM norm by very narrow margins. Born in Odessa Ukraine, raised and still living in Brooklyn, Irina Krush graduated last year from NYU with a degree in International Relations. Since then she has had more time to focus on her chess.

Katerina Rohonyan also had an excellent tournament but drew against Alisa Melekhina and had to settle for a tie for second. Anna Zatonskih joined Katerina with a win over Elizabeth Vicary.

Frank Berry U.S. Women's Championship
Final Standings
1- Irina Krush- 7/9
2-3- Katerina Rohonyan and Anna Zatonskih- 6.5/9
4- Batchimeg Tuvshintugs-5.5/9
5-Tsagaan Battsetseg- 5/9
6-7- Alisa Melekhina and Camilla Baginskaite-4/9
8- Tatev Abrahamyan- 3.5/9
9-Elizabeth Vicary- 2.5/9
10-Chouchanik Airapetian- .5/9

Round 9 games

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Photo Gallery by Betsy Dynako


Katerina Rohonyan, Tsagaan Battsetseg, webmaster Chris Bird, Tatev Abrahamyan and Alisa Melekhina.


Elizabeth Vicary won the "GoddessChess brilliancy prize" (donated by Janet Newton) for her win against Camilla Baginskaite. Jim Berry hands her the $300 prize.

Tsagaan Battsetseg, 5th place, and Bachimeg Tuvshintugs, 4th place share a laugh with Chimi's coach, Tserendorj Batsaikhan.

Look for an in-depth report of the U.S. Women's Championship in the October issue of Chess Life Magazine.