by Jennifer Shahade

In round 4, Eric Rodriguez of Florida defeated IM Enrico Sevillano on first board of the U.S. Open (July 28-August 5, Cherry Hill, NJ.) The 18-year-old punished Sevillano for an oversight, and reeled in the full point with perfect technique. Top seed Kudrin was not nicked in the tournament itself. He got stuck in the infamous Jersey traffic, but managed to contact the organizers in time to arrange a half point bye.

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After 14.g4, Eric achieved a winning position. But it was still a wild game with many chances for Rodriguez to mess up or get intimidated by his higher rated opponent. So he deserves credit for brave but technically precise moves, such as 20.Nd6, 22.Nb5! and 25.Rc1!.

Today, the 5-day schedule begins, in which, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Shabalov are expected to join in.

U.S. Open Standings
Traditional schedule after four rounds

1-5- Amon Simutowe, Ralph Zimmer, Thomas Bartell, Eric Rodriguez and Maxx Coleman -4/4
6- Todd Lunna, Michael Mulyar, Sergei Kudrin, Tyler Hughes, Christopher Williams and Tony Cao- 3.5/4

Quick schedule after four rounds
1. Boris Gulko-3.5/4
2. Michael Rohde, Ankur Bakshi and Jeffrey Haskel- 3/4

Six day schedule after three rounds
1-12- Justin Sarkar, Anton Del Mundo, Braden Bournival, Marc Tyler Arnold, Elliott Liu, Ryan Milisits, Steven Greanias, Christopher Toolin, Corbin Yu, Stanley Yang, Try Daly and Daniel Vulis
Access complete standings