Welcome to the first fantasy chess update, which will go through the top standings and announce the daily prize winners.
First matter of business: Since Anna Zatonskih unfortunately had to
withdraw from the tournament, for the purposes of this contest, we will
give her a half point bye for all future rounds (which will take her to
a 3.5 / 9 score by the end, roughly what a player of her rating would
be expected to score in this tournament).
If you wish to review your team and current ranking, go
to http://uschess.org/fc_2009/, and login to see both.
As expected the strategy of picking several draws to win an early daily
prize was somewhat effective, with the current leaders
having several more draws than average. It's anybody's
guess if that trend will continue, but the reality is that anything can
really happen in this year's
contest, given how many matches can switch from day to day (especially
at this early stage, with it being entirely possible for whoever might
be in the lead to be close to last after tomorrow and vice-versa). The
point system seems to somewhat indicate this also as while we have many
scores above fifty points, we also have many players
with scores close to zero, including two people actually at zero.
Luckily those poor souls (and their successors in the following days)
can breathe a sigh of relief as I won't embarass them by giving their
names and selections out here (unless of course one of the future such
bottom dwellers happens to be Greg Shahade in which case it's not only getting mentioned here, but might well be made the headline of this article).
The winner of the daily prize for round three is Richard Francisco, with 71.5 points.
1st Place: Richard Francisco 71.5 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) > GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
9 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
6 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) = GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
12 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
11 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
10 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
8 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
3 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
5 |
| IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503,
2461) |
7 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
4 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
2 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
1 |
In round four, with a logjam of a tie for first in the tournament, those entrants
with tie heavy entries lead the contest for the second day. Those like
me, who spoke up against the choice to pick ties statistically can only
hope that trend falls quickly if we want any chance at any of the
daily prizes and of course most importantly the grand prize. At least
the contestants as a whole showed some marked improvement in overall
competence with no one having 0 points at the end of this day (a trend
which I fear may not continue).
Once again, to review your picks and see your current ranking login at http://uschess.org/fc_2009/
These are the current Top Five entrants. The winner of the daily prize is Matt Kizaric.
1st Place: Matt Kizaric 67.5 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
11 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
12 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) < GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
7 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
4 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
10 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
8 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
5 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
6 |
| IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) < IM Anna Zatonskih (2503,
2461) |
9 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) < IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
2 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * > IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
3 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) = NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
1 |
2nd Place: Alfredo Nunez 65.5 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
12 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
11 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) < GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
10 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
9 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
8 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
7 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
6 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
5 |
| IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503,
2461) |
4 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
3 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * = IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
2 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) < NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
1 |
3rd Place: Andrew Bateman 63.0 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) < GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
5 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
8 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
6 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) < GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
4 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) < GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
3 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
12 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
10 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) > GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
9 |
| IM Irina Krush
(2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) |
11 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) < IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
7 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
2 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) < NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
1 |
4th Place: Pranav Marupudi 62.0 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
11 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
4 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
10 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
2 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
3 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
9 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
5 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) > GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
6 |
| IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503,
2461) |
8 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
7 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
12 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
1 |
5th Place: Jonathan Ingellis 61.0 Points
| GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) |
12 |
| GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) > GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) |
9 |
| GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) |
5 |
| GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) < GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) |
1 |
| GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) |
4 |
| GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) |
10 |
| GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) |
6 |
| GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) < GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) |
8 |
| IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih
(2503, 2461) |
2 |
| IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) |
7 |
| IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * > IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) |
11 |
| NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) |
3 |
|
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