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Chess Life Online 2010 April The Final Scoop on the Philadelphia Open
Chess Life Online 2010 April The Final Scoop on the Philadelphia Open | The Final Scoop on the Philadelphia Open |
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| By Jennifer Shahade | |
| April 6, 2010 | |
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Four GMs, Alexander Stripunsky, Gata Kamsky, Ray Robson and Sergey Kudrin topped the 2010 Philadelphia Open (March 31-April 4) with 7/9. Top seed Gata Kamsky earned the championship title on tiebreak. Kamsky talked with the US Chess Scoop about why he is returning to American Opens, a beautiful endgame, and his thoughts on the 2010 US Championship format. 4319 GM Sergey Kudrin entered the winners' circle with a crucial final round win over IM Sam Shankland. See both players' thoughts on the game: 4314 GM Ray Robson, who was also interviewed in our first set of videos, talked to CLO about his final round win over GM Nick De Firmian and Chess Child, an upcoming book by Ray's father Gary Robson. 4318 WIM Iryna Zenyuk rebounded from a first round upset to score a solid 5.5 out of 9. She explains to CLO how a surprise fire drill turned her position around against IM Justin Sarkar. 4312 Another upset to upsetter story features Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, who lost in the first round to a 10-year-old Columbian with an 1800 FIDE rating. According to his father Anatoly, he continued on with the "Double Swiss Gambit" with a loss to Justus Williams of IS 318. In the next six rounds, Aleks scored 5/6 including wins over IMs Bonin and Uribe. He took home over $2000 for the Under 2300 prize. Here's his key game against Bonin. 4321 Alec Getz and Jake Kleiman both won their second IM norms at the Philadelphia Open. Kleiman talked to CLO about his norm and his upcoming chess camps in Memphis, TN, which he runs with GM Aleks Stripunsky. WIM Alisa Melekhina, one of many star players slated to compete in the Bill Wright Saint Louis Open next weekend, was not happy with her result in Philadelphia, but was happy to share her miniature final round victory. 4322 
The iconic Rodin statue in Philadelphia ponders his next move. Photo Annie Reis
Also look for a report by Michael Aigner on the Far West Open in Reno later in the week, which was won by GM Jesse Kraai. |