All-square in St.Louis

In the 'quad' group both games were drawn leaving the championship in balance with just the final two rounds remaining.
In the swiss, Stripunsky won to take the lead and is thus favourite to take overall fifth place.
Irina Krush lost and now needs to win her last game to obtain her highly sought after GM norm.

In their second meeting of the championships, Nakamura and Kamsky again drew. This time Nakamura started well, but Kamsky turned the tables and sacrificed pawns for the attack. A more exciting struggle than their firt meeting, but ultimately the same result.

So in the eighth round the results were as follows:

'Quad finals' = Title group (for places 1-4)

1GM Hikaru Nakamura27330.5-0.5GM Gata Kamsky2702
2GM Alexander Onischuk26990.5-0.5GM Yury Shulman2613

Swiss event (for places 5-24)

3GM Alexander Stripunsky25701-0GM Larry Christiansen2578
4GM Ben Finegold25390.5-0.5GM Robert Hess2590
5GM Alexander Shabalov25851-0IM Irina Krush2455
6GM Jesse Kraai24920.5-0.5GM Alex Yermolinsky2528
7GM Varuzhan Akobian25990.5-0.5GM Jaan Ehlvest2591
8GM Ray Robson25691-0GM Melikset Khachiyan2539
9GM Vinay Bhat25470.5-0.5GM Gregory Kaidanov2577
10GM Joel Benjamin25651-0IM Levon Altounian2454
11GM Dmitry Gurevich24880.5-0.5GM Aleksandr Lenderman2598
12GM Sergey Kudrin25710.5-0.5IM Samuel Shankland2507

So after eight rounds the rankings are as follows:

Quad Final

Five-and-a-half points:

GM Hikaru Nakamura 2733
GM Gata Kamsky 2702
GM Alexander Onischuk 2699
GM Yury Shulman 2613

Challengers Swiss

Five-and-a-half points:

GM Alexander Stripunsky 2570

Five points:

GM Alexander Shabalov2585

Four-and-a-half points:

GM Larry Christiansen 2578
GM Robert Hess2590
GM Ben Finegold2539
GM Alex Yermolinsky2528

Four points:

IM Irina Krush2455
GM Varuzhan Akobian2599
GM Jaan Ehlvest2591
GM Jesse Kraai2492
GM Ray Robson 2569

Three-and-a-half points:

GM Joel Benjamin 2565
GM Gregory Kaidanov2577

Three points:

GM Melikset Khachiyan2539
GM Aleksandr Lenderman2598
GM Vinay Bhat2547

Two-and-a-half points:

IM Levon Altounian2454
GM Sergey Kudrin 2571
GM Dmitry Gurevich 2488

Two points:

IM Samuel Shankland2507

Here are the ninth round pairings.

BdNamesratingResultsNamesrating
1GM Hikaru Nakamura2733GM Yuri Shulman2613
2GM Gata Kamsky2702GM Alexander Onischuk2699

The four players have the same number of points with two games remaining.

The final round of the swiss challengers is today:

3GM Alexander Shabalov (5)2585GM Alexander Stripunsky (5.5)2570
4GM Robert Hess (4.5)2590GM Alex Yermolinsky (4.5)2528
5GM Larry Christiansen (4.5)2578GM Ben Finegold (4.5)2539
6GM Ray Robson (4)2569GM Varuzhan Akobian (4)2599
7IM Irina Krush (4)2455GM Jesse Kraai (4)2492
8GM Gregory Kaidanov (3.5)2577GM Jaan Ehlvest (4)2591
9GM Joel Benjamin (3.5)2565GM Sergey Kudrin (2.5)2571
10GM Aleksandr Lenderman (3)2598GM Vinay Bhat (3)2547
11GM Melikset Khachiyan (3)2539IM Samuel Shankland (2)2507
12IM Levon Altounian (2.5)2454GM Dmitry Gurevich (2.5)2488

You can watch the games live and can find more information on the official tournament site.


Published on , Updated on