Nakamura and Kamsky held in second round of US Championship

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US Chess Championships 2012 (2)

Nakamura and Kamsky held in second round of US Championship

Mark Crowther - Thursday 10th May 2012

Ray Robson stayed ahead on the clock against Kamsky and the game was drawn. Photo ©

Ray Robson stayed ahead on the clock against Kamsky and the game was drawn. Photo © | http://saintlouischessclub.org

6 players share the lead on 1.5 points after the second round of the US Championship of 2012. Robert Hess' poor opening ("I was never lost but it was pretty bad out of the opening." - Hess) caused Yasser Seirawan to overpress and get into serious time trouble when the position turned after he missed 18...Rxg4. Hess converted in 51 moves. Gregory Kaidanov beat Alexander Stripunsky (who blundered horribly the day before) in the final game to finish, the remaining games were drawn. Hikaru Nakamura pushed Alexander Ramirez back and won the exchange but his weak king position was sufficient for the game to finish in a draw. (Nakamura tweeted "Really angry at myself for playing a great middlegame and then failing to finish it off.") Gata Kamsky was going to play the Sicilian Kan against Ray Robson but changed his mind over the board to 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 b6!? something he had played regularly only on ICC. Robson played quite quickly during the game and got ahead on the clock. Maybe Kamsky missed an opportunity but in the end the game finished in a draw by repetition. The remaining games were hard fought but also drawn. Anna Zatonskih moved to 2/2 whilst rival Irina Krush could only draw.

Seirawan,Y (2643) - Hess,Ro (2635) [E32]
ch-USA 2012 Saint Louis USA (2), 09.05.2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Bg5 Bb7 8.f3 c5 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.e3 d6 11.0-0-0 a5

[11...Nc6 12.Nh3 Ne5 13.Be2 Rb8 14.Rd2 Qc7 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nf4 Ba8 17.Nh5 Qe7 18.f4 Nd7 19.Bf3 0-1 Zakharstov,V (2484)-Rodin,D (2413)/Voronezh RUS 2001]

12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Ne2 Ra6 14.Nf4 Nd7 15.Nh5

White has a comfortable opening

15...Kh8 16.Be2 Rg8 17.g4 a4 18.Rd2?

Robert Hess

Yasser Seirawan

Position after 18.Rd2?

Yasser overlooks that his g-pawn is now en-prise.

[18.Rhg1 Rb6 could be pretty annoying.]

18...Rxg4! 19.fxg4

[19.Rhd1 Rh4 20.f4 Rxh2 21.Rxd6 Rxd6 22.Rxd6 Rh1+ 23.Rd1 Rxd1+ 24.Bxd1 Bc6 25.Qd3 probably isn't so much.]

19...Bxh1 20.g5 Be4 21.Bd3?

Robert Hess

Yasser Seirawan

Position after 21.Bd3?

Still playing for the win that has gone.

[21.Nxf6 Nxf6 22.Qxf6+ Qxf6 23.gxf6 with a likely draw.]

21...Bxd3 22.Rxd3 e5 23.gxf6 Qg8

Hess didn't like this after the game but it doesn't seem to bad.

24.Qd2 Nb6

Seirawan was in time trouble with about 7 minutes compared to 15 from his opponent.

25.Qe2 Nd7 26.Qf3? Rb6!

White was in desperate time trouble and it is difficult to defend.

27.e4

[27.Ng7? e4 28.Qxe4 Nxf6]

27...Qg1+ 28.Rd1 Qxh2 29.Rd2 Qg1+ 30.Rd1 Qg5+ 31.Kc2 Rb3 32.Rd3 Rxd3 33.Kxd3 h6 34.Qf5 Nb6 35.Qxg5 hxg5 36.Ng3 Kh7 37.Nf5

"Now it's just an easy win." - Robert Hess.

37...Kg6 38.Nxd6 g4 39.Nb7 Nxc4 40.Nxc5 Nxb2+ 41.Ke2 Kxf6 42.Kf2 Kg6 43.Kg2 Kh5 44.Nd7 Nd3 45.Nb6 Nc5 46.Nc4 Nxe4 47.Nxe5 f5 0-1

Ramirez,Alej (2593) - Nakamura,Hi (2775) [D76]
ch-USA 2012 Saint Louis USA (2), 09.05.2012
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Nc3 Bd7!? 10.h3!?

After a long thought.

10...Re8 11.Kh2 Qc8 12.Re1 e5 13.d5 Na5 14.e4

[14.a4 was probably the most interesting idea here. 14...c5! Ramirez used most of his time here.]

14...c6 15.b3 cxd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Qxd5 Nc6 18.Ng5 Nd8 19.Rd1 Bc6 20.Qc4 h6 21.Nf3

Playing it safe.

[21.Rxd8 Qxd8 22.Nxf7 Qd4 23.Nxh6+ Kh7 24.Nf7 Qxa1 (24...Qxc4 25.bxc4 was the winning try for black.) 25.Ng5+]

21...b5

Hikaru Nakamura

Alejandro Ramirez

Position after 21...b5

"The last thing I expected was black had a nice initiative here." - Ramirez.

22.Qe2 Qb7 23.Re1 Ne6 24.Bb2 Nd4 25.Nxd4 exd4 26.Rad1 Rad8 27.Rd2!

[27.f4? d3 28.Rxd3 Rxd3 29.Bxg7 Qd7 30.Bxh6 Rd2 and black is winning.]

27...f5

"He had a tonne of alternatives here and I was running out of time." - Ramirez.

28.Qd1 Re7 29.Bxd4

[29.exf5 Rxe1 30.Qxe1 "and I think it's a draw." Nakamura claimed so "and he calculates better than me." - Ramirez. 30...Bxg2 31.Qe6+ Kh8 32.Bxd4 (32.Rxd4) 32...Bxd4 33.Rxd4 and white should be fine.]

29...Red7 30.Be3 Bc3 31.Rxd7 Rxd7 32.Qc1 Bxe1 33.Qxe1

Hikaru Nakamura

Alejandro Ramirez

Position after 33.Qxe1

"I saw the endgame from here and I thought I was OK." - Ramirez. "His King is so weak."

33...Bxe4 34.Bxe4 Qxe4 35.Qc1 Kf7 36.Bxh6 Qf3 37.Qc5

and black's king is too exposed.

37...Ke6 38.Be3 a6 39.Qc8 Qd5 40.Qg8+ Kf6 1/2-1/2

ch-USA 2012 Saint Louis USA (USA), 8-20 v 2012															cat. XVI (2633)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Lenderman, Aleksandr	g	USA	2587	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	1½	2830
2.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2775	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	½	.	.	1½	2807
3.	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2660	½	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1½	2767
4.	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2741	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	1½	2796
5.	Akobian, Varuzhan	g	USA	2625	.	.	.	.	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	1½	2800
6.	Kaidanov, Gregory S	g	USA	2594	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	1	.	1½	2759
7.	Shulman, Yuri	g	USA	2571	.	.	.	.	½	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	2609
8.	Hess, Robert L	g	USA	2635	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	1	1	2709
9.	Robson, Ray	g	USA	2614	0	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	2471
10.	Ramirez, Alejandro	g	USA	2593	.	½	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	2565
11.	Stripunsky, Alexander	g	USA	2562	.	.	0	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	*	.	0
12.	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2643	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (May 8, 2012)
Lenderman, Aleksandr	- Robson, Ray	1-0	64	D97	Gruenfeld Russian
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Hess, Robert L	1-0	33	C51	Evans Gambit
Kamsky, Gata	- Ramirez, Alejandro	1-0	39	B42	Sicilian Paulsen
Akobian, Varuzhan	- Seirawan, Yasser	1-0	56	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Shulman, Yuri	- Kaidanov, Gregory S	½-½	84	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Stripunsky, Alexander	- Onischuk, Alexander	0-1	11	B11	Caro Kann Two Knights
Round 2 (May 9, 2012)
Onischuk, Alexander	- Lenderman, Aleksandr	½-½	39	D38	QGD Ragozin
Akobian, Varuzhan	- Shulman, Yuri	½-½	42	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Kaidanov, Gregory S	- Stripunsky, Alexander	1-0	53	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Robson, Ray	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	28	B27	Sicilian Early Fianchetto
Ramirez, Alejandro	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	40	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Seirawan, Yasser	- Hess, Robert L	0-1	47	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2

ch-USA w 2012 Saint Louis USA (USA), 8-20 v 2012															cat. III (2318)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2510	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	2
2.	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2457	.	*	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1½	2496
3.	Zenyuk, Iryna		USA	2224	.	.	*	.	½	.	.	1	.	.	1½	2428
4.	Abrahamyan, Tatev	wg	USA	2329	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	1	1½	2375
5.	Melekhina, Alisa	f	USA	2242	.	½	½	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	2340
6.	Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	wg	USA	2364	.	0	.	.	.	*	1	.	.	.	1	2395
7.	Goletiani, Rusudan	m	USA	2333	.	.	.	.	.	0	*	.	1	.	1	2361
8.	Ni, Viktorija	wm	USA	2228	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	2083
9.	Baginskaite, Camilla	wg	USA	2358	0	.	.	.	.	.	0	.	*	.	0
10.	Kats, Alena	wf	USA	2137	0	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (May 8, 2012)
Zatonskih, Anna	- Kats, Alena	1-0	33	D11	Slav Defence
Krush, Irina	- Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	1-0	41	B14	Caro Kann Panov
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Melekhina, Alisa	½-½	67	D34	Tarrasch Defence, Main Line
Goletiani, Rusudan	- Baginskaite, Camilla	1-0	36	A13	Reti Opening
Ni, Viktorija	- Abrahamyan, Tatev	½-½	68	A57	Volga Gambit
Round 2 (May 9, 2012)
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Kats, Alena	1-0	35	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Melekhina, Alisa	- Krush, Irina	½-½	44	B52	Sicilian Rossolimo
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Goletiani, Rusudan	1-0	53	E47	Nimzo Indian
Ni, Viktorija	- Zenyuk, Iryna	0-1	34	A57	Volga Gambit
Baginskaite, Camilla	- Zatonskih, Anna	0-1	38	E41	Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

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