Rd 1 pairings

1. GM Ibragimov, Ildar (0.0) 2628 - GM Kamsky, Gata (0.0) 2798
2. GM Nakamura, Hikaru (0.0) 2757 - GM Shabalov, Alexander (0.0) 2620
3. GM Friedel, Joshua (0.0) 2568 - GM Onischuk, Alexander (0.0) 2736
4. GM Shulman, Yury (0.0) 2697 - IM Sevillano, Enrico (0.0) 2549
5. IM Hess, Robert (0.0) 2545 - GM Christiansen, Larry (0.0) 2681
6. GM Becerra, Julio (0.0) 2672 - IM Robson, Ray (0.0) 2542
7. IM Zatonskih, Anna (0.0) 2503 - GM Akobian, Varuzhan (0.0) 2664
8. GM Kaidanov, Gregory (0.0) 2662 - IM Krush, Irina (0.0) 2496
9. IM Shankland, Samuel (0.0) 2464 - GM Benjamin, Joel (0.0) 2650
10. GM Ehlvest, Jaan (0.0) 2649 - IM Brooks, Michael (0.0) 2419
11. Lawton, Charles (0.0) 2350 - GM Khachiyan, Melikset (0.0) 2632
12. GM Gulko, Boris (0.0) 2631 - Hughes, Tyler (0.0) 2293

I'm going with Kamsky. Curtains picked Nakamura over Kamsky in the latest Chess Life.
Prediction/Comments?

Good idea for a thread. I didn't even know this was going on. I'm rooting for Nakamura. I like that Michael Brooks is playing in this. I also didn't even know that Ehlvest lived here now.

Josh Friedel will win for sure. Yes, I'm sure no one will agree with me, but I have faith in him (and since he's my roommate and I'm obviously rooting for him to win, all those theories about "positive thinking" come to mind). And as for predictions, I hope all of you entered the Fantasy Contest I'm running for this on the USCF Website!

If I had to pick a single most likely winner. . . forget it, totally impossible to pick between Kamsky (slightly stronger) and Nakamura (more volatile hence more likely to make a huge score).

Btw for fun post records against people playing in teh tournament.

vs. Nakamura: lost as black in last round of NY Masters. Scotch. 0-1
vs. Friedel: Clobbered on black side of Najdorf in New England tournament. 0-1
vs. Robson: Two losses with white, then a sweet revenge upset in teh 2. c3 Sicilian in Miami International Open. 1-2. Worst tournament of Robson's FM+ life .
vs. Krush: Loss with black in last round of Miami International Open. She was wearing leather pants and a leather jacket (??). 0-1.

oh, also got killed by Shabalov as black in Miami Open.

Oooo... Nakamura - Shabalov first round. That's going to be a fun one to watch.

So it starts in like 15 minutes? best live feed of plays?

how do you qualify for this?

bahaha, nakamura - shabalov isn't disappointing.

although rybka fish in chat tilt me so much i had to turn off kibitzes.

im so **** confused right now...

http://saintlouischessclub.org/US-Ch...ship-2009-Live

odd, that's the ICC coverage of the games.

what link you on?

Maybe ICC has a deal in place with the chess club?

Whatever, it's great, thanks for the link.

Go Josh!

(back from my 2 day ban)

Round 3 should be interesting.

Nakamura has his rematch vs. Hess from Foxwoods, with the same colors.

Naka has White and I really hope he doesn't opt for 1. c4 again (his move at Foxwoods) and he plays 1. d4 or rather 1. e4 and just smashes him (and not with the friggin King's Gambit either, punk opening). I'm not impressed with Hess's 1.. e5, and he got beat kinda silly by Sadvakasov at Foxwoods in a Ruy Lopez.

Shulman has White vs. Kamsky and I'm predicting a draw in that match. I think Shulman will choose a line that doesn't give Kamsky much counterplay or rather much chances for either side.

Round 2 was awesome. I played through all the games really quickly, so sorry if I get my impressions mixed up.

• Hess has been extremely impressive so far.
• Kamsky has been absolutely dominant. His games haven't even really been close. It looks like a tough job for anyone to take this championship from him.
• Shulman is looking excellent as usual.
• Naka's games have been extremely exciting. Is that queen sac a standard idea?
• Friedel had a very nice game. I've long been a huge fan of his and it's nice to see him do well.
• Having grown up near KC, I'm a huge Brooks fan. He's really an incredibly talented player who just hasn't had some of the opportunities he needed to make it to the next level. Admittedly his win came with both players in time trouble.
• Onischuk absolutely rolled his young opponent today. Nice win for him.

curtains round 2 recap: http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5295

1 win vs Nakamura (he was about 8 years old)
1 loss vs Ibragimov
1 loss vs Kamsky
1 loss vs Christiansen
1 loss vs Benjamin

Ugh

very cool, I watched the whole thing and I normally hate watching videos of any sort, but will be watching the rest too.

How hard is it to make an interface that isn't brutal to use? Game scores show up over the a-file, illegal moves in multiple games, and the design of the little space to drag boards is just garbage to begin with. You'd think nobody had ever broadcast multiple games before.

awesome video by curtains, as a european i am not really familiar with the US chess scene but i still enjoyed it a lot. Nice charakterisation of participants, and of course awesome fighting chess, loved the Hess and Shulman games and Kamsky's outlandish Rhe1!!

Josh is destroying!

If you don't like th live game feeds on st. louis chess club just use monroi.com

They are relayed from there anyway, might as well use the primary site with a better interface.

Interesting. Looks like Zatonskih is going to be unable to continue the tournament and they've substituted local FM Doug Eckert. I wonder if he was a replacement player from the beginning or if they just struck out for the first decent player they could find. Personally I'm a little disappointed they didn't grab someone from Chicago like Tate or Gurevich.

Rd 4 pairings http://saintlouischessclub.org/US-Ch...p-2009-Round-4