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United States Championship (2008) Previous edition: US Championship (2007). Next: US Championship (2009). See also US Women's Championship (2008).  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 108  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Onischuk vs J Kraai   ½-½ 41 2008 United States Championship E15 Queen's Indian 2. Yermolinsky vs Shabalov 1-0 18 2008 United States Championship B23 Sicilian, Closed 3. Kaidanov vs J Friedel   1-0 29 2008 United States Championship A17 English 4. Fedorowicz vs Shulman   ½-½ 22 2008 United States Championship C03 French, Tarrasch 5. V Akobian vs D Ippolito   ½-½ 20 2008 United States Championship D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 6. D Pruess vs J Becerra Rivero   ½-½ 44 2008 United States Championship B06 Robatsch 7. A Ivanov vs D E Vigorito 1-0 89 2008 United States Championship A07 King's Indian Attack 8. D Ludwig vs E Perelshteyn   ½-½ 28 2008 United States Championship C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 9. Gulko vs L Kaufman 1-0 32 2008 United States Championship D80 Grunfeld 10. M Langer vs B Finegold ½-½ 75 2008 United States Championship C04 French, Tarrasch, Guimard Main line 11. D Gurevich vs Shankland 1-0 41 2008 United States Championship A15 English 12. S Galant vs Kudrin 0-1 45 2008 United States Championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin 13. Yermolinsky vs Gulko ½-½ 15 2008 United States Championship E17 Queen's Indian 14. J Kraai vs V Akobian ½-½ 100 2008 United States Championship E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 15. Shabalov vs L Kaufman   1-0 69 2008 United States Championship D80 Grunfeld 16. J Friedel vs Shankland   1-0 33 2008 United States Championship B10 Caro-Kann 17. D Gurevich vs Kaidanov 0-1 64 2008 United States Championship D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 18. D Ippolito vs Onischuk 0-1 40 2008 United States Championship E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 19. Shulman vs D Pruess 1-0 58 2008 United States Championship D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 20. B Finegold vs D Ludwig   ½-½ 26 2008 United States Championship D12 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 21. E Perelshteyn vs M Langer   1-0 37 2008 United States Championship A04 Reti Opening 22. J Becerra Rivero vs Fedorowicz 1-0 28 2008 United States Championship B48 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 23. D E Vigorito vs S Galant 1-0 41 2008 United States Championship D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 24. Kudrin vs A Ivanov 1-0 41 2008 United States Championship C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 25. Kaidanov vs Kudrin   ½-½ 19 2008 United States Championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 108    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 6 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-22-08    dx9293: <US, Foreign> In Chess, your nationality is determined by your FIDE federation. May-22-08    MaxxLange: <Riverbeast> I share that melancholy at times. BUT: I work at a big public university, and I am so impressed by the academic talent and hard work and service that I see the best students doing. And the people in the town who "work hard and play by the rules". There is a really strong core left still, it's not too late. May-23-08    percyblakeney: Mig was a bit unhappy with the final round: <I'm told that before the final round the TDs announced that the no-short-draw rules that had been in effect were being suspended for the final round so Friedel and Shulman could play their non-game for the GM norm and title. A minute later, draw. Bizarre, horrible, and pointless favoritism. It's a little surprising that changing the rules like that is even allowed. I'm sure the players trailing Shulman by a point would have appreciated a real game by the leader, who had black against a dangerous opponent. I know you can never force players to play to win, and 30 moves of swapping wouldn't have entertained or fooled anyone, but announcing the suspension of the rules before the round, followed by the draw a minute later, is a little too cynical for me. This is the US championship, not a First Saturday tourney. As I explain more in the comments (and have said many times), this isn't a criticism of the players, who are only exploiting the rules and acting in their best interests.> http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt... May-23-08    cannibal: <I'm told that before the final round the TDs announced that the no-short-draw rules that had been in effect were being suspended for the final round so Friedel and Shulman could play their non-game for the GM norm and title. A minute later, draw. > Well that's indeed ridiculous. Either you have a no-short-draw rule or you don't, but abolishing it for exactly that round where it would make the most sense (last rounds in Swiss tournaments are ALWAYS draw fests), that's the most stupid thing I've heard in a while. I don't blame the players though, especially Shulman, who had shown great fighting spirit earlier, e.g. against Becerra when he was already a point ahead. May-23-08    kellmano: Indeed, this decision seems to fall into the 'so stupid it can't be true' category. And that's even with the knowledge it was allegedly made by chess organisers. No-one (surely) would fail to recognise the folly in changing a rule just before a last-round game in order to help one person win. May-23-08    dx9293: Agreed! This is ridiculous. I am against these artificial "anti-draw" rules anyway, but if you're going to have them, you can't change them when you see fit. The rule wasn't "suspended" to help Shulman win, it was suspended so that Friedel could finally get his 3rd GM norm. The US shouldn't be THAT desperate for another GM. It's pathetic. I don't blame the players, I blame the Organizers/Arbiters. I hope this becomes big news around the chess world in the coming days (ChessBase.com, etc.). To me this is scandalous. May-23-08    dx9293: 400th Kibitz! May-23-08    Ezzy: <dx9293: 400th Kibitz!> And it was really worth waiting for! :-) May-23-08    Riverbeast: <MaxxLange> I have a funny feeling China is going to win more medals than the US in this summer's olympics. History often goes hand-in-hand with sports May-23-08    brankat: <Riverbeast> Well put, and most likely true. As You remarked yesterday, somewhere around here.."the rise and decline of nations and empires...". May-23-08    Shams: <I have a funny feeling China is going to win more medals than the US in this summer's olympics. History often goes hand-in-hand with sports> yeah, the Soviet Union put up that bagel at the '84 Olympics, and look what happened to them over the next decade. ;) May-23-08    Riverbeast: <Shams> Good luck in the tournament this weekend, let me know how it goes...Send over any good games if there are any you want to show off or analyze! May-23-08    fromoort: <Riverbeast: I have a funny feeling China is going to win more medals than the US in this summer's olympics.> I think so too, especially as they are being held in China! May-23-08    Riverbeast: I think China is going to try to make a serious statement with these games. It should be very interesting. What tipped me off to this? A statement the Chinese made over a year ago, when they said "we are not going to try to beat the US at the Olympics." As soon as they said that, I knew it could only mean one thing: the exact opposite was true! May-23-08    Shams: <Riverbeast> thanks. I'm not feeling especially sharp but it should be fun. God knows how my Benko will hold up. I'll cover my best and worst games in my chessforum. Jun-05-08    wallytherhino: It is good to see Finegold grab a good result! +1 for finegold in such a tournament makes me happy! I have read some of his books and I thoroughly enjoyed his books! Jun-18-08    HeMateMe: Speaking of the immigrant players, has anyone read the book "Kings of New York"? Its the story of the Edward R. Murrow high school chess team from Brooklyn, that tied or won the national high school championship 4 years running. The school was nothing special, chessically speaking till the mid 80s, when a surge of emmigration began from Russia and eastern Europe, as the iron curtain came down. They just seem to grow GMs like hamsters in that part of the world. The Murrow team had two 2450 players on their team--quite a one-two punch for a high school team! One of them placed 19th in the US championship last year. Most of the best players on that team were immigrants from Russia, Ukraine or E Europe. They barely had the money to go to nationals, and they thrashed Dalton, Hunter and some of the other rich, preppie schools. A nice testament to the desires of the hard working modern immigrants. There is also a middle school (junior high) nearby which has a similar make up, and their coach is Jennifer Shahade, U.S. champ. I think Joel Benjamin coaches either Dalton or Hunter, but I'm not sure. Jun-18-08    Riverbeast: <HeHateMe> Yes, I've wanted to read that book for some time. Murrow has had good chess teams for a while because it's in a heavily Russian neighborhood. I think Anna Hahn went to Murrow. When I was in high school in NYC our team won two consecutive national team championships, but we didn't get as much press because my school was a specialized math and science school and it was not as 'sexy' when we won. Our main rival then was James Madison High School. They had won the national championship the year before we did, and had a bunch of Russians on their team (three masters including John Litvinchuk, who at the time was the youngest US master in history) and were coached by Alan Benjamin, Joel Benjamin's late father. And in Bobby Fischer's day, the seed of chess talent in NYC was Erasmus Hall High School. Fischer and Raymond Weinstein went there at the same time, and afterward, Walter Browne! Jun-18-08    dx9293: <HeHateMe> I've read the book and also know the characters personally. The two superstars were FM (and later IM) Alex Lenderman, and FM (and later IM) Salvijus Bercys. Murrow recruits superstar players for its team, though they haven't been able to bring in studs in the last couple of years. As far as I know, they aren't given any money, so I don't know why they go there; I guess they like the idea of going to a chess school. I'll ask them next time I see them. Catalina Foothills High in Tucson, Arizona is the High School king now, having won the National High School Championship three of the last four years (2005, 2006, and 2008). Murrow won in 2007, but the two teams shared 1st from 2005-2007. The middle school you are thinking of is I.S. 318 in Brooklyn. They seem to win the National Junior High Championship every year, and frequently win the K-6 Championship in the National Elementary Championship; this is some feat considering that the school is from grades 6-8 and so they can only be prepared in one year for the Elementary. WFM Elizabeth Vicary coaches the team. GM Joel Benjamin is on the coaching staff of Columbia Grammar. GM Miron Sher is on the Dalton staff, and FM Sunil Weeramantry (stepdad of Hikaru Nakamura) heads the Hunter staff. There are also other coaches on all of these (and other) "power school" staffs. Jun-19-08    HeMateMe: Thanks for the info! In "Kings" I believe there is a wealthy, behind the scenes donor who has supplied monies for Murrow to travel and hotel at Nationals. Otherwise, they don't go. <RiverBeast> By process of elimination, it sounds like you went to Stuyvesant, when they had one of their stronger groups--yes? Anyway, its nice that the GMs can make a living coaching the kids. There was an A&E movie on TV not too long ago, "Knights of the South Bronx," true story about a public school that became national champs in their age group. A little bit hoakie, but always fun to see chess on TV or in the movies. Ted Danson (Cheers) played their idealistic coach, a sort of retired IM level guy. I've never been to a tournament where the kids shouted "Check!" when they could, but it makes good theater. Jun-19-08    HeMateMe: ...not to drone on too much, but I think Irina Krush is a grad of Murrow High, about ten years ago, and was part of some of their strong results. She may not have been board one, as they have had IM level kids at that school. Jun-19-08    Riverbeast: Sunil Weeramantry has been teaching at Hunter for as long as I can remember. The coach at Dalton used to be Svetozar Janosevic...A very nice guy... So Miron Scher is the coach at Dalton now...He also coaches Robert Hess, who just won Foxwoods and is a 15 year old IM at Stuyvesant. Yes, I went to Stuvesant. But we didn't have IMs when I was there....We had several masters and enough experts that we were able to put some on the 'B' team...We didn't have studs but we had depth Jan-18-10    GrahamClayton: <swordfish>What is surprising is the cramped playing conditions which some players--including Onischuk--have reportedly complained about to little avail. That seems to sum up the importance which our US organizers place on the royal game, even when played on that level. <swordfish>, According to "Chess Life and Review", the players complained about the playing conditions after Round 1. Their main concern was the arrangement of the playing tables. The players wanted the tables to be set up as individual "islands" in the hall, rather than having the tables set up in 3 long rows, as is the case with most Swiss tournaments. Nov-08-22    Ninas Husband: The last US Championship not held in St. Louis. Nov-08-22    fredthebear: Good tidbit. Financial backing has a lot to do with the city chosen. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 6) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 6 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! 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