2005 US CHESSMASTER CHAMPIONSHIP Nov.23-Dec.5,2005 - San Diego, California [HOME] [CALENDAR] [37 the Russian Championship]

Hikoru Nakamura & Rusa Goletiani

Hikoru Nakamura, a 16-year-old grandmaster who is being compared to the young Bobby Fischer blitzed GM Alexander Stripunsky in Sunday's play-off to win the U.S. Chess crown.

An unassuming teenager from White Plans, NY, he is the youngest U.S. player ever to be awarded the grandmaster title, beating Fischer's record. He has beaten all Fischer's age records except one -- Fischer won the U.S. Championship at age 14.

Born in Osaka, Hikoru moved to the U.S.A. with his parents at age 2.

Nakamura and Stripunsky, tied on 6 points going into their Round 9 game, both found themselves in inferior positions. When Stripunsky won after what the official site described as "tactical insanity" (see it here) Nakamura was forced to win his apparently drawn game against Ibragimov (click here)to stay in the hunt for the title.

In Sunday's (rapid) play-off Nakamura won 2-0 to take the title and the $25000 purse. Stripunsky (originally from the Ukraine) took second prize of $17000.

The women's title was no less exciting.

Anna Zatonskih who looked well placed lost to Rusa Goletiani in Round 9 (here's how)after vying for the lead with Irina Krush for most of the tournament. Goletiani's win earned her equal first place with Tatev Abrahamyan who had been near the bottom of the field throughout but won her last two games to tie with Goletiani on 4.5.

Rusa (it's short for Rusudan) made no mistake and won the play off 2-0. She is the 2005 U.S. Women's Champion.

Unlucky player in the women's event was Irena Krush who led into Round 9 when she lost to defending U.S. champion, Alexander Shabalov. Playing with black, Irena had a completely won position and Shabalov said after the game there had been several opportunities to finish him off. At the end she walked into a spectacular mating sacrifice (here) and had to settle on third place.

If you noticed a lone untitled player entrenched among the top ten boards it was Salvijus Bercys (age 14) who, along with Gata Kamsky, was given a wild-card entry into the event. Bercys acquitted himself with distinction and achieved an IM norm.

Due to a sponsorship hitch the tournament, although played in 2004 is known as the 2005 Championship. This is because a title event was played earlier in the year.

Final Standings -- Top Twenty
1     GM Alex Stripunsky	2640	7
2     GM Hikaru Nakamura	2676	7
3     GM Gregory Kaidanov	2730	6
4     GM Sergey Kudrin	2607	6
5     GM Yury shulman	2590	6
6     GM Joel Benjamin	2620	6
7     GM Gregory Serper	2598	6
8     GM Alexander Onischuk	2680	6
9     GM Alexander Goldin	2705	5.5
10     GM Ildar Ibragimov	2671	5.5
11     GM Boris Gulko	2705	5.5
12     GM Julio Becerra	2582	5.5
13     GM Alexander Fishbein	2575	5.5
14     GM Gata Kamsky	2777	5.5
15     GM Varuzhan Akobian	2665	5.5
16     GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz	2590	5.5
17     GM Alex Yermolinsky	2642	5.5
35     WGM Rusudan Goletiani	2375	4.5
39     WFM Tatev Abrahamyan	2305	4.5
42     IM Irina Krush	2472	4

Player		Rating	Points
1   Gata Kamsky	GM	2777	5.5
2   Gregory Kaidanov	GM	2730	6
3   Alexander Goldin	GM	2705	5.5
4   Boris Gulko	GM	2705	5.5
5   Igor Novikov	GM	2690	5
6   Alexander Shabalov	GM	2689	5
7   Alexander Onischuk	GM	2680	6
8   Hikaru Nakamura	GM	2676	7
9   Ildar Ibraigimov	GM	2671	5.5
10   Varuzhan Akobian	GM	2665	5.5
11   Alexander Yermolinsky	GM	2642	5.5
12   Alexander Stripunsky	GM	2640	7
13   Alexander Ivanov	GM	2633	5
14   Nick De Firmian	GM	2626	5
15   Ben Finegold	IM	2621	5
16   Joel Benjamin	GM	2620	6
17   Larry Christiansen	GM	2611	5
18   Sergey Kudrin	GM	2607	6
19   Gregory Serper	GM	2598	6
20   Aleks Wojtkiewicz	GM	2590	5.5
21   Yury Shulman	GM	2590	6
22   Julio Becerra	GM	2582	5.5
23   Eugene Perelshteyn	IM	2579	5
24   Alex Fishbein	GM	2575	5.5
25   Dmitry Gurevich	GM	2551	5
26   Lev Altounian	IM	2546	5
27   Cyrus Lakdawala	IM	2545	5
28   Renier Gonzalez	IM	2536	5
29   Yury Lapshun	IM	2527	5
30   Walter Browne	GM	2508	4.5
31   Stanislav Kriventsov	IM	2504	4.5
32   Dmitry Schneider	IM	2503	4.5
33   Jesse Kraai	IM	2493	3.5
34   Tegshsuren Enkhbat	FM	2481	4
35   Irina Krush (w)	IM	2472	4
36   Marcel Martinez	FM	2466	4
37   Joshua Friedel	FM	2464	4
38   Anna Zatonskih (w)	WGM	2459	3.5
39   Lev Milman	FM	2455	5
40   Stephen Muhammad	FM	2455	4
41   Anatoly Lein	GM	2436	3.5
42   Ronald Burnett	IM	2423	4.5
43   Dmitry Zilberstein	FM	2419	4
44   Salvijus Bercys		2418	5
45   Bruci Lopez	FM	2417	3.5
46   Blas Lugo	IM	2413	4.5
47   Matthew Hoekstra	FM	2409	4
48   Robby Adamson	FM	2400	3.5
49   Rusudan Goletiani (w)	WGM	2375	4.5
50   Jennifer Shahade (w)	WIM	2346	3
51   Fabio LaRota	FM	2336	3
52   Michael Casella	FM	2329	4.5
53   Jake Kleiman		2310	2.5
54   Tatev Abrahamyan (w)	WFM	2305	4.5
55   Anna Hahn (w)	WIM	2256	3
56   Tsagaan Battsetseg (w)	WIM	2238	4
57   Laura Ross (w)	WFM	2195	3
58   Esther Epstein (w)	WIM	2178	2.5
59   Olga Sagalchik (w)	WFM	2154	.5
60   Chouchanik Airapetian (w)		2149	3.5
61   Vanessa West (w)		2119	2.5
62   Anna Levina (w)		2099	3
63   Iryna Zenyuk (w)		2094	3.5
64   Tatiana Vayserberg (w)		2037	3

Below is how each player reached the 2005 US Championship.

The road to 2005
2003 U.S. Champion: GM Alexander Shabalov
2003 U.S. Women's Champion: WIM Anna Hahn
2003 U.S. Junior Champion: IM Varuzhan Akobian
2004 U.S. Junior Champion: FM Lev Milman
2002 Grand Prix Champion: GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz
2003 Foxwoods Open: GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Sergey Kudrin
2003 Chicago Open: GM Yuri Shulman and IM Eugene Perelshteyn
2003 National Open: GM Joel Benjamin and FM Michael Casella
2003 World Open: IM Yury Lapshun and FM Matthew Hoekstra. Women's qualifier: Iryna Zenyuk
2003 U.S. Open: GM Larry Christiansen. Women's qualifier: WGM Rusudan Goletiani
2003 North American Open: IM Ben Finegold, GM Gregory Serper, Robby Adamson, Lev Altounian. Women's qualifier: WIM Jennifer Shahade

Seeded Players
The six top-rated players and five top-rated women players comes from the February 2004 USCF Rating List (that includes all events rated through December 31, 2003).
Overall: GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Alexander Onischuk, GM Igor Novikov, GM Boris Gulko, GM Alexander Goldin and GM Yasser Seirawan. *Having announced his official retirement from international chess late last year, Yasser Seirawan declines his invitation. His place is filled by GM Ildar Ibraigimov.
Women: GM Susan Polgar*, WGM Anna Zatonskih, WGM Irina Krush, WGM Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia. *Susan Polgar declines her invitation and has been replaced by Tatev Abrahamyan
2003 Grand Prix Champion: GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz. *Aleks is also the winner of the 2002 GP, so as per our rules this spot reverts to the February 2004 USCF Rating List, and will be filled (should he accept) by GM Lev Alburt. Update: Lev Alburt declined his invitation, therefore GM Nick de Firmian takes this place.
2004 Foxwoods Open: GM Julio Becerra, IM Renier Gonzalez, GM Alex Stripunsky and GM Alex Ivanov. The Women's qualifier was WIM Esther Epstein.
2004 Chicago Open: GM Alex Fishbein, FM Joshua Friedel, Chouchanik Airapetian and GM Dmitry Gurevich. The Women's qualifier was Tatiana Vayserberg.
2004 US Senior Open: FM Fabio LaRota.
2004 National Open: GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Stanislav Kriventsov, IM Blas Lugo, GM Anatoly Lein. The Women's qualifier was Vanessa West.
2004 World Open: IM Jesse Kraai, FM Dmitry Zilberstein, FM Stephen Muhammad, FM Enkbaat Tegshsuren. The Women's qualifiers were WM Tsagaan Battsetseg and WFM Laura Ross.
2004 U.S. Open: FM Marcel Martinez, FM Bruci Lopez, IM Dmitry Schneider, Jake Kleiman. The Women's qualifiers were WFM Anna Levina and WFM Olga Sagalchik.
AF4C Wild Cards: NM Salvijus Bercys and GM Gata Kamsky.
USCF State Champion of Champions: IM Ronald Burnett, Tennessee.

Keep watching. More interesting games will be added regularly.