US Championship, Round 6: Four Lead

That's convenient too, as there are four spots available in this weekend's final. But first, there's still tomorrow's round to be played, and today's round to be recapped.

Coming into the round, Onischuk and Kamsky were tied with 4 points apiece. They were paired, and Kamsky held pretty easily with the Black pieces. That ensured them of at least a tie for first going into the last round; the question was if they would have any company. They would.

First, Nakamura won pretty easily against Kraai, using everyone's new favorite weapon, the Catalan. I think White was slightly but very comfortably better after 19.Bf1, but after Kraai's 19...c5 20.dxc5 Rfc8 White was just winning. Kraai's intentions were good, to get rid of a potential weakness and give his pieces a little space; unfortunately for him, the simplifying sequence 21.Nxc4 Rxc5 22.Nb6 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Nxb6 24.axb6 left him with a lost or nearly lost position. If he takes on f1, then after recapturing White plays Rc7 and brings the king up the board (e.g. to d6) with a routine win. Black tried 24...Bc6, but after 25.Bg2 faced the same dilemma. Maybe after 25...Kf8 26.Bxc6 he'd have had some slight chances to hold after 26...Rc8, but the game continuation 26...bxc6 27.Rxc6 proved hopeless. This brought Nakamura back into the first-place tie.

Second, Stripunsky - Shulman added Shulman's name to the logjam atop the leaderboard. Stripunsky played the 4.Ne2 system against the Winawer French. It isn't esteemed by theoreticians, but it does at least avoid "Winawery" positions. White did not gain any advantage, however, and after Shulman's astute 18...Bh3 19.Rf2 (19.gxf4!?) Bg2! gained an edge that only increased as the game went along.

This means that the top four are composed of four of the top five by rating. Only one player is within immediate striking distance, and that's Christiansen, who took powerful advantage of a Krush error. Christiansen was making threatening gestures in the direction of Krush's king, but had nothing concrete until her 28...h5? She must have missed 29.Ne5!, when 29...fxe5(?) 30.fxe5 Rxf2 31.exd6! Qxd6 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Rxg7+ forces mate in one. She therefore chose 29...Bxe5 30.fxe5 f5, but in time trouble the task of holding her weak kingside together proved too difficult.

As for the remaining games; well, here are the complete results:

Onischuk (4) - Kamsky (4) 1/2-1/2

Nakamura (3.5) - Kraai (3.5) 1-0

Stripunsky (3.5) - Shulman (3.5) 0-1

Akobian (3) - Yermolinsky (3) 1/2-1/2

Christiansen (3) - Krush (3) 1-0

Shabalov (2.5) - Kaidanov (2.5) 1-0

Finegold (2.5) - Benjamin (2.5) 1-0

Robson (2) - Ehlvest (2) 1/2-1/2

Altounian (1.5) - Hess (2) 0-1

Lenderman (1.5) - Kudrin (1.5) 1-0

Bhat (1.5) - Shankland (1.5) 1-0

Gurevich (1) - Khachyian (1.5) 1/2-1/2

(The games and further info can be found on the tournament website.)

The top pairings tomorrow are these:

1. Shulman (4.5) - Onischuk (4.5)

2. Christiansen (4) - Nakamura (4.5)

3. Kamsky (4.5) - Shabalov (3.5)

Now, normally I'd expect Shulman - Onischuk to take only as long as needed to satisfy the anti-quick draw totalitarians. (Players who aren't in the Anand/Topalov/Kramnik tax bracket are supposed to risk a good shot at $35,000 and, at minimum, a 3/4 chance to make at least $5,000 more than a non-finalist, just to make some spectators happy? Riiiiight. Maybe I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.) However, because the finalists' scores carry over to the final, it is at least possible that they'll play a real game - but I wouldn't bet on it.

Certainly Christiansen will fight against Nakamura, given the likelihood of a Shulman-Onischuk handshake and the improbability that Shabalov will defeat Kamsky with Black. (It's not impossible, of course, just unlikely.) It would be a great day in his illustrious career if he managed to pull it off, especially at the (old for this field) age of 54.

We shall see! As always, the games start at 2 p.m. St. Louis time (= 3 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. CET), and my live commentary will begin an hour and a half after that on the Playchess server.