All four players drew their final games and advanced to Saturday's "final four", but it wasn't easy for two of them.
In the "battle" between Shulman and Onischuk, the game was a very comfortable draw, as predicted yesterday. I don't know if they agreed to a draw beforehand, but it was so obviously in both players' interest that there was no need for collusion. Black played the Lasker Defense (maximum result: half a point except against Topalov), and White didn't try to create any special problems. A simple, short draw was the result.
Christiansen - Nakamura was another matter. Christiansen needed a win to make the final, and he was better throughout. I think there was a win at one point, too, with 34.Rxd5! If Black doesn't take anything, he's down a pawn with a lousy position. Taking on d5 is horrible too, so the only feisty move is 34...Bxe2. Now 35.Rd7 Qc4 36.Qe5, and Black has no answer to the threat of Rbb7 (followed by a catastrophe on g7) that doesn't drop the bishop on e2 and leave him with a lousy position a pawn down. After missing that, Christiansen still had some advantage, but it wasn't enough to win.
Kamsky - Shabalov seemed strange to me while I was doing the live commentary - I thought White had a comfortable positional edge with 16.Bd3 of 17.Bd3, but instead came up with 16.Rad1 Bf5 17.Bh4, and after 17...Qg6 Black suddenly had lots of play. But this was Kamsky's plan, and his big idea was the combination 18.Nfxe5 Nxe5 19.Nxe5 Bxe5 20.Bxh5 Qxh5 21.Rxe5 Qxh4 22.Qd4, threatening a lethal discovered check. Now 22...Qf6 loses to 23.Rxf5 Qxd4 24.Rxf8+ and 25.Rxd4, while 22...Kg8 23.Qd5+ and 24.Rxf5 wins for White as well. But what Kamsky admitted to missing was 22...Bg6, when White has no meaningful discovered check. (Actually, 22...c5 is fine for Black as well.) Fortunately for Kamsky, he was able to pick up a couple of pawns on the queenside, and Black's exposed king made it difficult for him to exploit his advantage. By the end of the game, White was better and could have played for a win, but perhaps he felt he had enjoyed enough adventures for one day, and the game ended in a draw.
This was bad news for Christiansen and Stripunsky too. The latter defeated Kraai after 22.Bxc4?? - Kraai must have seen only 22...Bxc4 and missed 22...Rxc4! 23.Rxc4 Nb6, winning. Finegold almost joined Christiansen and Stripunsky, but couldn't quite put Yermolinsky away. Likewise, Akobian could have joined the fifth-place tie, but he lost to Hess. Here are the full results:
1. Shulman (4.5) - Onischuk (4.5) 1/2-1/2
2. Christiansen (4) - Nakamura (4.5) 1/2-1/2
3. Kamsky (4.5) - Shabalov (3.5) 1/2-1/2
4. Kraai (3.5) - Stripunsky (3.5) 0-1
5. Yermolinsky (3.5) - Finegold (3.5) 1/2-1/2
6. Hess (3) - Akobian (3.5) 1-0
7. Krush (3) - Lenderman (2.5) 1-0
8. Ehlvest (2.5) - Bhat (2.5) 1-0
9. Kaidanov (2.5) - Robson (2.5) 1/2-1/2
10. Khachiyan (2) - Benjamin (2.5) 1-0
11. Kudrin (1.5) - Gurevich (1.5) 1/2-1/2
12. Shankland (1.5) - Altounian (1.5) 0-1
Tomorrow is a rest day, and then the tournament continues (at the usual hour) in two pieces: a quad for the final four, and two additional, normal rounds for everyone else. More about this later. Meanwhile, visit the official site for games and more.