Wednesday
Feb222012
US Championship Field Set, Starring Nakamura and Kamsky
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 8:28PM The 2012 U.S. Championship will take place in St. Louis again (of course), runs from May 7 through the 20th with the following field (ratings are USCF, not FIDE):
- Hikaru Nakamura (2846)
- Gata Kamsky (2804)
- Alexander Onischuk (2736)
- Yasser Seirawan (2723)
- Robert Hess (2717)
- Varuzhan Akobian (2709)
- Alexander Stripunsky (2700)
- Ray Robson (2674)
- Alejandro Ramirez (2668)
- Yury Shulman (2666)
- Aleksandr Lenderman (2665)
- Gregory Kaidanov (2658)
Not too shabby!
Reader Comments (7)
Wow, I was wondering why the ratings were so high- until I saw your USCF qualifier!
Do I detect slight resentment in your "St. Louis again (of course)"- do you think the event should move around the country a little more?
[DM: I say "of course" for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: that's where the money is. Rex Sinquefield is the only person in the US putting serious money into chess - his own money. (At least as far as I know.) I'm not sure why I would resent that; if anything, it's potentially convenient for me as I currently live much closer to St. Louis than, say, New York or California (to name two very populous states) or Washington state (where the championship was held for several years).]
Double Wow. The top four names alone say this could be one of the best championships ever. My pick is Nakamura (of course ;^)) but Seirawan will shake things up and could be second or third.
The big news, of course, is that Nakamura and Kamsky will both be in it.
[DM: Well, Kamsky has been in it every year, so the news is that Nakamura is back in it and that Seirawan hasn't yet re-retired.]
Re-retired? Wouldn't this actually be the re-re-re-retirement?
It is sad though to see both Ramirez here and not see Larry Christiansen. I think it says how political events like this are when someone can change their federation overnight to steal the spot of veteran US GMs.
[DM: Well, we'll see if Ramirez stays here. If he intends to and does, then I have no problem with this. If he doesn't, then I agree and will make "world citizen" jokes about him too.]
So, will the St. Louis chess center have the same internet coverage as last year, which I thought was great?
[DM: I would assume so, since they had good coverage for most of their big events last year, but that's a question to ask them.]
Is this going to overlap with the World Championship match? I don't know if I can handle so much awesome in one month.