The Best of the Rest: The U.S. Championship and the Capablanca Memorial
The World Championship has already been discussed and Sigeman & Co. had the day off (but check out the first video on the latter website for a cute practical joke), so the remaining news focuses on the U.S. Championship and the Women's Championship, along with the Capablanca Memorial in Havana.
In the U.S. Championship, the big game saw the leaders square off. Hikaru Nakamura had White against Gregory Kaidanov, and parlayed it into a never-ending ending promising Black nothing but misery. Maybe there was some way for Kaidanov to hold the draw (though I wouldn't bet on it), but as a practical matter it was hopeless. It looked like a model technical win, well worth studying.
Gata Kamsky bounced back from yesterday's loss to Kaidanov to defeat Varuzhan Akobian, and as a result he's in clear second, half a point behind Nakamura. I can't recall seeing Akobian play anything against 1.e4 but the French and an occasional 1...d6, but maybe last year's loss to Kamsky in the French encouraged him to try something new. His choice of the Berlin made sure he wouldn't lose quickly, but Kamsky seemed far more comfortable in the "Wall" endgame and he won anyway. It takes time to properly "feel" the Berlin, and it was a tall order for Akobian against a player of Kamsky's stature.
It was a "bloody" day in general, and it wasn't just the favorites who won. Third seed Alexander Onischuk won with Black against Robert Hess in one of his signature openings, the Archangelsk (White should have played 7.d3!); Alexander Stripunsky continued his comeback from an 0-2 start at the expense of the other slow starter, Yasser Seirawan. The end of that game was rather curious, as Seirawan's cluster of pieces on White's queenside first tied his opponent's forces down, but then wound up trapped and lost. Also committing chess suicide was Alejandro Ramirez, who rightly pushed in a better rook ending against Ray Robson before finally going too far and losing. The only draw of the day was between Alex Lenderman and Yuri Shulman, who both fell a full point behind Nakamura as a result.
Round 6 Pairings:
Seirawan (1) - Robson (2.5)
Onischuk (3) - Ramirez (1)
Kaidanov (3) - Hess (1.5)
Akobian (2) - Nakamura (4)
Shulman (3) - Kamsky (3.5)
Stripunsky (2.5) - Lenderman (3)
In round four of the women's championship, the three leaders all drew: Anna Zatonskih with Alisa Melekhina and Irina Krush and Iryna Zenyuk with each other. They continue to lead with 3/4, half a point ahead of Foisor and Abrahamyan.
In Havana, having White against tailender Yuniesky Quesada wasn't enough to propel Vassily Ivanchuk to a win, but his draw kept him in clear first, half a point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi. "Nepo" beat Viktor Laznicka, and with White next against Ivanchuk the final standings are very much up in the air.
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