2013 U.S. Championships (St. Louis, USA)
The 2013 U.S. Chess Championships kicked off without the defending champion Hikaru Nakamura who recently scored a sterling result in the FIDE Grand Prix. However, the field is led by Gata Kamsky along with a mixture of veterans and new faces. Twenty-four men and ten women qualified to vie for the prestigious crown with a $180,000 prize fund and a $64,000 prize for a perfect score.
This is the fifth consecutive time that the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis has hosted this prestigious event. The venue is stunningly beautiful and an appropriate conditions for the national championship. Rex Sinquefield has created what is arguably the centerpiece of American chess and is attracting international acclaim.
The tournament will feature live streaming with commentary being done by GM Yasser Seirawan and WGM Jennifer Shahade with GM Maurice Ashley also providing color commentary and onsite interviews. The Chess Drum will be onsite for live coverage beginning May 8th. Follow the action!!
Live Games: https://www.uschesschamps.com/live
 Chess Club & Scholastic Center of St. Louis |
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#
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Name
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Title
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Rating
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Residence
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| 1 | Kamsky, Gata | GM | 2741 |
Brooklyn, New York
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| 2 | Gareev, Timur | GM | 2674 |
Brownsville, Texas
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| 3 | Onischuk, Alex | GM | 2666 |
Lubbock, Texas
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| 4 | Robson, Ray | GM | 2620 |
St. Louis, Missouri
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| 5 | Akobian, Varuzhan | GM | 2616 |
Topeka, Kansas
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| 6 | Shankland, Sam | GM | 2612 |
Berkeley, California
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| 7 | Hess, Robert | GM | 2595 |
New Haven, Connecticut
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| 8 | Kaidanov, Gregory | GM | 2593 |
Lexington, Kentucky
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| 9 | Christiansen, Larry | GM | 2579 |
Cambridge, Massachussetts
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| 10 | Shulman, Yury | GM | 2570 |
Chicago, Illinois
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| 11 | Stripunsky, Alexander | GM | 2570 |
Queens, New York
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| 12 | Ramirez, Alejandro | GM | 2551 |
Dallas, Texas
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| 13 | Shabalov, Alexander | GM | 2544 |
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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| 14 | Arnold, Mark | GM | 2538 |
New York City, New York
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| 15 | Benjamin, Joel | GM | 2534 |
New Jersey
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| 16 | Ivanov, Aleksandr | GM | 2529 |
Newton, Massachussetts
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| 17 | Khachiyan, Melikset | GM | 2518 |
Glendale, California
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| 18 | Holt, Conrad | GM | 2666 |
Wichita, Kansas
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| 19 | Finegold, Ben | GM | 2505 |
St. Louis, Missouri
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| 20 | Sammour-Hasbun, Jorge | FM | 2463 |
Warwich, Rhode Island
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| 21 | Norowitz, Yaacov | IM* | 2451 |
Brooklyn, New York
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| 22 | Bryant, John | FM | 2442 |
Tehachapi, California
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| 23 | Troff, Kayden | IM | 2421 |
West Jordan, Utah
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| 24 | Sevian, Samuel | IM* | 2371 |
Santa Clara, California
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| 1 | Krush, Irina | IM | 2470 |
Brooklyn, New York
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| 2 | Zatonskih, Anna | IM | 2466 |
Germany
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| 3 | Foisor, Sabina | WGM | 2300 |
Baltimore, Maryland
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| 4 | Abrahamyan, Tatev | WGM | 2280 |
Glendale, California
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| 5 | Baginskaite, Camilla | WGM | 2278 |
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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| 6 | Belakovskaia, Anjelina | WGM | 2263 |
Tucson, Arizona
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| 7 | Ni, Viktorija | WIM | 2262 |
Chicago, Illinois
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| 8 | Zenyuk, Irina | WIM | 2243 |
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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| 9 | Kats, Alena | WFM | 2144 |
New York, New York
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| 10 | Chiang, Sarah | WFM | 2038 |
Dallas, Texas
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Allowing strong juniors to play in the US Championship is awesome! To also add Maurice Ashley makes it even better.
What a hum it would create to see the three young lions compete for the prestigious title of US Champion. I believe it’s a matter of time before we see it happen. As St. Louis chess club seems to be opening doors in a fair, equal and balance way.
I don’t understand why the Young Lions don’t have FIDE ratings that are more commensurate with their USCF ratings. To the casual observer, it seems obvious that it must be their tournament choices that are causing the disparity. But what was so different about Kassa Korley’s tournament schedule that made him reach a peak of 2350 in FIDE back in 2011? The ironic thing is that last I heard, Korley has a losing record head-to-head against Justus Williams.
Thank for the info. My comments about Kassa refer to ’09 when he first reached 2300 uscf. He got to 2296 FIDE just a few months later.
I am working on correcting the rating difference. It was not until about 2 and half years ago, that someone told me the importance of getting a respectable FIDE rating. Up until that time, I would only have Josh play in the 2 or 3 days schedule in major tournaments. Those schedules were not counted for FIDE purposes. So his USCF rating was going up, but his FIDE rating was not moving. If you check his tournament history, you will see that he has only played in very few FIDE tournaments. Moving forward, he will mostly play FIDE tournament so his rating can truly be an indication of his strength.
Games played at ratable time controls in FIDE events are rated. For example, in the 3-day schedule of the U2400 World Open, only the four games at 40/2, SD/1 would be FIDE rated. When such an event is played, USCF has to prepare a rating report for FIDE that excludes games played at improper time controls.
I think this may explain why some stronger juniors (such as Josh Colas) have had FIDE ratings that lag more than the expected 50-100 points behind their USCF ratings, even though they’ve been playing FIDE rated events.
I was able to visit the St. Louis CC last weekend. What a nice facility. I did tell Rex Sinquefield that I wished he had been around 25 years ago. The Central West End is a fitting neighborhood for the club.
Thanks for the clarification Boyd!
Thanx all for info.
Disappointing finish for John Bryant…but I suspect he’ll be a GM soon enough. He was on his way to another GM norm at the start.
Congratulations, of course, to Gata Kamsky for his fourth US title. Also, congratulations to Alejandro Ramirez, who seems to have taken a big step up in class over the last year or so.
As for the women, it appears Irina Krush (at least for now) is clearly the best in the US, with Zatonskih second, and everyone else fighting for the next tier.
Daim,
It was great talking to you tonight at the closing ceremony of the U.S. Championship in St. Louis. I just remembered our game from the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel …the 2011 Florida chess championship. Good defense on your part. I love your website. Keep up the good work.
larry Storch
Great coverage Daaim. Try and play as much as possible!