US Championships 2002
| John Fernandez Reports
Round 9 13th January 2002 “All good things...” The Seattle Chess Foundation had the idea of turning chess, most specifically the US Championships, into a great sporting event. Little did they suspect that the 2002 US Championship would have all the drama of these major sports clashes and more.Going into the final round, there were five players who could possibly carry the US Championship back home with them: GM Alex Yermolinsky 2574 6 The pairings for the final round consisted as follows: de Firmian – Yermolinsky It was on these three boards where the US Championships would be decided. Note that the pack that’s only one point behind at 5 could not catch them. The laws of chess physics dictate that when a 6 plays a 5½, someone’s getting at least 6½, unless both players are somehow double forfeited. The drama on Board 3 was quickly ended when Kreiman offered Seirawan a draw on the 12th move and it was accepted by Yaz. A short time later, Benjamin offered Christiansen a draw on move 16. The drama was left to Board 2, where De Firmian had a good edge against Yermolinsky. Larry and wife Natasha were nervously watching the proceedings in the press room, as I had the game live on ICC on my screen. Many GMs and important people crowded around my corner of the press room to watch.
After slugging it out for hours, the position reached a climax, and finally, one of the participants snapped. GM Nick De Firmian (2536) - GM Alex Yermolinsky (2574)
White has been nursing this edge for a while. The king hemmed in on the back rank, and the passed pawn on c6 has been a thorn in Black’s side. The problem is, is it good enough to win? In this position, it is! After 58. Nd5!, the position is won for White. The mate threat on f8 can only be stopped by giving up the Rook for the knight and pawn, either in the variation 58… Bf6 59. Rf8+ Bd8 60. c7 Rxc7 or 58… Rxc6 59. Ne7+ Kc7 60. Nxc6+ Kxc6. In either case, the position is winning. White will be able at some point to sacrifice his rook to get into a winning king and pawn endgame. But Nick makes a mistake! 58. Nb5?, which allows Black to at least temporarily escape with the move 58… Kd8! This variation of course wasn’t possible before since the knight on d5 would control the e7 square, making 60. Rf8 still checkmate. It’s not clear how White breaks through in the resulting position. However, Yermo tragically blundered with 58… Rc5?? Seeing this in the press room, I sprinted out to the playing hall, to see a Yermo standing over the board, IA Jonathan Berry running in to intervene, and Nick De Firmian calmly playing 59. Rf8# 1-0. Yermo quickly signed the scoresheets and stormed off. It was a sad way to end his tournament, which had seen him at the top of the pack the entire time. One player dourly remarked, “Yermo’s finally human. He always seems to be winning games like this.” True enough, but I’m sure this game will haunt Yermo until he wins his next tournament, which knowing him, should be very soon. After the game, though, De Firmian was a complete basketcase. He had just won a very nerve racking game in a must-win situation, and next thing he knows, he has to immediately go into a Blitz playoff for the title of US Champion! Nick asked for and received some time to try to decompress, while Christiansen ran off to get some coffee and a smoke to calm his nerves. Around 7PM, the game Browne – Gulko finally ended in a draw, so the hall was free to set up for the playoff. An interesting note about the time of all this: At 7PM, the Closing Ceremony was supposed to start at Mohai, a museum on the outskirts of Seattle. 7PM was slated for cocktails, which I suspect both players desperately needed at this point. The original time control was set up for 5 minutes plus 5 second increment on a four game match. However, both players wished for their suffering to end as quickly as possible, so they agreed on a 5 minutes plus 1 second per move time control. With that all out of the way, the games were ready to begin. Spectators packed the hall, Christiansen drew White in game 1, and they went to play.
Games 1 and 2 were interesting affairs. In both games Black ended up getting the better of a heavy piece endgame, however, the advantage was not enough for Black to win. In game 3, Larry finally made his breakthrough. Larry was able to expertly engineer a win in a position with his Two Rooks, Knight and 4 pawns versus Nick’s Two Rooks, Knight and 3 pawns. Larry now had a 2-1 advantage, and would easily coast through due to Nick’s shattered nerves. Right? Wrong! Nick managed to break down Christiansen’s Burn French, winning the exchange, then a rook, and then managing to trade off all the pieces to tie the match. The famous Armageddon game now appeared to decide the 2002 US Chess Champion. For those of you unfamiliar with the Armageddon game, an idea first used in the PCA Rapid Events a few years back, it goes as follows: White gets 6 minutes and Black 5 minutes and draw odds. No increment! Nearly every player wants to have Black in this situation, though White has won a fair amount of games in this format. Larry was outside smoking a cigarette as SCF President Erik Anderson picked for Nick’s color which was Black. All Nick had to do was draw with the Black pieces, and he’d be US Champion. It was now Larry’s turn to win the game. Obviously this should be the game covered in full. Here it is: GM Nick De Firmian (2536) - GM Larry Christiansen (2571)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 The Benoni, a De Firmian specialty. Most players would be tempted to go into something more solid and "drawish", such as the Semi-Slav complex, but not Nick. He was going to play for a draw by playing for a win! 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.e4 a6 Most players here would play 8. a4, in order to restrict Black on the queenside. However, after a think, Larry decides that it's best to have Nick get all the queenside space he wants- Larry wants to checkmate him on the kingside. 8.h3 b5 9.Bd3 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bf4 Re8 12.a3 Qb6 13.Qd2 Nbd7 14.Rfe1 Bb7 15.Rad1 [15.Re2 c4 16.Bc2 Nc5 17.Rae1 Nfd7~~ Aseev - Magerramov, Rostov 1993] 15...Rac8N [15...Rad8 16.Bh6 Bh8 17.Kh1 c4 18.Bc2 Ne5~~ Estremera Panos - Alvarez Fernandez, Oropesa del Mar 1996; 15...c4 16.Bc2 Nc5 17.Bh6 Nfd7 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qd4+ f6~~ Egorov - Kotsur, Tula 2001] 16.Bh6 Bh8 17.Qf4 Ne5 18.Nxe5 Rxe5 19.Qf3 Ree8 20.Bg5 Nd7 21.Qg3 Ne5 22.Bf1 Bg7 23.Qh4 c4 24.Bf6 White wants to insist on trading off the dark squared bishops in order to weaken the dark squares around Black's king. 24...a5 25.Re3 b4 26.axb4 axb4 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.Ne2 f6 29.Nd4 Nd3?? A blunder!
30.Rexd3? [30.Nf5+!! would have been forced mate! 30...gxf5 (30...Kg8 31.Qxf6 gxf5 32.Rg3#; 30...Kf7 31.Qxh7+ Kf8 32.Qg7#) 31.Rg3+ Kf7 32.Qxh7+ Kf8 33.Rg8# No doubt Larry would have found this with some time on his clock, but in a Blitz game, such things happen.] 30...cxd3 31.Ne6+ Rxe6 32.dxe6 Re8 33.Bxd3 Rxe6 34.Rc1 All of a sudden the situation is unclear again! Both players were under two minutes at this stage. 34...Re7 35.b3 Rc7 36.Rxc7+ Qxc7 37.Bc4 Qe7 38.f3 Qe5 39.Qe1 Qc5+ 40.Kh1 d5? A mistake, costing Black a pawn! [After a normal move, say 40...Bc6 , it's not very clear if White can make progress here.] 41.exd5 Bxd5 42.Bxd5 Qxd5 43.Qe7+ Kh6 44.Qxb4 White is now probably winning this endgame, but it's a nightmare to have in time pressure, especially in a Blitz game. Can Nick draw it? 44...f5 45.Qf4+ Kg7 46.b4 h5 47.h4 Kf7 48.Kh2 Ke6 49.Qb8 Kf7 50.b5 Qc4 51.Kg3 Qb4 52.Qc7+ Kf6 53.Qd8+ Kf7 54.b6 Qe1+ 55.Kh2 f4 56.Qc7+
And White is promoting his b-pawn by force. When Nick resigned, the clock times were as follows: Christiansen 11 seconds, De Firmian 2 seconds. One possible variation is: [56.Qc7+ Ke6 57.Qxf4 (Did you notice that Black was threatening Qg3+ with a perpetual check?) 57...Qb1 58.Qc4+ Kf6 59.Qc6+ Kg7 60.Qc7+ Kh6 61.b7 Qe1 62.Qf4+ (62.b8Q?? Qxh4+ 63.Kg1 Qe1+=) 62...Kh7 63.b8Q+-] 1-0 So Larry Christiansen won to become US Chess Champion. Nick was very gracious in defeat, although in hindsight, I think he was just glad the suffering was over and he was still getting a very nice paycheck ($11,000) for his efforts. Larry was also relieved, and very kind in congratulating Nick on pushing him to the brink after a fantastic game against Yermolinsky just an hour before. Of course, Larry was also grateful to the SCF for putting on a fantastic and exciting event, and I’m sure Larry greatly appreciated the paycheck and US Championship Ring he was soon to receive. Believe it or not, that wasn’t the only drama that happened in Seattle on Sunday. There was still a case of the Women’s Championship to be decided. Despite Jennifer Shahade’s brilliant event, she did lead only by one full point over Camilla Baginskaite and Elena Donaldson, who had Black against Gennady Sagalchik and Eugene Perelshteyn. Elena was the first to finish, having tried too hard to press for a win and missing Eugene’s tactic to decide the game. Jennifer was then the next to lose, something having gone horribly wrong in the opening for her against Alex Stripunsky. Jennifer now had to nervously watch the Sagalchik – Baginskaite matchup, where Baginskaite seemed to be somewhat better. Being unable to take it, Jennifer told me that she had to leave the playing hall and go relax. It was now my job to call her to tell her either that she was the 2002 US Women’s Chess Champion or that she had to get back here to playoff with Baginskaite. Shades of 2000 were back, when Camilla stormed back to tie the leader of the event, Elina Groberman, and then beat her in a playoff. Fortunately for Jennifer, Gennady was able to hold Camilla back and allow her the draw. I was fortunately able to call Jenn with the good news. Jennifer’s response to finding out she was the 2002 US Women’s Chess Champion? “Great! I can keep on shopping! Bye!” Wonderful to see that the SCF’s money is going to good use. While Jennifer did not manage the GM norm; a WGM and IM norm, the title of US Chess Champion, the ring, and the $9,500 check, not to mention the enormous publicity she got and Elo points gained make this a great event for her. At the closing ceremony, aside from honoring the winners of the event, some other people were honored. First on the list was those that achieved norms during the event: GM Norm- Boris Kreiman Also announced were the brilliancy prizes, generously
donated by Paul Albert: The final announcement was a shocker. The Seattle Chess Foundation no longer exists! It has now been renamed the “America's Foundation for Chess”, and intends to grow all over the US. This can only be good news for everyone who plays chess in the United States. I’d just like to thank everyone at the SCF, specifically Erik Anderson, Michelle Anderson, Yvette Seirawan, Yasser Seirawan and Sarah Vincent for making this event go off perfectly. Also thanks to the staff at the event, John Henderson and Michael Franett for getting info and game scores. Of course major thanks goes to TWIC and Malcolm Pein and Mark Crowther for helping me have this opportunity. I will be back!! (P.S. Sorry this is out late. I had to catch a red-eye flight back to New York Monday morning and spent Monday being a Juror in the legal system. I hope you all forgive me and enjoy the report.)
Round 9 Results:
GM Joel Benjamin (2593) 1 / 2 GM Larry Christiansen (2571)
GM Nick De Firmian (2536) 1 – 0 GM Alex Yermolinsky (2574
IM Boris Kreiman (2493) 1 / 2 GM Yasser Seirawan (2644)
GM Walter Browne (2450) 1 / 2 GM Boris Gulko (2601)
WIM Jennifer Shahade (2302) 0 – 1 GM Alex Stripunsky (2542)
GM Alex Shabalov (2606) 1 – 0 GM Gregory Serper (2558)
GM Alexander Ivanov (2578) 1 – 0 FM Donny Ariel (2367)
GM Gregory Kaidanov (2596) 1 / 2 GM Sergey Kudrin (2524)
IM Eugene Perelshteyn (2451) 1 - 0 WGM Elena Donaldson (2393)
GM Gennady Sagalchik (2531) 1 / 2 WIM Camilla Baginskaite (2357)
IM Igor Ivanov (2470) 1 – 0 FM Yury Lapshun (2384)
IM William Paschall (2422) 0 - 1 FM Dmitry Schneider (2412)
IM Michael Mulyar (2491) 1 / 2 FM Vladimir Strugatsky (2431)
FM Levon Altounian (2442) 1 / 2 IM Mladen Vucic (2396)
GM Alexander Fishbein (2497) 1 / 2 IM Guillermo Rey (2346)
IM Igor Khmelnitsky (2479) 1 – 0 IM Larry Kaufman (2400)
FM Igor Foygel (2474) 1 / 2 GM John Fedorowicz (2517)
GM Dmitry Gurevich (2544) 0 – 1 IM Jesse Kraai (2442)
Matthew Hoekstra (2211) 0 – 1 Armen Ambarcumjan (2388)
FM Stanislav Kriventsov (2415) 1 / 2 FM Alexander Kaliksteyn (2378)
Aaron Pixton (2432) 1 – 0 Vladimir Lipman (----)
IM Anthony Saidy (2373) 1 / 2 IM John Donaldson (2450)
IM Mikhail Zlotnikov (2417) 0 – 1 FM Slava Mikhailuk (2447)
WIM Anna Hahn (2231) 0 – 1 WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2261)
Chouchanik Airapetian (2068) 1 / 2 Josef Friedman (2154)
WIM Esther Epstein (2194) 1 – 0 Cindy Tsai (2197)
Elina Groberman (2102) 1 / 2 Anna Levina (2103)
Hana Itkis (----) 0 – 1 WFM Olga Sagalchik (2130)
Final Standings:
GM Larry Christiansen 2571 6.5
GM Nick de Firmian 2536 6.5
GM Alexander Shabalov 2606 6
GM Joel Benjamin 2593 6
GM Alexander Ivanov 2578 6
GM Alex Yermolinsky 2574 6
GM Alex Stripunsky 2542 6
IM Boris Kreiman 2493 6
GM Yasser Seirawan 2644 5.5
GM Boris Gulko 2601 5.5
GM Gregory Kaidanov 2596 5.5
GM Sergei Kudrin 2524 5.5
IM Igor Ivanov 2470 5.5
GM Walter Browne 2450 5.5
FM Dmitry Schneider 2412 5.5
GM Gregory Serper 2558 5
GM John Fedorowicz 2517 5
GM Alexander Fishbein 2497 5
IM Igor Khmelnitsky 2479 5
FM Igor Foygel 2474 5
IM Eugene Perelshteyn 2451 5
IM Jesse Kraai 2442 5
FM Vladimir Strugatsky 2431 5
IM Michael Mulyar 2427 5
FM Donny Ariel 2367 5
IM Guillermo Rey 2346 5
WIM Jennifer Shahade 2302 5
FM Levon Altounian 2442 4.5
Aaron Pixton 2432 4.5
IM William Paschall 2422 4.5
IM Mladen Vucic 2396 4.5
Armen Ambarcumjan 2388 4.5
FM Yury Lapshun 2384 4.5
WIM Camilla Baginskaite 2357 4.5
GM Dmitry Gurevich 2544 4
FM Slava Mikhailuk 2447 4
IM Larry Kaufman 2400 4
WGM Elena Donaldson 2393 4
GM Gennady Sagalchik 2531 4
FM Stanislav Kriventsov 2415 4
FM Alex Kaliksteyn 2378 4
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg 2261 4
IM John Donaldson 2450 3.5
IM Anthony Saidy 2373 3.5
Matthew Hoekstra 2211 3.5
WIM Esther Epstein 2194 3.5
WFM Olga Sagalchik 2130 3.5
Vladimir Lipman ---- 3.5
IM Mikhail Zlotnikov 2358 3
FM Josef Friedman 2154 3
Elina Groberman 2102 3
Chouchanik Airapetian 2068 3
WIM Anna Hahn 2231 2.5
Cindy Tsai 2197 2.5
Anna Levina 2103 2.5
Hana Itkis ---- 0.5
Final Women Standings:
WIM Jennifer Shahade 2302 5
WIM Camilla Baginskaite 2357 4.5
WGM Elena Donaldson 2393 4
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg 2261 4
WIM Esther Epstein 2194 3.5
WFM Olga Sagalchik 2130 3.5
Elina Groberman 2102 3
Chouchanik Airapetian 2068 3
WIM Anna Hahn 2231 2.5
Cindy Tsai 2197 2.5
Anna Levina 2103 2.5
Hana Itkis ---- 0.5
You can reach John Fernandez via e-mail at jfernandez@jfern.com The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center. |
