Press Release by John Henderson

2003 AF4C US Chess Championships, 9-18 January Northwest Rooms, Seattle.

Round 6; The Swiss miss (or hit)...

In the past, the title of US Champion was either decided by way of a match between the two leading players of the day, much in the same way as the great swindler Frank Marshall dominated the US chess scene from 1905 through to 1936, or by way of an invitational round robins dominated by the likes of Bobby Fischer (8 titles), Sammy Reshevsky (7 titles), Walter Browne (6 titles) or Larry Evans (5 titles). There was even the experiment of the 1990s of a invitational knockout.

However, a much-needed overhaul was brought about last year by the AF4C, in a concerted effort to generate excitement and open up the game to the masses. By increasing the field with the introduction of women and more qualification tournaments (increasing the field to 58), thus meaning the method of determining the champion being decided by a Swiss system.

The gruelling Swiss-styled format can be particularly cruel. Very seldom is there an outright winner in such events as it is nearly impossible to distance yourself from the field. Round six saw a confirmation of that, as the two leaders, Kaidanov and Shabalov, by drawing their own games respectively against Seirawan and Gulko, were risking being caught by the someone from the chasing pack - though perhaps they were fortunate that only one won through to join them in the lead.

Defending champion Larry Christiansen's chances of retaining his title suffered a major blow as he lost with white to GM Alex Fishbein, in a frustrating endgame he should really have drawn. Fishbein, who now works as a Quantitative Analyst at UBS Warburg during the day, and chess master by night, now joins Shabalov and Kaidanov at the top. The only question being will he have the staying power to stick with them?

With most other games on the other top boards also ending in draws, the next winner was the surprising Foygel, who defeated Ben Finegold who dropped a piece. The young wannabes, Nakamura and Akobian, stay in the hunt not only for the final norms to become Grandmasters, but also keep in touching distance to become the youngest champions since Fischer.

The race for the women's championship is even more open, as Irina Krush suffered a tough loss as white to John Donaldson. Battsetseg, however, pulled off a surprising win as black against Dean Ippolito to take the sole lead. Defending champion Jennifer Shahade also keeps herself in contention on 2.5.

ROUND SIX 1 GM Gregory Kaidanov draw GM Yasser Seirawan; 2 GM Boris Gulko draw GM Alexander Shabalov; 3 GM Joel Benjamin draw IM Varuzhan Akobian; 4 IM Hikaru Nakamura draw GM Alexander Stripunsky; 5 GM Walter Browne 1-0 WGM Kamile Baginskaite; 6 GM Larry Christiansen 0-1 GM Alex Fishbein; 7 FM Stephen Muhammad draw GM Alex Yermolinsky; 8 IM Ben Finegold 0-1 FM Igor Foygel; 9 GM Alexander Ivanov 1-0 IM Eugene Perelshteyn; 10 IM Michael Mulyar 1-0 GM Gregory Serper; 11 GM Sergey Kudrin 1-0 WGM Elena Donaldson; 12 IM Jesse Kraai draw GM Gennadi Zaitshik; 13 IM Dean Ippolito 0-1 WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg; 14 IM Boris Kreiman 1-0 IM William Paschall; 15 WGM Irina Krush 0-1 IM John Donaldson; 16 IM John Watson 0-1 GM Alexander Goldin; 17 WIM Jennifer Shahade draw IM Larry Kaufman; 18 GM Dmitry Gurevich draw IM Ron Burnett; 19 WIM Anna Hahn 0-1 FM Allan Bennett; 20 GM John Fedorowicz 1-0 FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat; 21 GM Nick De Firmian draw IM Justin Sarkar; 22 GM Anatoly Lein draw GM Maurice Ashley; 23 IM Yury Lapshun draw FM Aaron Pixton; 24 IM Greg Shahade 1-0 IM Stanislav Kriventsov; 25 WIM Esther Epstein draw David Pruess; 26 WFM Laura Ross draw FM Gregory Markzon; 27 WIM Cindy Tsai 0-1 Julia Shiber; 28 Anna Levina 0-1 WIM Olga Sagalchik; 29 WIM Elina Groberman 1-0 Marc Esserman.

STANDINGS. 1-3 Kaidanov, Shabalov, Fishbein 4.5/6; 4-15 Gulko, Seirawan, Benjamin, Stripunsky, Yermolinsky, Akobian, Ivanov, Nakamura, Kreiman, Foygel, Mulyar, Muhammad 4; 16-25 Goldin, Christiansen, Fedorowicz, Zaitshik, Browne, Gurevich, Kraai, G. Shahade, Burnett, Sarkar 3.5; 26-36 De Firmian, Finegold, Serper, Kudrin, Lapshun, Perelshteyn, Paschall, Pixton, J. Donaldson, Lein, Battsetseg 3; 37-44 Ashley, Enhbat, Kriventsov, Kaufman, Baginskaite, Watson, J. Shahade; Bennett 2.5; 45-55 Ippolito, E. Donaldson; Krush, Pruess, Markzon, Hahn, Epstein, Sagalchik, Ross, Groberman, Shiber 2; 56-57 Tsai, Levina 1; 58 Esserman 0.5.

You can follow all 29 games live over the Internet at: http://www.af4c.org