Kamsky squeezes Shulman! (12)

Yuri Shulman suffered in the first game

The US Championships in St. Louis have reached the Final stage. Gata Kamsky won on the first day of the final, after grinding down Yuri Shulman in a quiet positional game. In the women's final, a draw leaves the match still open, but Zatonskih will have the advantage of playing with the white pieces in Game 2.

In a fairly dry game, Kamsky maintained a shade of an edge as he had the slightly more active pieces. Shulman playing Black certainly had chances to hold out, but in practise such positions without counterplay are unpleasant to defend.

Now Yuri Shulman will have to win the second classical game to stay in the match.

Final (day one):

Game no.	White	Elo	Result	Black	Elo
1	Gata Kamsky	2733	1-0	Yuri Shulman	2622

Third-Fourth place play-off (day one):

Game no.	White	Elo	Result	Black	Elo
1	Sam Shankland	2512	½-½	Robert Hess	2565

The final is in balance after a draw in the first game. Tatev Abrahamyan played the ambitious Milner-Barry Gambit a sign that she aims to test her opponent in complex openings. A good choice in my opinion as it generally enables a lower-rated player to maximize their chances.

Final (day one):

Game no.	White	Elo	Result	Black	Elo
1	Tatev Abrahamyan	2326	½-½	Anna Zatonskih	2499

Third-Fourth place play-off (day one):

Game no.	White	Elo	Result	Black	Elo
1	Camilla Baginskaite	2342	0-1	Irina Krush	2472

Here is a reminder of how the tie-breaks work i.e. if the score (in any of the matches) after day is 1-1:

The tie-breaks will consist of a two-game rapid match (G/25+5 second increment). If the contest is still undecided, the match will go to a rapid Armageddon bidding game with a base time of 45 minutes for each Player. Black will have draw odds. Each Player shall bid an amount of time (minutes and seconds, a number equal to or less than 45:00) they are willing to play with in order to choose their color. The Player who bids the lowest amount of time chooses his color and begins with that amount of time; the other Player receives 45:00. If both Players bid exactly the same amount of time, the Chief Arbiter will flip a coin to determine who shall choose their color.

The games will start at 2pm (local time).

There is a seven hour difference between St. Louis and Paris.

So 2pm (St. Louis) =

8pm London

9pm Paris, Madrid

11pm Moscow

For more informations go to the official site: http://saintlouischessclub.org/2011-us-championships/
For live play: http://saintlouischessclub.org/live/