Shulman and Krush Lead at the 2008 U.S. Championships

Frank K. Berry U.S. Championship is currently ongoing in Tulsa, OK

19.05.2008 – GM Yury Shulman leads the 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Championship by a full point with two rounds to go. IM Irina Krush tops the U.S. Women’s Championship with 6.5 points, half a point ahead of main rival IM Anna Zatonskih who lost to Batchimeg Tuvshintugs in 7th round.
The championships are sponsored by IA Frank K. Berry and are being held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, at the Radisson Hotel. The championship is a 9-round Swiss with 24 players, and the women’s championship is a 10-player round robin. The rate of play is 40/100 (+ 30 seconds per move), then G/30 (with 30 seconds per move).

Games start at 14:30 local time (20:30h UTC). Games can be watched live at MonRoi with photos, videos and live commentaries. Video commentaries of the best game each round are produced by IM Alan Stein.

GM Yury Shulman

Yury Shulman has wins against GMs Gregory Kaidanov and Boris Gulko. In round 7 Shulman beat GM Julio Becerra with black pieces in his favorite French defence, repeating the variation that was recently seen in Cheparinov-Grischuk at the Baku Grand Prix.

Defending champion Alex Shabalov lost in the first round to Alex Yermolinsky and has been trying to catch up ever since. He needs to win his last three games for a chance at first place.

GM Alexander Onischuk

In the U.S. Women’s Championship, IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih are in a race for first, with the former taking a half-point lead in round 7. The two will meet in round 8 in what will surely be the deciding game.

IM Irina Krush

Standings:

Rank / Name / Title / Rating / Pts
1 Shulman, Yury GM 2664 6.0
2-3 Kudrin, Sergey GM 2610 5.0
2-3 Onischuk, Alexander GM 2728 5.0
4-6 Friedel, Josh IM 2511 4.5
4-6 Perelshteyn, Eugene GM 2615 4.5
4-6 Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2666 4.5 etc

Rank / Name / Title / Rating / Pts
1 Krush, Irina IM 2515 6.5
2 Zatonskih, Anna IM 2490 6.0
3 Abrahamyan, Tatev WFM 2280 5.0
4-5 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg WIM 2289 4.5
4-5 Rohonyan, Katerine WGM 2318 4.5
6 Battsetseg, Tsagaan WIM 2251 3.5
7 Zenyuk, Iryna WFM 2205 2.5
8 Epstein, Esther WM 2194 1.5
9 Airapetian, Chouchanik WFM 2143 1.0
10 Jamison, Courtney 2064 0.0

IM Anna Zatonskih

WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs

Official website

Report and photos by Brana Malobabic