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The 24 contenders include the "big two" of Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura, plus former champions Alexander Onischuk, Alexander Shabalov, and not to mention defending champ Yury Shulman are among the other top seeds. Also among the line-up there's World Chess Live pros Boris Gulko (the only player to have won both the USSR and U.S. titles), U.S. Hall of Famers Joel Benjamin and Larry Christiansen, and top female Olympians Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih, the reigning U.S. women's champion.
Our parent site ICC Chess.FM plans extensive coverage direct from the playing venue in St. Louis, and World Chess Live will also be providing extensive coverage for our members! We'll be having official U.S. Championship commentators IM Jennifer Shahade and GM Emil Sutovsky broadcasting live to the audience in St. Louis and also here on WCL Chess.FM; Macauley Peterson will be on-hand producing videos for the official site; and former U.S. champion Nick De Firmian will be hosting each day a special U.S. Championship Game of the Day.
As the Championship approaches, look for regular updates here at worldchesslive.com and uschesschamps.com including a Twitter feed, videos and a fantasy chess competition. And over at uschess.org, there's a fascinating article by Al Lawrence on the man who made it all possible, philanthropist and club president, Rex Sinquefield.
Foxwoods Open 2009
In just a few short years, the annual tournament held at the ritzy Foxwoods resort and casino in the Connecticut backwoods has pushed its way to become among the premier U.S. tournaments.
And over the Easter weekend, the 11th Foxwoods Open had a stellar field that included grandmaster top seeds such as former U.S. champions Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Shabalov and Alexander Yermolinsky, reigning U.S. champion Yury Shulman, top Dutch player Loek van Wely, and the 1998 World Junior champion Darmen Sadvakasov from Kazakhstan, who now lives in the U.S.
Foxwoods has also proved to be a happy hunting ground for rising teenage star Robert Hess, 17, from New York, who gained his first grandmaster norm there last year. He went on to gain a second at the Spice Cup in Lubbock, Texas, and completed his third and final norm again at Foxwoods with another phenomenal performance to now become America's newest GM-elect.
It was reigning U.S. champion Shulman though who made all the early running for the top prize. However, in the final round, he could only draw with GM Jaan Ehlvest and watch from the sidelines as Sadvakasov caught up with him by grinding down another rising teenage New Yorker IM Alex Lenderman (the 2008 WCL/USCF Grand Prix victor) to tie for first on 7.5/9 and $5,430 each, with Van Wely third outright on 7 points.
Yet, despite beating the young Kazak in round four, the title isn’t decided on tiebreaks at Foxwoods and Shulman went on to lose the speed playoff game to give Sadvakasov the title, cash bonus and free hotel room for next year’s event.
SuperNationals 2009
A Day in the Life of the SuperNationals
by Courtney Jamison
Waking up at 10:30am during a chess tournament is rarely enjoyed, especially for the relatively seasoned player that I am, but Thursday was that exception to the rule. Bughouse was the first side event for the day, teams totaling over 200.
The tournament was held in the Presidential Ballroom, where the high school section will be for the main tournament, and everything started on time despite all that can and will go wrong in a tournament of such enormity. Knowing that my already limited bughouse skills were either rusty or fading, I decided to stave off playing and help my mom's students throughout one of their first major tournaments.
I fel t that overall the Bughouse ran smoothly, and even with the amount of people of all ages running about, everything seemed to be okay. The pairings went up shortly after the end of the round, the divisions were sectioned off clearly, and the TDs had a firm grip on the mass of kids, parents, and coaches. I always love watching how these things are run; all of the excitement, frantic running, joyous high-fives, somber sighs, rowdy yelps, all of this is done for the love and pain of chess. It reminds me of why I keep playing.
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Special Benefits for USCF Members
Members of the U.S. Chess Federation are welcome to a number of unique benefits on World Chess Live, including a free introductory membership, the
ability to play USCF quick-rated games online, and much more! Check out the USCF member page for further details.
World Chess Live Software
Dasher is a Windows program for connecting and playing with other members of the World Chess Live community. You can download and use it for free. Even without a subscription, you can play offline against "the computer". For those unable to download or run Windows software, we also offer a simplified interface named Sonia, which runs under Mac OS X, Linux, or directly from a browser.
2) Run the downloaded file. This will install it on your computer.
3) Run Dasher, select "Play against other people", and then "Register" to join World Chess Live.
Check out Dasher, World Chess Live's new chess-playing software. It's what you use to play and chat on WCL, but it can also play chess with you on your own computer without connecting. The best part is, it's totally free, whether you join WCL now or not.
Download now!
Dasher Software Benefits
Non-Members:
Play against "the Computer" for free.
Challenge 14 "Computer" Players at varying skill levels.
Save your games and track your skill ratings.
Analyze your own games or others.
Extensively customize the board, pieces, and play options.
Members:
Play chess against anyone within the growing WCL online community.
Build your own friends list and public profile.
Participate in frequent tournaments, some with major prizes.
Chat with others individually or in public discussions.
Receive broadcasts of major chess events from around the globe.
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