US Chess Championships 2012: Top Seeds Hold on To Lead in Both Men's, Women's Sections

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Top seeds continued to hold lead in both the men and women's sections of the 2012 U.S. Chess Championships. With the two top seeds in each division pulling away from the pack, GM Gata Kamsky exuded his usual perfection in positional chess to give GM Alex Lenderman his first loss of the event. That left the crowd watching to see if GM Hikaru Nakamura, the top seed in the U.S. Championship, could keep pace. But Nakamura went on to beat Stripunsky in an unusual French defense. 

 

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) is the host to the championships. Kamsky and Nakamura both have 6/8 and will play each other on Friday. Should there be a winner, he will be the betting favorite to win the title.

Chasing the two leaders is a trio of grandmasters. GMs Alex Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Yury Shulman all have 4.5/8.

In the women’s section, the two leaders, IMs Zatonskih and Krush, drew their Round 7 game. They both still lead with 5/7.

 

Don't miss the excellent commentary at the 

US Chess Championships by 

WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Ben Finegold.

Round nine for the U.S. Championship and round eight for the U.S. Women’s Championship will begin tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern. You can check more details at the official website: www.uschesschamps.org and also tune in to live commentary by WGM Jennifer Shahade and the club’s GM-in-Residence Ben Finegold.

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