IM Anna Zatonskih wins US Women's Championship

IM Anna Zatonskih has defended her title with an impressive 8.5 points out of 9 game performance at this year's US Women's Chess Champion, hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

Defending U.S. Champion Anna Zatonskih, of Long Island, N.Y., finished off the tournament in style with a positional crush of Yun Fan, of Greencastle, Ind. She won the record $15,000 first place prize fund. Zatonskih ended with eight wins and one draw in nine games, and her 8.5 points were tied for the best result in the championship in more than 20 years. She said the championship was the best performance of her career.

Camilla Baginskaite finished in 2nd place with 6.5/9.0 to earn $12,000. Both players earn automatic qualifiers for the next Women's World Championship to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

USCF News Release (and video recap)
CCSCSL Press Release
Final Standings
All games (via Chessgames.com)

US Championship begins today

For the next week, 24 of the top players in the United States will compete for nearly $200,000 in prizes and the title US Champion. The tournament is 9 rounds and will last May 8 - 17. The event is being hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

Round 1, Friday, May 8, 12:00 pm (Tucson time)

01. GM Ibragimov, Ildar (2628) - GM Kamsky, Gata (2798)
02. GM Nakamura, Hikaru (2757) - GM Shabalov, Alexander (2620)
03. GM Friedel, Joshua (2568) - GM Onischuk, Alexander (2736)
04. GM Shulman, Yury (2697) - IM Sevillano, Enrico (2549)
05. IM Hess, Robert (2545) - GM Christiansen, Larry (2681)
06. GM Becerra, Julio (2672) - IM Robson, Ray (2542)
07. IM Zatonskih, Anna (2503) - GM Akobian, Varuzhan (2664)
08. GM Kaidanov, Gregory (2662) - IM Krush, Irina (2496)
09. IM Shankland, Samuel (2464) - GM Benjamin, Joel (2650)
10. GM Ehlvest, Jaan (2649) - IM Brooks, Michael (2419)
11. Lawton, Charles (2350) - GM Khachiyan, Melikset (2632)
12. GM Gulko, Boris (2631) - Hughes, Tyler (2293)

The games are available though an online stream. Results will also be available here.

Discussion, news, and photos are available across the web.

Official Website
USCF Chess Life Online
ICC Chess.FM Blog
Susan Polgar Blog
ChessGames.com
Chess.com

Danny Rensch featured on Chess Life Online

FM Daniel Rensch writes about earning his second IM norm, and his plans to earn the Grandmaster title. He also gives us insight into an unexpected detour at the height of his confidence. Daniel is the president of American Chess Events, which is hosting the Cooper State International (Mesa, Arizona, May 29-June 3).

2009 US Championship contenders announced

USCF announced today 23 of the 24 players that will be participating in this year's US Championship. The US Championship will be held May 7-17, hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The winner will receive $35,000 of the overall prize fund of $130,000.

The 24 players will include:

• the top 12 American players by rating, using the April rating supplement;

Varuzhan Akobian, Julio Becerra, Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Jaan Ehlvest, Boris Gulko, Ildar Ibragimov, Gregory Kaidanov, Gata Kamsky, Melikset Khachiyan, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk

• the top two female players by rating, using the April rating supplement;

Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih

• the 2008 U.S. Junior Closed Champion;

Tyler Hughes

• the 2008 U.S. Open Champion;

Enrico Sevillano

• the 2009 U.S. State Champion of Champions;

• the 2008 defending U.S. Chess Champion;

Yury Shulman

• a total of six wild card spots.

Michael Brooks, Josh Friedel, Robert Hess, Charles Lawton, Ray Robson, Alexander Shabalov

The final spot will go to the winner of the Champion of Champions tournament, which pits all the state champions against each other on the Internet Chess Club.

State champions from Alaska through California to Hawaii and from Maine through to New York and Florida will come together as one over the internet on Saturday, March 28th at chessclub.com for this unique online tournament, with the four qualifying conference winners going forward to the knockout finals on the weekend of April 4th-5th.

IM Levon Altounian, who won the Tucson Open, will represent Arizona in this tournament.

West is Best in Amateur Team Playoffs

Over the Valentine's Day weekend four (East, North, South, and West) national team tournaments were held. The top teams from each of the tournaments faced-off this weekend in a single elimination tournament played over the Internet. The team from the West "ACA Beasts" was led by 17-year-old NM John Daniel Bryant, talented young experts 14-year-old Michael Yee, 15-year-old Vincent Huang and Santy Wong.

The 2009 U.S. Amateur Team Playoffs held March 21 on World Chess Live were filled with excitement, drama and even a dose of madness that the month of March usually reserves for college basketball.

In the end, after a day of thrilling chess that included sudden death tiebreaker matches to decide the semi-final and championship rounds, the West team, "ACA Beasts!" came away with this year's U.S. Amateur Team National Championship by defeating the South team "My Girl Is Pissed!"!

Read the complete story at USCF.

13-year old wins Western Chess Congress

Michael Aigner writes about Daniel Naroditsky's impressive result in Concord. The Western Chess Congress was a 5 round "adult" tournament with a total prize fund of over $10,000.

However, one junior stood taller than all of the rest. Always short for his age, former World U12 champion FM Daniel Naroditsky, now 13 years old, has grown in more ways than one over the past year. In Concord, he proved that he was the man to beat, transforming from a shy player with a mid-2300 rating into a confident champion with the composure of a veteran professional.

IM Mark Ginsburg also attended the event and finisted tied for 2nd place. David Adelberg, rated 2122, turned in an impressive performance rating of 2438!

Read the complete article on the USCF website.

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

USCF has announced details on this year's US Women's Chess Championship. The tournament will be a held Oct. 2 - 12 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.

The U.S. Women's Chess Championship dates back to 1937. The tournament is a 9-round event using the Round Robin pairing system, in which every player plays every other player and the highest score wins. Time controls will be the classical 40 moves in two hours, with the remaining moves in one hour. There will also be a 5-second increment per move.

Invitations will be sent to the top nine U.S. women players by ranking based on the August 2009 United States Chess Federation rating list. An invitation will also be sent to the defending champion, Olympic gold medalist Anna Zatonskih. The championship will have a purse of $64,000, with $15,000 awarded to the winner, the highest first prize in its history. In case of even scores, prize funds will be evenly divided between winners.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis also is the site of the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, which will take place from May 7 through 17. The details of that tournament, including a $64,000 Fischer Memorial Prize, were announced earlier this year.

Robby Adamson on the cover Chess Life

The March issue of Chess Life has a cover story on local master, Robby Adamson.

Paul Gold, a master in his own right, has written a piece that covers the coach, the players, and a brief history of Southern Arizona chess that has help make Catalina Foothills HS one of the dominate chess programs in the country that is a perennial national title contender and winner, year after year.

The year was 1978, my last of high school, thank God. I attended chess club back then to play blitz. One night I battled this little kid, an eight-year old boy wonder—bright-eyed, hair combed back, fidgeting all over the place; boy, was he obnoxious! After every move he hit my clock harder and harder, while I pleaded with him to go easy on the timepiece. Finally the plastic clock face fell off and the thing was broken, and that was my first contact with Robby Adamson. It was the end of my clock but the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship.

The March issue of Chess Life will be arriving in the mail this week (if it isn't in your mailbox already). Those of you that can't wait can read the article online at the USCF website. USCF members are also able to download the PDF version of Chess Life.

AZ players make 2009 All America Chess Team

USCF has announced the 2009 All America Chess Team sponsored by Trophies Plus. Included on this year's team are Arizona scholastic players David Adelberg (Age 11) and Brennen Lee (Age 10). Additionally, Arizona Scorpion and UofA student Warren Harper (Age 16) was also named to the All America Chess Team.

The All America Team was created in 1987 to honor the very best players ages 18 and under. The team, one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player, is selected on the basis of age, rating, and activities during that year, similar to the selection process of “all conference” sports teams. This year’s candidates were selected based on their age as of January 1, 2008 and their peak post-tournament rating from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. Since this award is a “post-season” selection, the minimum rating limits in each age group are reviewed annually by the USCF staff and the USCF Scholastic Council.

Congratulations to all!

Arizona Team Wins US Amateur Team West

Congratulations to local players (pictured L-R), Benjamin Marmont, Jonathan Cox, Robby Adamson and Landon Brownell, for winning the U.S. Amateur Team West championship last weekend.

The Arizona team, "We Have Cox" won the U.S. Amateur Team West (Los Angeles, Feb. 16-18) with a perfect 6-0 record. 49 teams entered for the best turnout since 2002.

Jonathan and Benjamin also earned top board prizes (3rd and 4th respectively) for each going 5.5 - .5 during the weekend.

Full USCF article here.