One Page Wrap-Up

This page is a one-page wrap-up of the complete event. Also see our Feature Articles Section and Games Section for more details. See The 1997 Interplay Women's Championship for information on that event.

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Format

The 1997 Interplay US Championships was held in Chandler, Arizona from August 22 through September 12. It offered a new three-stage elimination format. Time control for all regulation games was 40/2, 20/1, G/1, for a maximum of 8 hours per game.

Stage 1: Preliminaries

14 of the country's top Grandmasters were invited, along with GM Gabriel Schwartzman, winner of the 1996 US Open Championship, and NM Jorge Zamora Jr., the 1996 US Junior Champion. The 16 players were divided into two Divisions based on ratings. Each Division played a round robin of 7 games. The top two finishers in each Division advanced to the SemiFinals.

At the end of the Preliminaries, Christiansen and Benjamin advanced from Division 1; Kaidanov and Seirawan advanced from Division 2.

Division 1

     Name                   USCF FIDE State Age 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  Total

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1 GM Larry Christiansen     2632 2550  CA   41  x = = = 1 1 1 =  5.0 =1st

2 GM Joel Benjamin          2659 2580  NY   33  = x = 1 = 1 = 1  5.0 =1st

3 GM John Fedorowicz        2613 2510  NY   38  = = x = = = 1 1  4.5

4 GM Boris Gulko            2680 2580  NJ   50  = 0 = x = = 1 =  3.5

5 GM Alex Yermolinsky       2678 2650  OH   39  0 = = = x = = 1  3.5

6 GM Walter Browne          2630 2530  CA   48  0 0 = = = x = 1  3.0

7 NM Jorge Zamora Jr.       2441 2370  RI   18  0 = 0 0 = = x 1  2.5

8 GM Alexander Ivanov       2629 2565  MA   41  = 0 0 = 0 0 0 x  1.0

Division 2

     Name                   USCF FIDE State Age 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  Total

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1 GM Gregory Kaidanov       2690 2600 KY    37  x = = = 1 = = 1  4.5 =1st

2 GM Yasser Seirawan        2689 2630 WA    37  = x = 1 0 = 1 1  4.5 =1st

3 GM Nick DeFirmian         2668 2570 NY    40  = = x 1 0 = = 1  4.0

4 GM Alexander Shabalov     2682 2585 PA    29  = 0 0 x 1 = 1 =  3.5

5 GM Gabriel Schwartzman    2618 2515 FL    20  0 1 1 0 x = = =  3.5

6 GM Roman Dzindzichashvili 2633 2540 MA    53  = = = = = x = =  3.5

7 GM Sergey Kudrin          2615 2535 MA    37  = 0 = 0 = = x =  2.5

8 GM Dmitry Gurevich        2670 2575 IL    40  0 0 0 = = = = x  2.0

One line crosstable format suggested by Mark Hathaway.

Stage 2: SemiFinals

The four players were cross-paired. Player 1 from Division 1 (Christiansen) with player 2 from Division 2 (Seirawan), and player 2 from Division 2 (Benjamin) with player 1 from Division 2 (Kaidanov). Each SemiFinals was a "Best of 4" game match.

In the Kaidanov/Benjamin match-up, Benjamin won early, finishing with 2.5 - 0.5.
Christiansen/Seirawan were tied at the end of the four regulation games.
Using a playoff format selected by the players at the beginning of the event, they went into a grueling marathon of quick play and blitz games. First a pair of G/25 games (split evenly). Then a pair of G/15 games (again split). Then 3 sets of G/5 before Christiansen ended the winner, with two wins in the last set. The entire session took 11 games and almost 12 hours.

     Name                   USCF FIDE State Age 1 2 3 4   Total

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2 GM Joel Benjamin          2659 2580  NY   33  1 = 1 n/a    2.5   ADVANCES    

1 GM Gregory Kaidanov       2690 2600  KY   37  0 = 0 n/a    0.5



     Name                   USCF FIDE State Age 1 2 3 4   Total

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1 GM Larry Christiansen     2632 2550  CA   41  0 = 1 =      2.0   ADVANCES *

2 GM Yasser Seirawan        2689 2630  WA   37  1 = 0 =      2.0



* play-off results: G/25 pair Seirawan 1 0 Christiansen 0 1 - still tied 

                    G/15 pair Seirawan 1 0 Christiansen 0 1 - still tied 

                    G/5  pair Seirawan 1 0 Christiansen 0 1 - still tied

                    G/5  pair Seirawan 1 0 Christiansen 0 1 - still tied

                    G/5  pair Seirawan 0 0 Christiansen 1 1 - Christiansen wins

Stage 3: Finals

Benjamin and Christiansen now faced each other in a "Best of 6" match for the title. Both players are former US Champions. Benjamin was a junior chess star, winning the National Elementary, National Jr High, and National High School championships. He is now 33. A native New Yorker, he remains in his home city. He was the GM "Trainer" for the Deep Blue computer team.

Christiansen, almost 9 years older, is originally from California. He recently returned to the US after several years in Germany, where he had considerable success on the European chess circuit. Both players are invitees to the December FIDE World Championship tournament

Christiansen, famous for his ability to generate tactics in complex positions, and Benjamin, equally known for his composure and deep study during games, provided spectators with an exciting back and forth battle in the Finals. Christiansen often created unbalanced positions in order to start aggressive maneuvers while Benjamin used nearly every minute of every time control seeking positional advantages. At one point Benjamin said, "It feels like I'm always on move" [due to the relativeness quickness of Christiansen's play].

With fatigue a factor, Christiansen lost the first game, but came back and won the second. (This was Benjamin's first loss in the entire event.)

Game 3 was drawn, and then Benjamin jumped ahead with a win in Game 4. Although he was in considerable time pressure, Benjamin played calmly and Christiansen simply pushed too hard to create complications. Game 5 was the first relatively quick draw (21 moves) of the event.

Going in to Game 6, Benjamin led the match 3.0 - 2.0, meaning that Christiansen had to win to reach another play-off situation. However, again his attempt to create complications led to a negative situation, and he was forced to accept a courtesy draw as the game approached time control.

Benjamin won the title, the $10,000 first prize, and the championship ring for a score of 3.5 - 2.5. Christiansen received $7,000 as the runner up.

     Name                   USCF FIDE State Age 1 2 3 4 5 6  Total

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1 GM Joel Benjamin          2659 2580  NY   33  1 0 = 1 = =   3.5   Champion    

2 GM Larry Christiansen     2632 2550  CA   41  0 1 = 0 = =   2.5   2nd

More Features

The Complete Championship Section includes games, photos, crosstables, and features for each of the three stages. Or go directly to the Games section for games in various formats, as well as commentary from IM Jack Peters, IM Jeremy Silman, and GM Michael Rohde.

Feature stories, including photos, player biographies, and behind the scenes coverage, are available in the Feature section New this week: Profile of a Champion, Chess Buzz looks at the past--and future--of the new 1997 US Champion.

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Title Sponsor

The 1997 Interplay U.S. Championship is made possible through the generosity of Interplay Productions, Inc., of Irvine, Calif. Interplay is the world's source for innovative gaming software, including "USCF Chess."

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