The United States Chess Federation - GMs Join Open; Yeager and Fernandez Win

GMs Join Open; Yeager and Fernandez Win

By Jennifer Shahade
August 6, 2008
Daniel Fernandez, 2008 Collegiate Champ. Photo Elizabeth Vicary The 6-day schedule of the U.S. Open began last night, with GMs Yermolinsky and Shabalov entering the fray. Daniel Fernandez won clear first in the Collegiate and Daniel Yeager, Julian Landaw and Scott Low were co-champs in the Denker, with Yeager topping on tiebreaks. Look for a full report on the Denker by Jonathan Hilton. In the traditional schedule of the U.S. Open, four players maintain perfect scores: IMs Joseph Bradford and Michael Mulyar, Nicholas Schoonmaker and Kalin Nonchev. Mulyar and Bradford both played slashing games to earn their spot at the top of the crosstable: 2207 2208 Nicholas Schoonmaker was Black in the following position, in which White just played Qxf7, which seems to exploit Black's weak back rank. Can you find his response? Black to Move, position after 24.Qxf7 Show Solution Solution Schoonmaker played Qxf1! and White resigned because Rxf1 loses to Rxf7 and Kxf1 loses to Rxa1+(Hide Solution) The final 4-0, Kalin Nonchev defended well against Lester Van Meter before getting the chance to execute his own attack. 2211 Meanwhile, Jeffrey Haskel drew top-seed Doug Root on board one. 2209 Daniel Fernandez dominated the first ever Collegiate Championship with 5.5/6, a full point ahead of the field. This is Daniel's second national title in less than a month--he won the U.S. Class Championship two weekends ago. Can he make it three? Daniel is registered for the five-day schedule of the U.S. Open , which begins tonight. 2212 Keep up to the minute on the U.S. Open by bookmarking the results and pairings page and watching live games on Monroi.com.