Fantasy Chess Update: Rounds 3 and 4
By Arun Sharma   
May 12, 2009
Welcome to the first fantasy chess update, which will go through the top standings and announce the daily prize winners.

First matter of business: Since Anna Zatonskih unfortunately had to withdraw from the tournament, for the purposes of this contest, we will give her a half point bye for all future rounds (which will take her to a 3.5 / 9 score by the end, roughly what a player of her rating would be expected to score in this tournament).

If you wish to review your team and current ranking, go to http://uschess.org/fc_2009/, and login to see both.

As expected the strategy of picking several draws to win an early daily prize was somewhat effective, with the current leaders having several more draws than average.  It's anybody's guess if that trend will continue, but the reality is that anything can really happen in this year's contest, given how many matches can switch from day to day  (especially at this early stage, with it being entirely possible for whoever might be in the lead to be close to last after tomorrow and vice-versa).  The point system seems to somewhat indicate this also as while we have many scores above fifty points, we also have many players with scores close to zero, including two people actually at zero.  Luckily those poor souls (and their successors in the following days) can breathe a sigh of relief as I won't embarass them by giving their names and selections out here (unless of course one of the future such bottom dwellers happens to be Greg Shahade in which case it's not only getting mentioned here, but might well be made the headline of this article).

The winner of the daily prize for round three is Richard Francisco, with 71.5 points.
1st Place:  Richard Francisco 71.5 Points

GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) > GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 9
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 6
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) = GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 12
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 11
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 10
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 8
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 3
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 5
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 7
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 4
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 2
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1


In round four, with a logjam of a tie for first in the tournament, those entrants with tie heavy entries lead the contest for the second day.  Those like me, who spoke up against the choice to pick ties statistically can only hope that trend falls quickly if we want any chance at any of the daily prizes and of course most importantly the grand prize.  At least the contestants as a whole showed some marked improvement in overall competence with no one having 0 points at the end of this day (a trend which I fear may not continue).

Once again, to review your picks and see your current ranking login at http://uschess.org/fc_2009/

These are the current Top Five entrants. The winner of the daily prize is Matt Kizaric.

1st Place:  Matt Kizaric  67.5 Points

GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 11
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 12
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) < GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 7
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 4
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 10
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 8
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 5
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 6
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) < IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 9
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) < IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 2
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * > IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 3
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) = NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1

2nd Place:  Alfredo Nunez 65.5 Points

GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 12
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 11
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) < GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 10
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 9
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 8
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 7
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 6
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) = GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 5
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 4
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 3
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * = IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 2
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) < NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1


3rd Place:  Andrew Bateman 63.0 Points

GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) < GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 5
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 8
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 6
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) < GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 4
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) < GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 3
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 12
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 10
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) > GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 9
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 11
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) < IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 7
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 2
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) < NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1

4th Place:  Pranav Marupudi 62.0 Points
GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 11
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 4
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 10
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) = GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 2
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 3
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 9
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) > GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 5
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) > GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 6
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 8
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 7
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 12
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1


5th Place:  Jonathan Ingellis 61.0 Points

GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) = GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 12
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) > GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 9
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) > GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 5
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) < GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 1
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 4
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) > GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 10
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) < GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 6
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) < GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 8
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 2
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 7
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * > IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 11
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) > NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 3