Alexander Shabalov leads the Frank Berry U.S. Championship one and a half points ahead of the field, with a perfect 5-0 score. In round five against Gregory Kaidanov, Alex showed off his endgame technique in the lead diagram. Alex played Bc6+ after which Ka5 b4 Kb6 bc5+ forced Kaidanov to resign, in view of the winning pawn endgame after Kxc6 Nb4+ Kb7 Nxa6 Kxa6 Kd3. (See full game score below.) Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura bounced back from his loss against Shabalov with a win against Yermolinsky. Local star Michael Langer defeated David Pruess, his second IM in a row (He won against Justin Sarkar in round 4).

Round 5 Game Highlights

724

725

726

Web editor Jennifer Shahade just arrived in Stillwater, so look forward to live photos and reportage from the final rounds!

Standings after 5 Rounds

1. 5-0- Alexander Shabalov
2-6-3.5/5- Ildar Ibragimov, Hikaru Nakamura, Jaan Ehlvest, Alexander Onischuk, Julio Becerra and Yury Shulman

Click here for complete standings.
 
Round six pairings

Bd	White Player Name		Black Player Name
1	GM ALEXANDER ONISCHUK		GM ALEXANDER SHABALOV
2	GM JAAN EHLVEST		GM HIKARU NAKAMURA
3	GM YURY SHULMAN		GM ILDAR IBRAGIMOV
4	GM GREGORY KAIDANOV		GM JULIO BECERRA
5	GM SERGEY KUDRIN		GM ALEXANDER STRIPUNSKY
6	GM BORIS GULKO		GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY
7	GM ALEXANDER IVANOV		FM MICHAEL LANGER
8	IM ENRICO M SEVILLANO		GM MELIKSET KHACHIYAN
9	GM WALTER S BROWNE		GM VARUZHAN AKOBIAN
10	IM BRYAN SMITH		GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN
11	IM MICHAEL MULYAR		GM DMITRY GUREVICH
12	IM JOSHUA E FRIEDEL		IM IRINA KRUSH
13	FM JOSEPH MARK BRADFORD		FM ROBERT L HESS
14	IM JUSTIN SARKAR		IM RONALD W BURNETT
15	WFM IRYNA ZENYUK		FM RAY S ROBSON
16	IM DAVID PRUESS		IM JAY BONIN
17	WFM CHOUCHANIK AIRAPETIAN		FM MOVSES MOVSISYAN
18	MICHAEL AIGNER		TOM BRAUNLICH

Fantasy Update by Arun Sharma

More than halfway through the tourney, Gilberto Luna II has a 1.5 point lead on the rest of the field. Considering how tightly packed the scores are, this is a fairly incredible lead. Can anyone catch him? Well based on how the leaderboard has changed from day to day, it's certainly clear that few leads are unsurmontable in this contest. GM Shabalov though with his impressive 5-0 score has once again not allowed any team not bearing his signature to crack the leaderboard, and it certainly looks like his main goal may be to ensure that the winner of this competition is flying his flag (with the minor side goal of becoming US Champion I'd think). This is where we stand as of now (the longest game still being the GM Gulko - IM Bonin 98 move struggle of Round 2).

Standings by Points:

22 Points: 1st
20.5 Points: 2nd - 7th
20 Points: 8th - 24th
19.5 Points: 25th - 33rd
19 Points: 34th - 52nd
18.5 Points: 53rd - 74th
18 Points: 75th - 96th
17.5 Points: 97th - 138th
17 Points: 139th - 180th
16.5 Points: 181st - 238th
16 Points: 239th - 284th
15.5 Points: 285th - 326th
15 Points: 327th - 356th
14.5 Points: 357th - 374th
14 Points: 375th - 381st
13.5 Points: 382nd - 385th
13 Points: 386th
12 Points: 387th

1st: Gilberto Luna II (2504.2857) - 22 points

Alex Onischuk 3.5
Jaan Ehlvest 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Julio Becerra 3.5
Ray Robson 1.5
Michael Langer 3
Irina Zenyuk 2


Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 119 Moves



2nd: Elmer Karczewski (2486.4286) - 20.5 Points


Jaan Ehlvest 3.5
Yury Shulman 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Julio Becerra 3.5
Michael Langer 3
Michael Aigner 0.5
Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5

Tiebreaker 1: 40 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 82 Moves

3rd: Angelica Berrios (2488.2857) - 20.5 points

Hikaru Nakamura 3.5
Alex Onischuk 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Irina Krush 2.5
Bryan Smith 2.5
Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Irina Zenyuk 2

Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 109 Moves

4th: Makalo Krienko (2492) - 20.5 Points

Hikaru Nakamura 3.5
Alex Onischuk 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Justin Sarkar 2
Ray Robson 1.5
Michael Langer 3
Irina Zenyuk 2

Tiebreaker 1: 40 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves

5th: Norbert Albera (2502.5714) - 20.5 Points

Hikaru Nakamura 3.5
Alex Onischuk 3.5
Yury Shulman 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Ray Robson 1.5
Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Irina Zenyuk 2

Tiebreaker 1: 35 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves

6th: Darrian Robinson (2506) - 20.5 Points

Alexander Shabalov 5
Eugene Perelshteyn 2.5
Julio Becerra 3.5
Alex Yermolinsky 3
Melikset Khachiyan 3
Ray Robson 1.5
Irina Zenyuk 2

Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 115 Moves

7th: Jeremy Madison (2508.2857) - 20.5 Points

Jaan Ehlvest 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Sergey Kudrin 3
Irina Krush 2.5
Justin Sarkar 2
Ray Robson 1.5
Michael Langer 3

Tiebreaker 1: 42 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 128 Moves

8th: Vikas Kumar (2497) - 20 Points

Hikaru Nakamura 3.5
Alex Onischuk 3.5
Gregory Kaidanov 3
Alexander Shabalov 5
Michael Langer 3
Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Tom Braunlich 0.5

Tiebreaker 1: 41.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 102 Moves

9th: Jeffrey Davis (2498.4286) - 20 Points

Ildar Ibragimov 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Eugene Perelshteyn 2.5
Josh Friedel 2
Irina Krush 2.5
Michael Langer 3
Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5

Tiebreaker 1: 37.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 124 Moves

10th: Mark Meibers (2499.2857) - 20 Points

Ildar Ibragimov 3.5
Jaan Ehlvest 3.5
Alexander Shabalov 5
Irina Krush 2.5
Justin Sarkar 2
Jay Bonin 1.5
Irina Zenyuk 2

Tiebreaker 1: 30.5 Points
Tiebreaker 2: 112 Moves

Keys to Success:

Alexander Shabalov 10
Michael Langer 6
Irina Zenyuk 6
Alex Onischuk 5
Ray Robson 5
Chouchanik Airapetian 5
Hikaru Nakamura 4
Jaan Ehlvest 4
Irina Krush 4
Julio Becerra 3
Justin Sarkar 3
Ildar Ibragimov 2
Yury Shulman 2
Eugene Perelshteyn 2
Gregory Kaidanov 1
Sergey Kudrin 1
Alex Yermolinsky 1
Melikset Khachiyan 1
Josh Friedel 1
Bryan Smith 1
Jay Bonin 1
Michael Aigner 1
Tom Braunlich 1
Alex Strupinsky 0
Boris Gulko 0
Varuzhan Akobian 0
Alex Ivanov 0
Dmitry Gurevich 0
Walter Browne 0
Enrico Sevillano 0
David Pruess 0
Robert Hess 0
Joe Bradford 0
Michael Mulyar 0
Ron Burnett 0
Movses Movsisyan 0