Kamsky Wins Eastern Class Title
March 24, 2014
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Photo STL Chess Club
US Chess Champion Gata Kamsky took clear first at the Eastern Class Championships (March 14-16) in Sturbridge, MA with 4.5/5, good for over $2000. The event featured a strong field, including GMs Sam Shankland, Aleksandr Lenderman, Alexander Ivanov and Alexander Fishbein. 

Kamsky's win over Shankland included an unusual demonstration of the classic Bxh7+ sacrifice, which arised from the quiet London Opening! 

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Update: GM Shankland tweeted back to CLO editor Jen Shahade about the game: 

Gata Kamsky will defend his US Chess Championship title in May in Saint Louis as top seed. Details on the field were recently announced.  

Tied for second were GMs Shankland, Lenderman, IM Victor Shen and Deepak Aaron. Full standings and more games can be found at http://www.easternclass.com/

The Eastern Class was organized by the CCA, which also hosted the Mid-America Open the same weekend in Saint Louis, which saw GM Corrales Jiminez take the first prize on tiebreak, ahead of GMs Ben Finegold, Manuel Leon Hoyos, Mark Paragua and IM Priyadharshan Kannappan. Find full standings of that event at http://www.midamericaopen.com/