By Arun Sharma
|
May 22, 2007 |
by NM Arun Sharma
With only one round to go the battle to see who comes out on top of the fantasy competition seems just as stiff as the battle to become US Champion. After leading the competition for three straight days, Gilbert Luna II's team faltered a bit only managing to snare two out of seven points allowing second place Jeremy Madison to tie him in the points race (though Luna does hold the edge in the tiebreaker if it comes down to these two). There are however many, many others not far behind nearly any of whom could emerge on top tomorrow should the results fall their way.
Keep in mind that the prizes are as follows:
1st: 80 GB Video Ipod (new)
2nd: 1 Hour Phone/Internet Lesson with Samford winner IM Josh Friedel
3rd: 1 Year Extension of USCF Membership
4th: Signed copy of IM Josh Waitzkin's new book "The Art of Learning"
5th: Signed copy of WGM Jennifer Shahade's book "Chess Bitch"
But who at this point would comprise the optimal team right now?No one has picked it, but Greg Shahade (without using any computer assistance) believes this to be it:
"Perfect Team" (2503.5714) - 32.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 2712 6 Yury Shulman 2662 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 2660 6 Sergey Kudrin 2612 5.5 Ray Robson 2359 3.5 Michael Langer 2334 4 Irina Zenyuk 2186 2
Although this reporter has not investigated this himself, Greg is convinced that this is the optimal team and is offering a $20 prize to the first person to post a better team in the comments section (either higher score or same score with lower rating). Keep in mind that Greg has stated he's sure there can't be a better team so there may well be no solution, but I would personally love it if someone out there would debunk him so hunt away (be sure if you do to use the player ratings which were pertinent to this contest from the USCF site, not the ratings on Monroi, which are different)
These are the Top Fifty teams of the Fantasy Competition.
Standings by Points:
31.5 Points: 1st - 2nd 31 Points: 3rd 30.5 Points: 4th - 8th 30 Points: 9th - 21st 29.5 Points: 22nd - 47th 29 Points: 48th - 93rd 28.5 Points: 94th - 149th 28 Points: 150th - 227th 27.5 Points: 228th - 294th 27 Points: 295th - 333rd 26.5 Points: 334th - 362nd 26 Points: 363rd - 374th 25.5 Points: 375th - 379th 25 Points: 380th - 384th 24.5 Points: 385th 23.5 Points: 386th 23 Points: 387th
1st: Gilberto Luna II (2504.2857) - 31.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Jaan Ehlvest 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Julio Becerra 5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 119 Moves
2nd: Jeremy Madison (2508.2857) - 31.5 Points
Jaan Ehlvest 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Sergey Kudrin 5.5 Irina Krush 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 42 Points Tiebreaker 2: 128 Moves
3rd: Ryan Miller (2509.1429) - 31 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Gregory Kaidanov 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 45 Points Tiebreaker 2: 95 Moves
4th: Olufemi Oyekan (2482.7143) - 30.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ron Burnett 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 38.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 155 Moves
5th - 6th: Ramie Jimenez (2508.2857) - 30.5 Points
Jaan Ehlvest 5 Yury Shulman 5.5 Julio Becerra 5 Irina Krush 4 Michael Mulyar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 46 Points Tiebreaker 2: 72 Moves
5th - 6th: Jan Olderdissen (2508.2857) - 30.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 40.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 89 Moves
7th: Benjamin Katz (2509.5714) - 30.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Josh Friedel 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 48 Points Tiebreaker 2: 105 Moves
8th: Asher Gabara (2510) - 30.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Joseph Bradford 4 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Bryan Smith 3.5 Ron Burnett 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 37 Points Tiebreaker 2: 58 Moves
9th: Makalo Krienko (2492) - 30 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 40 Points Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves
10th: Irina Krush (2504.1429) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Jaan Ehlvest 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 37 Points Tiebreaker 2: 89 Moves
11th: Robert Grove (2505.5714) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Jaan Ehlvest 5 Boris Gulko 5 Irina Krush 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Michael Langer 4 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 28 Points Tiebreaker 2: 89 Moves
12th: Adam Goldberg (2507.8571) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Eugene Perelshteyn 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 41.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 91 Moves
13th: Filip Podlecki (2508.5714) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Julio Becerra 5 Irina Krush 4 Bryan Smith 3.5 Jay Bonin 3 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 33 Points Tiebreaker 2: 111 Moves
14th: James Dickson (2508.7143) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Jaan Ehlvest 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Tom Braunlich 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 39 Points Tiebreaker 2: 113 Moves
15th: Dwight Spitzer (2509) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Boris Gulko 5 Alex Stripunsky 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Michael Langer 4 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 88 Moves
16th - 17th: Stanislav Kriventsov / Christopher Heung (2509.1429) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Stanislav's Tiebreakers:
Tiebreaker 1: 32.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 112 Moves
Christopher's Tiebreakers:
Tiebreaker 1: 35 Points Tiebreaker 2: 128 Moves
18th: Aleck Johnsen (2509.7143) - 30 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Enrico Sevillano 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Jay Bonin 3 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 33 Points Tiebreaker 2: 71 Moves
19th: Daniel Naroditsky (2509.8571) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Alex Ivanov 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 39 Points Tiebreaker 2: 95 Moves
20th - 21st: Michael Peguero (2510) - 30 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Irina Krush 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ron Burnett 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 34 Points Tiebreaker 2: 96 Moves
20th - 21st: Charles Hughes (2510) - 30 Points
Alexander Shabalov 6 Alex Stripunsky 4.5 Melikset Khachiyan 4.5 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 26.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 94 Moves
22nd: Elmer Karczewski (2486.4286) - 29.5 Points
Jaan Ehlvest 5 Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Julio Becerra 5 Michael Langer 4 Michael Aigner 2.5 Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 40 Points Tiebreaker 2: 82 Moves
23rd: Vikas Kumar (2497) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Gregory Kaidanov 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Michael Langer 4 Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5 Tom Braunlich 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 41.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 102 Moves
24th: Daniel Yeager (2501.5714) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 39.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 78 Moves
25th: Zachary Haskin (2502.4286) - 29.5 Points
Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Enrico Sevillano 4.5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 42.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 112 Moves
26th: Norbert Albera (2502.5714) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Ray Robson 3.5 Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 35 Points Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves
27th: Kevin Villarreal (2504.1429) - 29.5 points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Jay Bonin 3 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 33 Points Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves
28th: Richard Reich (2505.4286) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Eugene Perelshteyn 4.5 Melikset Khachiyan 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 124 Moves
29th: Darrian Robinson (2506) - 29.5 Points
Alexander Shabalov 6 Eugene Perelshteyn 4.5 Julio Becerra 5 Alex Yermolinsky 4 Melikset Khachiyan 4.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 115 Moves
30th: Alex Chang (2506.2857) - 29.5 Points
Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Eugene Perelshteyn 4.5 Melikset Khachiyan 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 41 Points Tiebreaker 2: 126 Moves
31st: Andre Harding (2506.4286) - 29.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Sergey Kudrin 5.5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Jay Bonin 3 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 45 Points Tiebreaker 2: 97 Moves
32nd: Paul Smith (2506.5714) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Chouchanik Airapetian 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 45 Points Tiebreaker 2: 128 Moves
33nd: Chris Falter (2506.8571) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Varuzhan Akobian 4.5 Melikset Khachiyan 4.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 37.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 81 Moves
34rd: Jose Morrero (2507.1429) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Michael Mulyar 3.5 Jay Bonin 3 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 35.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 111 Moves
35th: Andrew Tichenor (2507.4286) - 23.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Tom Braunlich 1.5
Tiebreaker 1: 33 Points Tiebreaker 2: 98 Moves
36th - 37th: Daniel Macieg (2508) - 29.5 Points
Alex Ivanov 4.5 Sergey Kudrin 5.5 Julio Becerra 5 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 36 Points Tiebreaker 2: 120 Moves
36th - 37th: Laurence Mota (2508) - 26.5 Points
Alexander Shabalov 6 Julio Becerra 5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 46.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 93 Moves
38th - 39th: Valicio Pahla (2508.4286) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Jaan Ehlvest 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 37 Points Tiebreaker 2: 105 Moves
38th - 39th: Ed Scimia (2508.4286) - 29.5 Points
Varuzhan Akobian 4.5 Sergey Kudrin 5.5 Eugene Perelshteyn 4.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Ron Burnett 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 32.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 93 Moves
40th: Joseph Thuemler (2509) - 29.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ron Burnett 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 39 Points Tiebreaker 2: 78 Moves
41st - 43nd: Peter Hess / Brad Jackson (2509.1429) - 29.5 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Yury Shulman 5.5 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Peter's Tiebreakers:
Tiebreaker 1: 39 Points Tiebreaker 2: 98 Moves
Brad's Tiebreakers:
Tiebreaker 1: 40.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 107 Moves
41st - 43nd: Tim McEntee (2509.1429) - 29.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Josh Friedel 3.5 Irina Krush 4 Robert Hess 4 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 35 Points Tiebreaker 2: 66 Moves
44th - 45th: Jason Qian (2509.4286) - 29.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Josh Friedel 3.5 Walter Browne 3 Bryan Smith 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Langer 4
Tiebreaker 1: 45 Points Tiebreaker 2: 96 Moves
44th - 45th: Joel Sokoloff (2509.4286) - 29.5 Points
Yury Shulman 5.5 Sergey Kudrin 5.5 Josh Friedel 3.5 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 29 Points Tiebreaker 2: 75 Moves
46th: Mikhail Sher (2509.7143) - 29.5 Points
Ildar Ibragimov 4.5 Yury Shulman 5.5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 37 Points Tiebreaker 2: 112 Moves
47th: Matt Harrington (2510) - 29.5 Points
Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Josh Friedel 3.5 David Pruess 3.5 Justin Sarkar 3.5 Ron Burnett 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5
Tiebreaker 1: 43.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 107 Moves
48th: John Mancuso (2490) - 29 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alex Onischuk 6 Alexander Shabalov 6 Irina Krush 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 45.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 107 Moves
49th - 50th: Glenn Buyo (2496.1429) - 29 Points
Alexander Shabalov 6 Varuzhan Akobian 4.5 Julio Becerra 5 Joseph Bradford 4 Bryan Smith 3.5 Ray Robson 3.5 Michael Aigner 2.5
Tiebreaker 1: 45.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 107 Moves
49th - 50th: Alex Velasquez (2496.1429) - 29 Points
Hikaru Nakamura 5 Alexander Shabalov 6 Julio Becerra 5 David Pruess 3.5 Robert Hess 4 Ray Robson 3.5 Irina Zenyuk 2
Tiebreaker 1: 36.5 Points Tiebreaker 2: 85 Moves
Keys to Success (the number of times each player appears in the top fifty teams):
Ray Robson 32 Alex Onischuk 31 Alexander Shabalov 31 Irina Krush 29 Robert Hess 25 Michael Langer 17 Justin Sarkar 16 Hikaru Nakamura 15 Yury Shulman 15 Irina Zenyuk 15 David Pruess 11 Ron Burnett 11 Josh Friedel 10 Michael Aigner 10 Julio Becerra 9 Jaan Ehlvest 8 Sergey Kudrin 5 Eugene Perelshteyn 5 Melikset Khachiyan 5 Jay Bonin 5 Chouchanik Airapetian 5 Bryan Smith 4 Varuzhan Akobian 3 Tom Braunlich 3 Gregory Kaidanov 2 Boris Gulko 2 Alex Stripunsky 2 Alex Ivanov 2 Enrico Sevillano 2 Joe Bradford 2 Michael Mulyar 2 Ildar Ibragimov 1 Alex Yermolinsky 1 Walter Browne 1 Dmitry Gurevich 0 Movses Movsisyan 0
|