Gregory Kaidanov in Tulsa, Photo Tom Braunlich
After two rounds of the Frank Berry U.S. Championship, there are just two undefeated players, Gregory Kaidanov and Sergey Kudrin. Kaidanov's game on board one against long-time friend Dmitry Gurevich was strange. Dmitry's creative rook manouevers failed to straightforward play from Gregory:
1929
Kudrin's win over Ivanov looks very classic but is also notable for the manouever Bg5xf6, volunteering giving Black the two bishops and a target on c3, but retaining the most powerful minor pieces in the position.
1933
The quickest and most spectacular win of the round was Julio Becerra's brutal attack against John Fedorowicz. After 17...Qxf2 exf6, Black cannot take the second bishop with Qxf4 because of fxg7 rg8 Qe1!+ (better than Qe2+) Kd8 Qa5+, winning.
1934
U.S. Championship
Round 3 Pairings
1 GM Gregory Kaidanov (2697 : w : 2.0) GM Sergey Kudrin (2588 : b : 2.0)
2 GM Alex Onischuk (2728 : w : 1.5) GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2626 : b : 1.5)
3 GM Boris Gulko (2623 : w : 1.5) GM Yuri Shulman (2676 : b : 1.5)
4 GM Julio Becerra (2648 : b : 1.5) GM Alex Yermolinsky (2568 : BB : 1.5)
5 FM Daniel Ludwig (2429 : w : 1.0) GM Alex Shabalov (2709 : b : 1.0)
6 GM Varuzhan Akobian (2666 : w : 1.0) GM Dmitry Gurevich (2594 : BB : 1.0)
7 GM Alex Ivanov (2628 : w : 1.0) IM Josh Friedel (2539 : b : 1.0)
8 GM Jesse Kraai (2569 : b : 1.0) IM Ben Finegold (2613 : b : 1.0)
9 GM John Fedorowicz (2514 : w : 0.5) IM David Vigorito (2439 : b : 1.0)
10 IM David Pruess (2497 : w : 0.5) IM Dean Ippolito (2512 : b : 0.5)
11 IM Larry Kaufman (2384 : WW : 0.0) FM Michael Langer (2307 : w : 0.5)
12 NM Sam Shankland (2299 : WW : 0.0) Ex Sergey Galant (2176 : w : 0.0)
U.S. Women's Championship
Standings after 3 rounds
1-3. Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs-2
4. Katerine Rohonyan-1.5
5-6. Chouchanik Airapetian and Tatev Abrahamyan-1
7. Tsagaan Battsetseg-.5
8-10. Esther Epstein, Courtney Jamison and Iryna Zenyuk-0
Round 3 Pairings
Anna Zatonskih vs. Courtney Jamison
Katerine Rohonyan vs. Chouchanik Airapetian
Tatev Abrahamyan vs. Iryna Zenyuk
Esther Epstein vs. Tsagaan Battsetseg
Chimi Tuvshintugs vs. Irina Krush
Today, the women demonstrated the height of fighting spirit, creating five decisive games.
In a hard fought endgame, Airapetian had a few chances to draw against Zatonskih. One of her final opportunities was in this position:
Position after 65...Rc4+
66.Kg5! should hold handily in view of Ra4 a7 Ke6 Rb6+ Ke5 Rb5+ and Black cannot escape the checks because Ke4 loses to Rb4+.
1935
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