Shulman Wins; Krush and Zatonskih Roll on
By Jennifer Shahade/Betsy Dynako   
May 17, 2008
Round5CLOlead.jpg
Round five overview. Photo Betsy Dynako

Yury Shulman joined Sergey Kudrin (who drew with Onischuk on board one) on the top of the scoretable with his complicated win tonight over Gregory Kaidanov. Kaidanov had good play for his exchange sacrifice in the c3 Sicilian, but Shulman defended with great accuracy. By the time Shulman played 29...b5!, White was in trouble because 30.Qc2 allows the pin Rc8, while the text move 30.Qb3 trades queens and makes the win easy for Black.

1954

Daniel Ludwig continued to impress with a win over GM Jesse Kraai in a theoretical variation of the Tarrasch French. Both sides manueovered in typical fashion for moves 20 to 30. Things became interesting when Kraai sacked on f3 on move 32, perhaps to avoid a potential perpetual with Nf3-h4-f3. Unfortunately for Kraai, Ludwig found a great move here:

33...Qxf3.jpg
Position after 33...Qxf3


Show Solution



After the game, Daniel said he felt bad beating Jesse, his first GM victim in classical time control; when Jesse heard about the comment, he quipped, "Not as bad as I feel!"

1955

Shabalov's game against John Fedorowicz looked awful on moves 20 to 30, but after 30...Kh7!, "Fed" had some troubles defending against the two bishops. This crucial win allows the defending champ to climb back into striking distance with 3/5.

1951

Betsy Dynako put together this video from the scene:


Frank Berry U.S. Championship

Standings after five rounds
1-2. Yuri Shulman and Sergey Kudrin
3-4. Alex Onischuk and Julio Becerra
5-11. Alexander Shabalov, Ben Finegold, Alex Yermolinsky, Gregory Kaidanov, Eugene Perelstheyn, Josh Friedel and Daniel Ludwig
12-13. Varuzhan Akobian and Alex Ivanov
14-20-Boris Gulko, Jesse Kraai, David Pruess, Sam Shankland and John Fedorowicz
21-23- Dean Ippolito, Michael Langer and Larry Kaufman
24. Sergey Galant-0.5
Pairings after five rounds

1 GM Yuri Shulman (2676 : 4.0) - GM Sergey Kudrin (2588 : 4.0)
2 GM Alex Onischuk (2728 : 3.5) - GM Julio Becerra (2648 : 3.5)
3 GM Alex Shabalov (2709 : 3.0) - IM Ben Finegold (2613 : 3.0)
4 GM Alex Yermolinsky (2568 : 3.0) - GM Gregory Kaidanov (2697 : 3.0)
5 GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2626 : 3.0) - IM Josh Friedel (2539 : 3.0)
6 GM Varuzhan Akobian (2666 : 2.5) - FM Daniel Ludwig (2429 : 3.0)
7 GM Boris Gulko (2623 : 2.0) - GM Alex Ivanov (2628 : 2.5)
8 IM David Vigorito (2439 : 2.0) - GM Dmitry Gurevich (2594 : 2.0)
9 GM Jesse Kraai (2569 : 2.0) - IM David Pruess (2497 : 2.0)
10 NM Sam Shankland (2299 : 2.0) - GM John Fedorowicz (2514 : 2.0)
11 IM Dean Ippolito (2512 : 1.5) - FM Michael Langer (2307 : 1.5)
12 Sergey Galant (2176 : 0.5) - IM Larry Kaufman (2384 : 1.5)

Frank Berry U.S. Women's Championship
Standings after five rounds
1-2. Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush- 5/5

3. Katerine Rohonyan-3.5
4. Tatev Abrahamyan-3
5. Batchimeg Tuvshintugs-2.5
6. Tsagaan Battsetseg-2
7-8. Esther Epstein and Iryna Zenyuk-1.5
9. Chouchanik Airapetian- 1
10. Courtney Jamison-0

In the women's, Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih continued their winning streaks. They are tied for first with astounding 5/5 scores.

1952

1953