Tuesday, April 26, 2011

2011 US Championships--final round 1

Today, the women had exciting games.

Abrahamyan chose the advanced variation against Zatonskih's French Defense. Abrahamyan sacced a pawn but was not able to do more than draw.  

Krush played a very solid QGD structure against Baginskaite Neo-Catalan. Baginskaite pressed too hard and exposed her king. Krush was able to counter attack and for the win of an exchange with advantage.

Shankland gained a slight advantage in a Catalan against Hess, but was not able to convert it to a win.

Kamsky and Shulman played a long very balanced game, though Shulman was a little cramped. Shulman may have snoozed off for a while, and allowed Kamsky to open some lines for his rook, which resulted in a gain of a pawn for Kamsky. Kamsky ground on collecting advantages and forced his way into a same colored Bishop endgame with a passed pawn advantage.

There was a lot of instructive discussion of trades by GM Ashley in the webcast. The games may not be exciting, but I may listen to the commentary again. WGM Shahade considers Kamsky's 46.Rd3 to be an excellent example of forcing the trade of rooks to transition from a drawn to a won endgame. Purdy also has an article in My Search For Chess Perfection on trades.


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