Ack, I missed the first game, after posting yesterday that it started an hour earlier, I forgot. Krush played a Pirc by transposition and beat Zatonskih.
Game two:
In game two Zatonskih must win as black to move on to the armageddon game. Zatonskih plays the triangle against Krush's Queens Gambit. Krush chooses to make it a semi-Slav rather than a QGD or Cambridge Springs, by playing 5.e3
Zatonskih plays actively. Pushes e6-e5-e4 and develops a dangerous kingside initiative. I think Krush took a needed tempo to play 18.d5, but definitely did not have time for 19.Qc2. Zatonskih misses the win of a rook(23...Qxf1) by playing 23...Bxc2, but is still better. Krush gives up the exchange to keep the pawn structure, but black is still better and Krush has no time. Ouch, Zatonskih gets low on time, and blunders away the game. The pressure in a high stakes rapid game is unimaginable.
Irina Krush is the 2012 US Women's Champion.
Tie breaks are difficult. I hope they split the prize money.
I like the joke told during the break: My friend and I were playing chess. He said, "Lets make this interesting". I agreed, and we played tennis.
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