Hess – MacIntyre, USATE 2009If they gave a “Brilliancy Prize” at the US Amateur Teams East and World Amateur Teams (held in Parsipanny in February), Hess – MacIntyre, USATE 2009 would surely be most deserving. Yet it is only one of many tactical gems strewn in the wake of 17-year-old Robert Hess, whose meteoric success is nicely chronicled by Jennifer Shahade at the USCF website in an “Interview with GM-elect Robert Hess.”
NM Mark Kernighan, Ari Minkov, Ian Mangion, Greg Tomkovich, Mike Wojcio & I won the opening round games at the 2nd Irving Ellner Memorial Swiss in Kenilworth.
A day of surprise results: Vladimir Akopian, who has been languishing with 1.0/4 alone at the bottom of the table, beat second-placed Gata Kamsky in a titanic R+B vs R ending over 98 moves (Kamsky missed a number of drawing chances, the simplest on move 93). Vassily Ivanchuk self-destructed with the white pieces in 25 moves against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Report with commentary.
A day of unexpected results: Vladimir Akopian, who has been languishing with 1.0/4 alone at the bottom of the table, beat second-placed Gata Kamsky in a titanic R+B vs R ending over 98 moves (Kamsky missed a number of drawing chances, the simplest on move 93). Vassily Ivanchuk self-destructed with the white pieces in 25 moves against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Express report.
Sunday’s top games are Alexander Grischuk vs Peter Leko (will the Hungarian
former World Championship challenger stop the Russian Linares winner?); Peter
Svidler vs Boris Gelfand (experience covers the board); Karjakin vs
Mamedyarov and Ivanchuk vs Kasimdzhanov. Watch all seven games
on the Playchess server, with live discussions,
or on our new broadcast client.