[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: US Championship concludes: Shulman, Zatonskih win. Plus, the 11th North American FIDE Invitational

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
US Championship concludes: Shulman, Zatonskih win. Plus, the 11th North American FIDE Invitational
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1211427578.shtml


   In the last round, needing only a draw to clinch clear first, Yuri
   Shulman drew in 11 moves with Josh Friedel. That might seem at first
   like a strange decision on Friedel's part, but it really wasn't. For
   one thing, he couldn't catch Shulman even if he won. Second, the draw
   gave him his final GM norm, so he'll have the title as soon as the
   fees are paid and the paperwork is complete. In other action,
   Alexander Onischuk defeated John Fedorowicz to take clear second, and
   Sergey Kudrin took clear third.
   On the women's side, things were much more exciting. Zatonskih won her
   game, while Krush was very lucky to even get a draw. That necessitated
   a playoff, which was a real see-saw affair. The first pair of tiebreak
   games was inconclusive: first Zatonskih won with White, then Krush got
   her revenge. The second pair was also inconclusive, but in a more
   surprising way: Krush won with Black, but then failed to hold with
   White. It came down to an Armageddon game, and when Zatonskih again
   won with the black pieces, she had become the champion. So congrats to
   her, and to Shulman and Friedel as well.
   Meanwhile, in another tournament, I managed to win, thanks primarily
   to my opponent's lack of patience. I had little advantage if any, but
   my opponent was not interested in a maneuvering battle and lashed out
   with 18...Nxe4. I had seen this idea beforehand and thought it would
   be completely in my favor, and so it was. Black never enjoyed any
   attacking chances, and I took care to make sure they never
   materialized.
   The big game of the round was Loncarevic-Young, which showed for the
   umpteenth time that no one should be taken for granted. On paper, and
   in reality, too, Young is a much stronger player than Loncarevic, but
   he was half an hour late and then spent a bunch more time talking with
   someone, presumably on business matters. That left him without much
   time to think, and when Loncarevic met the careless 11...g6? with
   12.Bh6! the point was pretty much already his.