Kamsky wins US Championship
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Smiles all round
Gata Kamsky won what is arguably the strongest US championship since Fischer’s days. Narrowly defeating Yuri Shulman in the decisive tie-break game, this is Kamsky’s 2nd US championship. Congrats!
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[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/hckDgeKwXgI%2Em4v]
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
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Nakamura could not repeat his winning ways from last year, and had to be satisfied with 3rd place and 15,000 dollars.
Media coverage for the championship was fantastic! The organizers also had their own team on the job: Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley.
Irina Krush was the only female participant in the championship. She finished in13th place
Much of the success story behind the tournament has been due to the role played by Rex Sinquefield, President of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center de Saint Louis. He put up the 170,000 dollar prize fund. Here we can see Rex relax (?) while blitzing Nakamura. Shahade and Krush kibitz.
One of the ‘celebrity’ visitors to the tournament was Ruth Haring (wife of ex-Canadian Champion Peter Biyiasis), who now is part of the USCF board of directors.
MISCELANEOUS PHOTOS
In the grand tradition of golf tournaments, the winner receives his master’s jacket.
Classy to the end: part of the closing ceremony
Closing ceremony
Closing ceremony
Closing ceremony
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS