U.S. Championship: French Burn Variation

Hess plays a good game. Review 5...Nbd7, the secondary move in the variation, being played about half as often as 5...Be7. The ending is not looking easy to convert until the very nice move 31.c5.

Corus 2010: Carlsen Wins!

Close the books on Corus 2010. Carlsen simply outlasted everyone else, although Kramnik made a tournament of it. Nakamura experienced highs and lows, but the bottom line is that he's put himself clearly into the top 20 and he's undoubtedly on the rise. We should see his attendance increasing in the best tournaments. Today, he refused to take the easy out against Tiviakov, and pressed until his opponent blundered at move 56. Nakamura finished tied for fourth along with Anand, a good showing. Robson in the C Group started on fire, but then had all the look of a player who ran out of gas in the second half. The last 90 days have brought him a wealth of experience and we should set expectations high. As for Akobian in the B Group, there just isn't much good to say about this tournament. He'll have better days.

World Team Championship: Silver is a Good Result

The US has finished the World Team Championship in second place. They came in above several teams with higher ELOs. Perhaps the best thing that happened in Turkey is that Hess and Robson got to hang out at a very high level. Next up: three of the team members--Nakamura, Akobian, and Robson--will play at Corus in the A, B, and C Groups respectively. Here's the USCF report.

World Team Champisonship: Slav

Russia brought the US back to the pack today. Half the field now has two wins and one loss (4 match points), with Armenia leading by 1/2 game point. Nakamura and Onischuk drew with Grischuk and Morozevich respectively, but Shulman and Akobian lost on boards 3 and 4 against Malakhov and Vitiugov (pictured). Akobian lost with the white pieces.