5/14/2009 – As overnight leaders, defending Champion Yury Shulman and North Hollywood GM Varuzhan Akobian were matched up in round six. A win would have given the victor sole possession of first place, but the two drew in 33. They share the lead with 4.5 points, followed by a pack of six players, including Kamsky, Nakamura and Onischuk, half a point behind. Illustrated round six report.
Defending champion Yury Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian continue to hold the lead of the 2009 US Championship. As overnight leaders, the two were matched up Wednesday in round six. A win would have given the victor sole possession of first place, but Shulman and Akobian played to a draw. They share the top of the leader board with 4.5 points.
Highlights: 2004 World Open, tied for first place in the 2002 World Open.
Bio: Varuzhan Akobian qualified to play his first rated tournament, the Armenian Junior Chess Championship in 1992, earning 3rd place in the under 10 section, then went on to take 1st place the following year. He participated in his first World Chess Championship in Czechoslovakia at the age of 9 and placed 8th. He won the Samford Chess Fellowship in 2002, which allowed him to focus on chess for two years. It paid off: Akobian reached his first long-time goal of becoming a Grandmaster in 2004. Akobian is known for being a great team player: He was a member of the bronze medal Olympiad teams in 2006 and 2008. He was also featured on MTV's "True Life" series. Akobian is the highest-ranked Californian player.
A pack of six players is half a point back, including the top three ranked US players coming into the tournament: New Yorkers Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura, and Alexander Onischuk, of Baltimore. Also in the group is 17-year-old Robert Hess, of New York, who played to a draw Wednesday in his match with Kamsky.
The youngest player in the field, 14-year-old Ray Robson, of Largo, Fla., beat three-time U.S. champion Larry Christiansen, of Cambridge, Mass., as the young phenom took a big step in his quest to becoming the country's youngest chess grandmaster.
Highlights: National Champion, elementary division, 2005 Super Nationals, tied for first in 2005 and 2006 Pan American Youth Championships.
Bio: Ray Robson learned chess at age 3 and has earned seven national scholastic titles since. For winning the Super Nationals, he will receive a full scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas. Robson finished in the top 10 at the World Youth Championship from 2004 to 2007. He defeated his first Grandmaster in 2006, the same year he earned the USCF National Master title. He's the youngest IM in the U.S. and is widely considered as America's brightest hope to become an elite GM since Hikaru Nakamura. Robson studies with No. 3 seed in the tournament, Alexander Onischuk.
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Ne2 Na6 9.Bf8 Ne7 10.Bxg7 Nb4 11.Qd6 Nc2+ 12.Kd2 Nxa1 13.Bxh8 Qc2+ 14.Ke1 Qxc4 15.Nc3 Qb4 16.Qd2 e5 17.Qc1 Bg4 18.f3 Bxf3 19.Bf6 Nd5 20.Bxe5 Qe7 21.gxf3 Qxe5+ 22.Kf2 Qd4+ 23.Kg3 Ne3 24.Bh3 Nac2 25.Nd1 f5 26.Nxe3 f4+ 27.Kf2 fxe3+ 28.Kg3 Qd6+ 29.f4 Qd3 30.Rd1 Qg6+ 31.Kf3 Qh5+ 32.Bg4 Qxh2 33.Rd6 Qf2+ 34.Ke4 e2 35.Bxe2 Qxe2+ 36.Kf5 Ke7 0-1.
Also breaking down the barriers in the game was another outstanding performance from Irina Krush, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the sole woman player in the championship after the illness-related withdrawal of Anna Zatonskih of Long Island, N.Y. Krush turned in the best performance of the day by beating Julio Becerra, a grandmaster from Miami, Fl.
and Black resigned, seeing there is no defence against the mate in 37. 1-0.