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Very exciting finish to a well played tournament. GM Nakamura will be at least co-champion. At this time there is one game going that could impact the standings. Nakamura said he prepared this line the night before and didn’t get much sleep. He planned to play for the win and not risk a playoff.

GM-Elect was a treat to watch at Foxwoods. The young man showed a lot of discipline and even beat one of my favorite players GM Hikaru Nakamura. Here is an interview that speaks to how he did it and includes some interesting details about his chess coach.

Source:USChess

Robert Hess’s Spring 2009 streak began with the SPICE Spring Invitational (March 16-22, Lubbock, Texas), where Robert scored his second GM norm. A week later in Nashville, Robert swept the High School Nationals 7-0, leading his team, Stuyvesant to a National title. A couple days after that, Robert was off to Foxwoods where he defeated GMs Ehlvest and Nakamura on his way to norm #3. Between catching up on schoolwork and preparing for the 2009 U.S. Championship (May 7-17, Saint Louis), GM-elect Robert Hess talked to CLO about his philosophy on chess openings, confidence and his relationship with coach GM Miron Sher.

Jennifer Shahade (JS): Triple Congratulations on behalf of CLO and USCF for your earning your two norms and a National Championship title in just 3 weeks. Did the High School Nationals prepare you for your fantastic result in Foxwoods?

Robert Hess (RH): Not really – at the Nationals I did not play my best chess. I believe it was the SPICE tournament that brought up my Foxwoods result. (My coach) Miron Sher always told me that if I played in successive tournaments, I would achieve a great result.

JS:What was your best game from Foxwoods?
RH:My game with Black against Nakamura was a very clean game.

After a surprising draw yesterday, the U.S. team storms back with a win over South Africa 3.5-.5. GM Gata Kamsky took a rest this round.  The Kobese-Nakamura game was a little interesting especially in the final position.  Some sites are reporting this game a win for Kobese, but the official score is showing Nakamura as the winner.  Tomorrow they face Azerbaijan.

Round 3 Open on 2008/11/15 at 15.00
Bo.	86	South Africa (RSA)	Rtg	–	10	United States (USA)	Rtg	0.5 : 3.5	>Games<
14.1	IM	Kobese Watu	2369	-	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704	0 : 1	>Game<
14.2	CM	Steel Henry Robert	2280	-	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	0 : 1	>Game<
14.3	CM	Cawdery Daniel	2265	-	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616	½ : ½	>Game<
14.4	IM	Mabusela Johanne Mayedi	2273	-	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2606	0 : 1	>Game<

Today was the first round of games in the 38th Chess Olympiad being held in Dresden, Germany.  We are expecting the United States team to get a medal this year.  We have one of the strongest teams we have ever put together.

The U.S. team includes Gata Kamsky,  Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman, Nakamura and Varuzhan Akobian.  The U.S. played Iceland in the first match and won 2.5 to 1.5.  Kamsky drew on board one while Shulman was beat by GM Henrik Danielsen.

The Shulman-Danielsen game was pretty good, however, I would love to know what kind time was left at the end of the game.  It appeared that Shulman kinda broke down in the final position as if the moves were blitzed off or something. The game is available here.

GM Hikaru Nakamura did not play the first round which allowed alternate Akobian to get in early.  FM Mike Klein is one of the masters covering the tournament for the United States Chess Federation.  He has a very detailed report here.  If you are unfamiliar with the United States Chess Federation click here for their site.

Round 1 on 2008/11/13 at 15:00
Bo.	45	Iceland (ISL)	Rtg	-	10	United States of America (USA)	Rtg	1½:2½
11.1	GM	Stefansson Hannes	2575	-	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	½ – ½
11.2	GM	Steingrimsson Hedinn	2540	-	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	0 – 1
11.3	GM	Danielsen Henrik	2492	-	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616	1 – 0
11.4	IM	Kristjansson Stefan	2474	-	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2606	0 – 1