Round 2 – Saturday, May 9, 2:00 pm
| Board | White | Rating | Result | Black | Rating |
| 1. | GM Gata Kamsky (1) | 2798 | 1-0 | GM Varuzhan Akobian (1) | 2664 |
| 2. | GM Jaan Ehlvest (1) | 2649 | ½-½ | GM Hikaru Nakamura (1) | 2757 |
| 3. | GM Melikset Khachiyan (1) | 2632 | 0-1 | GM Yury Shulman (1) | 2697 |
| 4. | IM Robert Hess (1) | 2545 | 1-0 | GM Julio Becerra (1) | 2672 |
| 5. | Tyler Hughes (1) | 2293 | 0-1 | GM Alexander Onischuk (½) | 2736 |
| 6. | GM Joshua Friedel (½) | 2568 | 1-0 | GM Gregory Kaidanov (½) | 2662 |
| 7. | GM Joel Benjamin (½) | 2650 | 1-0 | IM Irina Krush (½) | 2496 |
| 8. | GM Larry Christiansen (0) | 2681 | ½-½ | IM Samuel Shankland (½) | 2464 |
| 9. | IM Ray Robson (0) | 2542 | 1-0 | GM Boris Gulko (0) | 2631 |
| 10. | IM Anna Zatonskih (0) | 2503 | ½-½ | GM Ildar Ibragimov (0) | 2628 |
| 11. | GM Alexander Shabalov (0) | 2620 | 0-1 | IM Michael Brooks (0) | 2419 |
| 12. | IM Enrico Sevillano (0) | 2549 | 1-0 | Charles Lawton (0) | 2350 |
Source: Official website
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Wow! Hess!
Note that 265 people have played in a US Championship since 1936 and before today Khachiyan was the only one never to have lost a game in this event. Congrats to Yury Shulman!
Lawton must be devstated after losing in this round.
Hess is Bessssst!
Go Robert!
Ya! Lawton lost with an extra rook!
There is no reason for local players of such caliber in the tournament!
If you want to promote chess to the masses and not just the chess geeks, I would focus on Hess. He’s in one of the most competitive high schools in the country, played on the football team for a while at least, has a girlfriend and is demolishing GMs all over the country while managing to take the SATs, etc. Other young players may appeal to the chess purists but most parents are not going to homeschool their kids or uproot them from their homes and move to Europe. Hess is more in the model of the great U.S. players who are now in their late 40s and early 50s who managed to become GMs and still go to Yale, Berkeley, etc. (GM Benjamin, GM Rohde, GM de Firmian)
It’s a bird, it’s plane, no, it’s Super Hess!
Ta daaa!
Robert Hess: The GM Eater!