The Frank K. Berry US Championship will be held on May 15-23 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The following are qualified at present:
Defending US champion: Alexander Onischuk, Maryland
US Women’s champion: Anna Zatonskih, New York
US Senior champion: Joe Bradford, Texas
US Junior champion: Robert Hess, New York
Grand Prix champion: Jaan Ehlvest, New York
Top three rated players from 12/06 list:
Gata Kamsky, New York
Hikaru Nakamura, New York
Gregory Kaidanov, Kentucky
Top two rated women from 12/06 list:
Susan Polgar, New York (There will be a sub for me)
Irina Krush, New York
US Masters:
Bryan Smith Pennsylvania
Ron Burnett Tennessee
Foxwoods Open:
Eugene Perelshteyn, Massachusetts
Alex Stripunsky, New York
Alex Ivanov, Massachusetts
Alex Shabalov, Pennsylvania
National Open
Varuzhan Akobian, California
Nick De Firmian, New York
World Open:
Joel Benjamin, New Jersey
Ildar Ibragimov, Connecticut
US Open:
Yury Shulman, Illinois
Michael Aigner, California
Western States Open:
Sergey Kudrin, Connecticut
Enrico Sevillano, California
American Open:
Melikset Khachiyan, California
David Pruess, California
National Chess Congress:
Justin Sarkar, New York
Ray Robson, Florida
North American Open:
Dmitry Gurevich, Illinois
Michael Mulyar, Colorado
Online State Champions Tournament: in progress
Why will there be a sub for you?
Probably, try as she may, she has still not figured out how to fit 28 hours into a day 🙂
For some one who has as much passion for chess as Susan, I’ll never understand why she won’t play in our nation’s most prestigious event. Some people get all caught up in their egos about appearance fees and conditions. It’s kind of ashamed.
Does it make you feel good to insult me anonymously? For your information, I book events 2 years in advance. I am booking events now for 2009. This US Championship was just decided 1 week ago. Now, who will babysit my children for 11 days? What do I say to the other organizers that booked me way in advance? Sorry but tough luck? Some of us have high integrity and do things professionally. Why don’t you ask instead of insult me?
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
Hi, do the top players in the current active rating get invited? (ex: numbers 4-10)?
Thanks,
J
It is a shame Larry Christiansen is not involved.
Larry would be the perfect replacement for you Susan and would certainly be a threat to win the championship.
Ignore Mr. Anonymous and his sideways insults. ‘Some people’ don’t have the guts or integrity to stand by their own views with a non-anonymous entry into your blog.
It would not surprise me if it was an existing Executive Board Member taking a pot-shot at you.
The usual gutless drivel, hiding behind their computer.
Susan, no disrespect, but your explanation doesn’t make any sense. If the only way you can appear in a tournament is if the organizers book you two years in advance, that means you are never going to appear in any tournament for which you have to qualify, unless the qualifier is held two years in advance.
For many years, the US Championship has not been held on fixed dates which professionals could reserve on their calendars. For 2006, it was held in March. The “2005” Championship was held in November 2004. There was no 2004 Championship. The 2003 Championship was held in January 2003. So, shifting dates for the US Championship isn’t a new thing.
How do other professional players handle this kind of issue? Obviously, they are handling it somehow, since some of them do participate in these Championships. One must suppose that at least some of them have the same level of professionalism and integrity as you do. Being a single mom, you have a complication that many of these young male players don’t have, which is arranging babysitting for your boys. But you do seem to manage to get to many other events despite that.
Why not just say that you need the prospect of a large prize and appearance fees to be able to make it worthwhile to juggle your schedule?
It would be very good for chess as a professional sport in the US if the top American professionals played in the US Championship for the prestige of the title. In my view, that would be as important a way to support chess, for women particularly, as many of the other things that you do. And, if you need any more arguments, it would be more good publicity for your USCF campaign.
A: I book events only on every other weekends when my kids are with their Dad.
B: I never said that playing chess is my #1 priority. Why would you believe that is the case?
C: I take my chess very seriously. If I play in an event, I plan to train for many months or sometimes years in advance. I trained for 2 years when I decided to play in the 2004 Olympiad. That is why I came home with 4 medals (2 Gold and 2 Silver) including the best overall performance. I have 2 kids to support. So let’s say I cancel my other booked events to play in the US Championship, I lose $10-$15K in appearance fees. I also have to lose 3 months of income to train full time. So I will lose somewhere over $50,000. How does that make sense for me?
It would be very good for chess if we get rid of the incompetent and malicious chess politicians and put the real professional people on the Executive Board so chess can prosper and we can get more serious sponsors.
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
The Semi-Finals of the Online Qualifier on ICC start in 1.5 hours at 3PM EST.
To watch make a free-trial, log on and add channel 227 (+chan 227).
You can also watch from a link on the “events list”.
Come, and root for your favorite State!
Georgia(Xiao Cheng)vs. N. Carolina (FM Miles Ardaman)
and
Nebraska(Keaton Kiewra)vs. Florida (GM Julio Becerra)
–Duncan
PS Susan and Paul I hope this post is OK. If it violates your use policy please delete it and accept my apology. Thanks.
I’ve deleted the derogatory posts about Mr. Bogner. Please show Mr. Bogner the proper respect.
Duncan, I made a posting for you about the ICC qualifer.
Good luck!
PT
Well sad about Susan not playing, but I wonder if there will be good online coverage. The past has been spotty for me.
I never meant to insult Susan, it’s just as I’m a big fan of GM’s such as Seirawan, Ilya Gurevich, Dlugy, Wolff, Sherzer no longer playing in our most prestigious events is a tough pill to swallow for passionate chess fans. I hope you will someday play in our championship with all the other chess professionals.
I don’t understand why people insult Susan.. She has a very busy schedule and anyone who’s played anything close to a serious tournament understands how stressful it can be, let alone when you’re running a chess school full time, coaching, speaking,writing, and oh yeah raising 2 kids. I am only a single computer programmer and it’s tough for me to find time to pick up the expert rating I’m hunting for. Susan, I don’t be discouraged by these idiots that cowardly post from time to time.
That being said…
I am happy that Frank Berry picked up organizing this tournament. I have to say, hands down he is the best organizer in the country. I missed his most recent event, but I always look forward to heading to OK to play or watch top level chess in a classy environment.