20th January, 2003

In the past, the title of US Champion was either decided by a match
between the two leading players of the day, or by way of an invitational
round robins dominated by the likes of Bobby Fischer (8 titles), Sammy
Reshevsky (7 titles) or Walter Browne (6 titles). There was even the
experiment in the 1990s of an invitational knockout.

However, with a much-needed overhaul needed, last year the America’s
Foundation for Chess changed the whole format of the historic national
title by expanding the field and opening it up to the masses by way of
qualifying tournaments – and to great acclaim. In order to accommodate
this expansion with the field rising to 58 players, this inevitable
meant that the method of determining the champion would be decided by a
Swiss-system.

As with most strong Swiss-system tournaments there is a feeling during
the middle rounds that the top players are biding their time, the result
being the inevitable logjam at the top. Going into the crucial final
rounds of the AF4C US Championships in Seattle, it looked as if
Alexander Shabalov, who had a half point lead over the field, was
heading towards the title until he lost in the penultimate eighth round
to Joel Benjamin.

Shabalov’s loss has now blown the race for the record first prize of
$25,000 wide open, and going into the final round there’s a multiple
pile-up of eight players (consisting of 5 former champions) on 5.5/8;
and on their tail a chasing pack of seven, including former champion
Larry Christiansen.

1-8 G Kaidanov, B Gulko, J Benjamin, A Shabalov, A Stripunsky, V
Akobian, A Ivanov, J Fedorowicz 5_/8; 9-15 A Goldin, L Christiansen, A
Yermolinsky, A Fishbein, D Gurevich, R Burnett, J Sarkar 5.

L Christiansen – S Muhammad
A4FC US Ch., (8)
Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5 6 Bb3 Bb7 7 c3 Be7 8 d4 d6
9 Re1 0-0 10 Nbd2 Nd7 11 Nf1 Na5 12 Bc2 c5 13 dxc5 dxc5 14 Ne3 Qc7 15
Qe2 Nb6 16 b3 Rfe8 17 c4 bxc4 18 bxc4 Bf8 19 Bd2 Nc6 20 Nd5 Nxd5 21 cxd5
Nd4 22 Nxd4 exd4 23 Bb3 Bd6 24 g3 a5 25 Bc4 f5 26 e5 Qf7 27 e6 Qe7 28
Rab1 a4 29 Rb6 Ra7 30 Rxd6 Qxd6 31 Bf4 Qb6 32 d6 Qc6 33 f3 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON, Press Officer