Getting Ready for the US Championship
(NOTE: This was originally published on Chess.com at the beginning of May, 2013, right before the US Championships which were May 2-13)IM Danny Rensch blogs about the US Championship - Great!
Being invited to the US Championship - Amazing!!
Watching the US Championship players get hair and makeup done - Priceless!!!
It has always been an exciting experience to watch the US Championship over the year! Many great games between strong players, this year I have the great opportunity of participating myself in the US Championship as a wildcard!
Amazingly this year marks the fifth year the St. Louis has hosted the US Championship! It is always a pleasure to be in the St. Louis Chess Club. Over the past several years the Club has hosted the US Championships (US Championship, US Women's Championship, and US Junior Championship) making each event a great tournament. Those at the Chess Club are doing some great things for Chess in the US and I am excited to see how they progress!
On May 1st the players had their pictures taken for the event and beforehand we were all taken down to Paul Mitchell to get hair done and makeup put on. I thought this was quite enjoyable to watch! A definite perk of being invited to the Championship which I just had to share! :) The main image for this blog is a picture of US Championship competitor GM Alejandro Ramirez and also additional competitors GM Sam Shankland and GM Melikset Khachiyan are featured at the end, all of them preparing for their pictures for the US Championship.
The US Championship Opening Ceremony concluded not too long ago which offically starts the US Championship and US Womens Championship. The pairings are set for both tournaments and I am playing GM Alex Stripunsky as Black in the first round. I have to admit I was hoping for White in the first round, but seeing as I have only beaten GMs with Black, probably a good pairing overall! It will be an exciting event! There are many strong players in the event and, as many Chess Players know, it is anybody's game!
The 2013 US Chess Championship line-up
| # | Name | USCF |
| 1 | Gata Kamsky | 2815 |
| 2 | Timur Gareev | 2766 |
| 3 | Alexander Onischuk | 2732 |
| 4 | Ray Robson | 2698 |
| 5 | Sam Shankland | 2698 |
| 6 | Varuzhan Akobian | 2690 |
| 7 | Alex Stripunsky | 2680 |
| 8 | Gregory Kaidanov | 2673 |
| 9 | Alexander Ivanov | 2664 |
| 10 | Robert Hess | 2661 |
| 11 | Larry Christiansen | 2657 |
| 12 | Yury Shulman | 2639 |
| 13 | Alex Shabalov | 2633 |
| 14 | Marc Arnold | 2626 |
| 15 | Melikset Khachiyan | 2625 |
| 16 | Jorge Sammour-Hasbun | 2621 |
| 17 | Joel Benjamin | 2618 |
| 18 | Yaacov Norowitz | 2612 |
| 19 | Alejandro Ramirez | 2606 |
| 20 | Conrad Holt | 2591 |
| 21 | Ben Finegold | 2570 |
| 22 | John Bryant | 2542 |
| 23 | Kayden Troff | 2505 |
| 24 | Sam Sevian | 2467 |
I am glad to be participating and hope to be back for years to come! I wish all my competitors good luck! I really am enjoying this experience!
