Bad news, good news

Bad news for the U.S.: Gata Kamsky lost a thriller in the Candidates Semi-Final to Boris Gelfand of Israel.  Congratulations to Gata on a marvelous performance in the Candidates!  It's heartbreaking to be one move away from moving on....

Good news for Chicagoans: Boris has plenty of local connections.  Andi Rosen explained in this 2009 article for Chess Life Online.

I called Tamara Golovey immediately after the Gelfand-Kamsky playoff ended: she was positively giddy!

More at The Week in Chess and ChessVibes; trash talking (sometimes informed) at Chess Ninja.