U.S. Chess Championships begin shortly

Follow the play in St. Louis here.  Round one begins at 1 p.m. Central Time.

It's a very interesting field, and the championship format is much improved, with a traditional 12-player round robin.  Here are today's pairings:

1	GM Akobian, Varuzhan		2625	GM Seirawan, Yasser		2643
2	GM Shulman, Yuri		2571	GM Kaidanov, Gregory S		2594
3	GM Stripunsky, Alexander		2562	GM Onischuk, Alexander		2660
4	GM Lenderman, Aleksandr		2587	GM Robson, Ray		2614
5	GM Kamsky, Gata		2741	GM Ramirez, Alejandro		2593
6	GM Nakamura, Hikaru		2775	GM Hess, Robert L		2635

Both Kamsky and Nakamura would like to make a statement with White today, but both are facing strong opponents with exceptional opening preparation.

The Women's Championship is a ten-round event. As in the men's event, pre-tournament favorites Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih have the White pieces in round one:

1	WIM Ni, Viktorija		2228	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev		2329
2	WIM Zenyuk, Iryna		2224	FM Melekhina, Alisa		2242
3	IM Krush, Irina		2457	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca		2364
4	IM Goletiani, Rusudan		2333	WGM Baginskaite, Camilla		2358
5	IM Zatonskih, Anna		2510	WFM Kats, Alena		2137