Ben's Blog: U.S. team back on track

Today, the U.S. team got back to its winning ways with a solid 3-1 victory over Egypt. Hikaru Nakamura and Yury Shulman took a rest today, so the reserves saw their first action, with Robert Hess and Ray Robson performing well. Hess won with white and Robson drew with black, and our first two boards, Alexander Onischuk and Varuzhan Akobian, followed suit. Onischuk is on fire with a blazing 3.5 points after four rounds.

The best game today was Hess' smooth victory over Mohamed Ezat on board three. Hess played an unusual variation (12.f4), quickly seized the initiative and never let up. The U.S. is tied for first place after four rounds, and tomorrow we face the tough Israeli team, led by recent World Cup winner Boris Gelfand, as well as 2009 U.S. Championship commentator Emil Sutovsky.

Hess (2572) vs. Mohamed (2471)