2010 U.S. Women's Chess Championship - Some R2 Notes

It's more than two hours into the action already.  I haven't been paying much attention to the U.S. Junior Chess Championship but I did see just a little while ago that IM Sam Shankland has lost his second game. Based on recent comments that I just heard replayed at Chess FM (which is broadcasting the live coverage for the U.S. Women's and U.S. Junior Championships) he's got some definite issues that he needs to work through if he is going to continue to play chess - or quit, as he said he might do.  What a shame that would be. 

I wanted to show you this great photo from the official website (St. Louis Chess Club) - it's a group shot of the women's Round 1 action (This still image, Group shot of the Women, by Chess Club of Saint Louis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.)   You can get a good feel for how nice the playing venue/surroundings are.

Zatonskih/Baginskaite:  I can't tell you a think about whose position is better but I can tell you that the players are only on move 18!  Zatonskih has 39 minutes left on her clock and Baginskaite 21.  They need to make move 40 to reach time control.  Hmmm, not much time left to make all those moves.  A critical mistake might be made -

Foisor/Rohonyan:  They're in even worse time trouble - only on move 15; Foisor has 20 minutes, Rohonyan 36.  After yesterday's loss, Foisor seems to be playing a little too cautiously today, which I can totally understand except when playing in a chamipionship, one is not allowed to react like a young human being!  Rohonyan has to really be fuming after that loss yesterday - she HAD the game, she was SOOOOOO close - aaaaccchhhh! 

Krush/Abrahamyan:  White has made move 23; Krush has 24 minutes on her clock, Abrahamyan 34.  Interesting Abrahamyan and Rohonyan (game above) both with the black pieces, have way more time than white.

Melekhina/Marinello:  Both players have completed move 23.  Melekhina is WAY down on time, 9:55 to Marinello's 48 minutes?  Is that right?  How can that be right?  Melekhina is up a pawn.

Zenyuk/Marshall:  Both players have completed move 14.  Unbelievably slow.  Zenyuk has only 11 minutes on her clock, Marshall 35.  Hmmm - it's now a few moves later, Zenyuk seems to be playing somewhat inaccurately.

This just does not seem normal to me.  Is every single game going to go down in flames during a scramble to make time control?