Some Observations on the U.S. Championship

1. It is absurd that because of the provision that a certain number of slots go to women, a player with a rating of 1660 got to play in the U.S. Championship. She scored 0/9. What is the point of that?

2. The number of foreign players was oddly high. Of course, the former USSR was the most heavily represented foreign country, but the 30 players from there far outnumbered players from the US (only 21 of the players were US-born). Three more players were from Cuba, and ten other countries were also represented.