This week  I sat down with Scorpion veteran IM Levon Altounian (LA) to get his thoughts on the USCL, the great chess players in history, and the local chess scene.

EJ: Hello!

LA: Hello!

EJ: We are almost half way through your second season in the USCL. How has this season compared to last year?

LA: Interesting, very educational but strange at the same time. One of the nice surprises includes having a much better organized team, GM Alejandro Ramirez playing for our team, and the fact that U of A donated not 1 but 2 perfect rooms for our cause. In 1 room we play and in the other we have spectators listening to very insightful and interesting comments by experts or even an IM using a projector that shows all 4 games same time.

EJ: Speaking of Alejandro. You’re one of the few players that has been asked to play board 1 or 2. How has having a GM (or 2) on the team affected your play?

LA: Well, it was very nice having a strong GM on board 1, which makes me a pretty good board 2. At the same time there was more pressure “delivering” the point on that board. One of the nice things was that it is not just any GM we got. It was a guy we know very well now and I think everyone likes a lot. That brings something special to the table.

EJ: Is it a different type of preparation for board 2 than 1?

LA: Not really. For example, last week playing board 1 I played a person who could also be board 2 if they had a GM present themselves.

EJ: How about preparation from last year that’s changed for this year?

LA: Well, I think the anxiety is gone. Last year we were e-mailing each other like crazy 4 days before the match sharing info. This year- much more relaxed and we trust the players to do the job. If someone needs advice or some help- we all help each other. Considering our opponents also prepare, sometimes its complete luck or accident which opening or system we end up playing.

EJ: Being an experienced tournament player, does “history” against an opponent OTB translate to success in the USCL?

LA: I don’t think so. Of course if a 2300 plays a 2600 who beat him 6 times in a row- probably yes. But in our case so far we have not encountered any match where someone was afraid of the opponent or thought they would win easily. Of course for statistics and guessing the outcome- ratings, styles and their personal past encounters count for a little bit.

EJ: Maybe not afraid, but if you’ve played someone enough times does that experience help in preparation for a match?

LA: I can’t speak for others, but in my games I usually compensate my lack of studying chess or playing enough tournaments by a better preparation. So the more I know the person, better I feel.

EJ: Any idea who you’ve played the most games against in your past? Alejandro has mentioned playing against the Dallas team nearly 20 times each.

LA: You mean which team or a person?

EJ: A person.

LA: Oh, no one in particular. I came to Tucson from California and they are not yet in the USCL league, so have not played anyone more than once or twice I think. Plus when I play the same team- they always had different people on that board for each match.

EJ: Do you think CA will get a second team? Any old friends you hope would join the league?

LA: No idea. They are definitely strong enough for it. But management is important for such cases. All the friends unfortunately are also very dangerous players so …. They probably can make one team for South CA as the North CA has a great team already.

EJ: Perhaps if Alejandro can’t swing the schedule next year…

LA: Oh! you mean to invite them to play here ?

EJ: Not necessarily but if S-CA doesn’t want a team, it doesn’t mean we can’t have them!

LA: Yes, that is possible. However, there are few problems with that in my opinion. One is that I don’t like inviting an outsider who no one knows- We are used to people we know- we are spoiled. Two- since there is a cap in rating- only very high rated players make sense to invite. I would love to have someone like Akobian here for board 1.

EJ: Team spirit is important to the Scorpions.

LA: Yes, very. One of the reasons I played in it and went through nightmarish schedule changes was the team spirit. I like literally everyone how is on the team and know the Tucson players very well. I really like what Leo Martinez is doing as a manager, I like Robby and Ginsburg being on the team, I like all that the younger generations- Adelberg, Amanda Mateer, Ben Marmont, you name it- all either play or help us. I also like how the Phoenix line up looks. I have a huge respect for Barcenilla and love being on a team with Danny Rensch. Now that he got his last IM norm, he promised he will IM-ise everyone.

EJ: I couple of “elects” that need their titles.

LA: Yeah, true, which speaks well for Arizona. Getting titles is hard here and it is hard to travel. I hope time will come when with all the combined forces we can organize a titled tournament in Tucson.

EJ: I’ll see what I can do about that. Although Danny has done a great job with the CopperState. I know you’re one of the few members with family that makes traveling difficult. How do you “keep sharp”?

LA: Well, I am not “sharp” at tournaments unfortunately. It is a relative term.

EJ: Sharp enough to win a couple of state championships. Congratulations on that by the way.

LA: Thanks I play ICC and use tournaments such as the local scholastic League Match as a way to prepare for the whole year. Kind of like a “camel effect” – learn enough new stuff for 1 big tournament and then use it for the year. I am not as sharp as I could be if I played as much as I did 10 years ago but sometimes I do OK.

EJ: I’m sure many of your opponent’s would disagree. So you think being “off the grid” helps you in the USCL?

LA: well, I am good at boring chess and psychology. More the opposite – USCL helps me “get on the grid”.

EJ: I’m wondering if opponents are having a difficult time to prepare for you.

LA: Well, that too. For example- in the last game against Baltimore I prepared well enough to not only guess the opening we would have but the exact position to move 13, including his novelty. All worked perfectly.. but I still drew.

EJ: Best laid plans…

LA: I am more a chess “theoretician” than a player I guess. I was only half joking when I mentioned in the blog that I need to play the opening and then let Alejandro or someone else play after that.

EJ: Without tipping off any future opponents, are there any openings or lines that you “dream” to play?

LA: I wish when I was younger someone made me play “correct” openings – like najdorf sicilian, Slav defense and not the “weirdo” ones I usually play. Now I am too old for those unless Leo and the team wants to have a heart attack watching me play those

EJ: A little excitement is a good thing. I’m a fan of the Latvian, personally.

LA: Latvian I played few times. It is better than its reputation. There was a guy in Orange County- rated about 2300. He only played Latvian and when his opponent wouldn’t let him do it- he was taking it very personally. What is interesting is that in blitz I do very well and make probably less mistakes than in a tournament, where I try to find the most perfect move each time

EJ: Perhaps we need to suggest a Blitz league. Just don’t decide to let your time run down to test this out. I don’t think your fans could take the excitement.

LA: That is what happened in few of my USCL games where I was winning and found the ‘only” way to not win by trying to win the “best” way. That is actually one problem with USCL. I find that for me in tournaments when I am in time pressure- it is much easier to play than to play for the team. A lot of unseen pressure and many times other boards start calculating my game to figure out what to do on theirs and vice versa. But that is the name of the game.

EJ: You set the tone.

LA: I think it has to do with the fact that we really care.

EJ: But I’m know many of the players have complete faith in you. You’re not called “the Solid” without a reason.

LA: The big faith is “Lev will be fine”. I am the disciple of Tigran Petrosian- the most solid player ever!

EJ: Is he your favorite player in history?

LA: However, maybe it was not the best idea in the long run . Tal would be a better model. The more I learn about chess, the more I move from Botvinik/ Petrosian/ Capablanca to names like Kasparov, Ivanchuk and Kramnik. For example- how do we compare the natural talent of Capablanca to the extreme preparation skills of Kasparov? I was blown away by Garry’s game against #2 seed Anand years ago, when he prepared until move 41, where he is up a piece and needed FRITZ to tell him how to win it… all done before the game even started.

EJ: If you could be board 2 on a team with any player, who would you like to play along with? No disrespect to our current Scorpions.

LA: Well, honestly, unless we talk about the top 10 in the world, I am good enough to give a very strong fight to anyone. So I would not want to play board 2 with egoistical or cocky players. All others would be fine. Alejandro, Rojelio Barcenilla, they are great to play with. It would be fun to be in a team with Nakamura probably and see his “Nakamura effect” from the “good side” and rather than being the receiving end of it. USCL board 1 is usually so tough anyways- no one has a chance for going perfect.

EJ: Perhaps the USCL needs an “All-star game”.

LA: USCL went from something small to something very big and important, thanks to relentless work of Greg Shahade. So I would not be surprised if they invented some other type of matches.

EJ: I think seeing a SoCal team would be a lot of fun.

LA: He also had the poker websites do most of the sponsoring so I am sure some high-end poker-like ideas are in his mind for the USCL.

EJ: I’m 0-3 in getting a prediction out of these interviews. Any thoughts on the match this week against Dallas?

LA: I don’t know… we all say we are great and then it all comes down to one move of one of the games. So predicting it has a wrong karma effect it seems.

EJ: Fair enough…

LA: If all boards do the way they should- we should win. I think the main battle will be if Robby can win his game on board 3.

EJ: I meant to ask, is there anything like the USCL back in Europe when you played?

LA: Well, the USCL took a format similar to German bundesleagues. Which is copied in nearly every self-respecting chess country.

EJ: Did you play in those?

LA: No, I was too young for those and too much into architecture studies, unfortunately, but it is a wonderful system. People can concentrate on being a professional in chess.

EJ: Well, I for one am glad we have the USCL and the Arizona Scorpions.

LA: Yes, and that is why I hope everyone can support the Scorpions. (Leo can tell you how !)

EJ: I really hope the younger kids from the community follow the matches. I would have killed to have had something like this when I was in school. Watching my idols play each week.

EJ: Anything you’d like to say before we wrap up?

LA: Well, I would probably like to take a moment and talk about the Tucson chess scene. I am very optimistic about chess in Tucson and Arizona in general. That is one of my drives and motivations for being on the USCL team.

EJ: Sure… You’re a very active coach outside of the USCL. Feel free talk about your life outside of the USCL.

LA: I think all the organizations here and individuals are working towards the same goal of providing chess education to people of any and every age and strength, and I really like how SACA has evolved from more less passive organization to much more active role and that is thanks to Karen Pennock (SACA President), Jon Shacter, volunteers and you. I like what 9 Queens is doing here, the USCL team, all the work Leo, Robby, others put in and I especially like that there is very little clash of interests.

EJ: There’s that team spirit again.

LA: I would love to see more unique events here like simuls, bughouse tournaments, matches between organizations- like Raytheon and U of A and some tournaments similar to the very successful types Danny runs in Phoenix so we do not have half the Tucson travel to Phoenix to compete.

EJ: I’m sure if there’s a will, there’s a way.

LA: With Tucson chess growing, Arizona Chess for Schools growing and my daughter Ani growing- I can hopefully play more chess and hopefully get my GM title.

EJ: That would be wonderful! Well, I think that wraps up for us now. Thank you for sitting down to chat and good luck to the Scorpions!

Learn more about Levon’s Arizona Chess For Schools at their  website. You will find all the connections with the coaches, schools, and organizations involved.

Okay so before I start this preview there is one thing that I should say that I am not going to do.  I am not going to predict a 4-0 sweep by the Scorpions.  To predict something like that against the two time defending champs would be pretty foolish.

In our match against Dallas last season the two teams were evenly contested on all four boards similar to this season.

Both Dallas and Arizona teams have had very similar roster lineups the past two years since Arizona became a part of the US Chess League. Both teams prefer a more balanced lineup of players in their lineups rather than stacked lineups with many strong players on the top boards and weaker players on the bottom boards as some teams prefer to do.  Which lineup is better (stacked lineups or balanced lineups) is still up for debate and I don’t think there is necessarily a right answer.  Both seem to work depending on the teams. Dallas has obviously perfected the balanced lineup being two time defending champions. While teams like New Jersey seems to do well with a stacked lineup.    Queens is another good example that used the stacked lineup well last season.

However, due to some scheduling issues Dallas has not been dominating (other than their Boston match) this season. However, this does not suggest that the Scorpions underestimate them in the least and we are taking this match as one against the two time defending champs and as one that is crucial for both team as we look ahead towards the rest of the season. Both teams have strong lineups up for this match.

Let’s analyze the matchups:

Board 1

GM Alejandro Ramirez    2600 vs.          IM John Bartholomew   2499

These players both know each other well as they have both been playing in the Dallas area for a while.  John has been taking the board 1 duties for Dallas this season playing the likes of GM’s Hikaru Nakamura and Julio Becerra.  This should be a very tough game for both players as John has a very, very solid style that can at times frustrate strong players. However, Alejandro is undeniably a favorite here as a 2600 GM with White.

Board 2

IM Salvijus Bercys            2503        vs.            GM-Elect Rogelio Barcenilla 2583

This match pits Rogelio Barcenilla on the board 2 spot for the first time in his short career. All of last season Rogelio played board one and had a very respectable even score against five grandmasters. Since then he has achieved his final GM norm at the Copper State tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. He will be awarded the GM title fairly soon. This also is the first time that the Scorpions will have a double GM lineup with two players almost both in the 2600s. Sal Bercys has played one game this season losing a long game to Sam Shankland. However, in this game he was in a position where he had to win for team reasons and in this game Bercys pushed fairly hard, finally losing. However this matchup between 2500s should be very close and is definitely one of the games to watch.

Board 3

FM Robby Adamson 2354 vs.           FM Keaton Kiewra  2365

FM Robby Adamson has been one of the MVPs of the Scorpion team so far this season going 2.5/3 so far this season.  From his wide experience playing ICC (literally playing tens of thousands of ICC games) he has transferred some of this “experience” to his USCL games. Keaton Kiewra seems to be the the Destiny’s regular third board playing three out of their 4 matches. In past years Dallas has chosen a lineup and stayed with that lineup throughout most of the season. This season they have varied more but Keaton has been a constant third board for them.  With a 2/3 record he has done well himself and this matchup should be very close and could easily go either way.

Board 4

WFM Bayaraa Zorigt 2270                 vs.          Expert David Adelberg 2160

The fourth board brings back the twelve year old phenom David Adelberg to the Arizona lineup! David is only twelve years old and after not playing two matches he was eager to get back in the mix. Here he faces the 2008 4^th board MVP from last season in Bayaraa Zorigt. Although Bayaraa lost her last game in the USCL her +5 record from last season stands out and she is a very tough, technical player. However, David has proven himself again and again against strong players and he will have to do so again in this situation. Both of these players are very solid and positional players who are not afraid to mix it up but would rather think about pawn structures than piece sacs. With David’s rating only 5 points from reaching master (at only 12 years old!) we are likely to see many more achievements from this kid…starting with this week!

One further comment that I would like to make concerning the Scorpions is the newly crowned International Master Danny Rensch! Danny recently got his final IM norm by drawing IM Ray Robson at the SPICE Cup in Texas. Watch a video of Danny after his great tournament:

Thanks everyone and go root for the Scorpions Wednesday at 6:00 PM AZ time!

At the almost half-way point of the 2009 USCL season, it’s time for my predictions to improve some. My record straight up picking winners is 10 Wins, 18 losses. Remember, you have a 33% chance of picking the winner of a match correctly, so I probably am doing a little below average.  Let’s look quickly at the Week 5 match-ups.

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz

Baltimore used the balanced lineup last week to beat my Scorpions, and this week they decide to use the unbalanced, double GM lineup with Kritz and Erenberg vs. LarryC and Shmelov. If Boston can split these 2 games, Baltimore is in trouble. If not, then Baltimore has a great chance to win. Somehow, I think Boston comes through her though don’t count out the Kingsfishers.  Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

Miami Sharks vs. Carolina Cobras

Carolina dropped a tough one last week – really they should have won – and I am confident they will break out of their funk, just like the Detroit Lions did this week vs. the hapless Redskins. Wanna bet Head Coach Jim Zorn gets fired this week? He probably should be, and QB Jason Campbell should join him on the bench (really Zorn will end up being some defensive coordinator somewhere, maybe for the Lions!)  But I digress. I think the drought lasts one more week – Miami wins 2.5-1.5.

Philadelphia Inventors vs Queens Pioneers

Philly needs this one badly in the very competitive and tight Eastern division. Both Philly and Queens have very balanced lineups. Philly needs this worse than Queens.  Philly squeaks by, 2.5-1.5.

New Jersey Knockouts vs Chicago Blaze

Benjamin has white on board 1 and a rating edge, while Chicago’s IM Angelo Young looks to continue his impressive undefeated record in the USCL vs. NJ’s Metallica/Iron Maiden and almost IM, Mackenzie Molner. Two juniors and recently crowned masters, Eric Rosen and Andrew Ng face off, again maybe a match decider. I can see another NJ win though I don’t think board 4 decides the match – NJ continues their impersonation of the New England Patriots and go 5-0 (though the Pats did lose somehow to the Giants). NJ wins 2.5.1.5.

New York Knights vs SF Mechanics

Even though NY has struggled somewhat, I think this will be a really close match. GM Giorgi Kacheisvili is going to have to inflict pain on Josh Friedel for NY to be successful, NY also needs NM Yaacov Norowitz, the super NY board 4, against USCL undefeated youngster Yian Liou. NY has a small edge in this match, but I think peace prevails – heck I had to pick 1 tie. Tie 2-2.

Arizona Scorpions vs. Dallas Destiny

First, I want to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to Arizona’s newest IM, Danny Rensch. Now to the watch, The Scorps have had a rough go of it the last 2 weeks, while Dallas has been a little unlucky in their matches. Scorps needs this badly – and I am not picking against my team. AZ wins 2.5-1.5.

Seattle Sluggers vs. Tennessee Tempo

Apparently an attempt to re-schedule this match to Monday failed. TN features the double GM lineup, and this gives them an edge. GM Greg Serper needs to hold at a minimum for Seattle to survive, and WGM Rohonyan needs to make decisive use of her white to survive. I think TN has the edge, but somehow I gotta pick one more tie match. Tie 2-2.

Last Week – 2-5

Season – 10-18

Danny Rensch has become the US’s newest International Master after drawing IM Ray Robson in the 9th and final round of the SPICE Cup that was held from September 19-29 in Lubbock, Texas. The game was highlighted by the fact that Ray had to win in order to get a GM Norm. But in the end Danny drew and acheived his final IM norm!  You can get more information about this great event from Susan Polgar’s website.

This is a large step towards Danny’s ultimate goal to become a Grandmaster. Danny was impressive in this tournament as he was clearly the lowest rated out of the group and was the only Fide Master in the event.

However, he didn’t disappoint and showed in every game that he was clearly a part of this very strong group of chess professionals. Congratulations to Danny and we hope to hear from him about his great achievement sometime in the near future. You can see more about Danny including articles and tournaments from his website.

Before I go on my rant about the match I want to thank some people that have basically kept the Scorpions functioning this season and don’t get any credit at all. In no order at all Jon Shacter, John LaLonde, Amanda Mateer, Ben Marmont, Satheesh Aradhyula, and Alan Anderson. I can’t really thanks these people enough as they help the team tremendously and never complain about it. Without these people there would not be a team from AZ.

Anyways on to the match.

Unfortunately the Arizona Scorpions lost their last match against the Baltimore Kingfishers. This was a very close match. Just like the Seattle match versus Arizona a couple breaks here or there and this could have easily been our victory. But we will have to go ahead and learn from it instead. This was our “weakest” lineup that we have had all year however we felt that we were at least solid on every board. When we saw the Baltimore lineup we were confident that this was going to be a very close match up. However, our team is fully confident that the remainder of the season is going to see a rise of the Scorpions! Stay tuned for new lineups and new players added to play to the team in the weeks ahead!

IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL) vs IM Levon Altounian (ARZ)  1/2-1/2

This game was probably the most boring of the group so I will deal with it first! Levon prepared some for Enkhbat since he almost exclusively plays 1. d4 in the league. He had told me that he was going to play a Slav and a very solid line occurred where Black had a very solid structure while White had the big center. However, Black was ready to hit the center at any moment and after 10…Bh5 he is getting ready to play …Bg6 and attack e4 again. The game started to get a little more exciting after 13. d5 c5 14. de6 Qe6 15. Ng5 Qc6 16. Nd5!?. Although this doesn’t seem like it works as an aggressive attempt it did seem to exchange a lot of the pieces that were left on the board with two sets of minor pieces coming off. After 22…c4 it seemed that Black could not be worse but it is tough to convert that to a victory. Although Black has a more mobile pawn majority White has his counter chances as well.  In the end, although Levon fought it out until he could not anymore the position just petered out to a draw.

IM Mark Ginsburg (ARZ) vs GM Larry Kaufman (BAL)  1/2-1/2

This was the second game done of the match. This was one game that affected the rest of the match I thought as Mark seemed to be in trouble the entire game.  When one board is in trouble and down a pawn (although I guess he got some play out of it at some point) the other boards of course usually look at that and decide if they have to be more aggressive or not on their board. However, Mark did very well after he lost a pawn and immediately got at least some play for his pieces. This saying is mentioned a lot but I will say it again. A lot of times when you are in a cramped position and your pieces are not functioning, when you lose a pawn your pieces open up and you have more room for your pieces. That is what happened to Mark’s game. He lost a pawn but all of a sudden he got the a-file, he got holes for his knight on e5 and c5 and he was able to attack with his bishop on g4. This maybe was not enough but it definitely made the game more dynamic and interesting.

IM Ray Kaufman (BAL) vs FM Robby Adamson (ARZ)  1/2-1/2

This game was crazy the whole way through. At one point Robby said he was +5 ahead if he played the right move. The game started with a long theoretical line of the Sozin Sicilian. I thought that 18. Bc5 was kind of suspect and after that White was just going for broke on the kingside sacrificing the exchange for play. He did have some play and for most of the game I had no idea what was going on. However, if you look at it for more time than I had (because I was still playing) you had to see that White’s rook was definitely misplaced on h4 and unless White mates his king can become weak as well. One top of this, I think one of Robby’s better chess qualities is defending tough positions and this was the case here as well. However, Robby was unable to find the wins for him in this case and instead chose to trade down into a opposite colored bishops ending where he was up material but could not break through.

NM Leo Martinez (ARZ) vs FM Shinsaku Uesugi (BAL)  0-1

So this was a pretty tough game for me as I had a very tough decision to make on move 24 where Black basically offered a draw by repeating. Black had no other choices there as he had to repeat the position or his position would be lost. So the game was pretty early and I didn’t know what to do. I could take the draw or go into some crazy complications where the position is not clear at all. If this was some normal tournament I think this would have been a much easier decision but in this team setting you have to look at how you’re going to help win as a team rather than think about your own game. I thought that Mark’s game looked very bad as he lost a pawn with White in about 20 moves. Robby’s position looked crazy and unless I analyzed it for awhile there was no way I was going to be able to make a definitive decision. And Levon’s game was not at all clear either. I honestly thought it could be any result. Therefore based on the fact that Mark was losing and the other boards were completely unclear I thought I had to go for a win here. However, perhaps I should have just decided on this by spending a couple of minutes rather than spending like 10-15 like I did in the game. It is impossible to calculate everything in that position so better would have been just to decide quickly. Anyways on to the game!

I can’t really agree with some of Mark’s analysis that he has in his column. I mean some of the Bg6 lines look good at first but Black has a lot of resources and can play …Ra7 after Bg6 in many lines. For example at one point he suggested instead of 19 Bf5 to play 19 Bg6 Black can play 19…fe3 20. fe3 Ra7 there is still some play in the position. To look at a computer and spit out what it says is pretty easy…to actually play and analyze it during a game is another thing.

According to Alejandro 24. a4! was winning after 24…fe3 25 fe3 and due to the threats of 26 ab5 and 26 Qd7 it is tough to hold Black’s position. In this case moves such as …Ra7 can just get met by axb5 with Black having to defend both the King side and the Queen side. I saw these types of lines but didn’t see the 24. a4! move. So I had to pick something else and I decided to play 24. Nb6? which in the end looks bad if Black played the correct continuation.  After 29…Qg6! 30. Qc6 f3 31. g3 Qe6! 32. Kh1 and now 32…Kf7!, also given by Alejandro, Black wins.  However, neither one of us saw this continuation and after 32. Qc8+ the position was not at clear. Of course after 33…Qh3 34. Rg1 Qxh2 doesn’t work as my queen can interpose the checkmate at h3. After 34…e3 35. fe3 Qc2 36 Rg1 the position was still completely unclear even though the computer is still loving it for White. However one move later I am just lost. After 36…Rh6 I can either play 37. h4 or 37. h3 and only one really works. After 37. h4? was played in the game I am just losing after 37…f2 38. Rgf1 Qe4 39 Kh2 Rxh4+! followed by …Be5 with mate coming. Of course if 37. h3 there is no …Rxh4 trick and the game continues with White having an advantage. This still would have been difficult to defend but this would definitely have given me chances to win. After the game continuation the game is just over and the rest was just easy technique.

A really tough match as I thought boards 3 and 4 were definitely better if not winning at certain points and somehow we didn’t even get a full point out of these two games. In the end,  you have to give credit to Baltimore for fighting hard. However the Scorpions will continue to fight in the remaining matches and we fully expect to do well! With 6 matches to go until the season’s end there are still a lot more fighting chess left!