Week 2 saw the normal highs and lows of the US Chess League. Your beloved Scorpions tied their match with the Tennessee Tempo, 2-2, and with the tie, the Scorpions are tied for 2nd overall in the Western Division. Overall even though I felt like the Scorpions had their chances to win the match, I think a tie match is the “just” result. When assessing a match with a biased point of view (as most who are writing blogs for their respective teams), you tend to ignore all the breaks that went your way and focus on the things that went against you. Even though our own IM Levon Altounian should have won his game (IM Ron Burnett did manufacture amazing counterplay to save the game), David Adelberg easily could have succumbed in a difficult endgame. All in all, a solid performance. Let’s take a look at the games from the week.
Board 1 – GM Jaan Ehlvest (2697) vs. GM Alejandro Ramirez 1-0
GM Alejandro Ramirez, fresh off his win last week against GM Mitkov, was paired with the very strong GM Jaan Ehlvest.
Getting black against Ehlvest is like going in for a root canal. Ehlvest is such a highly regarded GM and because he has played so many games, he is impossible to really prepare for. Ehlvest got a comfortable bind in the opening, and the bishop pair. Despite these concessions, I thought Alejandro defended well until he ventured onto the queenside for what Alejandro later said “for some unknown reason.” Ehlvest finished Handi off with a break on the kingside with f5, followed by Qh6.
Thanks to Alejandro for making the trip to Tucson to play for the Scorpions for two matches, as well as his success of tying for first at the Southern California Open, held last weekend.
Board 2 – IM Levon Altounian (2538) vs. IM Ron Burnett (2380) Draw
I am sure this is a game Levon would like to have back. He surprised everyone and his opponent, IM Ron Burnett, by playing 1.e4, and playing the c3 Sicilian.
Levon achieved a winning position right out of the opening with 11.Nxf7, winning a pawn. However, he probably spent too much time on the clock getting there. To Ron Burnett’s credit, the cagey veteran made the best of a very bad position, and skillfully manufactured counterplay with the creative 20…Bb8 and 21…Rb6! Even though Lev is still winning after he is forced to sacrifice the exchange, the winning method was not obvious, especially when Levon was already in time pressure. Lev’s final big mistake was 27.Qxe5 which surrenders all the pressure and allows black’s rooks to become active. Ducking the queen trade with 27.Qc5 seals the deal. Clearly this was a lost opportunity.
Board 3 – FM Todd Andrews (2360) vs. FM Robby Adamson (2354) 0-1
In contrast to our game last year, which featured a Stonewall, Todd decided to come after me, inviting me to play the Benko. I got that funny feeling he had prepared something for the Benko so I decided to play a Bogo Indian, a line I have almost no experience with, but something that I felt might have some surprise value. Also, fearing that the game might not be dynamic, and because of my inexperience in this line, I decided to play 11…h5 which adds some pizazz to the position. Todd responded by prematurely sacrificed a pawn with 13.c5 though interestingly Rybka does not think the sacrifice is that bad. I am not sure I agree with that assessment however because I am not sure how white generates counterplay following this sac. Even though “the computer” might not like white’s position, I think practically Todd needed to find some way to make f4 work early on, perhaps before I castled. I am not sure it is sound, but it definitely would have put more pressure on my position. In the game, white was never able to get enough compensation for the pawn, mostly because there were no open lines to work with. So after I won, the match was tied, and it all came down to board 4.
Board 4 – David Adelberg (2160) vs. David Justice (2087) Draw
Board 4 featured a battle between 12 year old and almost master, David Adelberg, and David Justice from Tennessee.
This was a tough match that went the distance into a bishop ending of the same color. The ICC kibitzers were going crazy in the endgame, saying David was losing. However, David kept his composure and was able to hold the draw, although he did make things hard on himself. As I have said so many times, the pressure in the league is tremendous. Imagine this normal pressure except knowing that your game decides the match, and oh by the way, you are only 12 years old. The kibitzers should be a little kinder to this young gun who will soon give a beat-down to those kibitzers.
Despite a valiant effort to win by David Justice (do people remember that Justice was the 2004 Co-National High School Champion, tying with Scorpion player, FM Daniel Rensch?), David put up pretty good resistance and held the draw. It was good to see David handle the situation well, considering his time pressure, and the pressure of being 12 years old. Nice save David!
Thanks again to the numerous spectators who came down to the University of Arizona to watch the games live and support the Scorpions. Again, thanks to Alejandro for playing for us, to Leo Martinez, for handling the thankless job of manager duties, thanks to Amanda Mateer and Ben Marmont for relaying, and special thanks to our tournament director, Satheesh Aradhyula for directing. Root us on next week when we face off against the Seattle Sluggers!
Considering both players on Board 4 are named David, would you be willing to clarify which player you’re referring to when?