Arizona wins West Semifinals!
This was an amazing match to witness due to the sheer pessimism of the situation that reversed at the 11th hour to yield an improbable Scorpions victory.
Board 1 Molner-ARZ – Diamant-STL [B36]
15.11.2012
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be2 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.Rc1 a4 12.Rc2 Qa5 13.f3 Bd7 14.0-0 Rfc8 15.Rfc1 Be6 16.Bf1 Nd7 17.Qf2 Qb4 18.Nb5 Qa5 19.Rb1 Qd8 20.Nd4 Nc5 21.b4 axb3 22.axb3 Bd7 23.b4 Ne6 24.Nxe6 Bxe6 25.c5 dxc5 26.bxc5 Qc7 27.Bc4 Bxc4 28.Rxc4 Ra1 29.Rxa1 Bxa1 30.Rc1 Bg7 1/2-1/2
IM Molner was quite under the weather in this game. Did anyone see “Tombstone” where Val Kilmer fell off his horse? It was like that. So, a draw was a good result. This was the first to finish. Running total: Arizona 1/2 – St Louis 1/2.
We needed 2.5 out of 4 to win the match.
The next game to finish was Board 4. And that did not go well.
Board 4. Hendrickson-STL – Chakraborty-ARZ [B07]
15.11.2012
1.e4 d6
Black avoided the Grand Prix Attack although it is easily met.
2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bc4 Ke8 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 h6 10.Bh4 a6 11.a4 b6 12.Rhe1 Bb7 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Nd5 Nd7 15.Nc3 Rd8 16.Bd5 Bc8 17.Nd2 Bb4 18.Re3 Nf6 19.Nc4
All of the unpleasantness stems from the fact black has lost castling privileges.
Bc5 20.Red3 Bd4 21.Ne2 Nxd5 22.exd5 Bxf2 23.Nxe5 Bh4 24.d6 Rxd6 25.Rxd6 cxd6 26.Rxd6 Bf2 27.Nc3 Ke7 28.Rd2 Bc5 29.b4 Be3 30.Nd5+ Ke6 31.Nxe3 Kxe5 32.Nc4+ Ke4 33.Nxb6 Be6 34.c4 Rb8 35.c5 Rb7 36.Kb2 Ke3 37.Kc3 g5 38.b5 h5 39.Rd6 h4 40.c6 Rc7 41.Rxe6+ fxe6 42.Nc4+ Kf2 43.b6 1-0
Well this is a bad start for us, now we are down 1/2 to 1 1/2.
Things were looking very grim. On Board 2, there was much adventure.
A miracle occurred on Board 2: Kannappan overplayed his hand and Altounian won an ending!
Board 2. Kannappan-Altounian
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.e3 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.c4 d6 6.d3 c5 7.a3 b6 8.Be2 Bb7 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Qb3 e6 11.Nc3 Qe7 12.Rfd1 Rfd8 13.Rac1 Rab8 14.Nd2 Ne8 15.Bf3 f5 16.Nf1 g5
Altounian plays an aggressive move (!!).
17.Bxc6 Bxc6 18.d4 Nf6 19.d5 exd5 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.cxd5 Ba4 22.Qxa4 Bxb2 23.Rb1 Be5 24.bxc5 dxc5 25.Qc4 Qf7 26.a4 Rd6 27.Rd3 Rbd8 28.Rbd1 g4 29.g3 h5 30.h4 Kh7 31.Nd2 Bg7 32.Nb1
Levon offered a draw during this knight tour. At this point, our board 4 had the bishop pair advantage but had a floating king problem – it was not clear yet. This is why white declined the draw. In this game, white is in no danger whatsoever but black retains counter-chances (although he is limited to passively reacting to whatever white might try).
Re8 33.Na3 Re4 34.Qc2 Rd7 35.d6 Kg6 36.a5 Rb4 37.axb6 axb6 38.Rd5 Bd4 39.e4 fxe4 40.Qxe4+ Kh6 41.R1xd4 Rxd4 42.Rxd4 cxd4 43.Qxd4
White is still not risking anything considering black’s wide open king.
Kh7 44.Qe5 Ra7 45.Nc2 Ra2 46.d7 Qxd7 47.Qxh5+ Kg7 48.Ne3??
White carelessly allows a queen trade. He had to NOT allow a queen trade to hold this.
Ra5! And black wins.
49.Qxg4+ Qxg4 50.Nxg4 Ra1+ 51.Kg2 b5 52.Kf3 b4 53.Ne5 Re1 54.Nd3 b3 55.g4 Kh6 56.Kf4 Re2 57.g5+ Kg7 58.Kf3 Rc2 59.h5 b2 60.Nxb2 Rxb2 61.Kg3 Kf7 62.f3 Ke6 63.Kg4 Rg2+ 64.Kf4 Rh2 65.Kg4 Rg2+ 66.Kf4 Rg1 67.h6 Rg2 68.h7 Rh2 69.Kg4 Rxh7 70.f4 Rh1 71.f5+ Ke5 72.f6 Ke6 73.Kf4 Rf1+ 74.Ke4 Rf5 75.f7 Rxf7 76.g6 Rg7 0-1
On Board 3, IM Mohandesi was involved in a crazy game with IM Bregadze.
Board 3 Mohandesi-ARZ – Bregadze-STL [A11]
15.11.2012
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Na3 g6 6.Nxc4 Bg7 7.Nf3 0-0 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.d3 Nb6 10.Na5 Nbd5 11.Bd2 c5 12.Nc4
White does not pretend to be accurate, but he is very fast!
b6 13.a3 Bb7 14.b4 Nd7 15.Rab1 Rc8 16.Qb3 Nc7 17.Rfc1 Ne6 18.Qd1 Rc7 19.Qf1 Qa8 20.Be3 Rfc8 21.b5 Nd4 22.Bxd4 cxd4 23.a4 Bd5 24.a5 Rc5 25.a6 Qb8 26.Nfd2 Bh6 27.Bxd5 Rxd5 28.Rc2 Bxd2 29.Rxd2 Rcc5 30.Rdb2 Ne5 31.Nd2 Qe8 32.Qg2 Kg7 33.Qe4 Qd7 34.Kg2 Rxb5 35.Rxb5 Rxb5 36.Rxb5 Qxb5 37.Qxd4 f6 38.Qd8 Qd7 39.Qb8 Nc6 40.Qa8 b5 41.f3 b4 42.Kf1 Nd4 43.Qb7 Qh3+ 44.Ke1 Qe6 45.e4 Nc6 46.Nc4 b3 47.Kd2 Qh3 48.Kc3!
Again, the ONLY MOVE TO WIN. And black has less time. It’s looking good for us! White wraps up the point.
Nd4+ 50.Kc3 Ne2+ 51.Kb4 Qg1 52.Qxe7+ Kg8 53.Qxf6 Qb1+ 54.Kc5 Qg1+ 55.Kc6 Nd4+ 56.Kb7 Qb1+ 57.Kxa7 Qxd3 58.Nb6
Of course 58. Qf7+!! is the fan favorite way to end the game. But it didn’t matter anymore. All roads lead to Rome.
Nb5+ 59.Kb8 Qa3 60.Qd8+ Kg7 61.Qd7+ Kh6 62.Qxb5 Qd6+ 63.Kb7 1-0
Wow!
Just to be clear: I offered a draw when it seemed like Dipro with 2 Bishops might be better at one point- not when he was losing…. but also the fact that unless the opponent does something- I can’t win…but if he tries to win, then it is a different story.
Yes, there is no way their Board 2 declines the draw if their Board 4 is already clearly winning.
Wait! On the US Chess League page it states that Mark recaps the “UPSET”! Hey, I’m not upset, are you?
Fantastic fighting spirit, keep it up for two more Matches! Go Scorpions!!!
That’s right, I felt we had the better team on paper, I thought it might go 1/2, 1/2, 1/2, 1. I was very surprised when we started 1/2, 0, but then finished with those two fabulous wins. I had commented on another site that our expectation was about “2.4″ but I then also said “I hope this equates to 2.5″ and it did!
I agree with your feelings. On paper I liked AZ as well, but I have to tell you that boards 2 and 3 scared me before the match. Kannappan has been on a tear all year long as had Bregadze, I mean seriously, look at their scores this year – amazing.
I would have liked to see you go against Sinanan, would that have put us over the rating limit? I don’t think so. I do have to credit Shahin for his play in the last game, he never blinked.
I am so proud of this team, the whole team. Had there not been a controversy in the Barcenilla game who knows what would have happened.
What’s your off-the-hip prediction for the Semi’s? Personally I think we might hold on 1 and 2 (if Mac is feeling better), so 3 and 4 seem crucial. I’m thinking a 2-2, which, this time, is fine with me
You mean against Bregadze? Yes my rating was too high.
For the semis, now that the lineup is out, let’s look:
Seattle Sluggers Arizona Scorpions
GM Varuzhan Akobian: 2697 IM Mackenzie Molner: 2511
IM Georgi Orlov: 2523 IM Levon Altounian: 2493
NM Joshua Sinanan: 2263 IM Shahin Mohandesi: 2399
NM Peter Lessler: 2177 NM Dipro Chakraborty: 2306
Our expectation is in the 0.5 out of 2 range on the top 2 boards (maybe a tiny bit less than that), and 1.5 (probably a little more than that) on the bottom two boards.
Our overall expectation is at least 2 out of 4.
So, I think we are significant favorites to score the needed 2 out of 4 and advance.
In the other match,
Manhattan Applesauce Philadelphia Inventors
GM Vladimir Romanenko: 2513 GM Sergey Erenburg: 2700
IM Eli Vovsha: 2514 FM Tom Bartell: 2489
NM Andrew Shvartsman: 2343 FM Dov Gorman: 2327
NM Alex King: 2303 IM Richard Costigan: 2288
Average Rating: 2424 Average Rating: 2451
This is a tough one. Manhattan having white on boards 1 and 3… but Philadelphia only needs a draw.
Considering the colors and the players, Manhattan has an expectation of the 1 to 1.25 range out of 2 on the top two boards and also a 1 to 1.25 range on the bottom two.
Thus, they have decent chances of scoring the needed 2.5. I would rate them as having about a 40% chance of scoring the needed 2.5.