Playoffs?! Don’t talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! I’m just hoping we can win a game, another game!”

Jim Mora seemed to be talking about the Arizona Scorpions this week. Luckily for them, much attention was diverted to Julio Becerra’s 12 move miniature over US Champ Hikaru Nakamura. However, there was a quarterfinal match between the San Francisco Mechanics and Arizona Scorpions going on too. To be realistic, AZ got demolished, though the beginning of some games must have affected how players proceeded in their games. Robby was forced to play risky for team purposes, while Leo turned down a repitition for team purposes. GM Handi played to a pretty solid draw (he did look a bit better after the opening). Danny Rensch achieved a lost position early on, fought back, and eventually through away a win. Robby received a better position with superior minor piece development, but FM Naroditsky capitalized on the opportunity. Leo Martinez looked solid, even better, before Liou stole a pawn and then the game. Let’s take a closer peak at the action…

Board 1: GM Handi vs. GM Wolff  http://www.uschessleague.com/games/aramirezwolff09.htm

Wolff seemed well prepared, quickly rattling off the opening. Handi had a nice space and two bishops advantage. After Handi overstepped with 17. d5, Wolff temporarily won a pawn (albeit a doubled one) and remained about equal the rest of the way. 17. Rc1 was a certain improvement for white, with a better game. As it was, Wolff played well and easily secured a draw with the black pieces against a strong GM in Ramirez.

½-½

Board 2: GM Bhat vs. IM-Elect Rensch  http://www.uschessleague.com/games/bhatrensch09.htm

It is quite common for a player to have a bad game soon after receiving a title. Danny Rensch proved to be no exception. It is hard to imagine any bigger of a disaster than what happened during this game. The game began as a rather typical Queen’s Indian. While I am not too familiar with this opening, I am fairly certain 8…c6 is the norm, whereas white sacrifices a pawn for a superior position. Great fighting chances, really. 14…Bg5 is the real culprit, as before this white was better, but still a long fight ahead. Trading the dark squared bishops did black absolutely no favors. 18. Qc3 was another winning move, as after Re7 19. Qxe5 Rxe5 20. f4 Re7 21. Nd6 Bc8 22. e4 +-

However, Rensch continued to fight in the game, and eventually even achieved a won game.  Some lines I have thought over (if anyone is using a computer, feel free to correct my analysis)..

47. g5 Kd4 48. Bg2 c3+ 49. bxc3bxc3+ 50. Kd1Ke5 51. Bf1d2 52. Bg2 +-

*After 47. b3, fans claimed Kd4 is winning for black – here is what I believe draws (again, anyone with computer analysis, feel free to ..

47. b3 Kd4 48. bxc4???? b3 0-1

BUT 48. Bg2! c3+ 49. Kd1 f3 50. Bf1 d2 51. g5 Ke5 52. h5 Kf5 53. g6! hxg6 54. Bd3+ Kf6 55. hxg6 =

 After playing 47…cxb3, simply..

1-0

Board 3: FM Adamson vs. FM Danya http://www.uschessleague.com/games/adamsonnaroditsky09.htm

Robby came out strong, had a nice development advantage after Danya played some strange Sicilian I haven’t really seen, but missed some chances. Perhaps 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Bh5 was better. White remained better most of the game, Danya should have played …g5 at some point, and after white played Bxc5 the game was pretty much over. Robby, you are still the man. Danya, well played.

0-1

Board 4: NM Liou vs. NM Martinez http://www.uschessleague.com/games/lioulmartinez09.htm

There really is not too much to say about this game. Martinez played quite well as black, holding equality for the most part. I respect Martinez’s decision to turn down a repetition to try to help his team out. Liou, proving his all-star value, won a pawn with 38. f5. The rest was technical, but this really should have been a draw. A bit boring for my taste, as pieces were traded quite quickly, but solidly played..

1-0

So Arizona’s season is over. But do not be too disappointed, it was a strong showing by the Scorpions. Instead of worrying about the upcoming lineup, Arizonians can watch their beloved 17^th ranked Wildcats in the BCS or NFC West leading Cardinals win, on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Really, though, the Arizona Scorpions did impress me, especially on boards 1 and 4, with Ramirez and Adelberg having pretty great seasons. For next season, expect Adelberg to move up a board as his rating will most likely increase with age. The usual suspects will be hungrier than ever next year, as they must certainly feel that their season was cut too short. Good bye for now. See you next USCL season!

Manager Leo Martinez Comments about the Monday Playoff Results as Well as Previews the Wednesday Playoff Matches

The playoffs definitely bring on a different atmosphere then the regular season. Everyone is preparing. Everyone is putting full effort and everyone is thinking about the team. Monday’s Eastern Conference results were very interesting. I thought the Boston – New York match was pretty close but I thought that New York had a slight edge and wouldn’t have felt like this was an upset if New York happened to win. With Kacheishvili with White on board 1 leading the way I couldn’t really see where Boston had any advantage. The reason I agree with John Donaldson in thinking that Boston should have put Esserman on board 3 is that with draw odds a win by Esserman would have been huge. In hindsight I guess it didn’t matter as Martirosov won his game in the end. This was a very interesting match that could have gone either way for sure and the result (New York won 2.5-1.5) makes for a very interesting Quarterfinal match between New York and New Jersey. This pits Benjamin vs Kacheishvili, Ippolito vs Charbonneau, Molner vs Herman, and Norowitz against many possible options for New Jersey. These are my guesses at least. Should make for an interesting match…I’m not sure who’s the favorite just looking at the lineups but you got to go with New Jersey given their momentum from the regular season.

The Miami – Seattle match up seems like a clear advantage to me for Seattle. Seattle’s lineup is pretty impressive but Miami, as they showed last year, are pretty vigilant. My feeling is that Becerra has to score in his game. A loss with White, albeit against the US Champion, in this spot would be tough on the rest of the team. Miami is a tossup on board 3 and probably a favorite on board 4 but somehow they have to score 2.5 points. Maybe a draw by Becerra and a win on the bottom two boards is the way to do it but it’ll be tough. Should be interesting to see how both teams change their play based on how the rest of their team is doing.

The Arizona – San Francisco match is a good one and has been well covered by John Donaldson and some others. As John said, this is the closest match in terms of team rating and literally is a toss up on every board. Arizona has their best player in Alejandro Ramirez leading the way on board 1. With Alejandro’s help taking control of board 1 and leaving board 2 for the others to play Arizona has been able to make it to the playoffs this season. Board 1 should be an interesting match up as youth fights against experience is this never-ending battle. Alejandro has done well with White this season but Wolff has loads of experience on his side and is a good defender so it should be very interesting. I find the USCL even more fun to watch during the playoffs as these GM’s go all out for wins with no mention of a draw in sight. You can see this even more clearly by the fact that all GM vs. GM encounters on Monday were decisive results. On board 2 Danny Rensch is fighting against Vinay Bhat. These two have encountered each other more than once, most recently fighting to a draw at the 2009 SPICE Cup. Again this match is a battle of styles as Danny is fairly aggressive while Vinay is perhaps more positionally natured, although he can also fight tenaciously when needed.

Robby is facing the very solid and strong Daniel Naroditsky. Although Daniel lost in week 8 to Danny Rensch he is always a formidable opponent and doesn’t lose any game easily. On fourth board I come back to face the young Yian Liou. Yian has played a lot more than me so far this season but hopefully I can pull this one off. Every game should be close and I wouldn’t miss any of them when watching ICC Wednesday night at 7:15 PM Tucson time.

Amanda Mateer Previews the Scorpion – Mechanics Playoff Match

Hi everyone!

So, let’s try this one more time. Last time I previewed a match, it was against Baltimore, and we definitely lost that one. So this time, I’m going to hope I’m not the kiss of death…

Basically, this match is expected to be full of craziness, and if it wasn’t, I think all around everyone would be shocked.  Last time either team could have easily won the match 3.5-0.5, and we somehow crawled out ahead – this time, let’s hope the Scorpions can win in a much smoother style – considering 2/4 players this week nearly have a heart attack each match as it is (cough cough Leo and Robby cough)…

Board 1: GM Alejandro Ramirez vs. GM Patrick Wolff

I think this could easily be the most crucial game of the match. First of all, Alejandro not only is really good on his own board, but I feel like he makes everyone around him better, too. Whenever he’s playing physically in Arizona (last week doesn’t count, since he was in Dallas!), I feel like everyone’s play just sort of goes up. Maybe it’s the GM vibes, or something else, who knows, but he just brings a different feeling to the match. Given his 3/3 record this season with the white pieces, it should definitely be exciting – and I predict Jandi will be the only one to come through with the win pretty cleanly.

Board 2: GM Vinay Bhat vs. IM!!! Danny Rensch

This is Danny’s debut on Board 2 for the Scorpions, which definitely makes it an interesting game to look forward to. Having a much better season than last and fresh off earning the IM title, Danny will be looking to prove that he can handle the internet chess world. Vinay is no pushover, though, and I’m going to guess that after a lot of chaos, the game peters out to a draw.

Board 3: FM Robby Adamson vs. FM Danya Naroditsky

This game should definitely be another exciting one – wait, who am I kidding, they’re all going to be nuts, remember the last AZ-SF match? But these two have been decent and steady performers in the past in the USCL, and after a rough week last week, Robby will definitely be looking for redemption. I have a hard time really picking someone in this game, and I feel like it may be the last one to finish – but that at the end, the game will finish up with a draw after several close calls.

Board 4: Yian Liou vs. Leo Martinez

Leo’s definitely coming out ready to fight, and there would be no better time for him to score his first USCL win then now. But SF’s board 4 in Yian has been super strong this season, and with Leo having the black pieces, it certainly won’t be easy. All I really know is that this kid plays super fast, and Leo is a lot steadier – and as long as he can control all his crazy nerves, he should be fine. I think that if anyone has chances this game, it will turn out to be Leo – in this scenario, I’m thinking the experience may mean more than ever before. But I’ll predict Yian finds a way to hold on to the draw with a significant time edge.

So overall, I predict Board 1 with Alejandro to be the only decisive result. That doesn’t mean the other three draws will be clean – in fact, I’m sure they will be anything but – and there’s no telling what can really happen with these two teams. But I’m going to go with the 2.5-1.5 win by the Scorpions, advancing them to the semi-finals and keeping their finals hopes alive!

Below is the very first puzzle of IM Mark Ginsburg’s USCL Quiz! To check out the rest of the article visit his blog.

Test Your Insight

Here’s a set of tough positions.   Each has interesting strategical and tactical elements.  No computer engines!   The harder you work, the better off you’ll be.

In each case, I’ll ask a poll question about it.   Post your answer as a comment.

Position 1

Black to play

To give you some context about position 1, this was Nakamura-Ramirez from a recent SEA-ARZ USCL match.

Continued here……

As the manager of the Scorpions I am going to dissect the season and the playoffs as I see it and how the Scorpions have fared this season. Due to the last match loss against Miami we have fallen to third place and therefore will not have draw odds unless we face Miami in week 2.

Although this last match was a disappointment we are happy to be in the playoffs after barely missing the cut last season. Other than maybe Baltimore we are perhaps one of the most improved teams in the league.  Another difference between this season and last is that although we won 3 matches last season they were all against the lower bracket of the division. This season however we have wins against the Western Division Champ Seattle, the Eastern Division champ New Jersey, and the team in 2^nd place in the West San Francisco. However, now that we are in the playoffs all is forgotten and we will go for the gold as they say. Although draw odds are an advantage for sure it would be really difficult to draw your way to the championships.  To win the championships you have to play and beat the best…not draw them!  I am extremely confident in my team and really feel that if we can defeat the teams we did during the regular season, we can defeat anyone that comes our way in the playoffs.  Below is the playoff bracket from the Western Division.

Western Division Bracket

As you can see all the team’s record are fairly close and I would say the strength of all the teams, including Seattle, are very tight. Although I fully expect the Scorpions to pull through I would not be surprised with any team coming out of the West. The Scorpions have been very hot at exactly the right time this season winning their last four out of 5 matches against New Jersey, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle before losing against Miami. This is a slightly unfamiliar position for the Scorpions as all last season we were fighting for our lives for the last playoff spot, in the end barely missing it by half a tiebreak point. However, as everyone knows a team’s standing can change very rapidly in this league where every team is capable of beating any other team. This season we have fielded six different teams out of 8 weeks of playing, playing almost every person on our team at least once. It has been a strange season as many teams that were scrapping by trying to barely make it are doing very well (such as Seattle, New Jersey, Arizona) while many of the top teams of last season are struggling.

The final two matches were two of our toughest.  Seattle was the team to beat all season drawing their first two matches followed by winning 6 matches in a row. The final match was against the always strong Miami Sharks with two-time MVP Julio Becerra leading the way. Seattle’s success is clearly on their outer boards with Nakamura going 5.5-0.5 while Serper going a very impressive 3.5/4.

On fourth board they have been doing well also with Sinanan playing most of their games and doing really well until his final two games.  With their first board doing three points better than any other team in the league (you can see below) and the bottom board performing above average they were able to get first place in the division without too much trouble.

San Francisco has maybe the most successful history of any team in the USCL in terms of the regular season. They have made the playoffs every year since the USCL was created in 2005. They have an abundance of players that they could put on their team that any manager would be jealous of. Although we beat them in week 8 by a score of 2.5-1.5 this was perhaps the craziest match I have ever seen and easily could have been won by us 3.5-0.5 or lost by us 3.5-0.5.

San Francisco’s success every year has always been on the bottom boards with Shankland and Naroditsky doing extremely well on boards 3 and 4 last season. This season was no different. Yian Liou was one of the most successful board 4’s in the entire league with a +3 record beating Zorigt in Week 10 to give San Francisco draw odds against us. As you can see from the table above they have the best board 4 score of any team in the league and when someone does so well on one board it really eases the pressure off the other boards.

Arizona, on the other hand, has taken a very different method of scoring points. Similar to last season we have not been super impressive on any single board. However, we have been solid and good on every single one this season.  If you look at the stats above you can see that Arizona has a plus record on every single board except board 3 where we are even. Other than New Jersey (who are just ridiculous) we are the only team in the league to accomplish that. On board 1 we are +1; board 2 we are +3; board 3 we are even; board 4 we are +1. The biggest improvement has been on board 2 where we were last in the league in terms of points getting only 2/10 (-6) points throughout the whole season. This season this is our best board in terms of points getting 6.5/10.

New Jersey seems to have risen over the hump this season and with their best lineups up I think it’d definitely be a big upset if any other team from the East beat them.  With the Benjamin and Gulko tandem up front and Ippolito and Molner as possibilities they have a lot of options, all pretty attractive. Boston, as always is strong, but we will have to see if they can get past their championship demons this season in the playoffs. Although obviously I know less about their team than others in the West I am a little surprised by Boston using the lineup they have (Christiansen, Perelshteyn, Martirosov, Krasik) instead of some of their other possibilities. Obviously this is a very  strong team but I thought the team Christiansen, Perelshteyn, Esserman, Wang was extremely strong and their best option, if not the strongest possible team in the league. Anyways maybe Esserman was busy or they have a lot of faith in Krasik but either way it’s interesting to look at the lineups.

In other news around the league, the blogging from some teams has risen sharply this season. Arizona, New Jersey, Chicago, and Seattle seem to be leading the way. The excitement within our team has risen this season and with almost everyone on the team having blogged or consistently blogging our team unity is as high as ever.

Playoffs

The playoff match between San Francisco and Arizona will be a tough one. During the regular season I have always said that there are literally no easy matches with even the bottom teams being fully capable of beating anyone at any point. In the playoffs this is even more obvious.  All that is certain about San Francisco’s lineup at this point is that they will be playing their star player, Yian Liou as he is their only possible board 4. In my opinion, although there are many interesting matchups in the playoffs this match is the one to watch as the match could literally go either way and if our last match was an indication of anything it will be impossible to know what will happen until the final buzzer sounds!  Stayed tuned Scorpion nation to ICC at 9:15 PM ET and 7:15 PM Arizona time for the Scorpion-Mechanics matchup!