After a very close nail-biter versus the Seattle Sluggers last week the Arizona Scorpions move on to the Western Conference Semifinals to face the dangerous Miami Sharks. Arizona has struggled against the Sharks the previous two seasons going 0-2 but were able to secure their first victory against them in week 1. Being the #1 seed Arizona will once again receive draw odds this match. Since Miami is seeded 2 seeds below Arizona, Arizona also got to chose which color they wanted. Arizona chose White on boards 1 + 3 and will have black one boards 2 + 4.

Arizona Scorpions(7-4) vs. Miami Sharks (6.5-4.5)

Arizona Receives Draw Odds

All Time Series Record: Miami leads 2-1

 Board 1 - IM Altounian vs. GM Becerra

Lev is going to have his hands full this match going up against USCL stud and league MVP Julio Becerra. Lev is having a strong season thus far with a +1 score and a performance rating above 2600. Lev will have white this game so his chances to score seem pretty good. Lev will want to control the game right from the start and keep things simple against the tactical Becerra. I don’t have any record of these two every playing before so it is going to be interesting to see how the game will go. I am going to predict Lev will continue his solidness this season and secure the draw for Arizona.

Board 2 - GM Gonzalez vs. GM Barcenilla

Gonzalez and Barcenilla are both having ok seasons performing just a bit under their indicated ratings. Gonzalez seems pretty predictable so this game will likely be some kind of Ruy Lopez, the same opening Becerra and Barcenilla played during week 1. Barcenilla will want to get back on the winning track and although he has black I am going to predict that he wins this match.

Board 3 - FM Adamson vs. FM Martinez

Both players are having great seasons so far with Robby being +2 and Martinez being +4 and scoring 4.5 pts in his last 5 matches. Robby was the hero last week for Arizona and he will be looking to build off of the momentum. These two have played once before with opposite colors in the 2004 U.S. Championship so its hard to say what opening will be played. I think Robby will have a slight advantage the whole game but the it will eventually sizzle out into a draw.

Board 4  – Rosenthal vs. NM Thompson

Board 4 will feature two rising stars that are having above average season thus far. Rosenthal is coming off of 2 consecutive wins versus higher rated opposition including a miniature against FM Shankar last week. Nick has played well so far scoring two wins with black both versus Michael Wang in convincing fashion. These two have never played before and this board will be key for both teams. I am going to predict that a Sicilian of some sort will occur and in the end Nick will pull through with the win after Rosenthal overpushes the position.

Overall this will be an exciting match that can go either way but I think the Scorpions will come through with a 3-1 victory and advance to their first ever USCL Championship. The match is going to be at Abstrax in Phoenix at 7:00 P.M.

Arizona Draws and Advances

Arizona, receiving draw odds in the match (they only needed a 2-2 tie to advance to the semi-finals) played a very strong Seattle team on Monday.

Here is Leo Martinez’s pre-match preview in blue – then I provide the game score and some post-game in red.

Board 1

Altounian – Akobian is an interesting matchup of two Armenians that immigrated to the US and are now both working at chess full time in their lives. GM Akobian needs no introduction as he just helped assist in the Olympiad for the US and is amongst the best players in the country year after year. He figures to be up at the top of US players for many years to come as he is fairly young still. IM Levon Altounian is perhaps not as high rated and as strong but he has great amount of experience on his side. He is also having a good season with a GM scalp against GM Amanov during week 8 to help Arizona beat the now #2 seed Chicago Blaze. He is also especially strong with White so this should make for an interesting matchup.

What actually happened?

Altounian – Akobian

1.e4 c5 2.c3

Not a guaranteed draw!  But a decent way to sidestep most of the grandmaster preparation.  Actually 1…c5 is already a surprise from Akobian.  He handles the opening phase in this game very well.

2…Nf6! 2. c3 expert GM Sergey Tiviakov considers 2…d5?  a grave mistake, and Akobian agrees!

3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.exd6 Qxd6 10.Nc3 0-0 11.Re1 Rd8 12.Bb3 a6 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qb6 16.Qd3 Be6 17.Qg3 d4 18.Bh6 Bf8 19.Bg5 Rd7 20.Rad1 Bxb3 21.axb3 Re8 22.Rd3 f6 23.Bd2 Rde7 24.f4 fxe5 25.fxe5 Re6 26.h3 Qc5 27.Bf4 Qd5 28.Rf3 Bd6 29.Qg4 Bxe5 30.Bxe5 Rxe5 31.Rxe5 Qxe5 32.Qd7 Qe1+ 33.Kh2 Qe5+ 34.Kg1 Qe1+ 35.Kh2 Qe5+ 36.Kg1 Game drawn by repetition 1/2-1/2

My comments: a huge blow to Seattle’s chances.  Altounian neutralized Akobian (black looked like he had a very pleasant game the whole time with excellent control of the center and an annoying pawn on d4 (after 17…d4).   In fact, black was looking really good after the transformation 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qb6 already. The much higher rated Grandmaster certainly did not want to see a dead-drawn Q & R position (as actually occurred after move 32).  It turns out black must give a pawn back with absolutely no winning chances in the final position.

Board 2

Cozianu – Barcenilla is another interesting matchup of two players that have played mostly on board 1 for their teams this season. Both players are also fairly sharp and have had up and down seasons with good wins and not so good losses.  Cozianu has impressive wins against GM Benjamin and IM Martinez but has equally unimpressive losses this season against IM Bercys and especially against IM Pruess. However, Rogelio has had an up and down season as well beating FM Mikhailuk, GM Khachiyan, and drawing top 15 player in the world GM Nakamura while losing to Becerra, Gurevich, and Kraai. This should be the game to watch for the match as the winner could easily decide the team that wins the match.

What actually happened?

Cozianu – Barcenilla

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 d6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d5 Na5 8.Nfd2 c5 9.Nc3 a6 10.Rb1 Bd7 11.Qc2 Qc7 12.b3 b5 13.Bb2 Rab8 14.Nd1 bxc4 15.bxc4 Rb4 16.Bc3 Rxb1 17.Qxb1 Ng4 18.Qa1 Bxc3 19.Qxc3 Rb8 20.h3 Nf6 21.Ne3 Rb4 22.a3 Rb8 23.g4 h6 24.f4 Nh7 25.Be4 Ba4 26.Bc2 Bxc2 27.Qxc2 Rb7 28.Rb1 Rxb1+ 29.Qxb1 Qb7 30.Qc2 Qb6 31.Kf2 Nb7 32.Ne4 Na5 33.Nd2 Nb7 34.Ke1 Nf8 35.Kd1 Na5 36.Qc3 Nd7 37.Kc2 Nb7 38.Nd1 Qa5 39.Qb3 Nd8 40.h4 Nb6 41.Nc3 Kh7 42.Kb2 Kg8 43.Ka2 Nd7 44.g5 h5 45.Qc2 Nf8 46.Nf3 Nd7 47.Nd1 Nb6 48.Nb2 Nd7 49.e4 Nf8 50.Qd3 Qc7 51.f5 Kh7 52.Nd1 Nd7 53.Qc3 Nb7 54.Nf2 Qa5 55.Qb3 Nd8 56.Nd3 Kg8 57.Qc2 Nf8 58.Nf4 Kg7 59.fxg6 fxg6 60.Qb2+ Kg8 61.e5 dxe5 62.Nxe5 Nf7 63.Nexg6 Nxg6 64.Nxg6 Qe1 65.Qb8+ Kg7 66.Qf8+ Kxg6 67.Qg8+ Kf5 68.Qxf7+ Kg4 69.Qe6+ Qxe6 70.dxe6 Kf5 71.Kb3 Kxe6 72.Kc3 Kf5 73.Kd3 a5 74.a4 e6 75.Ke3 Ke5 76.g6 Kf6 77.Kf4 Kxg6 78.Ke5 Kf7 79.Kd6 Kf6 80.Kxc5 Ke7 81.Kc6 Kf6 82.c5 Black resigns 1-0

My comments:  this must have been a really aggravating loss for Rogelio.  White had a space advantage and the typical “offside black knight on a5″ yet just started shuffling (playing on time or was he himself in time trouble?).   Black was completely OK after move 31. Everytime this “bad” knight went back to b7 it seemed like a bad choice for black even though white was just king wandering.  Then it went back to d8 and that was even worse!   Finally, black’s unfortunate knight maneuvers just resulted in a weakened king position (I imagine both sides might have been on increment in this marathon) and white cashed in during the wee hours.

Board 3

Adamson – Mikhailuk is another game to watch and challenges a strong board 3 player all season against a player (Mikhailuk) who normally plays on board 2 for Seattle. Robby has been very strong for the Scorpions having a solid +2 season at 3.5/5. He has not lost a game all season and beat FM’s Kiewra and Naroditsky to lead Arizona to wins in both matches by a 2.5-1.5 score. However, Mikhailuk is a dangerous opponent that is usually well prepared in the opening and is not afraid to mix it up with evidence from his recent victory against IM David Pruess.

What actually happened?  Just one of the most, if not THE most,  titantic battle ever witnessed in the USCL!

Adamson-Mihaliuk

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.Bxc6 Bxc6 8.Bg5 Qa5 9.0-0-0 e6 10.Rhe1 Be7 11.Kb1 0-0-0 12.Qd2 Kb8 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Bf4 Qb6 15.Nb3 Bc6 16.Be3 Qa6 17.f3 d5 18.e5 Nd7 19.Bg5 Rhe8 20.Bxe7 Rxe7 21.Nd4 h6 22.Qf4 Nb6 23.Qg3 g5 24.h4 Nc4 25.hxg5 Rg8 26.f4 Rc7 27.Nce2 hxg5 28.f5 Qb6 29.b3 exf5 30.Nxf5 Bd7 31.Nfd4 Be6 32.Ka1 Na3 33.Qd3 Rgc8 34.Rc1 Bg4 35.c3 Bh5 36.Qd2 Qg6 37.Ng3 Bg4 38.Kb2 Qa6 39.Qxg5 Be6 40.Qd2 Nb5 41.Nxb5 Qxb5 42.Ne2 a5 43.Nd4 Qb6 44.Qe3 Rg8 45.Rc2 Qa6 46.Qe2 Qb6 47.Qb5 Qa7 48.Rf1 Rc5 49.Qd3 a4 50.b4 a3+ 51.Kc1 Rc4 52.Rf6 Qa6 53.Qf3 Rgc8 54.Qe3 Qa4 55.Kd2 Qe8 56.Rf2 Qh8 57.Nb5 d4 58.Nxd4 Qh1 59.Rc1 Qh7 60.Qd3 Qh6+ 61.Kd1 Bg4+ 62.Nf3 Ka8 63.Rcc2 Qb6 64.Ke1 Bh5 65.Qd2 Re4+ 66.Kf1 Rd8 67.Nd4 Rxe5 68.Qf4 Rde8 69.Rc1 Bg6 70.Kg1 Rh5 71.Rff1 Reh8 72.Rfe1 Rh4 73.Qe5 R4h5 74.Qf4 Rh1+ 75.Kf2 R1h4 76.Qe5 R4h5 77.Qe3 Qf6+ 78.Nf3 Rd8 79.Kg1 Qh8 80.Kf2 Rhd5 81.c4 Rd3 82.Qe5 f6 83.Qa5+ Kb8 84.Re3 Rxe3 85.Kxe3 Bh5 86.Qxa3 Qh6+ 87.Kf2 Bxf3 88.Kxf3 Qd2 89.Rc3 Rg8 90.g3 Qe1 91.Re3 Rxg3+ 92.Kf4 Rxe3 93.Qxe3 Qxb4 94.Qd4 Qe7 95.Kf5 Qh7+ 96.Ke6 Qg8+ 97.Kf5 Qh7+ 98.Ke6 Qg8+ 99.Kf5 Qc8+ 100.Kg6 Qe8+ 101.Kf5 Kc7 102.Qxf6 Qh5+ 103.Ke4 Qe2+ 104.Kd5 Qd2+ 105.Qd4 Qxa2 106.Qc5+ Kb8 107.Qd6+ Ka8 108.Qf8+ Ka7 109.Qc5+ Game drawn by mutual agreement 1/2-1/2

My comments:   what an incredible game!. Slava Mihaliuk battled long and hard for his team (he was in a must-win during this arduous wee-hours game) and found chances when it appeared none existed, time and time again.  Adamson stood solidly better in the opening.  His 14. Bf4 was not a move that would occur to me, but it worked out (both sides lost time and it moved again). In the early middle game, he “did all the right things” trading off dark squared bishops after getting the e5 pawn wedge.  This edge persisted, Mihaliuk kept confusing the issue, pressing on both wings, and white never had a clear win nor did he have a clear path to simplify and get out of complications.  What stress on both players’ nerves!  Finally after what seemed like the 20th transformation of position white *finally* simplified and black had to abandon winning tries giving Arizona the desired drawn match.  Wow!

Board 4

Wang – Thompson is a rematch of board 4 for Week 2 where both teams played each other with the same players. Wang had White in that game as well so it should be interesting to look at the opening in this game and see what improvements or ideas both players have compared to the former game. No doubt everyone will be prepping for such an important match and this game is almost certainly no exception. NM Thompson got the better of Wang in that game and Arizona needs to hope he can repeat the performance in order to advance to the Semifinals.

What actually happened?

Wang-Thompson

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Be7 7.d4 e4 8.Ne5 f5 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Nc3 0-0 11.f3 exf3 12.Bxf3 Be6 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Be3 Bd6 15.Qc1 Rb8 16.a3 Rb3 17.Bd2 Qf6 18.e3 Rfb8 19.Bc3 Qg6 20.Rf2 h5 21.Rg2 Qh7 22.Bd1 R3b7 23.b4 h4 24.Be1 h3 25.Rc2 Qh6 26.Bf3 Qf6 27.Qd2 a5 28.bxa5 c5 29.Rd1 c4 30.Ra2 Qd8 31.a6 Ra7 32.Qc2 Rxa6 33.Rda1 Rb3 34.Bd2 Rbxa3 35.Rxa3 Rxa3 36.Rxa3 Bxa3 37.Qa4 Bf8 38.Qc6 Qd6 39.Qxd6 Bxd6 40.Bd1 Kf7 41.Kf2 Ke7 42.Be2 g5 43.e4 fxe4 44.Bxg5+ Kd7 45.Bd2 Kc6 46.Ke3 Bxg3 47.Bb4 Bxh2 48.Kf2 Bf4 49.Kg1 Be3+ 50.Kh2 Bxd4 51.Kg3 Be5+ 52.Kf2 h2 53.Kg2 d4 54.Kh1 d3 55.Bd1 Bd5 White resigns 0-1

My comments:
Isn’t it funny how matches always seem to go the way of the 4th board?  In this game, white played 7. d4 which should be equal but followed it up very timidly.  Seattle only needed a draw (as it turned out) here, but in chess we all know that playing for a draw as white often leads to a worse result.  (strong Grandmaster Mikhail Gurevich once needed a draw playing white to advance to the Candidates in a last round Interzonal game against Nigel Short; opted for 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5, and lost horribly).

After 16. a3 Rb3, it was clear black was very happy.  White held off the first wave and black locked it up with 24…h3 then went to the other wing with 27…a5 and 28…c5 to keep pressure on.  Then the rook arrived on b3 yet again (33…Rb3) and things started to drop off for white.  It never seemed like white’s bishops were working properly compared to their counterparts.  Black reached a winning endgame and white’s transformation engineered by 43. e4 didn’t change matters.

White then blundered with 46. Ke3 allowing 46…Bxg3! but it didn’t matter by that point.  Good game by our board 4 that set the stage for the titanic struggle on board 3!  Also credit our board 1 for neutralizing a strong Grandmaster!

So the playoffs are finally here! With the Eastern Conference quarterfinals finishing yesterday with New England and Boston advancing tomorrow the Western Conference quarterfinals start. The Arizona Scorpions have the #1 seed and get to choose both the color (they chose White which means they get White on both board 1 and board 3 and Black on boards 2 and 4) and also get draw odds. So in case the teams draw then Arizona advances to the semifinals.

However, draw odds and color are not everything and in the end things are decided on the board. No doubt both teams wanted to put up their absolute best lineups and therefore the matches are the most interesting in the playoffs.  The Scorpion – Slugger  matchups are below:

Arizona Scorpions (6.5 – 3.5) vs Seattle Sluggers (5.0 – 5.0)
                                 Arizona receives Draw Odds

All Time Series Record:  (Arizona leads 3 – 2)

Starts at 9:00 PM ET       Time Control – Game in 75 with 30 second increment

Unfortunately, the Scorpions are missing both Danny Rensch (the SPICE CUP) and David Adelberg (World Youth) for this round of the playoffs. However, one of the advantages of a team like Arizona has is that we can put any of our players in our lineup and the team can be strong and around 2400 average.

These matchups are especially interesting as Seattle has decided to put forth their highest rated lineup of the season for this matchup.

Board 1

Altounian – Akobian is an interesting matchup of two Armenians that immigrated to the US and are now both working at chess full time in their lives. GM Akobian needs no introduction as he just helped assist in the Olympiad for the US and is amongst the best players in the country year after year. He figures to be up at the top of US players for many years to come as he is fairly young still. IM Levon Altounian is perhaps not as high rated and as strong but he has great amount of experience on his side. He is also having a good season with a GM scalp against GM Amanov during week 8 to help Arizona beat the now #2 seed Chicago Blaze. He is also especially strong with White so this should make for an interesting matchup.

Board 2

Cozianu – Barcenilla is another interesting matchup of two players that have played mostly on board 1 for their teams this season. Both players are also fairly sharp and have had up and down seasons with good wins and not so good losses.  Cozianu has impressive wins against GM Benjamin and IM Martinez but has equally unimpressive losses this season against IM Bercys and especially against IM Pruess. However, Rogelio has had an up and down season as well beating FM Mikhailuk, GM Khachiyan, and drawing top 15 player in the world GM Nakamura while losing to Becerra, Gurevich, and Kraai. This should be the game to watch for the match as the winner could easily decide the team that wins the match.

Board 3

Adamson – Mikhailuk is another game to watch and challenges a strong board 3 player all season against a player (Mikhailuk) who normally plays on board 2 for Seattle. Robby has been very strong for the Scorpions having a solid +2 season at 3.5/5. He has not lost a game all season and beat FM’s Kiewra and Naroditsky to lead Arizona to wins in both matches by a 2.5-1.5 score. However, Mikhailuk is a dangerous opponent that is usually well prepared in the opening and is not afraid to mix it up with evidence from his recent victory against IM David Pruess.

Board 4

Wang – Thompson is a rematch of board 4 for Week 2 where both teams played each other with the same players. Wang had White in that game as well so it should be interesting to look at the opening in this game and see what improvements or ideas both players have compared to the former game. No doubt everyone will be prepping for such an important match and this game is almost certainly no exception. NM Thompson got the better of Wang in that game and Arizona needs to hope he can repeat the performance in order to advance to the Semifinals.

Overall, very interesting and tight matchups. You can see the game live on ICC Wednesday at 9PM ET or 6PM AZ time or you can see them LIVE at the University of Arizona Campus as well. Here’s a Google/map of the area. And a photo of the building. Good luck to the Seattle Sluggers….And go Arizona Scorpions !

Caro Double Blunder on the 4th Move!

Week 10 Wonderings

So, in Week 10 we face an expansion team, the Los Angeles Vibe.  Arizona has already clinched the top playoff spot in the West (we will have draw odds in the playoffs; see the bottom of this article for more playoff rules information) while LA is out of contention. The first thing I noticed about the LA expansion team when consulting their website is that they have a goofy sunglasses logo. (Having said that, I am not a huge fun of the super-sized Arizona scorpion logo.  I would prefer maybe a scorpion in a slipper – much more ominous!). Maybe they want to re-think that to do better next season (many USCL pundits believe goofy logos, such as the misdrawn Seattle Punching Giggly Merry Go Round Horse, bestow a bit of a hex on otherwise good teams).  Some ideas for a new LA logo:   I.  Grolman’s Chinese Theater with a Photoshopped gigantic pawn sticking out of it.  2.  A traffic jam on the 101 with a Photoshopped Rook driving a gigantic tank through it.  3.  The letters “NY” with a circle and a diagonal line through it, as in No Parking signs.  4.  Some movie star’s home with a Photoshopped Queen jammed through the security gate.   Basically, anything that is far removed from the following image:

Here’s the tale of the tape.  LA has white on boards 1 and 3.

So, let’s break it down.

Board 1.

Altounian will have no problems against Kretchetov who is not a danger man.  However, can he win?  Or will it just be a draw?  Arizona’s expectation:  0.6.

Board 2.

Look to Warren to confuzzle Tatev, much as Danny did earlier in the season.  However it’s not so easy to win a chess game.  Again our expectation is 0.6.

Board 3. 

Casella is a bit more of a danger man than Kretchetov, so Robby has to stay alert.  Our expectation: 0.52.

Board 4.

The more experienced Yanayt has the edge here, so Arizona’s expectation is 0.42.

And When We Add It Up

In Other Playoff News

In the Championship Match neither team receives draw odds while the team with the better regular season record (using the same tiebreaks that were used to determine playoff seeding if necessary) gets color choice.”

  While the main goal for all these teams is clear, with only the top spot in the West being decided, the playoff seeding for the other spots is also anything but clear as margin of victory could also  potentially be quite important in determing the complete Western playoff picture. ”

SCORPIONS STING THE MONSTER AND AGREE TO A HANDSHAKE.

1^ST PLACE IN THE WESTERN DIVISION IS CLINCHED!

This is exciting! Not only I get to write an article about the Week 9 Match against the monster St.Louis team (how else do you describe a team that has 2 US Champions and  a mere 2600 GM on board 3?) and officially declare our win of the super-competitive Western Division with 1 round to spare!

Their traditional line up with GMs Nakamura, Shulman, Finegold remind me of the Great Recession 2008. Remember when the Banks were supposedly regulated, CEO’s had a cap on their payout yet things still got out of hand? The USCL overall wonderful system of having a rating cap at 2580, mixed with finding ways to enhance chess and push everyone towards having the best players on their teams reminds me of that same system of pre-2008. All was nice and cozy in the world of USCL until St.Louis showed up this year and made a 3 Super-GM team. And not just super-GMs but people like Nakamura on the team. They did not need a 5-year old as Mark Ginsburg reminded us in his article (see the article below) and instead…. had Ben Finegold’s son. Money talks so to speak.  However, when money has power, Karma steps in too. As scary as St.Louis team is, they still have to fight hard in round 10 to qualify into the Playoffs, while Arizona is already in.

Don’t get me wrong- St.Louis Chess club and its Founders and members in short 3 years proved United States can and will be one of the strongest Chess Centers in the world and I immensely enjoyed playing there at the 2010 US Championship. But USCL is not a US Championship and I hope next year some rules will be reconsidered by Greg Shahade.

I figured if Chicago, Miami and others can do it, we can do it too!

So how did we stack against St.Louis in this match? A bit of a gamble that I would call Arizona Gambit (though as Robby correctly reminded me- hard to have a great team against their line-up no matter what you put up. When the cap is 2400 and they legally sport a 2521 rating… life cannot be easy.

Let me copy Mark Ginsburg’s point count system for how we were “supposed” to score as to how we actually ended up at the final critical juncture. Strange math of chess: 0.3+0.3+0.4+0.7 ends up sometimes greater being greater than 2.0 with the right ingredients.

BOARD 1: GM BARCENILLA-GM NAKAMURA. Logically: 0.3- Ends 0.8 (final position).

Very experienced Rogelio Barcenilla vs Naka. What is funny is that Naka is scary on ICC and tournament play because he plays a very strange chess, calculates like crazy and makes people uncomfortable. Just look at his games with D. Gurevich. Game 1- he can lose a pawn, but Gurevich doesn’t want to get into tactics and misses the chance. Game 2- Gurevich decides he will get into tactics, loses a piece. Fixes it back by positional means, then sees white move rooks back and forth in most illogical looking way and when he is finally fine- gets mated in 1 move as soon as tactics start again. But in real life Naka  is a normal guy with usual normal looks and last time when I saw him- very lovely girlfriend . He doesn’t need introduction. It is enough to say that when Kasparov talks about new generation of chess players, he mentions Nakamura together with Magnus Carlsen, while Peter Svidler says “Naka is bad for ICC” How can we put aside Naka fear and just play chess? I would suggest everyone to carry his picture to all USCL games and put on the laptop while playing. The rest of my plan you can imagine and interpret in your own way…….I was going to do so had I been playing this week. Keeps things in perspective. I have great respect for “Barci”myself. I totally agree with Mark that one of the things that is scary about Naka is his speed and usual accuracy (and sometimes inaccuracy). I was hoping Rogelio will remember his bad loss to Naka from last year (if he is like me- stuff like that eats you for the whole year) and would have done some self-therapy.  It started with the half-joke opening Mark ( once again) mentioned as a joke  describing Barcenilla’s opening powers in one of his old articles ( 1e4-c5 2 c4!!). For some strange reason Naka was 30 min late. Unfortunately it started looking bad for us somewhere on move 8….. It started looking like a repetition of the 2009 encounter- Barci playing slow, getting into trouble and Naka starting with 45 minutes and 15 moves or so later…. having 46 minutes! Then the real magic started. Naka played some moves that I could not figure out, looked like a mouse slip even and soon his edge seemed more of a general edge than anything exact. 5 minutes later when I returned, Barci had “helped” Naka go from slightly better to almost losing. 4 pawns and a rook vs Rook and  Bishop. I couldn’t help but feel that Barci was getting more and more confident as things were getting simpler and in blitz type chess he feels right at home too. Barci can’t lose but can he win? It seems like he didn’t try hard and was happy with a draw. Drawing Naka is extremely hard and only the best get to draw and beat him. Still very good if you ask me!

BOARD 2: IM ALDAMA- GM SHULMAN. Logically: 0.3- Ended: 0.9 (final position)

The “Arizona Gambit” main character-Dionisio Aldama. Our secret weapon for this match.

Aldama is not as accomplished as Yuri Shulman (also the rating difference- 300+ points!) but 2 things worked in our favor, as we all hoped: First, Aldama is a very dangerous tactician and secondly, Yuri is playing very badly on USCL this year. This was a classic match of a “Russian positional chess” vs “Tactical Cuban chess” My biggest fear was not the rating difference (having played both players numerous times) but the colors. Tactical chess works well against higher rated players with White but is highly unsuccessful when Black. Last time I saw a tactical guy beat a higher rated “Russian chess guy” was Bareev (2700+FIDE) lose with white against a 2500 rated Sevillano when trying to win the Las Vegas Tournament 2009. This game also didn’t start too well for us: in a normal line of Benoni  (Aldama’s new favourite) white seemed to get an upper hand. But the bad time management by Yuri + the tactical prowess of Aldama soon turned the tables around. Then the unthinkable happened: In a winning position Aldama played too fast, made some very simple mistakes… and agreed to a draw in a position where the only question that was there was: does Black win or does White get a chance to draw? The reason- he wanted to insure we win the Division. Great result again but I was seriously hoping we can knock St.Louis out!

BOARD 3: IM RENSCH-GM FINEGOLD. Logically: 0.4, Ended:  0.3.

Danny in my opinion was a good match against the ever-ellusive and dangerous Ben. Danny is aggressive, well prepared and ready to go for it. The opening was normal too (Danny didn’t want to repeat the strange line he played against Pruess) but I have a nagging feeling that not only Ben was sure this line would take place but also Danny was not sure which set-up to implement. They actually had exact my position against GM Amanov from the Week 8, but Danny was down 1 move. Soon, black was fine and then I have a feeling Danny blundered that he is losing an Exchange. The rest was not fun to watch or play.

BOARD 4: MATEER-FINEGOLD. Logically: 0.7, Ended: 0.5

Amanda had to win if we were to have any chance to draw or win the match. Finegold repeated the line  of his dad, that worked so well for Daddy Ben in the previous week. Somewhere on move 15 White was winning already in that game and by employing the 2 b3 move. I recall when I played 2 b3 twice in tournaments, both my 2000 rated opponents wrote down 2 g3 instead and then looked at the board and with great seriousness asked me “are you sure? I think you accidentally moved the wrong pawn on the wrong side”. Finegold got a nice game, as Amanda was not sure what to do and which structure to employ. I think the pressure on her to win also had a say in her opening moves. At that moment, looking at all 4 boards I had a bad feeling…. But just like other games, Amanda recovered, fixed the problems and in mutual time pressure proved she is capable of overcoming issues. Finegold blundered, then blundered again and it was all over.That made me very happy because 4 months ago she survived against me a horrific position by making “computer-like” great moves and without making any bad moves I ended up worse and drew. Seeing this game now I don’t feel “alone”. Great job!

In conclusion- great job guys, today’s draw I view as one of the highlights of what our team is capable of and I am personally proud to be a member of this wonderful team.

As Greg Shahade put it- “St.Louis was lucky to escape with a draw!” and I could not agree with him more.

Next match against LA doesn’t matter at all for the Playoffs, so lets see if we go 4:0 or 0:4 on that one and no matter what- stay tuned for the Playoffs! We plan to win the Finals but don’t tell it to others please. Yet.

A quick look at the Week 9 Wednedsday matches.  There is less on the line for these matches than  the Monday matches. Manhattan looks to stay in playoff contention with a win over Philly, who probably will be watching the Phillies game – I sure will. St. Louis looks to move within a half-game of the Scorpions with a win, and Dallas, still with small chance to make the playoffs, takes on the LA Vibe.

Now, I am not going to do this, but it would be cool if someone (again not me), writes an article after this week of all the permutations and possibilities and options and speculations on the playoff picture in the West. Take a look at it and try and figure it out in your head. Maybe we can get our Commissioner to write something?  Lets take a quick look at the matches tonight.

New England Nor’easters vs Carolina Cobras      

New England looks to get it done, once again, vs. Carolina and clinch the Eastern Division and move to a USCL record best 8.5/9.     One interesting sidenote is Carolina I believe has won 4 upset prizes this year, two by FM Ron Simpson,  one by IM Jonathan Schroer, and one by NM Carlito Agner. So how does Carolina have a chance? FM Ron Simpson needs to create some unclear complications vs. Van Der Mortel’s patented Dragon. Agner needs to continue his ways, and junior Richard Herbst needs to follow-up his win last week in his USCL debut vs. experienced NM Alex Cherniack. And of course Schroer needs to hold vs. IM Robert Hungaski. Does it happen? No – but again Carolina will put up a good fight and go down in defeat. NE wins 3-1.

Philadelphia Inventors vs Manhattan Applesauce 

Manhattan has a somewhat realistic chance to make the playoffs with a win over Philadelphia this week, and a win the following week versus New England, who probably will have less to play for. Plus, they will need NY and Baltimore to draw or lose – unthinkable either NY or Baltimore could fail to make the playoffs! But Week 9 comes before Week 10. More rampant speculation can be had by others. Manhattan needs this win badly, and I see them getting it rather easily, with wins by GM Stripunsky (who will play probably his 50th game vs IM Jay Bonin), Eli Vovsha, and 1/2 minimum on board 3-4. Good to see FM Mike Shahade playing – except he probably does not want to face the young and talented James Black. Overall, at least Philly has the Phillies to root for – better make up those bats however! Manhattan wins 3-1.

Arizona Scorpions vs St. Louis Arch Bishops             

Oh good, we get to face the 3 GM lineup. We were so hoping they would save it for us, and the obnoxious 2521 average rating! As Mark Ginsburg wrote on our blog, this is going to be a very difficult match. Arizona has gone with their first repeat lineup of the year, with IM Rogelio Barcenilla, IM Dionisio Aldama, IM Danny Rensch, and Amanda Mateer – a lineup we believe in, given the success of our players this year. The key for Arizona is to not focus on the overall challenge but rather focus on playing good solid chess move by move. At least that’s what I teach my high school team when going into a tough game.  I predict a tie 2-2.

Dallas Destiny vs Los Angeles Vibe           

Dallas needs it, LA does not, and has not put forth their strongest lineup so you gotta like the chances of Dallas.  Dallas has decent rating advantages on boards 1-3, with LA having a small edge on board 4. This translates into a victory for the Destiny. Dallas wins 2.5-1.5

Wednesday Wonderment – What Will Pass?

Now that we are well into the season with X games already contested, here we are in week Y and what a thrilling week it promises to be.  Arizona is already comfortably in the playoffs but must contend with a super-strong stacked mercenary lineup (a constant irritant in chess competitions, do people remember the US Amateur Team GGGg debacle?).  Humorously, St. Louis often fields a pedestrian lineup and only when the planets align (i.e. the superstars are not traveling) does  their lineup become more than respectable…it’s kind of like the movie ‘Dodgeball’ where the good guys have to play the GloboGym hired goons. What chance does Arizona have?  Well, if you know how to dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

Here’s the lineup; the proverbial tale of the tape:

Arizona Scorpions  vs St. Louis We’ve Fallen Between NY and LA and We Can’t Get Up

Arizona captains the white forces on boards 1 and 3.

What will occur, what will occur?  They’re paying me by the word, I ask again… what will occur? And why is a deranged chimp attacking Kansas City? (I only ask because it’s in Missouri too).

Board 1

A little history:  Barcenilla has had white before vs. Nakamura in USCL action.  And it did not go well.  Rogelio was unrecognizable, crawling into a passive shell and absolutely suffocating. It was eerily similar to my own disgusting performance vs Lenderman.  He must come out this time as the active, effervescent, opportunistic Rogelio we all know and love.  And besides, doesn’t America the sports nation love a good upset?  A draw qualifies as one.

Board 2

I am supposing that Yuri Shulman is one of those mercenaries (such as Akobian in … Seattle???) that we’ve all read about and disdain so much.  I guess you could say he’s a member of a mercentary “posse”.  In the movie ’3:10 to Yuma’,  Ben Foster says “I don’t like possies.”   I think the average USCL fan will concur.  If Yuri is indeed a bribe-accepting posse member, I hope he is getting a lot of money for the dismal drive from Chicago to St. Louis.  Or do they send him on a short flight?  If the weather is bad for the flight, he might arrive all nauseated and this could work for Arizona.  Or he might have to find alternate transportation. In Arizona’s favor:  we have a nutty wild guy Aldama playing black and it’s no holds barred with this guy, he’ll just play any move at all, close his eyes, and see if it works.  The bad news:  Grandmasters are usually able to calculate to detect flaws in that sort of play.  Ut oh.

Board 3

As I write this, Ben Finegold is hard at work memorizing lines where all the pieces come off and he can offer a draw early and then stroll around gawking and/or mocking at other boards or trash talking in ICC kibitzes.  Hopefully Danny Rensch can steer clear of the scary fearsome forced draws from the Finegold Endless Factory of Deadened Chess and make something happen as white.

Board 4

As I write this, Levon Altounian or another strong player of his ilk (I am pleased to be able to use “ilk” in this article) is hatching some brainiac opening scheme with cunning transpositions and hidden positional traps for Amanda to use with hopefully good effect. The scheme will go for naught when she forgets all the prep 10 minutes before the game, but  Amanda when feeling good in the opening phase builds up a head of steam and can hopefully do some damage against Spencer.  I don’t know Spencer’s chess, but his beard should get him into a good philosophy doctoral program.

And In Conclusion

Sure it’s true that Eva Longoria Parker has bought a third home in Switzerland. But we have to get back to the matter at hand. Arizona is a lock for the playoffs no matter what, so they’ll use this match as a spot of training for the Big Stage.  If they knock off St. Louis’s hodgepodge of pros, benefactors, acolytes, stoolies,  travelers, kids, con-men, grifters, and 3-card monte specialists then so much the better but I wouldn’t put money on it.  The safe predictions:  tasty snacks are brought to the Mesa playing site,  Ben Finegold finds time to ICC kibitz, Nakamura blitzes out the whole game, so does Aldama, and Danny burns a lot of time to try to keep any kind of chess game alive.    If Arizona doesn’t lose the match versus the St. Louis cat horders that would qualify as a huge upset.

If it’s not going well, spectators who are eating the food meant for the players please heed this warning: “Twice as many people die from a silent heart attack as compared to those that experienced a myocardial infarction with chess pain“.

Addendum: Simple Rules Change

One easy fix to the unpleasant GGGg dilemma affecting the USCL (to avoid the “Yankees” scenario where a team buys 3 2900′s and plays a 1400 on board 4)  is simply to require the third board to be within 300 points of the fourth board.

Crunch time is upon us and almost all teams are scrambling to make the playoffs, improve their seeding, or wish this 2010 US Chess League Season will be over already. This week has some of the best board 1 and 2 matchups that I can remember. All four Monday matches have GM matchups on board 1. Dont see that too often!  Should be a great night to watch the US Chess League (in addition to the Yankee game, Monday Night Football, and House – I will TIVO that one I think).  Lets look in detail at a great slate of Monday matches.

New York Knights (4.5-2.5) vs. New Jersey Knockouts  (2.5-5.5)      

If New York is not careful, they risk falling to 4th place in the East, and would be one more loss away from perhaps missing the playoffs. I dont think that will happen, but…… New Jersey on the other hand will need a win and a miracle to qualify for the playoffs. The key for New York is to play a solid match – and it would be nice if GM Alex Lenderman can score aganst GM Boris Gulko, and score on board 2. Speaking of which – this is the key game for New Jersey to win ther match   as IM Mackenzie Molner will have white against IM Irina Krush. Expect something very tactical in this encounter. New York has a slight edge on the bottom boards which should give them an advantage, especially with  NY’s board 4 – NM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy being rated close to 2400. Instincts say tie – but I am gonna predict NY wins this one because they need it more. NY wins 2.5-1.5.

Baltimore Kingfishers (4.5-3.5) vs Boston Blitz (5.5-2.5)       

Second place is on the line in the East – which should make for a fantastic match. First , we have a board 1 heavyweight match-up between GM Sergey Erenberg (BAL) vs. GM Larry Christiansen (BOS). Erenberg with the white pieces will need to win – which should make this perhaps the best match of the night. If Erenberg wins, Boston could be in a little bit of trouble. I dont know anything about IM Sasha Kaplan but having black against Jorge Sammour Hasbun should make boards 1 and 2 exciting. If boards 1 and 2 split, it comes down to 2 rating mismatches, one for each team. Zimmer having white helps make up for the 200 rating point disadvantage vs. Boston’s Denys Shmelov. When you put a 2471 on board 3 - you need a win. Finally, Baltimore has a rating edge on board 4 vs the kid, Grant Xu, who is very talented. I predict a tie match, 2-2. 

Chicago Blaze (4.5-3.5) vs Miami Sharks (4.0-4.0)     

A very exciting encouter between 2 teams on different streaks. Miami has played very well as of late, while Chicago has struggled the last few weeks, though they played well enough to win either match. If Chicago winstheir last 2 matches, they probably get the number 2 seed. Miami needs this win as well because if SF wins this week, and Miami loses, Miami will be on the outside, looking in.  The Chicago key to victory is for Chicago’s GM Dmitry Gurevich, playing white,  to hold GM Julio Becerra to a draw, and win on board 4 because of Eric Rosen’s 200 rating point advantage over talented junior, Nicolas Rosenthal. If that happens, the match tilts heavily in Chicago’s favor.   The key for Miami will be for GM Renier Gonzalez to come through with a win over GM Megsen Amanov.  Another exciting match will be IM Florin Felecan vs. FM Marcel Martinez - expect another tactic fest. I pick Chicago to win, and qualify for the playoffs. Chicago wins 2.5-1.5.      

Seattle Sluggers (3.0-5.0) vs. San Francisco Mechanics (4.0-4.0)  

Seattle shows they are serious about trying to make the playoffs, flying GM Varuzhan Akobian up to Seattle for this match – recognizing they still can make the playoffs with 2 wins and a little bit of help (not as much as you might think given the interplay between all the teams). San Francisco needs a win badly to help solidify their stake in the game. You dont get regular season rematches too often but thats what board 1 will feature – GM Akobian gets his chance to redeem himself after a very hard fought and well played loss vs. GM Panda Friedel (a game that earned Josh game of the week honors). Simply put, Akobian has to come through for Seattle to have a chance. The other match-ups have some interest as well. San Francisco probably needs to make use of their white on board 2 with IM David Pruess facing off against FM Slava Mikhailuk. Expect something tactical – David’s favorite type of game.  Board 3 has 2 highly rated juniors with FM Daniel Naroditsky facing FM Michael Lee – this will probably be some boring, I mean, solid English Opening. This game will be decided by who handles their clock situation the best. Finally, NM Yian Liou will have something cooked up for Seattle’s Alex “I have won many blog awards” Guo’s French Defense. I didnt search either player but I am sure it will be a fun battle. All in all, SF wins 2.5-1.5.

Another exciting win by the Arizona Scorpions in Week 8!  The Scorpions beat the Chicago Blaze 2.5 – 1.5 on Monday to extend their lead in the West to a full point and a half. This also extends our record against the Blaze to 5-1 after Chicago beat us earlier in the year.  The game by game matchups can be seen below:

Due to the fact that our top play, Rogelio Barcenilla, was sick we had to go with a slightly lower rated lineup for this important matchup. Both John Gurczak and Dionisio Aldama travelled down to Tucson to play for the team. Levon Altounian took the top board after having not played too much this year so far. With this win hopefully he can play some more games the rest of the year. Levon is now a very solid 2 out of 3 for the season with two draws and a win.

Dionisio has been very good in the USCL since he joined the team last year. He was 1.5 out of 2 last year and is now 3 out of 4 this year with strong wins against IM’s Angelo Young and Blas Lugo of Miami.  He usually plays fast and complicated and this game was no exception as we will see soon enough. Robby Adamson was playing on 3^rd board and has been exceptional this season with 2.5 out of 3. With White there was a lot of pressure to win this game for Robby as high expectations follow success.  Finally John Gurczak played his 2^nd match after drawing his first game to Miami’s FM Charles Galofre. John has played the two best board 4’s that Arizona has played all season and although he struggled both games he came through big in the first game against Galofre, making a draw and clinching the match for Arizona.

A couple interesting facts about this season for the Scorpions are that out of the first 8 weeks Arizona has used 8 different lineups!  Will they keep up this streak in Week 9?  Another interesting fact is that every player on the Scorpion team has won at least one game (except John Gurczak who played the top 2 board 4’s).

The Standings for the season so far are below:

Well the schedule doesn’t get any easier as we face the red hot St. Louis Archbishops next week with the two best players in the league! However things are looking bright for the Scorpions as they have clinched a spot in the playoffs and are looking good to clinch the division title with a win in either of the next two weeks!

Okay on to the games!

(10) Altounian,Lev (2496) – Amanov,Mesgen (2508) [E57]

US Chess League AZ vs. Chicago, 11.10.2010

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 dxc4 7.Bxc4 [Another line is 7.d5 Na5 8.Nf3 e6]

 7…e6 [If Black takes the pawn with 7...Nxd4 then White plays 8.Nf3! Nxf3+ 9.Qxf3 Qc7 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.0–0 is a very strong line for White who is way ahead in development only for one pawn.; 7...Qxd4 8.Qxd4 Nxd4 9.0–0–0 e5 (9...Ne6 10.Bxf6 exf6 11.Bb5+ Ke7 12.Nd5+ looks losing for Black) 10.f4 Bg4 11.Nf3 with a very complicated game where Black could get mated quickly -- but Black has an extra pawn so if he can survive maybe he'll be better.] 8.Nf3 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.a3 So now we reach an isolated Queen pawn position. White plays a3 because he wants to put his Queen on d3 and doesn’t want to deal with a …Nb4 move by Black. Eventually White also wants the option of playing a d5 push so …Nb4-Nd5 would take this away. [For example:  10.Re1 Nb4 11.Rc1 Nbd5 and now d5 by White is obviously impossible] 10…b6 11.Qd3 Bb7 12.Rad1 Now White is threatening to either take on f6 and play d5 or to just play d5 immediately opening up the position for his pieces. 12…Nd5 13.Bxd5 Bxg5 14.Be4 f5 15.Nxg5 Qxg5 16.Bf3 Rac8 17.Rfe1 Rfd8

18.d5! this is the breakthrough that the isolated pawn always goes for. Now the position opens up for White’s rooks and White is slightly better placed than Black. 18…exd5 19.Bxd5+ Kh8 20.Qf3 There’s no real obvious threat here but the pressure against the c6 knight is obvious and White is hoping eventually that will pay off. 20…Qf6 21.h3 [21.Re6 Nd4 22.Rxf6 Nxf3+ 23.Bxf3 Rxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Bxf3 25.Rd6 Bxd1 26.Rxd1] 21…Ba8 22.Qf4 Re8 23.Nb5! After this move White is breaking through. White is threatening to play Nd6 forking the rooks but is also threatening Nf7+ followed by a discovery. 23…Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Ne7 25.Bxa8 Rxa8 26.Qd6 This wins a pawn but White had another option [26.Qc7 Ng6 27.b4 also looks good] 26…Qxd6 27.Nxd6 Nc6 28.Nxf5 White has won a pawn and looks on the way to victory but there’s still a lot of action left. 28…g6 29.Re6 Na5 30.Nd6 Kg8 31.b4 Nb3 32.Re7 Nd4 33.Ne4 a5 34.Nf6+ Kf8 35.Rxh7 Now White’s up two pawns. Hard to believe Black could still have drawn this later in the game. 35…Ra6 36.Nd7+ Kg8 37.Nf6+ Kf8 38.Rd7 axb4 39.axb4 [Also winning was 39.Rxd4 but was completely unnecessary as it just complicates matters. It is better to just keep it simple when you are up in material like this. 39...bxa3 40.Rd1 b5 41.Nd7+ Kf7 42.Nc5 and White will win in the end.] 39…Ne2+ 40.Kh2 b5 41.Nd5 Ra2 42.Nc7 Nc3

43.h4? White hangs a pawn for no reason. [43.Rd3 Rc2 44.Rf3+ Kg8 45.h4+-; Even 43.f3 just saving the pawn was a pretty simple win. 43...Rb2 44.Rd4+-] 43…Rxf2 44.Rd3 Rc2 45.Nd5 Ne4 [Also possible was 45...Nxd5 46.Rxd5 Rc4 47.Rxb5 Rxh4+ 48.Kg3 Rc4 and this looks like a draw to me.] 46.Rf3+ Kg7 47.Re3 Rc4 48.Ra3 Rd4 49.Ra7+ Kh6 50.Ne7 Nf6 51.Ra6 Kg7 [Much easier was 51...Rxh4+ 52.Kg3 Re4 53.Rxf6 Rxe7= and there is no more play in the position.] 52.Kh3

 Rxb4?? Hanging a piece. After this it is over. As they say “the last one not to blunder wins the game.” Couldn’t have been more true in this case. [52...Rd3+ 53.g3 Ne4 54.Kg4 (54.Rxg6+?? Kf7 is fine for Black.) 54...Nf6+ is a typical computer line that seems to draw.(54...Rxg3+ 55.Kf4 wins for White.) ] 53.Rxf6 Rxh4+ 54.Kxh4 Kxf6 55.Nc6 Kg7 56.Kg5 Kh7 57.Kf6 Kh6 58.g4 Black will have to give up the g-pawn and White will eventually queen his g-pawn. 1–0

(11) Young,Angelo (2415) – Aldama,Dionisio (2399) [D02]

US Chess League AZ vs. Chicago, 11.10.2010

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Qb3 c4 6.Qc2 Six moves into the game and the sides are both out of book. This probably made both players happy as they are both creative thinkers. 6…Nf6 7.Nbd2 Nh5! The idea of this move is to get the dark squared bishop so that Black will have the two bishops afterward. 8.Be5 Nc6 9.e4 Be7 10.Be2 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Nf4! Forcing White to retreat the bishop as d3 is a sore spot for White as well.  12.Bf1 Ng6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 Although Black’s bishop on c8 is not great Black has traded off some pieces and seems to be doing fine here. 14.g3 Bd7 15.Bg2 Bc6 16.0–0 0–0 17.Rae1 Bf6 18.f4

dxe4!? This move is interesting. It gets rid of Black’s solid pawn formation but opens up the position for Black’s bishop. This is a move I would probably never play but this is why Dionisio is such an original player as he consistently plays moves that his opponents don’t think about. [Solid and boring is 18...Rfe8 ] 19.Nxc4 Qa6 20.Ne3 [Another option is 20.Nd2 e3 21.Rxe3 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Qxa2 with still a lot of play left in the game.] 20…Rac8 21.Ra1 Bb5! Coming to d3. 22.Rfd1 Bd3 23.Qf2 b5 24.a3 Qa4 25.Ng4 Qb3 26.Qd2

a5! keeping control of the position [During the game people were talking about 26...Bxd4+!? 27.cxd4 Rc2 and here the game gets crazy after 28.Qe1 Qxb2 29.Bxe4 Re2 30.Bxd3 Rxe1+ 31.Rxe1 Qxd4+ 32.Nf2 and I kind of like White here but to be honest this position is very unclear.] 27.Nf2

e3! This is the star move of the game and is just Dionisio’s style. Black takes advantage of the fact that the Queen on d2 is overworked and ruins White’s pawn structure from b2 onward. After b2 falls all the other pawns on the queenside will be weak. 28.Qxe3 Bc2 The point. Black tempos the rook and afterward wins the b2 pawn. 29.Rdc1 Qxb2 30.Ng4 [30.Qd2? doesn't work after 30...Qxc3 and d4 falls next.] 30…Be7? This was unnecessary as Black could just win the rest of the pawns on the queenside without worrying about losing the bishop. [30...Rxc3 31.Nxf6+ gxf6 32.Qd2 Rfc8–+] 31.Qf2 Rxc3 32.Ne3 Rfc8 33.Be4? After this the game is over and Black wins tactically. [33.Nd1! Qb3 34.Nxc3 Rxc3 35.Qd2 Bxa3 36.Rxa3 Qxa3 37.Rxc2 Rxc2 38.Qxc2 Qa1+ 39.Kf2 Qxd4+ 40.Ke2 and I think Black should be winning here but again this is not completely clear.] 33…Bf6!–+ 34.Nd1 [34.Nxc2 Rxc2 35.Rxc2 Rxc2 36.Qxc2 Qxa1+ 37.Kg2 Qxd4–+] 34…Bxd4! 35.Nxb2 Bxf2+ 36.Kxf2 Bxe4 37.Rxc3 Rxc3 38.Nd1 Rf3+ 39.Ke2 Rb3 40.Kd2 f5 41.Nc3 Kf7 42.Nxe4 fxe4 43.Kc2 a4 44.Re1 e3 45.g4 Rxa3 46.Rd1 Ke7 47.Rd4 Ra2+ 48.Kc3 Rxh2 49.Re4 e2 50.f5 gxf5 51.gxf5 e5 52.Rxe5+ Kf6 53.Re8 Kxf5 54.Kd2 b4 55.Rf8+ Ke5 56.Ke1 a3 57.Re8+ Kd5 58.Rd8+ Kc6 59.Ra8 a2 60.Ra6+ Kb5 61.Rxa2 Rh1+ 62.Kxe2 Rh2+ 0–1

(12) Adamson,Robby (2363) – Vishnuvardhan,Arjun (2318) [B70]

US Chess League AZ vs. Chicago, 11.10.2010

This game ended up being the last game to finish and the decider for the whole match. It was an exciting game that went up and down from better for white to close to winning to slightly better for black to winning for black and finally drawn. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 g6 transposing to a sort of Najdorf-Dragon Hybrid.  7.0–0 Bg7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Nb3 Be6 [The most played move here is 9...0–0 ] 10.Bg5 0–0 11.f4

Bxb3!? Not the most common move but it has been played before. The idea is to target the b3 pawn immediately due to the …Qb6 move being a check. [More common is 11...Na5 12.Nxa5 Qxa5 13.Kh1 Rac8 14.Bd3 was and Anand-Topalov game from Linares 1994 that Topalov ended up winning.; and 11...Rc8 can transpose to 11...Na5 after 12.Kh1 Na5 13.Nxa5 Qxa5 14.Bd3] 12.cxb3 Qb6+ This was the idea. Black gets a check in and now can play …Na5 and White needs time to react to defend his b3-pawn. 13.Kh1 Na5 14.Ra3 The only way to defend the pawn. The rook looks very awkward here but eventually he comes back into play. 14…Rfd8 15.Bf3 [A move that looks really natural to me is 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nd5 Qd4 and now White can play 17.Nxe7+! Kg7 18.Qxd4 Bxd4 19.b4 Bxb2 20.Ra2 Bf6 21.Nd5 looks atleast slightly better for White.] 15…Nc6 16.a5! Gaining some space as the pawn is taboo 16…Qc5 [If 16...Nxa5?? then White can win with 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Qc5 19.b4 winning a piece] 17.Ra4

 d5?! I don’t think this move is completely necessary but it makes the game much more double edged and complicated. All of a sudden the game opens up and there are many more options of counterplay for both sides. [A calmer option is 17...Rac8 and Black is fine here.] 18.exd5 Nb4 19.Bxf6 exf6 The only move but good enough for Black to stay in the game [Losing is 19...Bxf6?? 20.Ne4 Qb5 21.Be2! Qxd5 and now White can win with 22.Nxf6+ exf6 23.Rxb4 winning a piece] 20.f5 This looks really natural as it stops the Black bishop on g7 from getting in the game. However, now I’m not sure if it is best. [I thought while I was watching the game that 20.Ne4! wasn't right but in actuality I think it's the best move now 20...Qf8 (Losing is 20...Qb5 21.Be2 Qxd5 22.Rxb4 and White's up a piece.) 21.d6 Robby said he was afraid he wouldn't be able to win the opposite colored bishop endgame after 21...f5! (21...Nc6 22.f5 gxf5 23.Ng3 Rxd6 (23...Qxd6? 24.Qxd6 Rxd6 25.Nxf5) 24.Qb1 and with Nxf5 coming White is much better.) 22.Rxb4 fxe4 23.Bxe4 Bxb2 24.Qf3 but I think White should be winning this with threats of Rb7, Bd5 and f5 coming.] 20…gxf5 21.Qb1 Re8 22.Qxf5 Re5 23.Qf4 During the game I thought Qg4 was best as it uses the whole board — the pin on the bishop on g7 and attacks the b4 knight at the same time. It also leaves option the option of maybe playing Qd7 at some stage. [Best is 23.Qg4! Nd3 24.Ne4!; 23.Qd7 Nd3 is not completely clear.] 23…Nd3

24.Qd2? This is not the best and gives Black some options to stay in the game. [Best is 24.Qd4! this was originally Robby's idea he said. 24...Qxd4 25.Rxd4 Nxb2 26.d6 looks close to winning for White with the knight jumping to d5, the strong passed d-pawn, and the strong bishop on f3.] 24…Qe3? Both players missed Black’s best move here. [Black missed the strong move 24...Nf2+! which Rybka of course finds immediately. After this Black draws comfortably. 25.Kg1 (25.Rxf2 Bh6! 26.Qd1 Qxf2 27.Ne4 Qxb2) 25...Nd3+ 26.Kh1 Nf2+ 27.Kg1 Nd3+=] 25.Qxe3 Rxe3 26.Nd1? Trying to take time to defend the b-pawn but this is definetly not best. [Best is 26.Re4! the idea of this move is that it saves the b2 pawn and leaves White a pawn up with a passed d-pawn and Black has doubled f-pawns. With all those pluses White has to be winning. 26...Rxe4 27.Bxe4 Nc5 (27...Nxb2 28.Bf5! followed by Rb1 winning the knight.) 28.Bc2+- followed by b4 and Rd1 and Black has no counterplay. Even ...f5 opening the bishop is stopped by the bishop on c2 and the rook on f1.] 26…Re7 27.Rd4 Nc5 28.b4 f5! The bishop on g7 becomes a monster. Here’s where the tables turn for White and Black starts pushing back. 29.Rf4 [During the game I was thinking of 29.bxc5!? Bxd4 30.d6 Rd7 31.b4 with definite compensation for the one pawn deficit. I'm not sure if it is enough to win in this position but I rather like White's position. However, with one minute left on both sides it makes sense not to take huge risks in a team competition so Robby's decision is understandable.] 29…Nd3 30.Rxf5 Nxb4 31.Bh5 Rf8 32.b3 Nc2 33.h3 Nd4 34.Rg5 Nxb3 35.d6 Re5 36.Rgf5 Rxf5 37.Rxf5 Bh6 38.d7! Nd4 39.Rxf7 Nc6 And now here in this posotion White is up a pawn but the position is deceptive. The a5 pawn is going to fall while Black can gang up on the d7 pawn as it seems that it will nto queen after all. After Black wins both of these pawns he will be up a pawn and have two connected passers on the queenside giving him very good winning chances. 40.Rf3 Bd2 41.Rd3 [41.Rg3+ Kh8 42.Rd3 is slightly more accurate] 41…Bxa5 42.Bf3 Ne5 43.Ra3?! [43.Rb3! b5 44.Ra3 Bb6 45.Rxa6 Nxd7 looks about equal and would've been easier than the game] 43…Nxf3 44.Rxa5 Nd4 45.Ne3 Kf7 and here comes the black king to munch on the d7 pawn. 46.Rh5 Kg6 47.Rd5 Nc6 48.Rd6+ Kf7 49.Nf5 Rd8 50.Nh6+ Kf8 51.g4 Ne5 52.Rd5 Nxd7 53.Rd6 a5 54.Rd5 b6 55.Nf5 Ke8 56.Nd6+ Ke7 57.Nf5+ Ke6 58.Rd4 b5 59.Rd3 b4 Black is winning here. Here the match was 2–1 in favor of Arizona so Robby needed to draw to win the match. 60.Rd6+ Ke5 61.Ra6 Rb8 62.Rxa5+ Ke4 63.Ra7 Nc5 [Worse would've been the obvious 63...b3 64.Rxd7 b2 65.Rd1 b1Q 66.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 67.Kg2 Kf4 and although Black can push for the win White will draw here.] 64.Re7+ Kd3 [Another option was 64...Kf4 ] 65.Re3+ Kd2 66.Re5 Nd3 67.Re7 b3 68.Ne3 Rb4 [Easier was 68...Rc8! 69.Nf1+ (69.Rb7 b2 70.Nf1+ Ke1) 69...Kc1 and there are no more checks so Black will simply play ...b2-b1Q winning.] 69.Nf1+ Kd1 [69...Kc1 70.Rc7+ Kd1 71.Ne3+ Kd2 72.Nf1+ Ke2 was also winning.] 70.Ne3+ Kc1 71.Rd7 Kd2 72.Nf1+ Ke2 73.Ng3+ Kd2 [73...Kf2 is the winner here.] 74.Nf1+ Ke2 75.Ng3+ Kd2 76.Nf1+

and the game was a draw by perpetual check in a winning position for Black![76.Nf1+ Ke2 77.Ng3+ Kf2! the move that Black didn't play. 78.Rxd3 b2 79.Ne4+ (79.Rd1 Kxg3 wins easily 80.Rb1 Rc4) 79...Rxe4 80.Rd2+ Re2 and Black wins easily.]  ½–½

(13) Shankar,Gauri (2304) – Gurczak,John (2139) [B30]

US Chess League AZ vs. Chicago, 11.10.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5 4.Bc4 d6 [The most common move here is 4...Be7 to stop Ng5 which occurs if Black plays ...Nf6 too early. This also keeps the option open of later trading off this bishop (this is Black's bad bishop) with ...Bg5 if the knight on f3 ever moves.  5.d3 d6 6.Nd2 with the idea of re-routing the knight with Nd2-f1–e3-d5. 6...Bg5! 7.h4 Bxd2+ 8.Bxd2 Nf6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nd5 Qd8 12.Ne3 is Kasparov - Leko, Linares 2004 which ended in a draw.] 5.d3 Nd4? This is definetly not best and leaves White ahead in development. Black was already behind in development and needs to catch up quickly. [5...Be7 transposing to the previous Kasparov-Leko game was best here.] 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Nd5 The problem here is that now Black has trouble developing his Kingside as moves like …Ne7, …Nf6 and ..Be7 now all get hit by the knight and as happened in the game the move Bg5 is always in the air for White. 7…Be6 8.0–0 Ne7 9.Bg5

9…Bxd5 10.Bxe7 Bxe7 11.Bxd5 and here White is atleast slightly better as his bishop is much better than Blacks and he has all the options to break open the position with f4 and c3. 11…Qc7? This is a big mistake as it begs White to play c3 here. White’s next move anyway would’ve been this move but it allows White to play Rc1 and taking control of the c-file. [Better was 11...Qd7 12.c3 and now White can't take control of the c-file (or get that nasty check on a4) anymore. 12...dxc3 13.bxc3 0–0 14.Rb1 Rab8 and Black is passive but there is still a lot of play left in the position.] 12.c3! dxc3 13.Qa4+! Kf8 [If 13...Qd7 then White gets 14.Bxf7+] 14.Rac1! taking control of the c-file. Unfortunately Black’s pieces are not the best so it is hard for him to reorganize his pieces to work well together.  14…Bd8 15.Rxc3 Qe7

16.f4 This is good enough but White was just winning here. [16.Rb3! followed by taking on b7 would've have been lights out immediately. Because if 16...Bb6 simply 17.Rxb6 ] 16…Bb6+ 17.Kh1 exf4 18.Rxf4 f6 19.d4 g5 20.Rf1 This is good enough. White has so much pressure in this position there was no need to change the dynamic in the position. [The other option was 20.Rxf6+ Qxf6 21.Rf3 Qxf3 22.gxf3 Ke7 and White should be winning here but the game continuation was better and easier.] 20…Kg7 21.Qb4 Rhf8 22.a4 Rac8 23.a5 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Bd8 25.Rf5! The b7 pawn isn’t going anywhere so White take the time to stop all Black’s counterplay. 25…b6 26.a6 Qd7 27.Qc4 Be7 28.Be6 Qe8 29.Qc7 Kh8 30.Qxa7 Qa4 31.Rf1 Bd8 32.Qb7 b5 33.a7 1–0