The Arizona Scorpions (2-0) defeated the Seattle Sluggers (1-1) last night with a score of 3-1 to remain undefeated in the USCL. Arizona was favored going into the Monday night match, but Seattle played well and the outcome was still up in the air late into the evening.
The 2010 United States Chess League is almost upon us. The teams (including 3 new ones) are gathering for another great season of Internet chess. Just as the league is making some changes, so are the Arizona Scorpions.
The 2010 Scorpions were announced today. Here is the official roster. The ratings in parenthesis are the official league ratings based on the September 2009 USCF supplement. Current USCF ratings are different.
IM Rogelio Barcenilla (2583)
IM Levon Altounian (2536)
IM Dionisio Aldama (2489)
IM Danny Rensch (2432)
FM Warren Harper (2357)
FM Robby Adamson (2346)
NM David Adelberg (2196)
NM Nick Thompson (2098)
Expert John Gurczak (2098)
Expert Amanda Mateer (1993)
One other change to announce. Leo Martinez has stepped down as manager of the Scorpions. Sources close to the organization, who wish to remain anonymous, say that “wanting to spend more time with his family, to work on his studies, and to focus on his health” were major factors in his decision. There were some rumors last season that Leo’s wild, partying nightlife and many female fans were a distraction to the team during their playoff run. When asked if “Leo’s Legion of Ladies” was the cause for the early playoff exit, Scorpion veteran Robby Adamson replied, “Everyone loves Leo. Women want to be with him, men want to be him. But that doesn’t matter now. The 2010 team is only focused on the 2010 season.” EJ will take over as manager of the team.
The first match of the year will be on Wednesday, August 25 at 6:00 PM (local time) against the Miami Sharks. A line-up and location will be announced prior to the match. Once again, the Scorpions will play matches in either Mesa (Abstrax) or Tucson (University of Arizona). All matches are viewable on the Internet Chess Club (ICC).
The next match-up pits the Arizona Scorpions against the Chicago Blaze in Week 8. As the Arizona Manager I will try to give you a recap of how things have gone this year and telling you about this tough match-up as well.
The Scorpions are in a great spot in the playoff race in the West being in 2nd place on tiebreaks over San Francisco and Miami. With a record of 4.0-3.0 the Scorpions are a point and half ahead of Chicago who need to win this game in order to have chances to get in the playoffs. The Scorpions need this win if they want to secure their first playoff berth and to put themselves in a good seeding if they do get to the playoffs.
We have played the Blaze once before this year in Week 1 beating them 3.5-0.5 with wins by Alejandro Ramirez, Robby Adamson, and David Adelberg. However this week is completely different as only one player playing this week was playing for the Scorpions in Week 1. Although much has been said on the Chicago blog about how the Scorpions have dominated the Blaze in the past this gives no indication of how close this match is. Although Arizona has a rating advantage Chicago has always been a very solid team that contests every board from 1-4. Much like us Chicago doesn’t usually stack their lineups up top or on the bottom boards. On top of this Chicago has just come off a big win against the Tennessee Tempo, fighting against not one but two GM’s (Ehlvest and Shabalov) with wins by Van de Mortel and Angelo Young.
On to the match!
Board 1
IM Jaan Van de Mortel 2456 vs GM Rogelio Barcenilla 2583
Both of these players are coming off big wins in their last matches, both against Grandmasters. Also both of these wins allowed their teams to win their matches by 2.5-1.5. Jaan beat one of the top Grandmasters in the country and former top ten player in the world in Jaan Ehlvest in a very nice game. GM Rogelio Barcenilla just came off an extremely wild game beating GM Vinay Bhat. I remember thinking around move 15 how Rogelio could have gotten into such a horrible position so early with White. However, one of the most important characteristics of a chess player is resiliency and Rogelio definitely has some of that. He ended this game by barely winning Queen against Rook ending giving me and everyone else at the site a near heart attack! After coming off a rough start this season with losses to Nakamura and Bercys, Rogelio has more than made up for this with very strong wins against IM Ippolito and GM Bhat, in both cases leading to Scorpion wins.
In the past Jaan has had trouble against the Scorpions losing to IM Levon Altounian and IM Mark Ginsburg last season, both times with Black. He no doubt will be ready to rumble to change that with White on Monday night.
Board 2
IM Dionisio Aldama 2506 vs IM Florin Felecan 2430
This will be the second game that Dionisio will play in his USCL career with a draw against IM John Donaldson last week. His uncompromising style should make for an interesting game as Felecan plays similarly. If there is one game to watch in this match I would focus on this game as two wild players equal a wild game I’m predicting! Dionisio is one of those players that I cannot guess any of his moves but somehow he ends up making it work in the end which is all that matters.
Board 3
IM Mehmed Pasalic 2346 vs IM Danny Rensch 2434
IM(!) Danny Rensch comes back to play after his first win in the USCL last week against Daniel Naroditsky. Danny seems to be breaking barriers everywhere lately having just broken through to the IM title as well. Danny’s solid record this year in the league, although not absolutely groundbreaking, is definitely one of the reasons we have done so well this year. Danny has the ability to beat anyone on board 2 or 3 when playing well and I hope he can continue his winning streak this week against Pasalic. Pasalic lost to FM Robby Adamson in Week 1 and is no doubt looking for some vengeance in this game against a fellow Scorpion.
Board 4
NM David Adelberg 2202 vs NM Eric Rosen. 2237
After David’s loss last week all I saw was him very disappointed. However, after this he was hopeful and then happy again when our team pulled the win out anyways. He played very well against Greg Young playing into a winning position before losing in the endgame. Of course this kind of stuff happens to everyone and is typical in such important games. However, David has no doubt been one of the bright spots to our team this year. I knew David was good and had all the potential in the world when I put him on the team but I had no idea how much he had improved. I played David once when he was around 1900 a couple of years ago. I had heard his name floating around the Arizona chess community a couple times but I didn’t really know him and to be honest I didn’t take him super seriously. I just thought he was like all 1900s. After barely winning a 6 hour game that ended around 12:00 am I was pretty shocked. I kept thinking after the game while analyzing the game with him that “this kid is gonna be good.” Well I don’t think David is done improving but he has already proven me right. With wins against Magness and Zorigt and a solid +1 record he has done very well in his USCL season debut. He also has just last weekend broken to become over 2200 USCF and a “Master” at only 12 years old. He is no doubt a player to watch in the future….starting with tomorrow at 6:00pm! You can check out all the games at 6:00 PM AZ time on ICC or at Abstrax in Mesa, Arizona. Come check us out!
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 4th 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!
