For the Arizona Scorpions, the 2010 season ended in a tough defeat at the hands of the Miami Sharks in the semi-finals. As fate would have it, the 2011 season will begin with a chance for the Scorpions to avenge that defeat. The Scorpions and Sharks will face off this Monday at 6:00 pm (Arizona time) at the Holiday Inn – Palo Verde in Tucson. For those not able to join us at the site, the match (and all USCL games) are viewable on the Internet Chess Club.

versus

Come out to support your team!

See all the news of the week and vote for who you think will win on the Week 1 match page.

After Arizona’s week 1 match, Scorpion IM-elect Robby Adamson had one word to say, “Unreal.” Not since last year’s match against San Francisco has there been such a match where the score, in the matter of minutes, could have swung 3-1 in one direction or 1-3 in the other. Robby looks at Arizona’s first ever victory over the Miami Sharks as they extend their opening match record to 3-0 all-time.

The Arizona Scorpions won their third consecutive opening match, in their third year in the league, with a very exciting win over the always tough Miami Sharks. This match went back and forth and really no result would have surprised me. I watched in my usual agony, with fellow teammate Amanda Mateer, and tag-along Mackenize “Snack Attack and please don’t give me mono” Molner, as we I yelled at the computer screen while watching the games live on ICC. On paper, Miami had the stronger team with an average rating advantage of 2428 vs. 2398. Also, Miami had a lifetime 2-0 record against the Scorpions, and I am sorry to say killed us both times. But as they say, that’s why they play the games.

Congratulations are in order for Team Phoenix. Almost GM Rogelio Barcenilla nearly pulled a rabbit out of his hat only to fall in time pressure vs. USCL stud-GM Julio Becerra. IM Dionisio Aldama used his Cuban magic and created a mess that IM Blas Lugo was unable to figure out in time pressure. Meanwhile, IM Danny Rensch thoroughly outplayed Miami’s All Star NM Eric Rodriguez on the black side of a Catalan. Finally, Expert John Gurczak made his USCL debut a memorable one by clinching the match for the Scorpions with a draw on board 4 against the very strong FM Charles Galofre, to win the match 2.5-1.5. I will cover the games in the order that they finished.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello Everyone !

Back to the US Chess League but this time as a spectator! The only two seasons the Scorpions have played in the league I have been both manager and player but due to graduate school I have been forced to hand my title over. (EJ: I get your NM title too! Sweet!) Now I am confined to watching the games from my 200 square foot apartment in New Orleans!  Despite my move I can’t miss any games in the league so I will be predicting the results of the Arizona matches for hopefully the whole season.

The addition of the LA Vibe and the St. Louis Archbishops and the farewell of Tennessee really shakes things up in our division and makes things a lot more challenging. LA seems like a solid team for sure and St. Louis will be really top heavy so I don’t know if both teams will make it to the playoffs but I would guess at least one of them does. I’ve always thought the Western division was stronger than the Eastern but now I think it’s true even more than before. We’ll see. It should be a fun season!

Anyways, on to the match. Arizona has a really solid team this year and although we have lost GM Alejandro we should be able to fight it out in every match.  Miami has been a tough team for us to beat and is never really weak on any board. And nothing changes for this season.

All the Arizona players are on the right hand side and all the Miami players are on the left.

Board 1

These two players played against each other with opposite colors two years ago and this should be a tough match-up. Both players play pretty predictably and will probably play a Ruy Lopez. Both players are experienced in the league and obviously Becerra has a long record of good seasons. However, Rogelio is known for being very solid and can easily turn the tables if Becerra decides he needs to push hard. I’m going to predict a draw here.

Board 2

This should be a very interesting match-up! Both players are very wild and not only are not afraid of complications but really go after them. These two players also know each other pretty well. This is only the third game Dionisio has played, having a fairly good but short year last season with 1.5/2 games beating IM Felecan of Chicago and drawing IM Donaldson of San Francisco with Black. Dionisio will have White this game and I’m going to predict that he pulls this one out. If there is one game I would not miss it would be this game. Bring your popcorn and look for fireworks!

Board 3

Two more interesting and dynamic players on board 3. Danny rebounded from his horrible first season to have a solid year last season. However, from talking to him he is ready to show his true colors. Having a near 2500 IM on board 3 is always a nice feeling to have. I’m not sure but I think this is a rematch of a US Open game in Phoenix a while back. I think Danny won that one in 6 hours. That was a different time though for both players.

Eric has had a lot of experience in the league and overall has a great record. That, with the addition of being White, should make this an interesting match-up. I’m going to go with the rating advantage here and pick Danny.

Board 4

Man when you look at FM Charles Galofre on board 4 you got to be a little impressed. He is a very strong board 4 and actually played pretty well for Miami on Board 3 (!) two seasons ago. He is playing against one of our newcomers to the team in John Gurczak.  John has wanted to be on the team since we started the league two years ago and now he gets a chance. One thing going for him in this game is that he is White. Hopefully he can use some of this excitement and win this one out but I am going to predict a Galofre win here.

So overall a very tight match-up. I am predicting a 2.5-1.5 victory for my Scorpions! Stay tune on Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM Arizona time. It should be a good one!

The Year 2010 in the US Chess League looks to be a rather balanced league. It will be interesting to see whether improved teams such as Chicago can qualify for the playoffs, and whether new teams like St Louis and Los Angeles will handle their respective first year in the league. Somehow I think there will be a few new teams to the playoffs.

Just like last year, I will try my best to predict the matches. I really hope I can pick better than I did last year because last year was worse than the fall of a certain political parties (insert your favorite punch-bag here).  Without further ado, here are the Week 1 predictions:

Monday Matches –

New York Knights vs. Boston Blitz

The first match of the 2010 campaign is again a great match-up between 2 rivalries. I really like New York’s team this year with the use of the 3 underrated juniors (underrated meaning current USCF ratings are much higher than 2009 rating supplement being used) Alec Getz, Alex Ostrovskiy and Justus Williams, as well as heavy-weight GM Giorgi Kacheishvili on board 1. Getz has played well this year, Ostrovskiy is almost 2300, and Justus Williams has improved a lot in the last year. Boston always will be strong when you have GM Larry “Can I please get an ice coffee” Christiansen leading the team, but I think Boston is lacking that underrated player element that always seems to help teams. So who wins this one? I think Larry needs to score the full point against GM Alex Lenderman for Boston to be successful because I think NY is stronger overall. NY wins 2.5-1.5

Philadelphia has a slight rating edge here – but Philly will need a strong outing from IM Bryan Smith who had a superb  Philadelphia International this summer. I think Bryan needs to come after GM Joel Benjamin because NJ has a huge edge on board 2. GM Boris Gulko receives his obligatory white vs. FM Tom Bartell and should bring that point home. For that reason, I think NJ wins this one 2.5-1.5.

I remember the nervous feeling I had two years ago when I played for the Arizona Scorpions and I am sure there will be a little bit of nervous feelings from both of these expansion teams. But don’t feel too bad for St Louis who has 3 GMs (Naka, Shulman, and Finegold) or LA which has the very experienced GM Melik Khachiyan and some other very talented players. I think its pretty clear that if St Louis survives on boards 3 and 4 this year, they will be very difficult to beat. Even though this match is going to be close, in large part due to the huge rating advantage LA has on board 4, St Louis wins this one 2.5-1.5.

Seattle Sluggers vs. Chicago Blaze

Chicago has a rating edge this match and really looks to be significantly improved. GM Amanov on board 2 (or potentially 3^rd!) for future matches is slightly obnoxious. I expect Gurevich to do well on board 1 this year which should help Chicago contend for the playoffs. Seattle on the other hand has replaced Naka with Akobian, but Varuzhan is not playing this week. Chicago wins 3-1.

Wednesday Matches –

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Carolina Cobras

Do Cobras eat apple sauce? If they did, that would give Carolina at least one edge to speak of. Manhattan wins this one, though it will be closer than people will expect. MA wins 2.5-1.5.

The other expansion team, New England, has a lot of familiar faces with IM’s Hungaski, Vigorito, and strong FM’s Braden Bournival and Chris Chase. NE also has a huge rating edge. Baltimore is not playing their strongest possible lineup and is an underdog on all boards. That spells disaster for Baltimore.
New England wins 3-1.

San Francisco busts out the usual obnoxious rating average (2462 – highest of the week) and features the usual cast of underrated juniors, with both Daniel Naroditsky and Steven Zierk each recently picking up IM Norms. Dallas has a strong team as well and really needs a strong performance from Sal “Can we have split (not separate) checks” Bercys.  Sal really will need to “Do it Live” for Dallas to hang in there – you know its gonna be an interesting Kings Indian Defense. Overall, I give SF the nod here as youth is served.  SF wins by a hair, 2.5-1.5.

Miami Sharks vs. Arizona Scorpions

Last year was a great year to be a fan of the Scorpions. We won the blog award , made the playoffs, and had a great time.  Unfortunately we lost in the playoffs – but still a successful year.

This year we see two new strong juniors (NM Nick Thompson and Expert John Gurczak) who will man board 4, as well our most successful board 4 from last year, David Adelberg.

Now onto the match. We will need Rogelio to hold down USCL stalwart, GM Julio Becerra while our other IM’s Dionisio Aldama and Danny Rensch will need to score against fellow IM Blas Lugo and NM Eric Rodriguez. Miami has a 200 point rating edge on board 4 with Charles Galofre against John Gurczak, though John is white. This will be a tough match as it always is when you play Miami.  I predict the olive branch here, 2-2 tie.

The 2010 USCL season is about to begin! Week 1 lineups have been announced for both Monday and Wednesday matches.

The Arizona Scorpions will face off against the Miami Sharks on Wednesday night. The team will play at Abstrax in Mesa. All games will be played on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) starting at 6:00 local time (9:00 Eastern Time).

Arizona will have the black pieces on boards 1 and 3. We will have the white pieces on boards 2 and 4. All games will be Game in 60 minutes with a 30 second increment per move.

Fans across the country have started weighing in on their predictions for the new season.

Ron Young
Ryan Polsky
Arun Sharma

Wear your red and come out to support your Arizona Scorpions!!

Sharks, Cars, and Suicide

First of all, I want to preface this preview with an apology: this will be my worst write-up for the Scorpions that I have done.  My liver is reeling from this weekend, I can’t breathe out of my nose, I’m sleep deprived, and I just got back from a class where my world famous professor rambled on about Hardy-Weinberg Principle Chi-squared testing for two hours—YAY!  Okay Elliott, stop whining.  Anyway…

both teams will make the playoffs, so not as much to play for other than seeding, but Arizona can actually tie for first in the West with Seattle if the Scorpions win and the rainy city inhabitants lose.

GM Julio “¿Hablo Inglès?” Becerra vs. GM Alejandro “I Don’t Know How To Drive” Ramirez

(Disclaimer: I have no knowledge about Alejandro’s actual driving ability, but I know it’s at least better than Robby’s and Amanda’s)

This game will be exciting, obviously because both players are Latino (although Handi somehow didn’t acquire the dominant “I love to attack crazily” allele).  Becerra will of course go for the jugular and come out with guns blazing.  These two last played with the current colors over the board at the 2008 UTD GM Invitational where the game ended in a hard-fought draw after 44 moves.  Julio will open with 1.e4 as always (once again because nearly every Latino player plays 1.e4), but the question is what will Ramirez respond with on his first move (he played Alekhine’s 1…Nf6 in the 2008 game—maybe a good choice again)?  He has many flexible choices at his disposal (i.e. Sicilian and French along with Alekhine’s), so it’s really up to Alejandro to determine what type of game he’d like to steer the position towards.  This stylistic direction will most likely determine the outcome of the game.  I recommend Alejandro plays something solid like he did last time because I think complications would favor Julio.  If Handi can successfully equalize, I think he can hold a very dangerous opponent to a solid draw.

IM Levon “I Am Going To Go For a Win This Time!” Altounian vs. IM Blas “I Have The Coolest First Name” Lugo

Levon is white, the rating favorite, and really needs to try to win this game for his team, mainly based on the fact that board 4 is a problem (sorry Amanda, love you!).  No matter how he goes for it—either via slow, methodical, python squeeze or busting out of his solid cocoon for an attempted blitzkrieg—Mr. Reliable Consistency has to try to push, force the issue, and win this game at all costs.  However, everyone knows Blas will be ready for a fight, and for those who aren’t familiar with him, he is a capable player whose strength is much greater (at least 100 points) than the meaningless four-digit number that follows his name (Lugo has also whooped me twice a few years ago).  I know Blas plays Slav as Black, which is obviously way too exciting for Levon to even come close to challenging, so maybe Altounian will open with the flexible 1.Nf3 to see how Lugo responds or maybe Levon should play English with 1.c4, which would most likely result in a reversed closed Dragon such as: 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d3 0-0 9.a3 etc. because I think Blas plays something along these lines (although I could obviously be wrong).  Of course, Levon should really play the Botvinnik variation of the Slav or one of those crazy Meran lines or something like that.  *[Wishful thinking by me]*.  Regardless of what the opening is, I believe Altounian will come through in the clutch again for his team and ultimately prevail in this intriguing match-up.

IM Alejandro Moreno “No, I Don’t Have As Many Middle Names as Handi” Roman vs. Robby “Yesterday, I Became Eligible For Senior Benefits” Adamson

Happy Birthday Robby (to the readers: it actually was his birthday)!  Congratulations, you’re old!  You also suck at driving.  Now, just don’t lose this game.  Nothing would make Robby and the Scorpions happier than a big win on Board 3.  I think this may be the most pivotal game of the match.  The winner here will most likely lead his team to victory.  Moreno Roman will actually not play 1.e4 (I will be very surprised if he does) because he clearly favors Queen-pawn systems.  What remains to be seen is if Adamson chooses to repeat his Two Knights Tango or if he tries to go into some sort of Benko or Benoni.  I will predict a toss-up: will the veteran IM secure a victory for his team or will Birthday Baby-face deliver a present with a masterful performance?

Madame Amanda “I Almost Killed Elliott Liu When He Was In My Car” Mateer vs. Eric “The Last Time I Played A Girl With Initials ‘A.M.’ I Lost In 14 Moves!” Rodriguez

Alright so for those who don’t know, these two nicknames are actually TRUE!  FACT!  CORRECT!  So…first of all, Amanda, you ARE the world’s worst driver, congratulations (yes, hard to believe, but worse than Larry)!  To make a long story short, ms. Directionally Challenged made a left turn into an oncoming semi with me in the passenger seat.  Okay, I guess I am being mean.  I only say she is a bad driver because I almost died, but besides that she isn’t too bad (“too” is the key word here).  And secondly, Eric, my homeboy, remember back in the U.S. Open in 2007 when you played another “A.M.” with Black, lost in 14 moves because you forgot how to play chess, and wanted to kill yourself?  Well, in case you or anyone else did, thought I’d revive this gem: I present to you ms. Abby Marshall vs. Eric Rodriguez.

Yo, so Amanda you have the whole “A.M” thing on your side this week.  Also, you showed the world your undercover beastly strength with that previous 300 point upset, so there’s no reason why history won’t repeat itself.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling E-Rod will play more like A-Rod this week, so just pretend you’re Madonna or something (hopefully sports enthusiasts understand).  I assume Eric will try to Benoni you, so, um, good luck with that.  But seriously, make the game cool.  In a shocker, I predict Rodriguez to win this game, but ms. Mateer is no pushover…until you actually try to push her.

Verdict: So what does all this mean?  I predict an exciting 2-2 draw this week.  No, I’m being serious, I actually think 2-2 has a good chance of happening.  Both teams have two toss-up games on Boards 1 and 3 and two games where one player is more favored than the other on Boards 2 and 4.  I still think Robby’s game is the most crucial because in this specific situation I don’t see Alejandro beating Becerra with the Black pieces unless Julio has to unnecessarily push, which I’m assuming he shouldn’t considering both teams are already in the playoffs.  I will conclude by saying it has honestly been a pleasure guest-writing for the Scorpions from time to time this USCL season, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Peace!

Alright, back to Mendelian recombinant population genetics and lactose coevolution

The third week of Predictions between the Managers is below! The scores after the first week were tied 19-19 but after the second week’s disastrous result from myself (Leo) the score is now Leo 36 – Craig 42.  Good luck trying to criticize these predictions!

and

Welcome to the 2009 United States Chess League!  I will be providing predictions on all of the matches each week (though I may duck predicting for the Arizona Scorpions some weeks, since I might be biased).  Please note in my predictions that I do not mean to be too critical of any team or player on a particular match – just one person’s thoughts. Without further ado, here are the predictions for Week 1.

Queens Pioneers v. Boston Blitz

Boston has a nice average rating advantage in this match (2461 to 2401). A nice GM match-up on board 1 with Alexander Stripunsky vs. Larry Christiansen. As happens so often in a game between 2 strong GM’s, the game can be a push. I think Queens needs a victory from Stripunsky in order to win the match. GM Perelshteyn with white against IM Eli Vovsha gives Boston the upper hand. On Board 3, IM Marc Esserman has a rating edge against FM Andrei Zaremba, but Andrei has white, so this is probably a push. Board 4 features expert Shaun Smith and youngster, Andrew Wang – this game might well decide the match. Boston wins 2.5-1.5

Miami Sharks v. Dallas Destiny

Miami has a big advantage both in strength (GM vs. IM), and color (Julio has white). I am looking forward to seeing what GM Julio Becerra plays against IM John Bartholomew’s world-famous Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.ed Qd5). Board 2 features new UTD student and USCL rookie, Daniel Ludwig against  FM Bruci Lopez. White has a strength advantage and has white, so I give Ludwig the edge. Comparing just boards 1 and 2, I think Miami has a small edge. With board 3, Eric Rodriguez has white against FM Keaton Kiewra, who has not played in a while. Keaton is known for good preparation, so it will be interesting to see how this game goes. Finally, Nelson Lopez has color and slight rating advantage over Miguel Recio, someone I know nothing about. Overall, I think Miami has a very small edge here, though a tie would not surprise me. I predict a tie.

San Francisco Mechanics v. Seattle Sluggers

In the final Monday match of the night, San Francisco catches a break against the Nakamura-less Seattle Sluggers. With that being said, Seattle actually out-rates San Francisco  – something that I don’t think matters for this match. Pruess is at a ridiculously low rating of 2410, and having Donaldson on board 3 is as good as its going to get, even though he is facing FM Michael Lee. Board 4 features the debut of SF’s newest master, twelve year old, Yian Liou. Overall, I predict a 2-2 tie.

New York Knights v. New Jersey Knockouts

Upon a quick look at this first match of Wednesday, I was amazed at how stacked and high rated NY is. Kacheisvili v Benjamin is a great board 1 match-up, and Pascal Charbonneau on board 2 is quite strong, especially when Pascal has played board 1 many times. What is interesting is that Yaacov Norowitz on board 4 is now higher rated than their board 3, though of course not per the rating list used by NY. With a rating edge on boards 1 and 2, the Shen brothers are going to have to come up big for NJ. I predict NY wins 3-1.

Carolina Cobras v. Baltimore Kingfishers

Carolina by default has to resort to a balanced lineup (Boards 1-4 all within 150 pts of each other) while Baltimore sports GM Kritz, not an easy match for IM Schroer, as well IM Enkhbat, GM Larry Kaufman (Board 3!), and an expert on board 4. For out-ranked Carolina to have a chance, there will be a lot of pressure on the bottom boards (All-Star Ron Simpson and Craig Jones), and Oleg Zaikov will have to continue his incredible USCL success. I predict Carolina falls a little short in this one, and loses 2.5-1.5.

Philadelphia Inventors v. Tennessee Tempo

Philly has upgraded a lot since their disappointing season last year, with abnormally high rated players on boards 2 and 3 (GM Lenderman and IM Bryan Smith). The always dangerous GM Alexander Shabalov will have to carry the day for Tennessee since they are out-ranked on boards 2 and 3. Philly wins 2.5-1.5.

Arizona Scorpions v. Chicago Blaze

Arizona welcomes GM Alejandro Ramirez to board 1, while IM Levon Altounian moves down to board 2. Arizona welcomes the first junior and almost master, twelve year old David Adelberg to the team. Chicago features a balanced lineup lead by GM Mitkov, and 2 IM’s. Arizona wins a squeaker, 2.5-1.5.

SUMMARY OF WEEK 1 PREDICTIONS

Queens Pioneers v. Boston Blitz            Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

Miami Sharks v. Dallas Destiny               Tie 2-2.

San Francisco v. Seattle Sluggers           Tie 2-2.

NY Knights v. New Jersey Knockouts   NY Knights wins 3-1

Carolina Cobras v. Baltimore Kingfishers    Baltimore wins 2.5-1.5

Philadelphia Inventory v. TN Tempo     Philly wins 2.5-1.5

AZ Scorpions v. Chicago Blaze                  Arizona wins 2.5-1.5

Here is the recap of the last three matches of the Scorpions. Week 9 is reviewed by Robby Adamson and Weeks 7 and 8 by Leo Martinez. Please also check out Mark Ginsburg’s blog for his thoughts on the match at http://nezhmet.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/the-fabulous-00s-uscl-week-9/.

Week 9 Chicago Blaze vs Arizona Scorpions

The Arizona Scorpions played their best match of the year in downing the playoff contending Chicago Blaze, by a surprising 3-1 score. This marks the second time this year that Arizona defeated the Chicago Blaze, as they previously won their first match of the USCL season 2.5-1.5.

With the win, Arizona can do the unthinkable – make the playoffs with a victory over the Seattle Sluggers next week by a score of at least 3-1, and hope that Dallas tops Chicago. Although this scenario requires some good fortune, the Scorpions will go out and do their best and whatever happens, happens.

Board 1 - GM Mitkov – IM Rogelio Barcenilla 0 -1

It was great to see Rogelio Barcenilla play an outstanding game with the black pieces and defeat GM Mitkov. In a game that featured opposite colored bishops, a rook and queen each from virtually the late opening/early middle game, Rogelio untangled somewhat and was able to achieve a favorable game. Although he might have missed an easier win in the queen and bishop ending, Rogelio found the very powerful g5! in the opposite colored bishop ending. While several ICC kibitzers were claiming draw, Rogelio kept his chances alive, by creating 3 passed pawns (2 is not enough in the game because the d and b pawns are too close to each other). Congrats Rogelio on your first win! I would also add that Rogelio has faced all GMs thus far – Alex Stripunsky, Jan Ehlvest, Vinay Bhat, Julio Becerra, and Nikola Mitkov – and has an even score (win versus Mitkov, loss vs. Ehlvest, and rest draws. Very impressive!

Board 2 – IM Mark Ginsburg – IM Jan Van de Mortel 1-0

While I was happy with Rogelio’s first win, I was even more happy with IM Mark Ginsburg’s win, his first this year, with a solid win over IM Jan Van de Mortel. Mark has taken a lot of criticism this year, but it really is a different skill to play over the internet than over the board. Until you play in this environment, you can not appreciate the pressure and differing environment. In any event, Jan is a noted Dragon expert, but Mark, to my surprise, busted out 1.e4 and went straight into the Open Sicilian! Mark got a slight edge and was able to force Jan to sacrifice the exchange when he was unable to make much progress on the queenside. Mark carefully played the endgame which was more complicated than it looked and netted the full point.

Board 3 - IM Emory Tate – FM Danny Rensch 1-0

Although Danny has not played well this year in the USCL, he did just have a fantastic performance in Reno this past weekend at the Western States Open where he defeated 2 GMs, Alexander Ivanov and Alexander Yermolinsky. Unfortunately his success this past weekend did not translate to his game this week, as he was outplayed by the unusually patient IM Emory Tate in a Hedgehog. Danny fought hard once he got a bad position but it was simply not to be.

Board 4 – NM Joel Johnson – Ilan Meerovich 1-0

Did we make a mistake by not playing Joel more often this year? This week Joel crushed his opponent in what turned into a Closed Sicilian, from a Pirc Defense. Black mistakenly locked up the center with c4, after which Joel got a great game, and crashed through on the kingside, with an eventual obvious sacrifice on d5! Joel moved to 2-0 on the season. Nice job again Joel!

Wish us luck next week in our last match of the season against the Seattle Sluggers.

Week 8 Seattle Sluggers vs Arizona Scorpions

So another loss for the Scorpions this week unfortunately. Seattle is of course tough as GM Hikaru Nakamura, with his 2742 rating, overshadows almost everyone on 1st board in the entire league and puts pressure on boards 2-4 to win. However, this match could have easily been drawn despite strong play at times by both Robby and Warren.

Board 1
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. IM Levon Altounian
This was a tough match but I remember Lev saying before the match that he was happy about one thing: he didn’t have to prepare to much because Hikaru plays basically everything. He said something like he would’ve had to prepare for e4, d4, c4, g3, Nf3, and b3 all on move 1. The game seemed to go pretty smoothly and Levon didn’t seem to have a lot of problems. One moment that was strange was after 11 Ne3 Rfe8 White didn’t take the free pawn with 12 Bd7 Nd7 13 ed5 cd5 14 Nd5. I’m not really sure what Hikaru saw but Lev was very nervous about this option. Probably Hikaru wanted to just keep the game more under control and solid and use his time advantage. Maybe one improvement is 16…Ng5 with the idea of 17. Bg2 Bb4 and trading off White’s two bishops. After 16…Nd4 of the game White’s plan of Bg2, f4, and e5 activating the light squared bishop seemed to strong.

Board 2
IM Mark Ginsburg – IM Slava Mikhailuk

This game was wild from the very beginning to the very end. I was commenting on the game and thought White was doing well but the position is more complicated than it seems. I am going to refer you to his analysis at his blog:

http://nezhmet.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/uscl_week_8/

for Mark’s own analysis of the game.

Board 3
WGM Katerina Rohonyan – FM Robby Adamson
This game was pretty wild despite pieces getting traded. Robby switched up his openings from the Benko to the 2 Knights Tango after Rohonyan suprised him with 1. d4. This switch seemed to work out really well as he got a strong initative and seemed to be doing really well after 18…f5. With Black threatening both …f4 and …Rf6 moves I thought White’s position was looking dangerous. After 19…Rf6? White seemed to just save himself after 21 Rc8!. After 19…f4 I’m not sure how White saves himself really. After for example 20. Qxb7 Rae8 looks winning while also 20. Qe7 Rf6 21 Rc7 Rg6 looks over. Seattle dodged a bullet with that as Rohonyan saved the game a couple moves later with a 3 fold repitition.

Board 4
NM Warren Harper – NM Michael Lee
This was a very nice game by Warren Harper as he continues to show his strength after his bad season start. He has now beaten two 2300′s in his last two games after losing to lower rated players earlier in the season. In this game the position became pretty closed early on and after that Warren seemed to think that 10…0-0-0 was completely wrong after the game. After this it is easy for White to attack on the Queenside while to attack the White king is completely unclear. The whole rest of the game after move 10 White seemed to build up on the Queenside while Black just maneuvered around not really doing or acheiving anything. A nice game by Warren!

Week 7 Arizona Scorpions vs Miami Sharks

Well in hindsight this match looks better than it did when it was played. Losing 3.5-0.5 is pretty tough but after this match Miami went on to beat Dallas by 3.5-0.5 and beat New Jersey by 3-1. Both of those teams are very strong and Miami is now in 2nd place in the West. This was a match where at one point I got up from my game and looked at all the games and I didn’t think there was one game that I worried about. Once time trouble hit the tide switched though.

Board 1
IM Rogelio Barcenilla vs GM Julio Becerra
This was another Exchange Ruy for Rogelio and he seemed to play it better than against GM Bhat this time. However, at one point it seemed clear that Becerra knew the opening and the plans very well and was blitzing out moves like 16…Rh7 and 17…Be7 and 18…Bd8. Black didn’t seem to have to many problems throughout the game but neither did White really. White used a completely different plan than the game against GM Bhat in playing to use the d5 square and playing his knights to e3 and c3 and later playing Ncd5. However, due to the two bishops a draw seemed the most likely result and occured not to long later.

Board 2
FM Osmany Perea vs FM Danny Rensch
This game also looked promising to me after 15 moves or so. Black seemed to have a solid Benoni type position without the light squared bishop which is sometimes his problem piece. The critical moment of the game according to Danny after the game was on move 21 where he could have played either 21…Ng4 or 21…Nxd5. 21…Nxd5 looks best and most obvious but Danny was afraid of complications like 22 ed5 Qe1 23 Nxd6 Re7 24 Nde4 or something similar. Even after the move played in the game Black seemed alright and after 30 Nxh5 can play 30…de5 with a crazy game still. Unfortunately after 30…gh5 played in the game Black went down quickly.

Board 3
FM Robby Adamson vs FM Charles Galofre
This opening of this game has an interesting story. Robby prepared for a while for the Berlin that he knew was coming but still wasn’t sure what to do when we got ready to take the trip to Phoenix. He had like 3 options and he wasn’t sure which one was best and thought they were equal. I suggested some line I saw in some magazine and he liked it as it was playable and also little known. So after some preparation he basically just used the prep on the drive there. Anyways he seemed to have the slightly better game after 21 Bf4 and then just went for the throat with 22 Nxg6. Unfortunately this sacrifice was less clear than it looked and Galofre defended pretty well it seemed. So this was another game that seemed to turn after getting a good position.

Board 4
NM Eric Rodriguez vs NM Leo Martinez
This was a painful game in that I had a one move win of a Queen that I missed. On move 37 I remember I expected 37 Nc8 which I think is the best move and when he played 37 Rc8 I was surprised and just blitzed out 37…Nxc8 38 Qxc8 Bf8 believing my opponent completely. However White has 39 Nc4! there winning the game on the spot. What me and my opponent completely overlooked in time pressure was that simply 38…Re8+ is check and wins the Queen and the game on the spot. At least this game didn’t affect the entire match but was another disappointing game that started out well.