Chess Box

Chess Heroes

In the absence of a formal national chess training program in the United States, bringing the game to new generations of potential players usually depends on the interest and passion of local volunteers. Here are pieces on two such individuals:

'Chess guy' spreads his gift for the game (Kansas)

Ouwinga leaves chess legacy (Michigan)

Insight leads to improvement

Most chess instructors emphasize the importance of annotating your own games to find opportunities you missed and uncover flaws in your thinking process. In that vein, Praha in Spring shares one of his recent games. What did he learn?

DON'T PLAY CHESS DRUNK.

Tandem Live Blogging: Boston vs. San Francisco

Welcome everyone to another night of Boston Blitz chess action! We're starting a little later tonight as the Blitz are taking on the far western representative of the USCL, the San Francisco Mechanics. It may be dark here, but the sun is still shining brightly in California, that is assuming that San Francisco isn't covered in clouds and fog.

vs.

Coming into tonight's match the Blitz find themselves in third place in the Eastern Division after being crushed 3.5-0.5 last week by the Baltimore Kingfishers. The Mechanics are also in third place in their division coming off a 2.5-1.5 win against the Miami Sharks.

As for the individual match-ups, it's another top-heavy vs. balanced battle this evening. On Board 1, Boston's IM Eugene Perelshteyn takes in a 100+ point rating advantage and the white pieces against IM John Donaldson. IM Josh Friedel stays on Board 2 and faces what's likely to be a competitive game with FM Dimitry Zilberstein. On Board 3, soon to be new Boylston Chess Club Champion NM Charles Riordan will have an uphill battle against FM David Pruess. And finally, we'll see Ilya Krasik with the Black pieces against NM Andy Lee on Board 4. The Blitz bring in an average rating of 2362 vs. the Mechanics' 2385.

We have a little twist planned for tonight's coverage. Both Rihel and DG will be commenting on the games. You'll find Rihel's notes in green and DG's in whatever this color looks like on your monitor. This should be interesting.

Now, before we begin, let's take a short break for station identification:

This is BCC Weblog -
Your independent source for coverage of
the Boston Blitz and the United States Chess League

Alright, we're off to the action on the ICC.

8:32pm:

Hi everyone! Let me jump right in, DG, and say that I am curious about the line-up tonight. I think that the Blitz really have a tough match-up tonight. I'm guessing that Board 4 Krasik will need to pull out a WIN to give the Blitz a good chance to win. That being said, I wonder why Charles isn't on Board 4 tonight, with maybe MacIntyre on Board 3. Krasik is proving to be underrated, but Charles would be a good matchup on Board 4 tonight.

Well, Jason, the only problem with that option is that Friedel wouldn't be able to play since the Blitz would overstep the average rating requirement. As I posted earlier this week, this was definitely a week when the team needed to consider the merits of both top-heavy and balanced line-up options. Obviously, they chose to stick with the top-heavy approach.

In my view, this match is likely to come down to Boards 2 & 4. Eugene just has to win on Board 1 for the Blitz to have a chance and if they get anything from Riordan it will be gravy. So I figure they need 1.5 pts from Friedel and Krasik; problem is, they both have Black. If Krasik really is underrated then tonight would be a great night to breakthrough against a "low-rated" master.

Well, they are a bit slow in getting started, so let me make a quick comment on the World Championships -- Leko lost to Topalov as White in a very exciting game. Also, Judit Polgar lost to Anand as White in a strange game. She seemed surprised out of the opening and chose a dubious plan.

If I could play twice as dubiously as Judit, I'd be thrilled!

8:52pm:

OK, let's take a look at the openings. On Board 2, Friedel is on the Black side on an Open Ruy; 11 moves in and it's all theory so far. Over on Board 3, Riordan is facing a Semi-Slav, but he responded with the unusual move 5.Qd3.

And on Board One we have an Accelerated Dragon position, and on Board four, Krasik responded to a Classical KID setup with Bg4. I am not familiar with that particular line, but Chessbase will show us the way in a few minutes.

9:03pm:

After 8...b4 by Pruess, I found 10 games that reached this position. On the White side names like Rubinetti, Epishin, Speelman and Gurevich; for Black -- Sveshnikov, Oll, Wells and Fontaine.

Well, as I thought, according to Chessbase, Bg4 by Board 4 Krasik is an unusual move, played only about 100 times in the database of 4 million games. This does not mean that it is a bad move, though—in past encounters, White has scored badly (based on games in the database.) In fact, the particular line being played has White with a 22% score, which includes draws! This could very well be some home cooking by Krasik tonight!

Board 1 is on more familiar ground, with the game in “book” through 19. a3. Donaldson’s reply 19… h5, however, appears in the database exactly once, Yoos-Taylor, 1996. A more common reply here was 19…a5 or 19… Be5, although it seems that many other moves have been tried.

9:30pm:

Board 3 is looking pretty equal. I think Riordan let his opponent off the hook by immediately trading off on c5. Now Black's bishops look impressive on the a8-h1 and a7-g1 diagonals. Over on Board 2 they are 15 moves in and while I haven't looked it up, I wouldn't be surprised if it's still in theory.

Perelshteyn looks fine to me, eventhough Black has the a-file. And it's still really early on Board 4 where Krasik is setting up to chip away at White's center. Any thoughts, JR?

Board 1 is still following the Yoos-Taylor game until 21…Ne6. It looks like Eugene is spending a lot of time in the position already, 38 minutes to 60 minutes for Donaldson. While I like White’s position here, the time could become a factor later on.

On Board 4, let’s consider the point of the early trade of light squared Bishop. In Classical KID positions, Blacks light squared B can be hard to develop properly. By trading it for White’s Knight, that problem is solved. Now, I suspect White will try to make his center dominate, giving his extra Bishops more space, while Black may try to keep it closed, letting the Knights have their way. Of course, Black has the strong fianchettoed dark-square Bishop, which could become a monster if lines open up. So I guess Black is going to pry the center open, carefully.

I have to say, I like the Blitz's positions here on Boards 1 and 4 so far.

9:45pm:

There are pieces hanging all over Board 3 after 16...Nb6. But now it looks like everybody got out of harm's way without captures. I must say that Black looks more active and Riordan's Queen looks funny on b5 surrounded by Black's minor pieces.

I understand that both Donaldson and Perelshteyn are experts on the Accelerated Dragon. An interesting struggle for theory on Board 1 ???

Board 3 has started to become very interesting, I agree. I also think that Black must be better here. After 18... Be4, where is White going to put his queen?

9:57pm:

Action on Board 2 where Zilberstein has sacked the exchange for an attack against f7. I think Josh might be in real trouble after 22.Qxd8. After 22…Rexd8 23.Nxf7 looks good.

On Board 3, I guess Charles could have played to Qa6 after Be4, but now, after 18…a5, that queen is seriously running out of room. Ba6 is a threat. At the very least, Black will gain a number of tempi as Charles tries to get the queen out of danger. Plus, Black really has no weaknesses for White to exploit.

Yes, Riordan's position does look shaky and Friedel's as well. Josh took with the other rook, Raxd8. Now Black is thinking about which piece to capture with on f7 (at least that's what I would be thinking about). Board 4 is starting to open up a bit also, but I'm not sure it's to anyone's advantage yet.

10:12pm:

Looking at Board 4, I feel that White is starting to get a slight pull. The position is starting to open up in favor of White’s Bishop pair, as White has claimed more queenside space. True, Black’s Bishop is eying the Knight on c3 and Rook on a1, but once those pieces clear the long diagonal, the Bishop will hit nothing important. Still, there is a lot of tension in the position, and anything can happen.

So, overall, I only have a good feeling about Eugene's position on Board 1. The others are starting to look shaky, with Krasik losing the thread a little, but still holding a decent position.

I don't know, Jason. Lee's c-pawn might turn out to be weak and Krasik might be able to put more pressure on it or somehow trade it for his backward d-pawn.

Ok, DG, let's duke it out! On Board 4, 19. b5 is going to be a tough move, if played. After 19 b5 axb5 20. Nxb5 Qb8 21. f4, white will get a firm plus. It is the d pawn that is weak, not the c pawn. True, Black can try down the a-file, but that is going to take some moves to reorganize. Meanwhile, White is going to break open the center.

On Board 3, is Charles managing to get out of the complications OK? I still like black, but White is putting up some tough resistance in a tricky position.

10:30pm:

Jason, you seem pretty passionate about your convictions on Board 4 so I'll just watch to see what happens.

Hold on! Did Zilberstein just blunder? After 25.Bg5, can’t Friedel just take on d6 twice? Wait, maybe not. After 25…Bxd6, then 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rd1 and White can keep piling up on the pinned rook with Ne3, if necessary.

As for Board 3, I still think you need to like Black's position with those two rooks on the open files and two active bishops.

Whoa! On board 4, Krasik just sacked his Rook for the Exchange on c4. I don’t understand this move. Doesn’t it just drop the pawn on d6 after 21…. Qxc4 22. Rxd6? If now 22…Qxb4, 23. e5! So 22…bxa4 23. Rc1 threatens e5, so 23….e5 and 24. Qxa4. Black is an exchange down with no comp.

I'll take a look, DG, now at the Zilberstein game and see what is what.

10:42pm:

No Rxd6 on Board 4 as you suggested, but Black's in big trouble anyways. Still down the exchange and now his b5 pawn has fallen. It's not looking good for the Blitz here.

10:54pm:

Alright, let's do a quick rundown of the positions. I still like Eugene on Board 1. Josh looks like he might be wriggling out on Board 2, but he still has those doubled pawns and a bad bishop to worry about. Blitz fans shouldn't expect more than a 1/2 pt. here.

Riordan's hanging in there, but no more than that. And Krasik looks to be in a heap of trouble. Right now, I say the Blitz are looking at 2-2 in a best case scenario. Of course, time trouble can change everything!

11:01pm:

Board 1 is over! Perelshteyn wins! 1-0 Blitz.

That was a nice clear game from the beginning. GO Blitz! It looks like that will be 1-1, as Krasik is on his last legs on Board 4. It all comes down to Boards 2 and 3 -- I think Friedel is worse, looking at White's dangerous b pawn, but maybe he can pull one out in time pressure. Charles is holding, but time pressure is going to decide that game one way or the other.

Friedel is only slightly worse according to Fritz, after 37. Kf1. I bet it is a drawn endgame now. Black’s advanced King and Pawns hold the balance here. Charles looks fine now, with a lot of play in the position, but time is a major factor now.

11:18pm:

Board 2 is a draw by repitition. Friedel managed to extricate himself from a position that looked bad earlier on. So that's 1.5-0.5 Blitz, though the Mechanics are probably going to tie it up on Board 4.

Riordan is down to two minutes. The Blitz are likely going to need him to hold on if they want to avoid another loss.

11:22pm:

I think that Charles is coming out better! He has the opportunity to play, 45. Nxe5, winning a pawn. DG, am I hallucinating?

Instead, Charles takes the Knight on d4 with his rook, sacking the exhange. The action is flying, and I can't post and watch at the same time. DG, help me, what is going on?

Yes, we are going to have to look at Nxe5 after the game. Maybe Riordan thought the exchange sack offered better winning chances. He's got 2 pawns for it now, so maybe his idea is sound. Of course time trouble ensures that neither side will play this ending perfectly.

I just whipped out Fritz on this game, I couldn't help myself -- it gives Charles an advantage after the queen trade of +1.00 He is in good shape here, if he can manage his time.

11:32pm:

Krasik just resigned on Board 4. That evens it up at 1.5 each. I said at the beginning that anything Riordan provided would be gravy; well Boston Blitz, it's gravy time!

After Rc2+, the IMs in the gallery are suggesting that Charles might be in trouble.

11:44pm:

After 65…Ra3, Fritz calls this position a dead draw. We’ll see what happens. We always have to be careful with Fritz, especially in endgames. I am running 6 piece tablebases, which does boost Fritz’s endgame power tremendously, though.

11:48pm:

Well, right after I said that, I check again and Fritz tilts strongly towards Black. Of course, Black can't lose now, so Charles is going to be tortured with this position for a while until there is no more play. Black is in good shape to pull out a win.

At this point, Riordan is not going to win. Best we can hope for is a drawn match.

After 81.Bb7, Fritz is firmly in the draw evaluation! It hovered back and forth, with Pruess perhaps missing a forced win earlier on, but now it says draw. I think Charles has it now, too, as Black cannot prevent white from trading the B for the h pawn and then shuffling the a pawn forward with the king. Great game so far by Charles to hold on!

12:10am:

That’s it, Riordan draws. It’s a drawn match as well 2-2.

Well, the Blitz managed to squeeze out a draw tonight. It was certainly an exciting finish, but another disappointment for the team overall. Eugene did his job and Charles managed a half point against strong opposition. However, at the top I said that Boston needed 1.5 points out of Boards 2 & 4 and that just didn’t happen. Josh could easily have lost (I think) but played well enough to secure a draw. Ilya went down again.

I hope the Blitz take the next few days to do a serious rethink about their approach to these matches. It seems clear at this point that what they are doing, so far, is not going to be enough to make the playoffs.

WoW! A stressful but well earned draw from this match. Coming into this match as slight underdogs, I think that a drawn match is a good result. A misstep on Board 2 was neutralized by the great tenaciousness that Charles showed on Board 3. I am not so sure that the approach of the team is at fault here. If Josh had a better night at Board 2, then Charles's great toughness on Board 3 would have paid off. With Eugene anchoring the top board with a very nice win, this lineup had every chance to win this round. True, Krasik underperformed on Board 4, it looks like he miscalculated with his Exchange sac, but I don't see how the team would have fared much better with a different lineup. Then again, Charles is proving to be solid on Board 3, maybe against weaker opponents on Board 4, he could notch up some wins for the Blitz. Even still, in almost all imagined scenarios, there is a relative rating hole at Board 3, leaving lots of pressue on Board 1 and 2. Why not give those Boards the best chances to win, and leave Boards 3 and 4 as underdogs who are also perhaps underrated?

Anyway, I have to say, DG, that I had a blast! I don’t know how you commented on 4 games at once by yourself. Thanks for having me on, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Thanks Jason. We'll see you all next week for more USCL and Boston Blitz action. Good night everyone.

BCC Championship - Another Round 2 Game

Natasha Christiansen nicks Alex Cherniack for half a point in a minor upset.

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Christiansen,N"] [Black "Cherniack"] [Result "1/2"] [WhiteELO "1810"] [BlackELO "2279"] [ECO "D02"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Qb3 c4 6.Qc2 g6 7.Nbd2 Bf5 8.Qc1 Nc6 9.h3 Bg7 10.e3 0-0 11.Be2 Nd7 12.e4 Bxe4 13.Nxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 e5

15.Nxc4 Qd8 16.dxe5 Ndxe5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.Qe3 Qc7 20.0-0 Rfe8 21.Bb5 Bf4 22.Qe2 Re7 23.Rad1 Kg7 24.Rd5 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Qxd8 26.Rd1 Qb6 27.Rd7 Rxd7 28.Bxd7 Qd6 29.Ba4 Qe7 30.Bc2 e3 31.fxe3 Bxe3+ 32.Kf1 f5 33.Bb3 f4 34.Qc4 Kh6 35.Qf7 Qe4 36.Qf8+ Kh5 37.Bd1+ Kh4

38.Qf6+ Kg3 39.Qg5+ Kh2 40.Qg4 Bc1 41.Qf3 Qc4+ 42.Be2 Qc5 43.Qf2 Qxf2+ 44.Kxf2 Bxb2 45.Bf3 b6 46.c4 Bd4+ 47.Kf1 h6 48.Be4 g5 49.Bf3 Kg3 50.a4 Bc5 51.Bh5 Kh4 52.Bg4 h5 53.Bf3 g4 54.hxg4 hxg4 55.Bc6 Kg3 56.Bd5 Kh2 57.Be4 Kg3 58.Bd5 f3 59.gxf3 gxf3 60.Bb7 Kf4 61.Bd5 Ke3 62.Bc6 f2 63.Bd7 Kd2 64.Bb5 Kc2 65.Ke2 Kb3 66.Kf1 Kb4 67.Ke2 Ka5 68.Kf1 a6

69.Bc6 Kb4 70.Bb7 b5 71.cxb5 a5 72.b6 Kxa4 73.Bc6+ Kb4 74.b7 Ba7 75.b8Q+ Bxb8 76.Kxf2 a4 77.Bxa4 ½-½

One is the loneliest number

Find out more...

Wednesday 8:30pm EDT [GMT-4], here at BCC Weblog.

National Open Attendance

In Jerry Hanken's article on the 2005 National Open -- "Las Vegas International Chess Festival: Gurevich Triumphant in National Open" (Chess Life, September 2005) -- he mentions the following almost in passing before moving on to the winners and the games:

The National Open attendance, 703, was somewhat off from last year's, as has been the case with almost every large tournament this year.

If it is true that attendance has been off at almost every large tournament this year (and I have no reason to believe it is not true), then this seems like an issue deserving of more attention. Here are some hypotheses that might explain this phenomenon:

1. The Conventional Perspective: The convenience of on-line chess is drawing people away from OTB tournaments.
   


2. The Maurice Effect: Many players who made the financial and time commitment to play in the HB Global Chess Challenge have cut back on other tournament activities to conserve both.
   


3. The Beatrice Syndrome: People finally have had enough with USCF shenanigans and are starting to vote with their feet.

What do you think? Any other ideas? International readers, are you seeing the same trend in attendance in your major OTB events?

No rest for the weary

“When you play chess alone it’s always your move.” -- Charles Simic from his poem 'School for Visionaries.'

Hat Tip: Life Sentences

Ball game? Board game?

From "Fun starts when the 'chess' ends" at telegraph.co.uk:

On Match of the Day Hansen described Liverpool's draw at St Andrew's as a "magnificent" game; Green spent all afternoon telling Radio 5 Live listeners it was "awful".

In truth it was somewhere in the middle. The first-half chess match gave way to a wild game of draughts in the second, and both sets of fans went home happy.

Boston Blitz in Action #1

From the US Chess League Round 1 match vs. the New York Knights. Click on the pictures to enlarge. (Photos by Matt Phelps)

IM Eugene Perelshteyn

FM Bill Kelleher

Ilya Krasik

Theological Chess

“In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case and left us with a chess-player God playing both sides of the board, making all his moves and all ours too....” John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Hat Tip: Paul's Ponderings

C is for Championship

It looks like it's going to be one of those crazy years at the BCC Championship. After a number of withdrawals both before and after the first round, the line-up for this year's championship has been significantly re-worked. Here is the current list of contestants:

FM Paul MacIntyre (2315)
NM Charles Riordan (2283)
NM Alex Cherniack (2279)
NM Vadim Martirosov (2239)
Carey Theil (1991)
Kyle Clayton (1888)
Natasha Christiansen (1810)

Several first round games need to be rescheduled to catch everyone up through two rounds (I'm not sure if they've taken place yet or not). I also suspect that the Klegon-MacIntyre game from Round 1 is not going to count in the standings. And if that isn't enough, apparently the MacIntyre-Theil encounter resulted in a forfeit win for Carey when Paul failed to show up for the game.

What are the standings at this point? Who knows.

I did get one second round game score from Bernardo. As you will see below, the weirdness continues as an encounter between two masters results in a 15-move miniature.

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Martirosov"] [Black "Riordan"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteELO "2239"] [BlackELO "2283"] [ECO "A70"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.e4 a6 8.Bf4 b5 9.Qe2 Be7 10.e5 dxe5 11.Bxe5 Nbd7 12.Bc7

12...Qxc7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.Qxe7 Re8 15.d6 Qa5 0-1

C is for, what's looking to be, a Chaotic and Crazy Chess Club Championship!

Related Posts: 2005 BCC Championship - 1st Round - Championship Season Redux

The USCL and the Blogosphere

Greg Shahade penned a piece on coverage of the USCL in the chess blogosphere for the official US Chess League site. He's missing a word in the second paragraph (probably "coverage"), but based on the time stamps of a few of the e-mails he's sent me I'm guessing he probably wrote the article between 4 and 5 in the morning.

Greg mentions the coverage here at BCC Weblog as well as an overview piece at The Kenilworthian. In addition to these two, you can find weekly summaries at Chess News and Events and single posts from The Closet Grandmaster and OnlineChess.ca.

Update: A new post today on the USCL and BCC Weblog coverage from OnlineChess.ca.

New Inductees

The Knights are beginning another of their periodic growth spurts. In the last week Tempo has discovered Montse and SiliconPawn. Stop by and wish them luck with their chess improvement efforts.

A Balanced Blitz?

In team matches with an average rating ceiling (like the US Chess League) there are two basic strategies for composing a line-up. In the top heavy approach, you put much higher than average rated players on the top boards and balance things out with much lower than average rated players on the bottom boards. In a four board match, the winning strategy for this type of team is to win the games on Boards 1 and 2 and hope for a draw out of either board 3 or 4 -- this is how the Blitz defeated the Cobras. However, it is not uncommon for the match to be drawn 2-2 if the lower boards fail to score -- see the Blitz vs. the Masterminds. And, of course, if your top boards fail to do their job, well then, all hell breaks loose like last week's debacle against Baltimore.

The alternative approach to team composition is a balanced strategy. Choose four players who all group reasonably closely around the average rating ceiling. With this strategy, you are typically accepting underdog status on board 1, but in compensation you are a favorite on board 4 and very competitive in the middle. Last week's line-up for the Kingfishers was structured exactly this way with ratings of 2506, 2453, 2331 and 2309.

This coming week against the San Francisco Mechanics, the Blitz are likely to face a similar line-up. San Francisco doesn't have any 2600 players on their roster and, while they don't have any 2300 players either, they will by definition field an all-master team. Consider the ratings of the team that upset Miami last week -- 2442, 2435, 2432 and 2209. The key question for the Blitz this week is whether to stick with the top heavy strategy or try to field an all-master line-up of their own.

The problem that the Blitz face is that their roster is not well structured for this type of balanced approach. Team captain Paul MacIntyre admitted to me that not much thought was put into the team composition issue when the roster was initially created, although to be fair, it's not as if we have a large supply of 2300+ players around the Boston area to choose from. In any case, I played around in Excel for awhile and identified the only 3 possible options for the Blitz to field an all-master team.

Option #1: Foygel - 2490, Friedel - 2447, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2389

Option #2: Christiansen - 2596, Kelleher - 2383, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2392

Option #3: Perelshteyn - 2576, Kelleher - 2383, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2387

Option #1 looks most intriguing to me and would probably lead to competitive encounters with San Francisco across all four boards. The other two options seem to be twists on the top-heavy strategy -- strong on Boards 1 & 4, weaker in the middle. In a couple of days we'll see what the Blitz come up with for this Wednesday's match.

Armed Forces Championship

Link

Focus on what you do best

Some people are natural chess masters; others are born singers; I'm a gifted dead animal carcass remover.

Read "Roadkill Warrior" from Utter Wonder.

Sometimes you just have to go

Translation programs on the web often give amusing results. Consider this post about the rules of the game of chess from the Italian Blog Scacchierando. Under the section on draws, a Google translation of the page produces this gem:

When one of the King is found in "stall"

So apparently if you are losing the game, all you need to do is pick up your King off the board and take it to the toilet with you.

Obviously, the correct translation would have been something like 'When one of the Kings is in "Stalemate".'

Live Blogging: US Chess League - Week 4

Welcome chess fans to BCC Weblog coverage of the USCL. Tonight the Boston Blitz face off against their Eastern Division rivals the Baltimore Kingfishers.

BCC Weblog coverage of the USCL is brought to you by... well, it's not brought to you by anyone, actually. Hey, what do you expect; even the NHL has a hard time getting sponsors.

vs.

The Blitz broke through last week against the Carolina Cobras for their first win of the season and now find themselves tied for first with New York in the Eastern Division. While the Kingfishers stand a half-point behind, they look to pose a considerable challenge to the Blitz. Baltimore is starting a very strong and balanced line-up across all four boards, headed by IM Pascal Charbonneau and featuring 2300 players on both boards 3 and 4. The Blitz counter with GM Larry Christiansen and IM Josh Friedel up top; they are both 2-0 in these positions the last two weeks. On the lower boards, Boston faces significant rating gaps with NM Charles Riordan (in his debut match with the Blitz) and Ilya Krasik. Of course if ratings is all that mattered, they wouldn't play the games!

So, let's head out to the virtual boards on the ICC.

7:59pm: Before we take a look at the early positions, I want to offer my thanks to League Commissioner Greg Shahade for securing me an ICC login for the remainder of the season. As a result, starting this week I'll be able to watch and report on the GM games live. So, let's start out with the Christiansen-Charbonneau match-up. It's an open Sicilian; looks like Black is aiming for a Dragon, though White didn't go in for the sharp lines with queenside castling. To be honest, I really don't know any theory in this area, so I'm not going to be of much help on this one for awhile.

8:12pm: Enkhbat-Friedel looks a bit unorthodox, starting out 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.Bf4 Bg4. I guess I'd call it some sort of a Chigorin Defense since White did eventually play c4.

After 1.Nf3 c5, Riordan chose to transpose into the Open Sicilian -- a quiet one so far with White fianchettoing the bishop on g2 and castling kingside. Black is calmly developing behind pawns on d6 and e6.

On Board 4 we have another opening I don't know much about. It's a Symmetrical English 1.c4 c5, but beyond that I can't tell you much more.

Let's watch for awhile and see what develops.

8:44pm: Krasik looks to be building a nice position on Board 4. On the downside he has an isolated pawn on c6 that might become weak at some point, but in compensation his two bishops are very active and on nice diagonals and they are cooperating well with his Rb8 in bringing pressure to White's queenside. Meanwhile, White's pieces seem fairly passive at the moment.

8:55pm: Larry is pushing the action on Board 1 with 15.e5. Beats the heck out of me how this break is going to turn out, but it certainly looks like we've reached the first real critical point in this game.

9:03pm: Pascal has offered a Knight sacrifice with 18...Nxe5!? Does it work?

9:14pm: A series of exchanges has ensued on Board 4, but it looks like White may have gotten the best of it. I'm not sure Black can save his Knight on c1 after 20.Rd2. If 20...Nd3, then 21.e4 looks strong.

9:23pm: Board 2 is looking a bit crazy. Friedel has his King stuck in the center on e2 and a pawn or two hanging, but he seems to be ignoring all that and just sending his pieces towards Black's kingside. If I was Black I guess I would think I was better, but I'd still be nervous. NOTE: I got the colors mixed up. Friedel was playing Black, not White.

Over on Board 3, everyone's keeping their pieces on their side of the board. No action to speak of yet.

9:30pm: Larry took the knight after trading a pair of bishops. Now let's see what Pascal thinks he has for the piece.

9:42pm: Krasik has been forced to give up a piece. I guess he's going to try to secure a couple of pawns as partial compensation, but things are definitely not looking good for the Blitz on Board 4.

9:57pm: Board 1 has stayed interesting -- Larry has given back the Knight and executed a series of exchanges that may leave him with a better minor piece ending (outside passer). But I'm not sure that he will come out a pawn ahead.

Board 2 is still crazy and Board 3 is going to be offered by prescription as an alternative to Ambien. Of course, time trouble is coming...

10:06pm: Krasik gives up; that's 1-0 Kingfishers. Meanwhile, Riordan's game is starting to pick up.

10:15pm: Friedel's done it again! He's managed to come out the other side of the complications up a piece in an ending. Look for a point for the Blitz coming soon. Note: My mistake -- actually Friedel came out on the losing side.

Larry and Pascal are in an ending, even material; Larry has the outside passed c-pawn vs. Pascal's passed e-pawn. I'm guessing its drawn with best play, but we'll see.

And suddenly on Board 3, Riordan's major pieces have become quite active.

10:24pm: Good news, bad news... Friedel scores the point, evening the score at 1 a piece. But Larry looks like he made a mistake. I don't know if he's lost, but he's definitely not coming out with more than 1/2 a point. Note: Make that bad news, bad news. Friedel actually lost; Kingfishers 2-0.

10:44pm: Board 3 is starting to look pretty drawish -- even pawns, opposite color bishops. It looks like Larry is going to have to find a way to salvage a draw to keep this match even. He's down a bishop now, but Black has only one pawn left -- an h-pawn and its the wrong color for the bishop. If Larry can trade the rooks it's a draw; if he can win or trade off the h-pawn, then R+B vs. R is also a theoretical draw. Note: Even a draw won't be enough for the Blitz. Sorry I had the Friedel game wrong.

11:16pm: Well, that's it. Riordan's game resolved into a bishops of opposite colors ending and was drawn. Larry, meanwhile, was forced to resign against Pascal. Final score: Kingfishers 3.5 Blitz 0.5.

It just wasn't the Blitz's night tonight. Against a strong balanced lineup like Baltimore's, Boston needed a strong showing on the top boards which they didn't get. Larry had his chances but went astray in the ending and Josh wasn't able to successfully maneuver his way through the complications. This esentially sealed the team's fate. If there's one ray of light in this lopsided loss, it was Riordan's solid play on Board 3 against a higher rated opponent.

Next week the Blitz will look for a rebound when they face the San Francisco Mechanics.

A Programming Note: Next week we'll be taking USCL coverage to a new level at BCC Weblog with the introduction of interactive commentary. Join Rihel and me next Wednesday as we follow the action in tandem. And hopefully next time I can keep the colors straight!

Surreal Chess

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