09/01/2005

  San Francisco comes back from 2-0 deficit to tie the Cobras.
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by IM Greg Shahade
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Carolina Cobras vs San Francisco Mechanics

Carolina Cobras	San Francisco Mechanics
GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473	IM Vince McCambridge - 2502
FM Lev Milman - 2474	IM Mladen Vucic - 2436
FM Matt Hoekstra - 2407	FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435
John Timmel - 2093	NM Nicolas Yap - 2209
Avg Rating - 2361	Avg Rating - 2395
Carolina Total -------	----- San Francisco Total

Time Control - Game 60 with 30 second increment


Board 1: GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473 vs IM Vince McCambridge - 2502   1-0

 Things got off to a grim start for the Mechanics as their first board, IM Vincent McCambridge, went down hard after GM Kaminski achieved an incredible opening structure.



After just 22 moves, white has total domination of the position. White has the open c-file, the c5 square, the tasty b6 square for the bishop and has a superb knight on d4. Meanwhile black is stuck with a terrible bishop on c6, as it's blocked in by it's own pawns. Kaminski actually trades his beautiful knight for this bad bishop just a few moves later and wins the game shortly thereafter...



White played the anti-intuitive move, 33.Nxb7! relieving McCambridge of his terrible piece on b7. Kaminski's point was that after 33.Kxb7 34.Rxc6 Qxc6 35.Rc2! white is going to infiltrate on the seventh rank with Rc7 next move. McCambridge is already completely lost and after 35....Qe8 36. Rc7 Kb8 37. Qc3 Qd8 38.Qc6 black is mated next move. A crisp strategical effort from Carolina's Marcin Kaminski.


Board 2: IM Mladen Vucic - 2436 vs IM-elect Lev Milman - 2474  0-1

 Carolina sped off to a 2-0 lead after Milmans impressive victory over Mladen Vucic. What is black's plan in the following position?



Black has one passed pawn on d3 but that one pawn alone might not be enough to win, as white has the queening square on d1 very well covered. Lev played the logical 29...b5! with the idea of creating connected passed pawns in the center of the board with 30...c4. These pawns were so strong that white had almost no chance to defend the position, and Milman won quite easily as Vucic was forced to give up a piece for one of the pawns in just a few moves.


Board 4: NM Nicolas Yap - 2209 vs John Timmel - 2093  1-0

 With a 2-0 lead for the Cobras, it was looking very ugly for the Mechanics. However the young Nicholas Yap did his job by grinding down Timmel in a long endgame. Yap was winning right out of the opening but made some mistakes to let Timmel back into the game:



Yap is up a pawn, but it's not so simple to infiltrate the black position, as Timmel has done a good job of closing things up. Yap comes up with a winning plan however, as he found 50.g5! After black played 50.hxg5 51.Nh2, Yap had a new home for his knight on g4, attacking the bishop on f6, eying the pawn on e5 and planning h6 when the time is right. Things fell apart almost immediately for Timmel, and Yap brought San Francisco one win closer to tying the match.


Board 3: FM Matthew Hoekstra - 2407 vs FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435

 All eyes were on this game, as Zilberstein needed to win a tough endgame to even it up at 2-2.



With white to move in the above position there was tremendous pressure for both players, as Dmitry had to win this pawn up endgame or his team would go down in flames. Meanwhile all that stood between Carolina and an opening day victory was this pawn down endgame. The crowd was torn, some thought that black would win while others felt that that the young and talented Matthew Hoekstra could hold the balance. The fact that both players were under 3 minutes on the clock was also going to be a major factor. In the end Dmitry's nerves prevailed as after more than 30 moves of torturing Matthew in this endgame, he finally cracked the white position and won a second pawn, forcing resignation.

 This was a hard fought match that seemed to be in Carolina's front pocket until San Francisco's bottom boards came through in the clutch. As San Francisco captain IM John Donaldson says "We don't have any 7 foot center leading our team, but we have a lot of depth". Will that depth be enough to carry San Francisco to the playoffs? Most likely they will have to perform better on boards 1+2 if they want to compete for the league championship. However with McCambridge hoping to shake off the rust after years of inactivity, and Donaldson being an always super solid option, there is every chance of them turning things around on the top boards in the coming weeks.

Carolina Cobras			San Francisco Mechanics
GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473	1.0	0.0	IM Vince McCambridge - 2502
FM Lev Milman - 2474	1.0	0.0	IM Mladen Vucic - 2436
FM Matt Hoekstra - 2407	0.0	1.0	FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435
John Timmel - 2093	0.0	1.0	NM Nicholas Yap - 2209
Avg Rating - 2361			Avg Rating - 2395
Carolina Total -------	2.0	2.0	----- San Francisco Total

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