09/08/2005

  Miami moves to 2-0, only undefeated team in the USCL
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by IM Greg Shahade                      
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Miami Sharks			Carolina Cobras
GM Julio Becerra - 2622			GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473
FM Marcel Martinez - 2469			FM Lev Milman - 2474
IM Blas Lugo - 2422			FM Matthew Hoekstra - 2407
Jose Cabrera - 2093			John Timmel - 2093
Avg Rating - 2401			Avg Rating - 2361
Miami Total -------	0.0	0.0	----- Carolina Total

Carolina was coming off of a disappointing first week, and their disappointment would mount as they fell to Miami 2.5-1.5

GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Marcin Kaminski (CAR)  1/2-1/2

 First Becerra and Kaminski had a relatively lifeless draw. However at the time of this draw, things already looked good for Miami, as the other games were in their favor.

IM-elect Lev Milman (CAR) vs FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) 1/2-1/2

Lev never got off the ground in this game against Marcel as white had almost no chance to win right out of the opening. Marcel probably stood quite better for most of the endgame, but again, mainly due to Miami's crushing position on board 4, Marcel was not overly ambitious.

John Timmel (CAR) vs Jose Cabrera (MIA)  0-1

 This was the game that gave the match to Miami. Cabrera outplayed Timmel on the black side of a Sicilian Defense, getting ultra fast play on the queenside and picking up a pawn. Timmel put up a good fight in a pawn down endgame, but it wasn't enough to hold off Cabrera and give Miami the 2-1 match lead. At the time this game ended it was very clear that Hoekstra had no chance to win his game for Carolina, thus Miami had the match all but wrapped up.

IM Blas Lugo (MIA) vs FM Matthew Hoekstra (CAR)  1/2-1/2

 This game got off to an interesting start as Lugo got a fine attacking position with Hoekstra's king stuck in the center of the board. Hoekstra found a cute tactic however to swing the balance...



Black found the creative blow 18...Nxd5! and suddenly Blas was in trouble. The point is that 19.Nxd5 is impossible because of ...Rxc2, and after 19.Rxd5 black has the nice counterblow 19...Rxc3! Blas had no choice but to play 19.Rxd5 Rxc3 20.Qc3 Qd5 21.Rd1 and now Hoesktra probably missed his best chance to play for the win.



(After 21.Rd1)

 Hoesktra now played the safe move 21...Qc6, hoping to hold on to the pawn in the endgame, however after 22.Qxc6 bxc6 23.Rd4 with the idea of Ra4, Blas won the pawn back and actually achieved a better position later on with his passed a-pawn.

 Instead of the solid 21...Qc6, Hoesktra should have lashed out with 21...Qxa2!, not fearing the seemingly dangerous white attack. If 22.Qc7 black can simply play f6 and tuck his king on f7. Black has much more winning chances in this variation than he did in the game and the white king may turn out to be weaker than the black counterpart.

 After the inaccurate 21...Qc6, the game lasted another 70 moves! Blas tried very hard to win a pawn up endgame to help improve the Sharks tiebreak points (as all he needed to win the match was draw). Unlike the first week against San Francisco, Hoekstra was able to hold the tough endgame and Miami won by the score of 2.5-1.5


 Congratulations to the Miami Sharks for their fast start. A huge divisional battle is on the horizon as Miami faces off against the Dallas Destiny in Week 3. Dallas is in sole second place in the West with a 1/2 score, and hopes to even things up with a win. It should be an exciting match involving the only two teams to win this week.

Miami Sharks			Carolina Cobras
GM Julio Becerra - 2622	0.5	0.5	GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473
FM Marcel Martinez - 2469	0.5	0.5	FM Lev Milman - 2474
IM Blas Lugo - 2422	0.5	0.5	FM Matthew Hoekstra - 2407
Jose Cabrera - 2093	1.0	0.0	John Timmel - 2093
Avg Rating - 2401			Avg Rating - 2361
Miami Total -------	2.5	1.5	----- Carolina Total

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