10/13/2005

  San Francisco cures their board 1 woes, wipes out Carolina 3.5-0.5
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by IM Greg Shahade                       
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San Francisco vs Carolina

1. IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Marcin Kaminski (CAR)  1-0
2. IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs FM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF)  1/2-1/2
3. FM David Pruess (SF) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR)  1-0
4. David Pecora (CAR) vs NM Mark Pinto (SF)  0-1


 San Francisco hadn't won a game all year on first board and USCL newcomer IM Vinay Bhat wanted to do something about that.Vinay was a replacement for IM Mladen Vucic, who moved to New York City. Bhat was scheduled to attend classes today but wasn't going to watch the Mechanics season fritter away without trying to do something about it first. Vinay skipped class to face off against GM Marcin Kaminski, who has been very impressive so far this season. It turns out that Vinay could have stayed in class today, because despite winning his game, the Mechanics would have won the match without him!

  Kaminski got an unplesant position right out of the opening when he decided to play 4....Nf6 instead of the more accurate 4...Qa5+. Kaminski followed up with some overly ambitious, yet premature moves. Bhat capitalized and scored a lightning quick win over the previously unbeaten Kaminski. On board two Milman and Zilberstein played the most boring opening in the world, the Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez. The game actually became somewhat interesting later on, but the solid Zilberstein was able to hold on for the draw.

 Pruess seemed to have a dominating position over Schroer, in which a win would clinch the match for the Mechanics, however San Francisco fourth board, Mark Pinto, sealed the deal.


Pecora-Pinto (Black to move after 47.Qf1)

 Black has been up a pawn for a few moves and has been trying to breakthrough, and finally the moment has come. Pinto simply exchanged queens with 47...Qxf1 48. Kxf1 Rxf2! 49.Rxf2 Bxf2, and there is no way to stop the a-pawn. This was the third USCL a-pawn that was unstoppable this week, as Bruci Lopez suffered a similar fate against Elvin Wilson and Braylovsky used his a-pawn to beat Charles Riordan. After the match was decided, Pruess took care of business on board 3 to give the Mechanics a crushing 3.5-0.5 victory.

 This was a huge win for San Francisco as it put some distance between them and their competitors for the 2nd playoff spot in the West and improved their tiebreaks with such a lopsided victory. San Francisco has a chance to solidify their standing against Philadelphia next week, although the Masterminds are coming off of their own big victory after beating the Baltimore Kingfishers. In any case Vinay Bhat supplied the spark the Mechanics needed, and if they can get going on Board 1 there could be a new force in the US Chess League, as San Francisco has been consistantly strong on boards 3+4, but troubled on the top boards. San Francisco is the only team to defeat the West leaders, the Miami Sharks, and they will square off again in the final week of the season in what should be an interesting rematch.

 Carolina just can't seem to catch a break, as they fall to 1.5/7. The talent is there with this Carolina squad, and the desire is there as well, but they just can't seem to put things together. Carolina has been acceptable on boards 1+2 this year, but has been unable to perform up to their capabilities on boards 3+4. They'll face a tough task next week against the Baltimore Kingfishers.

San Francisco Mechanics			Carolina Cobras
IM Vinay Bhat - 2462	1.0	0.0	GM Marcin Kaminski - 2473
FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435	0.5	0.5	FM Lev Milman - 2474
FM David Pruess - 2432	1.0	0.0	IM Jonathan Schroer - 2462
NM Mark Pinto - 2200	1.0	0.0	David Pecora - 2097
Avg Rating - 2382			Avg Rating - 2376
San Francisco Total -------	3.5	0.5	----- Carolina Total

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