"We drew a match that should have been drawn." - IM Ron Burnett

 

    Reeling from the week one blasting we received, the Tennessee Tempo brought their strongest lineup yet again to try to get back on track agaisnt the Dallas Destiny.

    Actually being favored meant expectations were very high for the match, however, things went opposite of everyone's expectations through out the match. At least, this week we did not have to battle our internet connection and everything went as smooth as possible. (read Todd's article about the Tempos' week one at www.uschess.org)

 
     In the beginning of the match, I was already feeling a little bit of tension about the room. Nothing was clear on board 1, 2 or 4, but FM Peter Bereolos made a slip up in the opening and was down what seemed to be a clear pawn. It was more than evident, with Peter clearly displaying signs of discomfort. I feel that the rest of the team members knew they were going to have to step it up this night. Some quick analysis at the Flying Saucer, a classy beer joint in downtown Nashville, showed that Peter should have tried 12...Bd7, where the trick is that after white plays 13. Qe2 black can just castle! 13. Qe2 0-0 14. Qxe7 Re8 -+. Its interesting to me how the happenings on one board can dictate the mood of the room. Peter defended valiantly and all of sudden, it seemed that some life sprung back into everyone after they noticed Peter was back in it.

    As a team, we were way behind on time on every board excpet for Wheeler's. As time pressure was approaching, Ronald opted to try and make his GM counterpart prove that he knew how to convert a position with a Queen vs. Two sturdy knights and a passed pawn. It was an endgame of material imbalance if I ever saw one. I have been warned before how good Ronald is with his knights, but Panchatan clearly didn't understand this and with 32 minutes on his clock, he missed a knight check tactic and mistakenly sacked his Queen! The Tempo were on the board for the first time ever with "the burned out one" taking down one of the top players in the league.

 

(A photo of the "burned out" man in action.)

(Panchanathan - Burnett after 38...Ne7)
White has a completely winning position here and played
39. g5 Kh5 at which point the simple 40. Qh3 Kxg5 41. Qe3
picks up the loose knight on e7, winning the game. Instead,
much to the shock of the fans on the Internet, Magesh played
39. g5 Kh5 40. gxf6?? Nxf5 41. f7 yet didn't realize that black can
stop the pawn with 41...Nh4+ and 42....Ng6. Panchanthan soon
resigned. Such a momumental turn around could have sapped
the life out of Dallas, but they fought hard to even the score.

 

   Nearly simultaneously Bereolos and Wheelers' games came to a draw. Bereolos was fortunate to achieve this result, but Wheeler had a misconception of my position and also took a draw. My position against Andrei, my old buddy, was a complicated one with him having three pawns for my extra bishop... after Drei might have accidently got his Queen trapped. I tried to accomplish all I could to activate my bishop, but his pawns proved too strong and trying to stop an armada of pawns in time pressure is a difficult task against any opponent. Wheeler missed some key variations in converting his winning position and the Tennessee Tempo had to be content with a draw.

   Honestly, this result made me very unhappy. I felt that with us getting lucky on board one, we had to win the match. If we couldn't win this match...which one could we win? I think that is a bit too much of an assumption though. After all we have to be in good shape and favored against the goose-egg rockin Miami Sharks next week where we should see the much anticipated FM Andrews-FM Martinez battle. I'll be on board two, will Martinez be there or will he be hiding on Board 3??

 

 

Todd