We Don't Care About No Stinkin Ratings --------------------------------------------
by Boston Blitz Correspondent, David Glickman
--------------------------------------------
If someone told me before Monday
night's US Chess
League match between the Boston Blitz and
the New York
Knights
that GM Charbonneau was going to beat GM Christiansen again with the
Black pieces, I would have told them that Boston had no chance to win
the match. I would have been wrong. While most of the names and faces
on this year's team are the same as 2005, the 2006 edition of the Blitz
bears no resemblance to its predecessor. Last year's team often
snatched defeat from the jaws of victory; this year, they refuse to
lose (or even draw for that matter).
Christiansen's loss on
Board 1 turned out to be of no consequence, as the Blitz rolled up wins
on all three other boards. While this was of no surprise on Board 2
with GM Perelshteyn holding a significant rating advantage over his
opponent, I don't think anybody expected the Blitz to go 2-0 on the
lower boards where they were facing rating disadvantages. Boston's team
manager Matt Phelps has been saying for awhile that he has underrated
players on the lower boards. This match will undoubtedly be Exhibit #1
when he lays out his case. For Vadim Martirosov, this makes him 2-0 for
the season against higher rated opposition on Board 3; none of his
future opponents will be taking him lightly.
Since I
didn't get to watch the match live,
I don't know in what order the games were completed or whether there
were any other interesting dynamics or events which occurred outside
the moves themselves. As such, I'm offering links to games below with
relatively brief commentary. If you are looking for more, Globular has promised an insider's
report in the near future.
A
Sicilian in which Black seemed to equalize quite quickly. Black won
White's e-pawn on move 24 and nursed his extra pawn all the way to
victory in a Bishop and Pawn ending.
A
King's Indian where White seemed to develop his Knights rather
passively (on d2 and e2). Black applied Kingside pressure, opened up
White's King position and finished things off nicely with a Rook
sacrifice.
(FM Hess - GM Perelshteyn after 3.Nd2)
People thought Nd2?! may have been a mouseslip
although it turns out that it was intentional. Robert's
experiment didn't work out so well as Perelshteyn
won quite handily. For historical reference this move
was played two times by GM Sadler, once losing to
GM Anand and once defeating GM Stohl in just
20 moves.
A
Pirc which looked a lot like a hedgehog by move 11. White blasted away
in the center, won an exchange with a nice combination and used the
extra material to win an endgame.
A
Saemisch King's Indian in which White won (Black sacrificed?) a pawn on
move 14. White then seemed to make an error by castling queenside into
a ready made attack. Black won his pawn back and then offered a rook
sacrifice, 17...Rxe4, which White declined (what would have happened
after 18.fxe4?). After an exchange of Queens, Black was able to bring
strong pressure to bear on a backward pawn on the half-open b-file. The
game reached a rook ending where Black had the further outside passed
pawn. Whether it was a won position or not I'm not sure, but 45.c5 was
definitely a bad move which gave Black a clear winning plan.
(FM Privman vs NM Krasik - after 17.Bc3)
Krasik uncorked the shocking 17...Rxe4!? It actually
was quite a good move, however Krasik followed it up
incorrectly. White declined the sacrifice and played 18.Qd6
at which point Krasik should have played 18....Re8! 19. Qxb8
Bf5! which seems to give black some serious initiative/edge.
Instead Krasik played 18...Bh6 which gave white a slight edge
(although Krasik won eventually).
