On the first board we saw a very well prepared GM Becerra catching Mr Burnett unprepared in a line which becerra knows from a to z. The move c6 by Burnett is said to be bad by one of the specialists in this line GM Mikhalevski from Israel. Becerra and I had taken a deep look at this variation from the black side and we believe white's best tries lead to drawish positions. Of course I am sure if Kasparov played it against Shirov a while back in Linares he must have something in mind. Shame we won't know for now.


(Burnett - Becerra)  White to move after 23...Kb8
Due to the 30 second increment, GM Becerra had MORE
time than he began the game with, while IM Burnett
was down to just 20 minutes. The position is still interesting
but Becerra simply knew too much. A fantastic display
of opening preparation from the Miami GM.

 

    On the second board we had a great game from the positional and tactical point of view from IM Alejandro Moreno Roman (CUB/USA) who as I said last time is adjusting himself to life in the USA along with his wife Angie. They're coming from Ecuador where he defected 10 years ago while playing a tournament. Once again... you will hear and see a lot from Moreno in the future... I have a lot of hopes for him to achieve his GM title along with Blas Lugo who already has one norm but is been involved with a lot of work issues with his Miami International Chess Academy. In a Volga or Benko Gambit Moreno used the positional line of b6 in which he has a lot of experience and succeded in strangling black in which I thought was a game that left no doubts of Moreno's strength for those of you who don't know him well enough.The IRON FIST is in town.

 

    On the third board Miguel Espino I thought got out of the opening with a nice position but Bereolos sacrificed an exchange which got him some dangerous threats against the black king. I always thought Bereolos had compensation but I guess in time pressure he dropped a few pawns. It then looked like Espino was going to win until he dropped an exchange back going into a worse endgame when once again Bereolos messed up and they called it a draw shortly after. I guess the best result for such ups and downs.

 

    On board 4 FM Javier Torres (whom we like to call the strongest FM in the world!! half jokingly half true) had the smoothest game for the team as black fell for a well known opening trap in the Staunton Gambit against the Dutch Defense giving him a pawn of advantage as early as move 6. At some point in the game Javier missed a mate in two but it really did not matter as he was winning regardless all throughout the game.


(Torres vs Larson) White to move after 29...Rd7
White missed the cute 30. Re6+! Nxe6 31. Nd5. This
makes two out of three weeks for Tennessee that someone
missed a mate in two on their fourth board. The good news
for Torres is that his position was so good that it wasn't
so important. If you are ever going to miss forced mate, its
always best to do so from a position that will be winning
anyway!

 

    I am very happy with my team's result, Becerra as solid and prepared as usual does not nothing but contribute all the time. Moreno is getting his "boa contricto" style all together to continue to punish chess sins, Espino came thru against highest rated and more experienced opponent and Javier showed off his knowledge of the game in full.

 

    Will Miami bring back IM Lugo for next match?? Will I keep serving cookies and coffee?? (well in Miami is more like pork rinds and sunkist) We will see as we play Baltimore on Monday in a rematch of last years Championship... our buddy Bruci is over there to which we wish luck the rest of them... I have bad news for them.... The sharks are swimming!!