Last night the Mechanics' advanced one step further in its quest to win the US Chess League by defeating the arch rival Seattle Sluggers 3-1. Seattle, which had the third best record in the league during the regular season, had played the Mechanics' close in two previous regular season encounters, drawing 2-2 and losing 1.5-2.5, but were solidly defeated in the league semi-finals. Leading the way for the Mechanics' was first board Josh Friedel. Seattle GM Gregory Serper is one of the greatest expert in the United States on the Paulsen/Kan setups with an early ...a6 and ..e6 where Black delays development in favor in favor of an ultra flexible setup but Josh gained an advantage early with his incisive 10.e5! forced Black to take an isolated d-pawn. Spectators thought White would support his e-pawn with 20.Rae1 but 21.h5 was much more to the point as evidenced by the further 23.Rf7!  A very nice-played game by Josh against a strong and resourceful opponent.


Friedel-Serper (White to play after 22....Bxb2)
Josh found the powerful blow 23. Rf7!, helping
to lead the way for San Francisco into the USCL
Championship Match.

 

    Second board turned out to be anti-climatic as it was the last to finish and we already were up 2.5-.5. This was an up and down struggle with the last portion of the game greatly influenced by the opponents lack of time. IM Orlov was definitely interested in gaining revenge for his lost to Vinay in the regular season in this heavyweight battle against two of the leagues most successful second boards. The final result was a hard fought draw as Vinay kept his undefeated record in league play intact. His performance rating over two seasons is the neighborhood of 2750 USCF!

 

    Board three was fairly uneventful. Seattle third board Milat surprised David by avoiding his normal Alekhine's and adapting accordingly White avoided his normal 7.Nxc6. Black played the slightly dodgy ...Ra6-e6 maneuver in the Uogele variation but White failed to get in b4 and subsequent simplification cleared the board to make the score 1.5-.5.

 

    The clincher for SF was 15-year-old Sam Shankland who won a nice positional effort against Seattle's 12 year old prodigy, Michael Lee, an early-season candidate for league MVP.

 

    The Mechanics' has won 8 matches and drawn three this season and won their last four regular season matches last year, but what would be a 15 match undefeated streak was interrupted by a painful loss in the playoffs to Miami 2.5-1.5 where it looked like we had every chance to advance. Now one more victory will make things right. We will face New York, which like us was eliminated in the semi-finals last season. Last year they had a great regular season but in 2006 they suffered and nearly didn't make the playoffs. All that has changed the past two weeks as they defeated Carolina and Boston by 3-1 scores. Give credit to team manager Jennifer Shahade who made the hard decision to bench half the team (including herself!) for the last three matches and possibly the final round of the playoffs even though it meant sitting some higher rated players. Don't miss the final on Wednesday, November 29, at 5:30pm. You can watch in person at the Mechanics or online via the ICC. 

 

1. IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA)   1-0
2. IM Gregory Orlov (SEA) vs IM Vinay Bhat (SF)   1/2-1/2
3. IM David Pruess (SF) vs FM Marcel Milat (SEA)   1/2-1/2
4. Michael Lee (SEA) vs Sam Shankland (SF)    0-1