As
exciting as this game was, like many of the previous Games of the Week,
it was rather difficult for me to properly analyze. In the hopes
of
getting a better idea about it, I asked IM Friedel if he could provide
me some good insight about the game to which he replied "yeah I mated
like a bunny on viagra". Now while I wasn't sure really sure in
which
sense he meant "mated" in this case, I wasn't especially eager to find
out so for better or worse I suppose I'll have to provide my own
amateurish view about what this game entailed.
23. Rf7! was a very
nice move neatly ignoring the threat on the a1 Rook and
putting GM
Serper on the brink of defeat. After this move, many (including
chess.fm) were saying that Black would resign, that his position
was
hopeless etc., but GM Serper certainly wasn't ready to
capitulate as he
came up with the very plucky defense of 23... h5!. 26...
Qd8! was
another nice defensive move (as well as a good swindle attempt of
meeting 27. Qh6 with Qh4+). After 28. Rf3 though Black's position
is
far from comfortable, and White likely has a winning attack, GM Serper
definitely managed to create more life from his position than I think
anyone expected after 23. Rf7!, but unfortunately as is often in the
case when in such difficulties, his time had begun to get very low, and
he unfortunately blundered away any chance he had with 28...
Qa5?, and
IM Friedel quickly pounced with the crushing blow 29. g7!, to which
there was no answer. It's difficult to suggest a plan for Black
after
28. Rf3 as his position is extremely tenuous, but with proper play,
White should still definitely have a point to prove even with his
strong attack. Another nice attacking win from IM Friedel
spearheading
the Mechanics to another solid win, and they need only one more to
claim the title. He will face a tough challenge in the
finals taking
on GM Charbonneau who he fought to a
tough draw in
what seemed to be a losing ending in their earlier meeting this
season,
and given how well New York
has been doing on the other boards
recently, a good result for Josh could well be what
determines if the Mechanics take the crown or
not.
This
was a very energetic performance from IM Krush. One of the
things that I
felt was so interesting about this game was that it really took
a much
different course in the middlegame than it appeared it would in the
early stages of the middlegame. With White's 12. Rb1 and 13. b4
it
seemed that White would be attempting to break through on the
Queenside, but as you all know, the game ended up taking
a very
different path. 21. e5! was a nice idea in that regard as it
appeared
that with the threat of Ne3 along with the ability to blockade the e5
square (and shut White's light squared Bishop out of the game) that
White might have some difficulties ahead. 29. g4!! was an
especially
nice move as it of course did look to be somewhat risky, but as
shown
in the game by forcing through 30. Nxg5, the White attack is just
too
strong (and as IM Krush noted after 32. Nce4 all of her pieces are
really quite involved in the attack while Black's Knight on c7 is
completely out of the game). Eventually the mating threats on the
h-file along with the potential for the long diagonal to cause issues,
IM Foygel could simply not defend all the weaknesses and soon
succumbed. A huge win from IM Krush as I don't think anyone could
debate that the Knights were the underdogs to advance in this match,
but they are now in striking distance of the place I predicted them to
finish at the beginning of the season. IM Krush will once again
have a
huge task in front of her in the Finals probably facing the
still
undefeated IM Bhat in another
rematch
to their team's first meeting (an
encounter which was also a tough draw).
