08/25/2005

  Exhibition Match ends in a 2-2 tie.
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by USCL Commissioner - Greg Shahade
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  In the first ever USCL action, the Philadelphia Masterminds and the San Francisco Mechanics fought to a 2-2 tie. Despite it being only an exhibition match, it was clear that both sides wanted to have a good showing before the real season begins next Wednesday.

(The time control for the match was game in 90 with a 30 second increment)
  
Board 2 - IM Mladen Vucic vs FM Michael Shahade    1-0

  First blood was drawn on board 2, as San Francisco's IM Mladen Vucic played an interesting pawn sacrafice against in the Nimzo Indian Defense. Philadelphia's FM Michael Shahade couldn't hold onto the pawn and sacraficed it back a few moves later. After an inaccurate 14...Qf6 (...Nd7 seemed most logical), white went into a better endgame.



Black played the innaccurate 14...Qf6 here after which followed 15.h5 (threatening Bh4) 15...Qg5 16.Qxg5 hxg5 17.c5! leading to a better endgame for white with the open c-file and passed h-pawn.


Although it looked as though Shahade might draw once it came down to bishops of opposite color, Vucic always had things under control and his passed kingside pawns were too much to handle.

Vucic found the forced win here with 40.f7! Kxf7 41. h7 Kg7 42. g6! and 43.Bf6 is unstoppable, and the h-pawn queens.

San Francisco - 1    Philadelphia - 0


Board 4 - Gregory Young vs FM Boris Baczynskyj    0-1

  Philadelphia struck back only a few minutes later however, as Boris Baczynskyj took care of the Mechanic's ten year old 4th board, Gregory Young. The 1900 rated Young is not actually on the Mechanic's roster, however as Mark Pinto didn't show up as schedule, he was a convenient choice to step in for this exhibition match. The Mechanics player/manager IM John Donaldson commented that it's very unlikely that there will be any such cancellations once the regular season begins.
   In either case Boris showed why he was once MVP of the National Chess League in the late 70's, as he dispatched the young player quite handily. After winning a pawn in the opening, Boris found an instructive move, 20....Ne5, that really caused problems for white and brought all of black's pieces into the game.



After 20....Nd7-e5! The rook on d8 is eyeing the queen on d1 after 21.fxe5 dxe5


San Francisco - 1    Philadelphia - 1


Board 3 - NM Elvin Wilson vs NM Andy Lee 1/2-1/2

  The final 2 games of the match went the distance. Andy Lee of the Mechanics was very fortunate indeed. He made a mouseslip in the opening, but was convenient enough to make a mouseslip that was at least a reasonable move. Lee meant to play 10....Be6 but instead slipped and played 10...Bd7 (d).



10....Bc8-d7


 I wish all my mouseslips were so harmless (I usually lose at least one piece), and after a few more moves, it looked like Lee was even getting an initiative after  14.Rc2 14...b5 (d).



14.....b5 (If 15.cb5, black can play 15...Rxa2!)


 However after 15.a3 Kf8 Elvin Wilson counterattacked with.....



16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd5! threatening Nxf6 to destroy the pawn structure and Nb6. If black tries 17...Bd4, 18.Rd2 is strong, unpinning the c pawn and attacking the d4 bishop.


and things seemed difficult for Lee. However I believe that Elvin misstepped with 30.a4, and should have instead played (d) 30.Re1 to stop the black rook from gaining the e-file. White would also be threatening Re5, so it would likely go 30.Re1 f6, in which case black probably can defend but at least the black rook doesn't become such a monster as it did during the game.



30. a4?! (Instead 30.Re1! f6 31.f4) 30...Re8! with serious counterplay
 
   After black's rook became active, Lee used checkmate threats with (d) 34....Kc5 and after 35. Rb1 Kc6, Elvin saw no better than playing 36.Rd1 Kc5. Both sides repeated 3 times and agreed to a draw



35. Rd1 Kc6 36.Rb1 Kc5 1/2-1/2

San Francisco 1.5 - Philadelphia 1.5



Board 1 - IM Richard Costigan vs IM John Donaldson

 
 Everything came down to this game, although once Wilson and Lee agreed to a draw on board 3, this game was already headed towards a peaceful resolution. Donaldson outplayed his opponent in the opening and had a fantastic looking position after 26. Rbd8. To the observers watching on ICC it looked as though white was going to get blown off the board.


26..... Rbd8.

However Costigan was able to put up an exceptional defense and in just 6 more moves after 32. f4! the worst was over.



After 32. f3-f4!

 Costigan showed some positional finesse by realizing immediately the best square for his knight in the following position:



The white knight would like to be able to jump to e5. The best spot to do this from is d3, as it also blocks the d-file. Thus white played 36.Na2 with the idea of Nc1-d3 and a later reactivation of the rook with Rc2-c1-h1. With all of these ideas, black was unable to breakthrough and eventually contested the h-file with 40...Rh8. Possibly black should have tried to get the rook to the h-file a little faster.



40. Rd8-h8 41. Rxh8 Bxh8.

The game was equal and the players agreed to a draw just a few moves later, resulting in a tied match.

Final Score: San Francisco - 2   Philadelphia - 2


 The atmosphere at the Mechanics Chess Club was incredible according to observers. There were dozens of spectators for this match, and they were treated to live commentary by GM Alex Yermolinsky in a far away room (So that there was no chance of any of the team members overhearing). If you live in the Bay area, this is something I'd try to take advantage of for the rest of the 2005 US Chess League.

 It was exciting to finally watch some USCL action, and I can only imagine how many great battles there will be in week 1 of the Regular Season. There is a lot of anticipation for the Boston vs New York match, as these two cities have a big rivalry not only in chess, but in almost every major sport.


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