09/01/2005

  Philadelphia pulls off shocking upset.
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by IM Greg Shahade
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Dallas Destiny vs Philadelphia Masterminds

Dallas Destiny			Philadelphia Masterminds
GM Alejandro Ramirez - 2565			FM Norman Rogers - 2307
GM Magesh Panchanathan - 2487			IM Richard Costigan - 2295
FM Andrei Zaremba - 2355			NM Elvin Wilson - 2239
Sam Copeland - 1960			FM Boris Baczynskyj - 2236
Avg Rating - 2341			Avg Rating - 2269
Dallas Total -------			----- Philadelphia Total

Time Control - Game 60 with 30 second increment


  USCL polls had the Dallas Destiny as the favorite to win the league, whereas the Philadelphia Masterminds were picked as the biggest long shot. Even our league prognosticator, FM Ron Young, predicted that the Destiny would mop the floor with the Masterminds and win the match 3-1! (See the rest of Ron's prediction's here). Philadelphia doesn't listen to the pundits however and they shocked the world with an upset victory in the very first week.


Board 3: FM Andrei Zaremba - 2355 vs NM Elvin Wilson - 2239  0-1

  Many thought that this would be the key game for Dallas. Fans expected the two Dallas GM's to win on boards 1+2 while expecting Philadelphia to win on board 4 as that board had a 200 point rating difference. It was felt that if Zaremba could find a way to beat Wilson, the Destiny would likely go on to win the match. Unfortunately for Dallas, Zaremba didn't even come close.



Zaremba made an error here with 13.d5? and after 13...Nxd5 Zaremba compounded his error with 14.Nxd5? overlooking 14...Qh4+ picking up the bishop on c4 and giving black a winning position. Elvin Wilson now had an extra pawn, and white's king is caught in the center of the board. Andrei was forced to resign only 10 moves later, and Philadelphia had jumped out to a shocking 1-0 lead. Wilson has to be commended for his effort here. He spent the days before the match preparing for his opponent and it seems that preparation paid off in spades, as Zaremba never even got out of the opening.


Board 4: FM Boris Baczynksyj - 2236 vs Sam Copeland - 1960    1-0

 Boris got a tremendous position very early in this game:



Copeland had just responded to 12.Bd6 with 12...Qa5? Boris punished black by finding the simple tactic 13.Bxd7 Nxd7 14.Ne6! winning lots of material immediately.



after 14. Nxe6! black is completely lost. Black tried 14...Ng6 and after 15.Nc7 (now white will win an exchange) Ngxe5 16.Qb4, black is simply going to be down an exchange and completely lost. Copeland played on for about 15 more moves but the result was inevitable, and the Masterminds were now up 2-0.


Board 1: GM Alejandro Ramirez vs FM Norman Rogers

 Dallas needed both Grandmasters to win their games to even the score, and Alejandro did his part. Alejandro made a speculative exchange sacrifice early in the game and the position was very unclear.



 After 34....h5, which does nothing to stop white's pawns from rolling down the queenside, white played 35.Bd4 a6 36.c5 Rh1 37. h3 Rh2? 38.c6!, and suddenly Rogers was forced to sacrifice his bishop for the c-pawn, leaving Alejandro with a totally winning position. Dallas cut the lead down to 2-1 and all hopes remained on World Open co-champion, GM Magesh Panchanathan...


Board 2: IM Richard Costigan vs GM-elect Magesh Panchanathan

 Although Dallas needed Magesh to win this game, he was never really in any danger of doing so. Costigan found a nice tactical blow in the following position:



White found the seemingly impossible 26.Nxc4! Unfortunately for Magesh, he cannot capture with either piece as the d5-pawn is pinned and 26...Qxc4 27. Re8 Kh7 28. Qf5 g6 29.Qxf6 leads to mate next move.

 Magesh created counterplay with 26...Ra2 and the following position was reached:



Although Magesh needs to win to tie the match, there is sadly no hope for him as he was lucky to still have a draw. Black played 32...Rc1+ 33.Kg2 Qxd7! 34. Qxd7 b2. White cannot stop the b-pawn but can force a draw and win the match for Philadelphia with 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qf5 Kg8 37.Qc8 and perpetual check was forced and the Masterminds completed their upset victory.

 With this win by Philadelphia, they are now in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division, as none of the other 3 Eastern teams were able to win in week 1. What's really funny is that the two teams which got the least number of votes in our fan polls, as to whom would be league champion, were the only teams to win in Week 1! The Franklin Mercantile Chess Club was livelier than it's been in years with the debut of the USCL and the Philadelphia Masterminds and Philadelphia sure didn't disappoint. Meanwhile the Dallas Destiny is expected to recover from this defeat, as they just have too much firepower at the top of the lineup.

Dallas Destiny			Philadelphia Masterminds
GM Alejandro Ramirez - 2565	1.0	0.0	FM Norman Rogers - 2307
GM Magesh Panchanathan - 2487	0.5	0.5	IM Richard Costigan - 2295
FM Andrei Zaremba - 2355	0.0	1.0	NM Elvin Wilson - 2239
Sam Copeland - 1960	0.0	1.0	FM Boris Baczynskyj - 2236
Avg Rating - 2341			Avg Rating - 2269
Dallas Total -------	1.5	2.5	----- Philadelphia Total

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