09/15/2005
Week 3 Review
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by IM Greg Shahade 
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Here was our schedule for week 3:
1. New York Knights vs San Francisco
Mechanics 8:30 EST
2. Dallas Destiny vs Miami
Sharks
8:00 EST
3. Carolina Cobras vs Boston
Blitz
7:00 EST
4. Philadelphia Masterminds vs
Baltimore
Kingfishers 7:00 EST
Let's take a look at what transpired...
Baltimore - 3
Philadelphia - 1
1. FM Norman Rogers (PHI) vs IM Pascal
Charbonneau (BAL) 0-1
2. FM Enkhbat Tegshsuren (BAL) vs NM
Carl Boor (PHI) 1-0
3. IM Richard Costigan (PHI) vs IM
Larry Kaufman (BAL) 0-1
4. NM Ray Kaufman (BAL) vs NM Elvin
Wilson (PHI) 0-1
Philadelphia was off to a blazing start this season. The
expectations were low, as they have the lowest average rating in the
league, however they knocked off Dallas in week 1 and held Boston to a
draw in week 2. Would they be able to get past the struggling Baltimore
Kingfishers? Well let's just say that Baltimore isn't struggling
anymore, as they became the first team to win a match by more than
2.5/4, as they racked up 3 wins over Philadelphia. IM Larry Kaufman played an especially
smooth game against IM Richard Costigan:
White has just played 18.Be4.
Larry now found the nice shot 18...Ndf4!
The key point is that after white plays the forced 19.gxf3 Be4 20.Qe4, black has 20....d5 regaining the knight on c4
with a tremendous position, as white's kingside pawn structure is
shattered. Black won the game in 10 more moves after forcing the white
king to walk all the way over to the queenside. This is the second key
victory in a row for Larry, who has been a savior for this Baltimore
team. Baltimore is now back to .500 with 1.5/3, and Philadelphia is now
down to .500 as well. Both these teams trail New York and Boston by a
half point in the East.
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Boston 2.5 - Carolina - 1.5
1. IM-elect Lev Milman (CAR) vs
GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) 0-1
2. IM Josh Friedel (BOS) vs IM
Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1-0
3. FM Matthew Hoekstra (CAR) vs
FM William Kelleher (BOS) 1-0
4. Ilya Krasik (BOS) vs NM Greg Samsa
(CAR) 1/2-1/2
Boston finally got over the hump against the Carolina
Cobras. The crowd was excited to see the matchup between exciting young
star and 2004 US Junior Champion, Lev Milman
and the American legend, GM Larry
Christiansen. Today the youth was not served for Carolina, as
Christiansen smacked him down from the black side of an exchange Ruy
Lopez. The other young stars in this match fared much better, as 20
year old FM Matthew Hoekstra scored
the lone win for Carolina over FM
Kelleher, and 18 year old IM Josh
Friedel scored an impressive victory over IM Jonathan Schroer. In the
Friedel-Schroer game, something happened that I can't remember ever
seeing...
In this position black has just played 18....Nd7-b8, and incredibly all
of black's pieces are on their home squares on the bank rank! I've
never seen this at such a late stage of the game. I've seen positions
where all of one player's pieces are on the back rank, but never have I
seen it where they are all still on their original squares. In any case
this was not a good sign for Schroer and he was unable to fight the
white attack on the dark squares and the king-side.
----------------------
New York - 2.5 San
Francisco - 1.5
1. GM Alex Stripunsky (NY) vs IM
Vince McCambridge (SF) 1-0
2. IM John Donaldson (SF) vs
NM Gregory Braylovsky (NY) 0-1
3. WGM-elect Jenn Shahade (NY) vs FM
David Pruess (SF) 0-1
4. NM Mark Pinto (SF) vs FM Lewis Eisen
(NY) 1/2-1/2
After two draws in weeks 1 and 2, New York finally scored one in
the win column, while the misfortune continued for San Francisco as
they drop to 0.5/3. San Francisco had the same problems on the top
boards, as they fell on boards 1 and 2, while scoring 1.5/2 in the
lower two boards. This week it was surprising, as IM John Donaldson was
the favorite over NM Gregory Braylovsky on board 2, however Braylovsky
drummed up a menacing attack on the kingside, which Donaldson was
unable to defend against. The match ended in dramatic style as FM Lewis
Eisen had to draw against NM Mark Pinto to clinch the match for New
York. Lewis had already missed many simple draws when the following
position came up:
White has just played 44.Qc7
and it looks like trouble for Eisen. At first the ICC crowd thought
that 44....Qf2 45. b7 e3 46.b8=Q e2 was a draw, (but we were all stupid
and somehow overlooked Qb1+). However instead of 45.b7, 45.Qg3! wins
immediately for white. Lewis had only a minute left on his clock, but
he finally found the way to seal the deal with 44....f5! 45.b7 45....f4, with
forced perpetual check via ...Qg3-e1.
With this win New York moves into a tie with Boston for the division
lead.
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Dallas - 2 vs Miami - 2
1. GM
Alejandro Ramirez (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1/2-1/2
2. FM Marcel Martinez (MIA)
vs GM-elect Magesh Panchanathan 1/2-1/2
3. IM Dmitry Shneider (DAL) vs IM
Blas Lugo (MIA) 1/2-1/2
4. Julio Cabrera (MIA) vs Sam
Copeland (DAL) 1/2-1/2
This match was real heartbreaking for the crowd. Things
were looking slightly better for Miami and it seemed as though they had
decent chances to push their record to 3/3, however suddenly they had
terrible internet problems that they were having big trouble fixing.
While waiting for over 15 minutes for Miami to fix the problems, Dallas
offered a draw on all four boards. Miami was too frantic to do anything
but accept, and so they are now at 2.5/3, with Dallas at clear second
in the West at 1.5/3. In future weeks it will be imperative for Miami
that a reliable backup internet is ready to go in a minutes notice in.
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