09/23/2005
Week 4 Review
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by IM Greg Shahade 
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Here was our schedule for week 4:
1. Boston Blitz vs Baltimore
Kingfishers
8:30 EST
2. New York Knights vs Philadelphia
Masterminds 8:00 EST
3. Dallas Destiny vs Carolina Cobras
7:00 EST
4. San Francisco Mechanics vs Miami
Sharks 7:00 EST
Baltimore - 3.5 Boston -
0.5
1. GM Larry Christiansen (BOS)
vs IM Pascal Charbonneau (BAL) 0-1
2. FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL) vs
IM Josh Friedel (BOS) 1-0
3. NM Charles Riordan (BOS) vs IM
Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1/2-1/2
4. WGM Katerina Rohonyan (BAL) vs
Ilya Krasik (BOS) 1-0
The Baltimore Kingfishers are the hottest
team in the USCL. Not only have they won two consecutive matches, but
they've won them by a combined score of 6.5-1.5. Boston was hoping to
use the momentum they gained last week with their win over Carolina,
however the Blitz was stopped dead in their tracks by the balanced
lineup of Baltimore. Things were looking bad after Rohonyan and Enkhbat
won with the white pieces, putting Baltimore ahead 2-0. Chrisitansen
seemed to have a better position, but Charbonneau made an enterprising
piece sacrafice that confused the issue. By the time Boston was down
2-0, Christiansen's position was now a dead draw. Larry went through
contortions trying to win for the team, however there was never any
hope, and actually let the equal position turn into a lost one. If
Boston ends up missing out on a playoff spot because of tiebreaks,
people will look back and wonder whether this was really the correct
decision. On the other hand it's nice to see such team spirit from
Boston's team leader.
Baltimore now leads the league in total game points yet is still
behind New York in the standings with just 2.5/4. Baltimore's great
tiebreaks could be a deciding factor later in the season. Baltimore
also has three team members doing well in the race for league MVP award. First board, IM Pascal Charbonneau has preformed
at a solid 2.5/4 clip while FM Enkhbat
Tegshusuren and IM Larry Kaufman
have impressed with +2 scores.
---------------------------------------------
New York - 3 Philadelphia
- 1
1. IM Irina Krush (NY) vs FM Norman
Rogers (PHI) 1-0
2. NM Carl Boor (PHI) vs IM Jay Bonin
(NY) 0-1
3. NM Gregory Braylovsky (NY)
vs IM Richard Costigan (PHI) 1-0
4. NM Daniel Pomerleano (PHI)
vs John Fernandez (NY) 1-0
New York jumped to the top of the league
standings with this smooth win over the Philadelphia Masterminds. The
match got off to a fantastic start for the Knights when IM Jay Bonin made quick work of
Philadelphia's Carl Boor on the black side
of a Nimzo Indian. Philadelphia's positions on the other boards gave
them no reason to except salvation, as Rogers had the worst of it on
board 1, and Costigan seemed a bit worse on board 3. By the time Pomerleano won for Philadelphia on
board 4, Rogers was down a piece in a
hopeless position, and the Masterminds had to rely on Costigan to beat Braylovsky to tie the match.
Braylovsky has been playing exceptionally well thus far in the USCL and
this match was no exception as Braylovsky took advantage of Costigans
desperate attemps to win, and ended up winning the game himself.
Gregory Braylovsky was the final addition to the New York Knights team,
and don't let the fact that he's untitled fool you. He is perhaps the
strongest untitled player in the United States as he is clearly FM
strength and if he's not IM level he's very close to it. Braylovsky has
done a fantastic job for New York thus far, having won all three of his
games against two IM's and one strong FM. These results have him
currently in 2nd place in the league MVP standings, behind only
Carolina's GM Marcin Kaminski.
Philadelphia got off to a great start, however their results are
now beginning to reflect their ratings. Things are not so bad in Philly
however, as I'm quite sure that their result of 1.5/4 is higher than
their average rating should indicate. They are also undefeated on board
four, going a cool 4-0. If they can keep up that kind of pace on the
bottom board, they are capable of scoring against any team in the
league.
---------------------------------------------
San Francisco - 2.5 Miami
- 1.5
1. IM
John Donaldson (SF) vs GM
Julio Becerra (MIA) 1/2-1/2
2. FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs
FM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1/2-1/2
3. FM David Pruess (SF) vs Jorge Diaz
(MIA) 1-0
4. Dr. Erik Moskow (MIA) vs NM Nicolas
Yap (SF) 1/2-1/2
If one took a quick look at the standings and saw Miami firmly on
top of the West and San Francisco in the basement, one may have
expected a wipeout for the Sharks. However if you took a closer look
you could see that all the matches that both of these teams were
involved in, were extremely close and hard fought. Our very own
prognosticator, FM Ron Young, went against the standings and predicted
a 2.5-1.5 win for San Francisco and was rewarded with another correct
pick.
Despite fielding relatively solid players on boards 1+2, San Fran
was performing terribly on the top boards in the first three weeks,
while doing quite well on the bottom boards. The Mechanics continued to
dominate boards 3+4, however with a 1/2 score from their top boards
they were able to wrap up this match.
Donaldson used some interesting match strategy as he went for a
quick draw against the higher rated GM Julio Becerra. However David
Pruess was not as kind to his lower rated opponent, Jorge Diaz, as
David's win wrapped up the match for the Mechanics. Marcel fought hard
to win in a completely even position and pushed a bit too hard and
offered a draw. Dmitry probably could have tried to win with very
little risk, however he probably wanted to clinch the team's first
victory and so he agreed to the peaceful resolution.
This match created a real traffic jam in the West. Miami is first
with 2.5/4 followed by Dallas at 2/4. San Francisco is right back in
the thick of things with 1.5/4 and Carolina is pushing up the rear with
1/4.
San Francisco has a huge test this week as they go up against the
Boston Blitz. This is a match that both teams desperately need. A win
will put them firmly in the playoff hunt while a loss could spell
disaster. Meanwhile the Miami Sharks have a chance to increase their
division lead, as they go up against the struggling Philadelphia
Masterminds. Please note that Philadelphia currently has a perfect
record against teams from the West division, as they defeated Dallas in
their only out of division matchup.
-------------------------------------------------------
Dallas - 2 Carolina - 2
1. IM Dmitry Shneider (DAL) vs GM
Marcin Kaminski (CAR) 0-1
2. IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Amon
Simutowe (DAL) 1-0
3. IM Peter Vavrak (DAL) vs FM
Matthew Hoekstra (CAR) 1-0
4. NM Greg Samsa (CAR) vs Sam
Copeland (DAL) 0-1
The Carolina Cobras just can't seem to get it done. Once again
it looked like victory was in the bag for Carolina. GM Kaminski won in
convincing fashion over IM Dmitry Shneider and IM Lev Milman sacraficed
a piece for a crushing attack against IM Amon Simutowe. With a 2-0
lead, it looked like Carolina was finally going to score one in the win
column. Dallas wasn't ready to submit however, as IM Peter Vavrak went
to 2-0 for the season after beating FM Matthew Hoekstra. Now it all
came down to the final board, with USCF rated expert Sam Copeland,
facing off against the experienced USCF master Greg Samsa. The ratings
would have told you that Samsa should be able to weather the storm, but
Copeland's position said otherwise. Sam had a fantastic bind over Samsa
although his tecnique in carrying out the win was not perfect. Just
when all hope seemed lost, Copeland found an interesting queen
sacrafice that caused serious problems for the Carolina 4th board. In
the maddening time scramble, Samsa desperately searched for a perpetual
but was unable to find one. This was the second time this season that
Carolina got off to a 2-0 lead but was only able to tie the match. The
Cobras are still very much in the hunt as they are only one match
behind Dallas and the 2nd West playoff spot.
Meanwhile next week is a huge matchup for the Dallas Destiny.
They will be facing their arch rivals, the red-hot Baltimore
Kingfishers. The University of Texas, Dallas and the University of
Maryland Baltimore County are huge rivals in the college chess world.
The Destiny is filled with all UTD students, whereas the large majority
of the Baltimore team is made up of UMBC players as well. Both of these
teams have been waiting for this week all season, and it should be
exciting to see who wins this round of the famed UTD-UMBC war. With the
way Baltimore is playing right now, Dallas is going to have their hands
full.
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