7:30PM - Hello, this is Brian Chan.  I am one of the TD's for the Baltimore Kingfishers and I am also the President of UMBC's Chess Club.  All the players have arrived and their laptops are ready to play.  We are gathered in the Albin O. Kuhn Library in the middle of UMBC's campus.  It is the first day of the fall semester, so it is pretty empty here, unlike much of last season.  Nice and quiet for the players.  Larry Kaufman and Tegshuren Enkhbat keep actual boards beside their laptops, but Katerina Rohonyan and Ralph Zimmer have waived that option.  Ray Kaufman, Larry's son, and Battsetseg Tsagaan, who is the team manager and Enkhbat's wife, are here as well.  Ray was just picked up from the airport, arriving from Hungary, where he spent the Summer playing chess tournaments, including a few of the well-known First Saturday Tournaments.  Battsetseg is taking pictures as they all begin their games.

7:50PM - All the players and games are set and the boards are starting to get interesting as all have passed move 10.

7:55PM - Kat's wireless card has been acting up, so I am preparing another computer for her to use if she disconnects again.

8:05PM - Switched Kat over to another computer as she disconnected again.  The new computer is on a LAN, so I hope everything goes smoothly.  Battsetseg tells me that everyone seems positionally OK.  I will take her word for that.

8:30PM - Larry has been taking a lot of time for his last few moves, especially since Hoekstra played 12...Ra6.  Oh, he just moved 13. Be2.  I now have Ray Kaufman beside me doing some quick analysis of the boards.

8:45PM - Larry's 14. Nh5 seems powerful - putting Hoekstra into his deepest think so far in the game.  Kat's board also looks exciting as Zaikov is putting pressure on the queenside as Kat seems intent on opening the kingside.

9:30PM - Kat's position has simplified quite a bit, but she is still down a pawn after 28...Kf8.  Zimmer's position looks fine after 20...Rfe8; his pieces are centralized.  Enkhbat's game seems ripe with positional concepts that are far beyond my grasp after 25...Rxd6

10:05PM - Kat just resigned her game against Zaikov.  I fear she may have been distracted by her computer problems, including several screensaver locks on the new computer.  Unfortunately, that could not be helped due to strict policies on the computer’s domain.

10:40PM - Larry appears to be winning after 29. Bxa5. 

Kaufman played 29. Bxa5 here with a decisive
advantage

That should bring the match back to a tie.

10:55PM - All the games are entering a time scramble as all the Baltimore Kingfisher players are under 3 minutes.  They all look quite calm though – definitely much calmer than I would be.

11:20PM - Ralph Zimmer drew his game with Craig Jones in a king and 4 pawns for both sides ending.  Larry Kaufman seems to have missed 56. Bd4, which was pointed out to me by Battsetseg, but the line he chose is still easily winning.  He just has to watch the clock as it keeps dipping under a minute.  Enkhbat is putting pressure on Milman, but it is hard to tell for me whether it is enough to win.

11:30PM - Hoekstra resigned to Larry Kaufman seeing as he would have to lose a rook to prevent the h-pawn from queening.  Petrovich(GM) on ICC points out an interesting line in the Enkhbat-Milman game: after 57. Rb7, play could go on 57…Qa1! 58. Kxf2 Rxf3 59. Kxf3 Qh1+ skewering the king and rook, which leads to a queen ending with Black having an extra pawn.  Ray Kaufman explains to me that it would be an easier ending to play for the win.

In this position black could try 57...Qa1 instead of 57...Qe3.
After 58. Kxf2 Rxf3 59. Kxf3 Qh1 black has good winning chances.
Instead black played 57...Qe3 58. Qe2 Qxe2 59. Bxe2, and despite
having good drawing chances due to the bishops of opposite color,
Enkhbat ground down Milman in the end.

11:50PM - Milman resigns.  Just in time, too, as the Library closes at midnight.  The Baltimore Kingfishers defeat the Carolina Cobras 2.5-1.5.  A bit of a surprise from how it was looking in the middle of the match, but I was able to watch first hand some of the miraculous wins this team pulled off last year on their way to the Championship.  Could this match win be the first step on their way to repeating that run?  Certainly, I and the rest of the Baltimore fans here at UMBC and on the Internet Chess Club hope so.

Carolina vs Baltimore

1. IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL)  0-1
2. IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) vs FM Matthew Hoekstra (CAR)  1-0
3. FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) vs WGM Katerina Rohonyan (BAL)  1-0
4. FM Ralph Zimmer (BAL) vs NM Craig Jones (CAR)  1/2-1/2