08/31/2006

San Francisco vs Dallas - IM Daniel Fernandez reports
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by IM Daniel Fernandez
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My name is Daniel Fernandez, I am 21 years old and an ex-UTD chess team member so I thought it was a good fit for me to not only cover but also cheer for my ex-classmates. I played a few matches for the Dallas Destiny in 2005, and am hoping they can turn things around this year. I will be covering the games on my ICC handle D-Fernandez (IM), so it should be easy to see my comments or spot me online. Throughout the course of the season I am going to be going providing brief match and game summaries, hope you enjoy!

Round 1 saw two young and exciting teams kick off their second season in the USCL. Dallas, after a massive overhaul of its roster from last year’s underachieving squad, revamped its roster with only Panchanathan, Vavrak, and Zaremba returning. Meanwhile, San Francisco kept the core of its team intact in order to continue the team chemistry that saw them produce an unprecedented late season run in 2005. This run almost resulted in San Francisco reaching the championship round, only to lose a tough match to the Miami Sharks in the Western Conference Finals. San Francisco and Dallas split their matches in 2005 and both were hoping to split the tie in their favor.

 

Bhat-Panchanathan:

This all-Indian match featuring two of the nicest guys on the chess scene, UTD’s “Indian Pussycat” and 2005 World Open winner, GM Magesh Panchanathan and the talented Vinay Bhat, fresh off his second GM norm last month in Spain, promised to be anything but a friendly game since both players have great fight spirit. Bhat opened with 1.d4 and chose the Trompowsky Attack. Panchanathan took the gambit on b2, which is already dangerous (better options are either e6, d6, or g6) but then went ahead and took the poisoned pawn on c3, which after 9.Bc7! (an idea introduced last year by GM Chernyshov in a win over super-GM Alexander Grischuk) and Panchanathan soon found out how poisoned the b2 pawn was. Although Panchanathan made a valiant effort, his attempt to defend his position was in vain.

San Francisco - 1    Dallas - 0


(Bhat - Panchanathan) Bhat played 9.Bc7!, boxing the queen in
and robbing her of the escape square on a5. Panchanathan had
trouble defending after this surprise blow and fell apart quickly after
9...b6 10. Rc1 Qa5 11. Be5 Ba6 12. Bc3 Bxf1 (giving up the queen
for not enough compensation)  13. Bxa5 Bxg2 14. Bc3 and white
is virtually winning as the bishop won't escape from h1,
leaving white with a queen versus rook advantage.

 

Kiewra-Pinto:

The Dallas Destiny have higher rated players on board 4 this season than they did in 2005, and it was showing after the opening, as Keaton Kiewra launched a menacing attack on Pinto’s stranded king. After an aggressive sack on d5 early on, White’s attack was deemed unstoppableby the fans on ICC and it seemed that Dallas was penciling in the victory. The critical mistake by Kiewra was 23.g3?, allowing White’s advantage to slip away. Better was 23.Qf7! (winning instantly) Nd7 and then 24.Bf5! Qf4 25.Kd1 when White will soon escape Black’s checks and carry on his decisive attack with three pawns already in the bag. After this mistake Black made forced moves and White could not find a way to break down Black’s defenses and Pinto was able to consolidate his extra piece into a win A heartbreaking loss for Dallas as they had hoped to tie the score with this game, and leave it up to two complicated games on boards 3+4 to decide the outcome of the match.

San Francisco - 2   Dallas - 0


Zilberstein-I.Schneider:

Recently minted IM Dmitry Zilberstein hoped to take it to IM Dmitri Schneider’s younger brother, FM Igor, a recent UTD recruit. Zilberstein wasted no time in doing so by playing the very sharp Marshall Gambit of the Queen’s Gambit declined. Following Big Brother’s analysis, Igor misplayed by playing 12…Qf4+, which led to an eventual loss of a tempo. He should have instead play 12…e5. In such a sharp line the loss of a tempo can often lead to devastating consequences as the game illustrated. Zilberstein eventually won his pawn back, and with the bishop pair and a huge lead in development, these advantages turned out to be too much for the young Igor to handle. This game clinched the match for San Francisco and was another dissapointing start to the USCL season by the Dallas Destiny

San Francisco - 3   Dallas - 0


(Zilberstein - I.Shneider) White found 30. Rd7 Kg8
31. Bd5! Bxd5 32. Re8 checkmate, clinching the match
for the Mechanics.


Kuljasevic-Pruess:

Kuljasevic hoped to invigorate Dallas with some new blood while Pruess, this year’s Samford Fellowship winner, hoped to continue on last year’s hot streak (David was one win away from winning the USCL MVP award). A typical Benoni, things got out of control quickly as Kuljasevic soon sacrificed an exchange for what appeared to be great long term, as well as short term, compensation. White continued to pile on the pressure, and considering the team situation, declined a perpetual check as Kiewra lost on board 4, meaning both Kuljasevic and I. Schneider had to come away with victories to clinch a tie, but once Igor lost, Davorin Kuljasevic was playing only for pride and the bolster the Destiny's tiebreak points. Kuljasevic ended up turning his pressure into two pawns for the exchange and simplified into a better endgame, which he was able to convert in the mutual time pressure with Pruess. A nice fighting game by both players and the lone bright spot of the evening for the Dallas Destiny. With such inspired play, Davorin may be the key to the Destiny turning things around.


Final Score:  San Francisco 3 - Dallas 1



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