Eastern Conference Finals: Victory!

We defeated the New Jersey Knockouts, top seed in the East, 2.5-1.5 to clinch our spot in the finals, where we'll face the red-hot Miami Sharks.

It was our third match against NJ this year, after losing the first two by the thin 2.5-1.5 margin.

Board 4: NM Yaacov Norowitz -Sean Finn
Board 3: IM Mackenzie Molner - NM Matthew Herman
Board 2: GM Pascal Charbonneau - IM Dean Ippolito
Board 1: GM Joel Benjamin - GM Giorgi Kacheishvilli

Norowitz- Finn
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. e3 Nh6!?

Finn tries an interesting setup, though his follow-through was slightly passive.

4. g3 0-0 5. Bg2 f6

Why not f7-f5?

6. e4 Nf7 7. 0-0 e5 8. c4 d6 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. Be3 f5 11. de!

Exclamation given because this move is not only reasonable but also fits Yaacov's style.

11. ..Nfe5 12. Ne5 Be5 13. Qd2 Bg7 14. Rad1?!

Solid, but 14. Bg5 seemed to cause black some development issues. For instance, 14. ..Qd7 15. Rae1 or 14. ..Bf6 15. Bh6 Re8 16. Rae1 Kh8 17. ef Re1 18. Re1 Bf5 19. Nd5 and white is much better.

14. ..Qf6 15. Nd5 Qf7 16. b3 fe 17. Be4 Re8 18. Bg2 Ne5?!

Why not 18. ..Bf5?

19. f4 Ng4?! 20. Bd4!

A few slightly dubious moves from black and white looks poised to trade off black's best piece and win material.

20. ..Bd4

Also possible was 20. ..c6 21. h3 Nh6 22. Bg7 Qg7 23. Nc3 Nf7, covering d6, but black still has issues after 24. Rfe1 (preparing Nc3-e4).

21. Qd4 c6 22. h3 cd 23. Bd5 Be6 24. hg Bd5 25. Qd5 Qd5 26. Rd5

White should win this endgame, though Finn created some optically dangerous threats with his rooks.

26. ..Re3 27. Kg2 Rae8 28. Rf3 Re2 29. Rf2 R2e3 30. Rd6 Rc3

Black eyes g3
31. Kh3! Ree3 32. Rg2 g5!!?

If his victories over WGM Shahade and WIM Battsteg were not enough, this move alone demonstrates Finn's potential. Black looks to create a g-file tomb for white!
33. fg Re1 34. Rdd2?! Kg7?

Finn misses his chance to make white's life difficult. 34. ..Rh1 35. Rh2 Rg1! 36. Rdg2 Rd1 leaves white's kingside in a funny configuration, though white should be able to eventually untangle.
Norowitz senses that the new danger is to black's king!

35. Rd7 Kg7 36. Rgd2 Rg1 37. R2d6 Kg5 38. Rg7#

A stunning mate.

1:0

This victory gave the Knights a 1-0 match lead. On board 3, a starkly different battle was taking form.

Molner - Herman

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nc6!?

Our previous game had gone 7. ..Nbd7 8. Bc4!? Nc5 9. e5 h6 10. Bh4 g5?! (10. ..de 11. fe g5! was good) and Molner went on to win a crazy game.

8. e5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. fg Nd5 11. Nd5 ed 12. ed (1:26) Bd6 (1:35)

All theory, but Molner, who to this point had used only a few minutes, sank into thought.

13. Qe2 (1:10) Kf8 (1:35) 14. 0-0-0 (1:02) Nd4 (1:36) 15. Rd4 (1:01) hg (1:36) 16. Be1 (0:40) Bf5! (1:31) 17. Bc3 (0:18) Rc8 (1:27) 18. g4 (0:17) Be6? (1:17)

Rightly criticized by Irina as too passive! Black has two alternatives, 18. ..Rc3 and 18. ..Bg6.

On 18. ..Rc3 19. gf! (not 19. bc? Be4! 20. Bg2 Qb6! and black is much better, as pointed out by Pascal) Rc5! 20. Bg2 Rh2 21. Rh2 Bh2 22. c3! white will soon pick up the d5 pawn and the likely outcome is a draw.

Much better was Irina's first inclination (and mine as well) 18. ..Bg6!

White doesn't have time for "solid" moves like 19. Qd2 Be4! -+ or 19. Qe1 Bc5 20. Rd1 d4! 21. Bc4 Qc7! and white loses a piece. The only alternative is the "natural" 19. Bg2 Rc3! 20. bc Qa5! with ample compensation. Black only needs to see 21. Rd5 Qc3 22. Rd6 Qa3! regaining the sacrificed material or 21. Bd5 Qc3 22. Qc4 Qe3 23. Kb1 b5! 24. Rd3 Bd3 25. Qd3 Qd3 26. cd Bh2, and though the resulting endgame could be drawish, black has all the fun.

19. Bb4 Bb4 20. Rb4 Qc7 21. Qf2 b5 22. h3 Rh6 23. Bd3 Qc5 24. Qc5 Rc5 25. Kd2 Ke7 26. Ke3 Kd6 27. c3 Bd7!

Against a2-a4

28. Rd4 Rc8 29. Be4! Bc6

29. ..Re8 30. Rd5 Kc7 31. Kd3!

30. Bg2 Re8 31. Kf2 a5 32. Rhd1 Rf6 33. Bf3 a4 34. a3 Re5 (0:40) 35. R1d3 (0:03)

The only remaining moment of interest. Molner offered a draw after playing his 35th move. At the time, Giorgi looked at least equal and Pascal's game was chaotic. Given the time cushion, I intended to wait, "bughouse-style", to see if we could secure at least one point on boards 1 and 2 before accepting the draw (the position is dead drawn). 39 minutes later, I did, though adventures remained on our top two boards...

0.5:0.5

After the draw, New York led 1.5-0.5.

Charbonneau - Ippolito

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Ne5 Qe7 7. Nf3 d5 8. Bd5 Bg4 9. d3 0-0-0 10. Bc4!?

Howell played 10. Be3 against Jumabayev at the World Junior Championship a few weeks ago and went on to win

10. ..Ne4! 11. Ne4 f5 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. Nd4 Bd1 14. Nf5 Bg4?!

14. ..Bc2 seemed to give black better chances

15. 0-0 Bf5 16. Nc5 Rd6?!

16. ..Rd4!? 17. Be3 Rh4! 18. g3 Qh5! and black's position is very attractive

17. Rfe1 Qc6 18. Re5 Bg6 19. b4! Re8 20. Rae1 b5 21. Re8 Be8 22. Be6 Kb8 23. Bg4 Bf7 24. Re7 Qd5 25. h4 a5 26. Nd7 Rd7 27. Rd7 Qa2 28. Bf4 Be6 29. Be6?

White had an immediate win after 29. Rd8 Kb7 30. Bf3! c6 31. Rb8 Ka6 32. c4!

29. ..Qe6 30. Rc7 Qg4! 31. Rf7 Ka8 32. ba Qd1 33. Kh2 Qc2 34. a6 Qd3 35. Rg7 b4 36. Rb7 b3 37. Be5 Qe4 38. f4 Qe3 39. Rh7 Qf2 40. Kh3 Qe3 41. g3 Qe4 42. Rb7 Qf5 43. Kg2 Qe4 44. Kf2 Qc2 45. Kf3 Qd3 46. Kf2 Qd2 47. Kf3 Qd3 48. Kf2 Qd2 49. Kf3 Qd3

0.5:0.5

New York led 2-1, needing only a half point from Giorgi

Benjamin-Kacheishvilli

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 Qb6!

Benjamin presumably planned on surprising Giorgi with the so-called Fantasy variation, but Giorgi's immediate Qb6 response set Joel deep into thought.

4. Nc3 de 5. fe e5 6. Nf3 ed 7. Qd4 Qd4 8. Nd4 Bc5 9. Nf5 g6 10. Be3 Be3 11. Ne3 Be6 12. Nc4? Bc4! 13. Bc4 Nd7 14. 0-0 Ne5 15. Bb3 Rd8 16. Rf2 Ne7 17. Raf1 Rf8?!

17. ..0-0 retained a strong pull

18. Ne2! Nc8?!

18. ..Rd2, forcing white to exchange rooks, seemed better

19. Nf4!

Now Nf4-e6 is threatened

19. ..Ng4 20. Rf3 Ne5 21. R3f2 Ng4 22. Rf3 Ne5 23. Rh3

Benjamin avoided a repetition, not trusting his teammates to score 1.5 on the other three boards.

23. ..Rd4!?

23. ..h5 also looked OK

24. Rh7 Nd6 25. Nd3 Re4 26. Nc5 Re3 27. Rd1 Ke7?

After this, black's rook becomes inextricable. Better was an immediate 27. ..b6 28. Rd6 bc.

28. h3 b6 29. Kf2 Nf5 30. Nd3?

Benjamin missed 30. Be6! bc 31. Bf5 Nc4 (only) 32. Bg6 Re6 33. Bh5 Nb2 34. Rb1 Rf6 35. Kg3 Nc4 36. Rb7 Ke6 37. Ra7 with an extra pawn, though matters are far from clear.

30. ..Nd3 31. cd Re5 32. d4 Re4 33. d5 c5 34. Kf3 Re5 35. Rd2 Nd6?

35. ..Kd6 36. h4 Nd4! and black is much better

36. Bc2 Kf6 37. g4 Nc4 38. Rf2 Rd5 39. Kg3 Ke6 40. Bg6 Nd6 41. Bc2 c4 42. Rh6 Ke7 43. Re2 Kd7 44. h4 c3!? 45. bc Rc8 46. Re3 Rdc5 47. Rd3 R8c6 48. Bb3 Ke7 49. Kf4 b5 50. h5 a5 51. Re3 Kf8 52. Rd3 Ke7 53. Re3 Kf8 54. Bd1??

54. Rf6 would have maintained an edge for white

54. ..Rc4?

The key theme in this game turned out to be rooks getting themselves trapped in strange places. After 54. ..Kg7! 55. g5 Rf5 56. Kg4 Rc4 57. Kh3 Ne4!, black's pieces run wild and white cannot avoid material loss.

55. Kg5??

55. Kf3 held the balance, though by this point, it was clear that white needed a victory.

55. ..Ne4??

As pointed out by Irina, the simple 55. ..R6c5 won a rook on the spot, as 56. Kf6 is met by 56. ..Rf4 mate.

56. Re4 R4c5 57. Kh4 Rh6 58. Rf4 Rd6 59. Bb3 f6 60. Rf3 a4 61. Bc2 b4 62. c4 Ra6 63. Rf1 Kg7 64. Rb1 Rc4 65. Bd3 Rac6 66. Bc4 Rc4 67. Rd1 f5! 68. Kg5 Rg4 69. Kf5 Rg2 70. Rd4 Ra2 71. Rb4 Kh6 72. Kg4 Rg2 73. Kh4 Rh2 74. Kg4 Rg2 75. Kh4 Rh2

0.5:0.5(!)

With that draw, the Knights punched their ticket to the USCL Finals, 2.5-1.5!