Week 2 Preview

The Knights kickoff week 2 against the New Jersey Knockouts at 7PM on Monday night. Last year, New Jersey triumphed in both regular season matches but the Knights emerged victorious in the Eastern finals on their way to their first USCL championship.

On board 1, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili makes his return against the incomparable GM Boris Gulko (only Soviet and US champion, winning record against Kasparov, before last week 8-0 in league play). Giorgi's blitz heroics clinched the title last year and he's been an anchor for the team. This is the first-ever game between the two and Gulko is looking to get back in the win column after losing to FM Tom Bartell last week.

GM Alex Lenderman faces IM Dean Ippolito on board 2. Alex had an impressive debut for the Knights last week, defeating GM Larry Christiansen, while Ippolito is playing his first game of the 2010 USCL season for New Jersey. Alex's week 7 victory over Ippolito netted him GOTW in 2008, though Dean held him to a draw in week 2 last year.

FM Alec Getz and NM Alex Ostrovskiy play the super-dangerous Shen brothers (FM Victor and FM Arthur) on boards 3 and 4. Alec and Alex are coming off impressive week 1 victories against Boston. Victor played sparingly in 2009, but made the most of his games, defeating yours truly, All-Star IM Marc Esserman and IM Richard Costigan. Arthur made NM Yaacov Norowitz sweat out his USCL debut before faltering in time pressure.

Expect some hard-fought games!