Matt arrived armed with a shiny new computer, still in its box. How thin and sleek it looks!
He was white against Daniel Naroditzky, and their game followed Shabalov-Timman 2003 until Matt deviated with 15. Bg2 (instead of 15. Be2). His bishop came to f3 in a couple moves, and maybe the tempo mattered because five moves later, black had a winning idea.
Herman- Naroditsky
black to move
answer below next picture
Black played 20... Bd4! which wins the f pawn: if 21. Bg2, defending e3 with the queen, 21...Rxf4; or if 21. Bxd4, as in the game, 21....cxd4 and after the knight moves, 22...Qxc2.
So we were off to a bad start.
Michael Bodek has been black in every single game of his USCL career, and tonight was no different as he faced off against fellow US Chess Schooler Yian Liou. Michael played a Berlin Defense and made what seems to be an early novelty with 11...h5. The game was drawn after 27 moves, bringing our score to 0.5-1.5.
Alex Katz (w) played a crazy theoretical line against Kesav Viswanadha's Najdorf. They reached move 24 very quickly, with both sides still in theory and black especially using almost no time. Alex declined a repitition with 25. Re3 and in a short time gained a huge advantage simply by pushing his f pawn to f7. Despite this advantage, the position was crazy and hard to understand: Alex was down two pieces for three pawns, then down a rook for three pawns, but his pieces were active, his pawn dangerous, and black's king highly exposed.
Alex Katz - Kesav Viswanadha
white to move
answer below next picture
37. Qf4! threatens to queen the pawn, and 37...Rf8 is met by 38. Qh6, when there's no easy way to defend the rook.
Low on time, Alex missed this, but his opponent returned the favor moments later.
Alex Katz - Kesav Viswanadha
Black to move
answer below photo
45...Rg4 wins. If 46. f8=Q Rxe8 47. Qxe8 Qe1+ wins one queen and leaves black up a rook for two pawns in a simplified position. Otherwise, black threatens 46...Rg3+ 47. Kd2 Rxg2+ 48. Ke3 Re2+ 49. Kd4 Qf2+ and its mate in 7. Instead, Kesav played 45...Rc8 and the advantage swung back to white.
Alex's win evened the match score 1.5-1.5 and left it up to Giorgi.
As he Giorgi put it on the walk back to the subway, "It's very hard to beat someone when they have white and just play for a draw." He eeked a small 2 bishop advantage out of the opening, forced Jesse to sacrifice a pawn (doubled for black) to keep his bishop from being trapped, and ground his opponent down in a long, late ending.
Sometime after midnight, Giorgi manuevered intructively to reach the following position, but then slipped up with 64...Ba2:
Kraai - Kacheshvili
after 64...Ba2, white to move
answer below next photo
65. Nxd5! wins a pawn.
Despite this setback, Giorgi kept pressing and his Georgian technique overwhelmed Kraai. He won in 94 moves, sometime after 12:30 am, to take the match for the Knights 2.5-1.5.
Hurray for us!
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