Week 4 Preview

The Knights are back in action in week 4 against their cross-town rivals, the Manhattan Applesauce, with some intriguing individual matchups in play.

On board 1, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili faces a former board 1 for the Knights, 2009 All-Star GM Alex Stripunsky. Last year, in their only USCL matchup, Giorgi was on the verge of winning before a mouseslip cost him a half-point.

If board 1 involved Knight history intrigue, board 2 is a little closer to home. GM Pascal Charbonneau faces former roommate IM Dmitry Schneider. Dmitry won a complicated game against Pascal in 2008, but Pascal struck back with a bit of home-cooking, destroying Dima's Two Knights Defense in convincing fashion.

GM John Fedorowicz faces another former Knight, SM Greg Braylovsky on board 3. Greg started his USCL career on a torrid 5.5/6 pace, though work and lineup specifics have kept him out of significant USCL action since 2005.

On board 4, less history but a rivalry nonetheless. Alexander Katz makes his USCL debut against James Black in a battle of two of the top scholastic players in the country. Alex won the U2400 prize at the 2009 National Chess Congress (scoring 4.5/6, losing only to your author), while James has provided some significant excitement in the first two weeks - winning a lost game in week 1 before losing a winning position in week 2. As usual in USCL play, this board may be the decisive factor in the match. Alex will be looking for revenge for his rapid-play loss to James this past weekend.

Week 3 Roundup

It was an exciting and blunder-filled week 3 in the USCL, though a few spectacular games stood out amidst the chaos. With the season in full-swing, there were already gut-check matches for some storied franchises.

The Baltimore Kingfishers (2-1, 8.0) continued their road back to prominence with a 3.5-0.5 victory over the Carolina Cobras (0-3, 3.5). With IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat and IM Ray Kaufman dominating on boards 2 and 4 for Baltimore, Carolina's best chances to equalize the match were with the black pieces on boards 1 and 3. On the top board, IM Jonathan Schroer missed the incredible 20. ..Qf2! 21. Kf2 Bf5 22. Qg5 Bb1 23. Qf6 gf 24. Rb1 with an extra pawn, instead trading queens and being squeezed in a painful endgame by GM Larry Kaufman.

On board 3, NM Carlito Agner eschewed the free pawn offered by WGM Sabina Foisor with 34. Ne3?, instead playing 34. ..Rg6 35. Rg6 hg and again ignored it after 36. Qg3? and soon the game petered into a draw.

The Seattle Sluggers (1-2, 5.5) sent the defending Western Divison Champion Miami Sharks (0-3, 3.5) to a stunning third loss in a row to start the season. GM Varuzhan Akobian dominated two-time league MVP Julio Becerra in a Grunfeld to get things started for Seattle. Play on boards 2-4 was not so clean, with wild swings falling Seattle's way on boards 2 and 4 to compensate for a shocking loss on board 3, where FM Charles Galofre was the recipient of a gift from WGM Katerina Rohonyan. In the popular g4 sacrifice line of the Semi-Slav, Galofre has just played the rare 8. ..Nh6 (diagram). Rohonyan blitzed out 9. Rg7?? and after 9. ..Qf6! white was down a piece and could have resigned.

On board 4, Miami's Robert Perez was up two pawns before slowly bleeding away his advantage and eventually losing to Seattle's Alex Guo. In a must-win game on board 2, FM Marcel Martinez was pressing FM Costin Cozianu in a R+B vs R+N ending before dropping a piece with 60. Bd5??.

Cozianu frittered away his edge after 60. ..Nb4 61. Rd4 Rc5 62. Ke4 f5 63. Kf4 Nd5? (63. ..Rd5! was winning) and Martinez retained decent drawing chances (though not enough to save the match) after 64. Kf5 Nc7 65. Kg6 Rg5 66. Kh6 Rg2 67. b4 Ne6

Seeking to keep the black knight restrained, Martinez played 68. Re4?? (68. Rd1! would have sufficed), but lacked sufficient checking distance after 68. ..Kf6!, after which there was no way to avoid mate or a devastating loss of material. Cozianu finished nicely after 69. ba Rg6 70. Kh5 Ng7 71. Kh4 Nf5 72. Kh5 Rg5#!, giving Seattle a 3-1 margin of victory.

It's been a great start to the season for two of the league's newer franchises, the Arizona Scorpions (3-0, 9.0) and the New England Nor'easters (3-0, 7.5). Arizona took sole possession of first place in the West with a 3.5-0.5 destruction of another new team, the Los Angeles Vibe (1-2, 4.0). IM Rogelio Barcenilla won a smooth game on board 1 against GM Melikset Khachiyan, as did Amanda Mateer against NM Christian Tanaka on board 4. With an exciting and complicated draw on board 2 between FM Joel Banawa and IM Dionisio Aldama providing the winning margin, what's left, you ask? Merely an early contender for Game of the Year by IM Daniel Rensch whose 2/2 start has leaguewatchers forgetting his disastrous 2/10 debut. His foil was the dangerous WFM Tatev Abrahamyan who took the black side of a French Winawer.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bc3 6. bc c5 7. Qg4 0-0 8. Bd3 Nbc6 9. Bg5

A rare move, championed by GM Lenier Dominguez against legendary GMs Artur Yusupov and Evgeny Bareev in 2006. More popular is 9. Qh5 Ng6 10. Nf3 Qc7 11. Be3 when after both 11. ..c4 and 11. ..Ne7, white has done quite well.

9. ..Qa5 10. Ne2 Ng6 11. 0-0 c4 12. Bg6 fg! 13. a4 Bd7!?

This logical move appears to be new. Yusupov and Bareev both chose 13. ..Qc7.

14. f3 Rf7 15. h4 Raf8 16. Bc1 Re8 17. Bd2 Ne7 18. Rfb1 b6 19. Nf4 Ref8 20. Nh3 Nf5 21. Rb4 b5!

With black now gaining a passed a-pawn, white has no choice but to assail the seemingly untouchable black king.

22. h5 gh 23. Qh5 ba?!

Better was 23. ..g6!, driving white's queen to either g4/g5 and making it harder for white to develop his h-file counterplay.

24. Ng5 g6 25. Qh3 Rg7 26. g4 Ne7 27. Kf2!

White makes his intentions clear. Ra1-h1 and crash through on the h-file. Who will get there first?

27. ..a3!

Abrahamyan goes for it.

28. Rh1 a2 29. Nh7 a1Q 30. Nf8! Qh1!

Forced! Black perishes after 30. ..Q1a3?? 31. Qh8 Kf7 32. Nd7 Ng8 33. Rh7! Rh7 34. Qh7 Ke8 35. Rb8.

31. Qh1

31. ..Bc8!

The knight is taboo! 31. ..Kf8 32. Qh8! Rg8 33. Qf6 Ke8 34. Bg5! Nc6 35. Rb8!! and white wins

32. Bg5 Nc6??

After walking a tightrope for the last dozen moves, Abrahamyan loses the thread, though her position may already be lost. After 32. ..Qd8!? 33. Ng6!! Rg6 34. Bf6 Rg7 35. Bg7 Kg7 36. Qh4! Kf7 37. Qf6 Ke8 38. Ra4! Qc7 39. g5! white has a big advantage. More practical chances, as defined by forcing white to find a more narrow winning path, were offered by 32. ..Qc7!? 33. Qh6! Kf8 34. Qh8 Rg8 35. Qh7!! (threatening 36. Rb8!!) Rg7 36. Bh6 Ng8 37. Qh8!! a6! 38. Rb8! Qb8 39. Qg7 Ke8 40. Qg8 Kd7 41. Qf7 Kc6 42. Qe8 Kb6 43. g5! a5! 44. Bf8! (diagram) when it will be impossible to stop white's g-pawn in this picturesque position.

33. Bf6??

Missing the immediate win to be had with 33. Qh6! Kf8 34. Qh8 Rg8 35. Bh6 Kf7 36. Qh7 Ke8 37. Qg8 Kd7 38. Qf7 Ne7 39. Bg5 Qd8 40. Rb8!

33. ..Kf8??

The knight is still untouchable! Forced was 33. ..Qc7! 34. Ng6! Rh7! 35. Qc1! Rh2! 36. Kg3! Qh7! 37. Nh4! Rh4 38. Bh4 Nb4 39. cb Qg6! when black may try to grovel in the BOOC ending. Instead, Rensch finishes in style.

34. Qh8 Rg8 35. Qh6 Ke8 36. Qh7 Rf8 37. Rb8! 1:0

The Nor'Easters (3-0, 7.5) maintained command of the East with a 2.5-1.5 victory over the New Jersey Knockouts (1-2, 5.0), dispelling the chatter about NE's easy schedule during the first two weeks. With GM Joel Benjamin creating magic on board 1 against US Junior Champion IM Sam Shankland and IM Dean Ippolito finding a three-fold repetition against IM Jan van de Mortel (in the position below, van de Mortel is winning a pawn after 50. ..Bc8!), New Jersey had to feel great about their chances. Unfortunately for them, New England's dangerous third and fourth boards, FM Christopher Chase and NM Alex Cherniack outplayed the Brothers Shen to win the match. [Ed: As David Vigorito correctly points out in the comments, van de Mortel's draw was the last game to finish, with the repetition draw providing the winning margin for NE, and was the most team-friendly/pragmatic decision. In most cases, I'm looking to highlight critical moments on the board and will occasionally get the match chronology wrong.]

Arthur Shen missed the venom in Cherniack's 23. ..Qe7 (diagram) and responded with 24. h4??. After 24. ..Nc5!, white's queen is trapped and he can safely resign.

Boston (2-1, 6.0) appears to have fully recovered from their week 1 debacle and is back to their traditional regular season dominance, dispatching the Manhattan Applesauce (1-2, 4.0) with a 3.5-0.5 drubbing. GM Eugene Perelshteyn held a comfortable draw on board 1 against GM Alex Stripunsky and WGM Anya Corke and NM Vadim Martirosov won smooth games against the volatile FM Andrei Zaremba and Shaun Smith. Board 2 saw the return of IM Marc Esserman, coming off a first-place finish in the New York State Championship. His face-off against IM Eli Vovsha, who started the season with two straight wins with the black pieces was another spectacular win for Esserman, his sixth straight with the white pieces in USCL play (and 9.5/11 lifetime).

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3!?

No Smith-Morra?

2. ..d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. 0-0 b5 8. Bb3 b4!?

This line has an excellent pedigree, having been played by Anand and Najdorf expert Matthew Sadler, both in games against French GM Joel Lautier. Vovsha lost a tough game to GM Hikaru Nakamura in 2007 in this line, no fault of the opening.

9. Na4 Bd7 10. c3!

Lautier's improvement against Sadler and also played in Kudrin-Fedorowicz, US-ch 1999, a miniature where Kudrin followed Lautier's analysis to an 18 move victory. Nakamura chose 10. f4.

10. ..Nc6!?

Fedorowicz lost quickly after 10. ..Ne4? 11. Qf3 d5 12. c4 Nc6? 13. Ne6!!. Sadler survived a few more moves with 12. ..Qf6 13. cd! Qd4 14. Be3 Qe5 15. Bf4! Qf5 16. Rfe1 and white's attack offered tremendous compensation for the piece.

11. cb Nb4 12. Be3!

This logical move is new.

12. ..Be7!

Most prudent. If 12. ..Ne4 13. Rc1 Nc5 14. Nc5 dc 15. Ne6!! (calculated by Esserman during the game, diagram). Either capture loses as 15. ..Be6 16. Ba4! Bd7 17. Re1! creates a deadly discovery or 15. ..fe 16. Qh5! g6 17. Qe5! Nd3 18. Qh8 Nc1 19. Rc1 Qe7 20. Bh6 0-0-0 21. Bf8 Rf8 22. Qc3! and black's position is riddled with weaknesses.

13. Rc1 Ne4 14. Nb6!

Esserman spent a full 22 minutes weaving his way through the complications before uncorking this nice shot.

14. ..0-0

14. ..Qb6 15. Ne6 Nc5 16. Ng7 and if 16. ..Kd8 17. Bf7! or 16. ..Kf8 17. Bh6! and white's attack rages.

15. a3! Qb6 16. Ne6 Qb5 17. Nf8 Rf8 18. ab Qb4 19. Rc7 Nf6 20. Bd4 Bd8 21. Rc3 Be6 22. Re1 Re8 23. Rce3 d5 24. Bc3 Qb6 25. Bd5! Nd5 26. Qd5 h6 27. Rg3!

And the rest is a rout.

27. ..f6 28. Qh5! Kf8 29. Rg7! Kg7 30. Qe8 Bf7 31. Qe4 Qd6 32. Qg4 Kh7 33. Rd1 Qe7 34. Qd7 1:0

The St. Louis Archbishops (1.5-1.5, 6.0) got back to .500 by defeating the Dallas Destiny (1-2, 5.0) who, now two years removed from their back-to-back championships, are in an early fight for their playoff life. It was the first victory for St. Louis' impressive 3GM lineup, as GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Yury Shulman (recovering from his shocking upset defeat at the hands of Chicago's IM Florin Felecan in the week 2 Game of the Week) defeated GM Alejandro Ramirez and NM Tyler Hughes on the top two boards. Although Tony Rich nearly held a draw on board 4 against NM Nelson Lopez, the match could have had a dramatically different outcome. On board 3, FM Keaton Kiewra had a promising opening position against GM Ben Finegold after 18 moves (diagram)

After 19. f3!, temporarily preventing black from castling and securing e4 against the b7 bishop, white would have had a good opportunity to squeeze black's weakened pawn structure. Instead, after 19. Rac1?! 0-0! 20. Qd7 Qd7 21. Rd7 Be4, a drawish endgame was soon reached, snuffing out Dallas' chances.

Last, but certainly not least, was a marquee matchup between two previously undefeated teams, the Chicago Blaze (2.5-0.5, 7.0) and the San Francisco Mechanics (2-1, 8.0). Chicago's GM Dmitry Gurevich conducted a sparkling mating attack against IM Dmitry Zilberstein, providing Chicago the winning margin as boards 2-4 were drawn. [Ed: As Chaos correctly observes, after surviving an inferior opening, Andy Lee had winning chances against Gauri Shankar on board 4, before 45. Re4?? allowed the stunning 45. ..Reb3! which converted the game into a holdable R+P endgame.] San Francisco's best chance to level the match seemed to be on board 2, where FM Daniel Naroditsky was squeezing early MVP candidate IM Florin Felecan in a Pirc. In the position below, the prophylactic 14. c3! would have prevented Felecan's equalizing plan of Na6-b4 and d6-d5 and given white an opportunity to exploit the advantage indicated by his bishop pair and extra space. Instead, after 14. 0-0 Nb4! 15. Bc4 d5 16. Bb3 Nb6, black had untangled and comfortably held the draw.

Also of note was FM Steven Zierk's cute defensive move 18. ..h6!? (see diagram) against IM Angelo Young creating a rare sight - tripled e-pawns after 19. Ne4 Ne4 20. fe. Though Young played on for an additional 79 moves, once Zierk's king reached e6, the drawish outcome was never in doubt. [Ed: As correctly pointed out by Chaos in the comments, Young had a winning opportunity late in the game, but only after a gross blunder by Zierk - the endgame itself was drawn until that point.]

Week 3: Back on Track

The New York Knights moved back above .500 with a convincing 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Inventors.

In a year where, through two weeks, black has scored 59% the Knights have been the outlier, scoring 3.5/4 with the white pieces. Last night continued that trend as the Knights won convincingly on boards 1 and 3, while holding draws from initially dubious positions on boards 2 and 4. Let's go to the games!

Board 4 was the first to finish as Justus Williams, making his Knight/USCL debut, introduced the league to his dynamic style with an intriguing opening pawn sacrifice against IM Richard Costigan.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. d4 cd 5. cd d5 6. ed!?

White transposes to a Panov-like structure. 6. e5 was another alternative.

6. ..Nf6 7. Bb5 Nbd7 8. d6

First played by the great David Bronstein in 1961 against Istvan Bilek.

8. ..0-0!

Exclaim for style! 8. ..ed promised a very dry game after 9. Qe2 Qe7 10. Qe7 Ke7.

9. de Qe7 10. Be2 Re8 11. Nc3 b5!

11. ..Ne4 held the possibility of a quick draw after 12. Ne4 Qe4 13. Be3 Nb6 14. Bd3 Qd5 15. 0-0 Bg4 16. Be2 Nc4 17. Bc4 Qc4 18. Ne5! (Arribas Robaina-Mellado Trivino, Hostafrancs 2002)

12. a3 Nb6!?

More traditional was 12. ..Bb7 denying white the e5 square. After 13. 0-0 a6, black has decent compensation for the pawn.

13. 0-0 a6 14. Ne5 Bb7 15. Bf3 Rad8 16. Nc6 Bc6 17. Bc6 Rf8 18. Bf4 Nh5 19. Be3 Nc4 20. Qe2 Qd6 21. Bf3?!

21. d5 seemed better, though after 21. ..Bc3 22. bc Ne3 23. fe Nf6 24. e4 Qe5, black's dark squared blockade ought to be enough to hold. Now the initiative passes to black.

21. ..Nf4! 22. Qc2 Bd4 23. Bd4 Qd4 24. Rfd1 Qf6 25. Rd8 Rd8 26. Rd1 Rd1 27. Bd1?

27. Nd1 offered the possibility of entangling white's queenside.

27. ..Ne6?!

After 27. ..Qd4, re-centralizing the queen, white would find it difficult to move.

28. Qe2 Kg7?!

28. ..Nd4 was more logical.

29. g3 Nd4 30. Qe4 Nd2 31. Qe3 Nc4 32. Qe4 Ne6 33. Qe2 Nd4 34. Qe4 0.5 : 0.5

Irina's game was next to finish, a smooth win and a great start to her season.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. de d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Nge7 6. b4 Ng6 7. Bb2 Nce5?!

Including 7. ..a5 8. b5 is a critical nuance.

8. Ne5 Ne5 9. e3 Be6 10. c5 Ng4

10. ..Nc6 11. ed Be7 seemed to offer black some counterplay on the d-file

11. Bd4 Qh4 12. g3 Qh6 13. Bg2 c6 14. b5 Bd7 15. h3 Nf6 16. bc Bc6 17. Bc6 bc 18. Qf3 Nd7 19. 0-0 Be7 20. Nd2 0-0 21. Kg2 Rab8 22. Rac1 Rfd8 23. Rfd1 Bf8 24. Ne4 Qg6 25. Nd6! Nc5 26. Bc5 Bd6 27. Ba7 Ra8 28. Bb6 Ba3 29. Rc6 1:0

Giorgi won an easy game on the white side of a Kings Indian, as Smith's pawn pushes on the queenside accelerated white's play.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Nf3 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Rc1 a5? 14. a3 Ng6 15. Nd3 b6 16. b4 Nf6 17. c5 ab 18. ab bc 19. bc Rf7 20. cd cd 21. Nb4 h5 22. Nc6 Qf8 23. Na4 Bb7 24. Nb6 Ra2 25. Bc4 Ra3 26. Rc2!

26. ..g4 27. Qc1 Re3! 28. Be3 fe 29. Qe3 Bh6 30. Qe1 gf?! 31. Rf3 Ng4 32. Rcc3 Bf4 33. g3 Bg5 34. Be2 Nf6 35. Bf1 Qh6 36. Nc4 Rg7 37. Rb3 h4 38. Nd6 hg 39. Rg3 Bd2 40. Qf2 Bf4 41. Nf5 1:0

Fed held the worse end of a draw against Bartell.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. cd Nd5 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. e3 Re8 10. Re1 h6!?

10. ..a5 is standard, with the idea of 11. Qe2 e5 12. Ne5 Ne5 13. de Be5 14. e4 Be6 15. f4 Bc3! (Bocharov-Nepomniachtchi, Russia Higher League 2010)

11. Qe2

Now 11. ..e5 doesn't work as h6 is exposed after an eventual e3-e4.

11. ..a5 12. Rd1 a4 13. Ne5! Bd7 14. Nd7 Qd7 15. Ne4 Qc8 16. Bd2 e5 17. de Be5 18. Bc3 Bc3 19. Nc3 Ra5 20. Rac1 Qe6 21. Ne4 Qe7 22. h4 Re5 23. Nc3 Qe6 24. Nb5 Qa2 25. Bc6 bc 26. Rc6 Nd5 27. Nc7 Nc7 28. Rc7 Rb8 29. Qc2

Black needs to find 29. ..Rd5 to hold the balance. Instead...

29. ..Ree8?! 30. Rd6! Re6 31. Rc8 Rc8 32. Qc8 Kh7 33. Re6 fe 34. Qd7 Kg8 35. Qe8 Kg7 36. Qe7 Kg8 37. Qf6 Qb1 38. Kh2 Qe4

39. f3! Qc2 40. Kh3 and white will win another pawn, though the position remains difficult. Bartell tries a different path, but Fed's careful defense holds the draw.

39. Qd4?! Qc2 40. Kg2 h5 41. e4 Qc6 42. Kf3 Kf7 43. Kf4 Qc7 44. e5 Qc1 45. Kf3 Qc6 46. Ke2 Qc2 47. Kf1 Qc1 48. Kg2 Qc6 49. Kh2 Kg7 50. Qa7 Kg8 51. Qd4 Kg7 52. Qf4 Qb6 53. Qd2 Qc6 54. Kg1 Kh7 55. Qe2 Qc1 56. Kh2 Qc5 57. f3 Qd4 58. g4 Qf4+ 59. Kg2 Kh6 60. Kh3 Qc1 61. Kg2 Qf4 62. Kh3 Qc1 63. Kg2 0.5 : 0.5

Labor Day Action

It was quite an active and successful Labor Day weekend for participants in the USCL. The New York State Championship was shared by GM Joel Benjamin (NJ Knockouts) and IM Marc Esserman (Boston Blitz) who both scored an undefeated 5/6, drawing their individual encounter.

Shocking the world, however, was NY Knight board 4 NM Alex Ostrovskiy who took clear third with 4.5/6, losing only to Benjamin while drawing GM Mark Paragua and beating fellow Knight FM Alec Getz. As the highest scoring NY State resident (Benjamin is from NJ and Esserman is from MA), Alex is the 2010 New York State Champion! Knight legend IM Jay Bonin scored an undefeated 3.5/6 to tie for 7th.

Further from home, GM Pascal Charbonneau won the "Battle at the Border" tournament in Alberta, Canada with a 5.5/6 score, defeating world #15 GM Hikaru Nakamura (St. Louis Archbishops)!

Yours truly tied with IM Ilya Figler with 4.5/5 to win the Marshall Labor Day tournament.

Week 3 Preview

Looks like Arun Sharma will not get his wish, for this week at least (see the last blog post).

In week 3, the Knights (1-1, 5.5) will take on the Philadelphia Inventors (1-1, 4.5), looking to bounce back from our first loss of the season. Philadelphia is also coming off their first loss, a 2.5-1.5 decision against Boston, proving once again that chess strength is not transitive (we beat Boston who beat Philly who beat NJ who beat us).

On board 1, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili faces IM Bryan Smith, a dangerous tournament player who has scored a number of victories in the last 12 months, including an undefeated 7/9 performance en route to winning the 2010 Philadelphia Open, undefeated =2nd at the 2010 Liberty Bell Open, =2nd at the 2009 Eastern Open and =1st at the 2009 National Chess Congress (where he defeated your author in a complicated round 3 game on board 1). Smith scored a shocking upset victory in week 7 with the black pieces against Giorgi last year, so expect both players to be out for blood.

On board 2, we see the return of legendary GM John Fedorowicz against FM Thomas Bartell, who is off to a 2/2 start (both wins with the black pieces), including his monumental upset of GM Boris Gulko in week 1 that has him tied for 1st in the MVP race. Fedorowicz and Bartell have faced twice in USCL history. John had a smooth win with the white pieces in 2008 and unfortunately missed a winning continuation last year en route to a draw with the black pieces in his only showing for the Knights. Should be quite a battle.

On board 3, Knights manager and 2010 US Women's Champion IM Irina Krush makes her 2010 debut with the white pieces against FM Karl Dehmelt. Dehmelt, who is nearly as old as Philly's board 1 and 2 combined, won a sizzling game in round 1, defeating Arthur Shen with a violent kingside attack after sacrificing/blundering a pawn in the opening.

On board 4, Justus Williams, the #5 ranked 12 year old in the country, makes his USCL debut against veteran IM Richard Costigan. Costigan's 41 games make him one of the most active USCL players, though his activity has leveled off the last two years. His career record is only 3/8 against the Knights, but in 2006 he scored an upset against GM Pascal Charbonneau in week 1 and drew IM Irina Krush in week 10 to bookend an impressive season. Justus may be the key to this match, as an upset (either draw or win) with the black pieces would put significant pressure on Philadelphia's top 3 boards.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Week 2: Bloodied

It was impossible to top the score and difficult to surpass the emanating expectations from our week 1 whitewash of the Boston Blitz. Our regular season nemesis, the New Jersey Knockouts, was just the team to bring us back to earth, defeating us 2.5-1.5.

Never lacking in drama, the match went deep into Monday night, as the drawn game on board 2, coupled with an exchange of wins on 1 and 4 left FM Alec Getz battling FM Victor Shen in a complicated and exciting game that frayed nerves (most notably Alex Katz's and mine, prompting League VP Arun Sharma to request that at least one of us play next week!) and was classic USCL.

In the end, Victor Shen continued his dominance of the Knights and scored the winning points for New Jersey.

On board 1, GM Boris Gulko won a smooth game against GM Giorgi Kacheishvili, but nearly let things slip at the end!

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O cd 8.

ed dc 9. Bc4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Re1 Nc6 12. a3 Be7 13. Qd3 h6 14. Bf4

Bd6 15. Bd2 Rc8 16. Rad1 Rc7?!

16. ..Bb8 felt more circumspect, preparing to meet 17. d5 with 17. ..Na5 and the tactics are OK for black, with mass exchanges looming.

17. d5! ed 18. Nd5 Nd5 19. Bd5 Ne7 20. Be4!

Be4 21. Qe4

The symmetrical pawn structure should guarantee equality if black can untangle his slightly awkward pieces. Gulko makes that job near-impossible!

21. ..Rd7 22. Bc3 Ng6 23. Qg4 Kh7 24. g3!

Ending all pretense of Bh2 tactics and killing prospects for black's Ng6.

24. ..f5 25. Qa4

Also possible is 25. Qh5!, after which it's hard to find a single move for black!

25. ..f4 26. Re6 fg

27. Qe4 gf

The last dramatic moment of the game. 28. Kg2! ends matters cleanly. Instead...

28. Kf1??

Leaving the door open to a fantastic shot for black!

28. ..Bc5??

Giorgi misses his chance with this very logical move. Instead 28. ..Be5!! allows black to fight for a draw. If 29. Rd7 Qd7 30. Qg6 Kg8 then white is forced to play 31. Kf2 Qd5 32. Re5 Qf3 33. Ke1 Qf1 34. Kd2 Rf2 35. Ke3 Rf3 36. Kd4 Qd1 37. Kc4 Qa4 and now white has two choices. If 38. Bb4 Qb3 39. Kb5 a6! 40. Ka6 Qa4 41. Kb7 Qd7 is a perpetual as the b6 pawn is taboo. If 38. Kd5 Qd7, white must return to c4. If 38. b4 b5! 39. Rb5 Rc3 40. Kc3 Qb5, white is nominally better in the Q+P endgame, but it should be drawn. 29. Qg6 Kg8 30. Be5 Rd1 31. Kf2 Rf3! is also drawn.

29. Rd2?! Rff7?

29. ..Qc8! offered more resistance.

30. Qg6 Kg8 31. Bg7 Rg7 32. Re8 1:0

On board 2, GM Alex Lenderman was unable to generate a significant edge against IM Dean Ippolito and was arguably worse before accepting Dean's draw offer.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dc 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. dc Qd1 8.

Rd1 Bc5 9. Nbd2 c3 10. bc O-O 11. Nb3 Be7 12. Nfd4 Bd7 13. Nc6 Bc6 14.

Bc6 bc 15. Na5 Rfc8 16. Bg5 Bd8 17. Nc4 Ne4 18. Bd8 Rd8 19. Rd8 Rd8

20. Rc1 Rd5 21. Rc2 Kf8 22. Nb2 Ra5 23. Nd3 Ra3 24. c4 f6 0.5:0.5

On board 4, NM Alex Ostrovskiy moved to 2-0 with a fine victory over FM Arthur Shen.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8.

Ng3 Be6 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O d5 11. ed Nd5 12. Nd5 Bd5 13. Nf5 Be6 14.

Qd8 Bd8 15. Nd6

Despite achieving the d6-d5 break, black has some problems in this endgame. The b7 and e5 pawns are weak, the queenside is a bit tricky to develop and white's majority is looming.

15. ..Bd5 16. Rfd1 Bc6 17. Nc4!?

Nd7 18. a4 Bc7 19. Bf3 Rad8?

It is a testament to the subtlety of this position and the depth of Alex's plan that this move is a blunder. A better try was 19. ..Nf6.

20.

Bc6 bc 21. a5! f5 22. Bb6! Bb6 23. ab

White has a dangerous passed pawn on b6, juicy weaknesses to target on a6/c6, phenomenal squares for the c4 N and a winning edge.

23. ..e4 24. Kf1!?

24. Ra6 was met by 24. ..Nb6! but 24. g4! both creates luft (threatening Ra6) and further damages black's already tattered pawn structure.

24. ..Nb8 25. Nd6 Rf6 26. Nb7

Rd7 27. Nc5

Another fantastic maneuver! GM Alex Yermolinsky eventually remarked that white was playing like a 2700 FIDE!

27. ..Rd5 28. b4 Rfd6 29. Rd5 cd 30. b5 Rb6 31. ba Na6 32. Ra6

And the rest is a mop-up!

32. ..Rb2 33. Rd6 Rc2 34. Rd5 g6 35. Nb3 Rc3 36. Nd2 Rc7 37. Ke2 Kf7 38. Rd4 Kf6

39. Rc4 Ra7 40. Rc2 Ra6 41. Nc4 h6 42. Ke3 Ra1 43. Kd4 Rg1 44. Ne3 Ra1 45.

h4 Ra4 46. Rc4 Ra2 47. Rc6 Kf7 48. Rc2 Ra5 49. Nd5 Ra4 50. Ke5 e3 51.

Rc7 Ke8 52. Ne3 Rh4 53. Rc4 Rh5 54. Ke6 Kd8 55. Nd5 Rh1 56. Kf6 Rf1 57.

Nb6 Rf2 58. Rc8#! 1:0

Board 3 - not the cleanest, but certainly the most exciting - was a slugfest between FM Alec Getz and FM Victor Shen, with Shen landing the knockout.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 h6 8.

O-O Be7 9. Re1 O-O 10. h3 Be6 11. Bf1 Rc8 12. Nd5 Bd5 13. ed Nb4 14. c4

a5 15. a3 Na6 16. Bd2 Nd7 17. b4 f5 18. Qb3 Bf6 19. Bc3 Qb6 20. Nd2 ab 21.

ab e4 22. Bf6 Rf6 23. Rab1 Ne5 24. Qc3 Qc7 25. Qe3 Qf7 26. Kh1 Qh5 27.

Rb3 Qh4 28. Kg1 Rg6 29. Rc1 Nc7 30. Qd4

Ne8 31. c5 Nf6 32. Rbc3 Ra8 33. c6

Kh7

34. c7!?

Roundly criticized by the kibitzers, but 34. cb Rb8 35. Qa7 Nfd7 36. Rc8 e3!! gives black some life.

34. ..Rc8 35. b5 b6!?

Worth a shot in time pressure (Shen down to 2 minutes). White should "sacrifice" the exchange with 36. Qb6 Nd5 as the queenside pawns are soon irresistible. Instead, Getz's bluff works and he has a chance to gain the advantage.

36. Ra1? Nfd7! 37. Ra7 Nc5?!

Shen doesn't ignore a second opportunity and plays the intuitive exchange sacrifice. 37. ..Qf6! was called for and with Shen down to 70 seconds, black would be for choice.

38. Rc5! bc 39. Qe3 Nd7?

39. ..Qe7! 40. b6 Nd7 41. Qb3 Nb6!! 42. Qb6 e3! and black has at least a perpetual.

40. Nc4 Qe7 41. Qb3 f4 42. b6 e3 43. Bd3 e2 44. Bg6 Kh8!?

44. ..Kg6 45. Qb1! Kf7 46. Ra1! g6 47. Kh2! f3! 48. Qb3 also works for white

45. Ra1!?

Shen makes the pragmatic decision, but glory was to be had with 45. b7!! e1Q 46. Kh2 Rf8 47. Qf3! (diagram) when an extra queen cannot save black!

45. ..e1Q 46.

Re1 Qe1 47. Kh2 Nb6 48. Nd6 Qf2 49. Nc8 Nc8 50. Bf5 c4 51. Qc3?! f3!

52. Qf3 Qc5 53. Qf4

53. ..Nb6?

53. ..Nd6!? would have forced white to find the only move 54. Bg6! and created the 54. Qd6?? Qd6+! swindle possibility.

54. d6 Nd5 55. Qe5! 1:0