New Jersey Knockouts

New Jersey Futurity II

2008-07-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the New Jersey Knockouts blog! Where have you been? More importantly, where have I been? The US Chess League starts up again in under two months, and you can tune in right here to find all the action.

Until then, there's other New Jersey chess action to keep us occupied. The New Jersey State Chess Federation and the International Chess School (ICS) are sponsoring another Futurity tournament starting on Monday, July 7, 2008, the day after the conclusion of the World Open. The ten-player single round robin will take place at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg, NJ. It concludes on July 11, 2008.

I got a scoop on the pairings, and an updated list of the participants, so without further ado...

Participants

GM Jaan Ehlvest (2603 - USA)
GM Sergey Erenburg (2563 - ISR)
GM Leonid Yudasin (2550 - ISR)
GM Sam Palatnik (2472 - USA)
IM Dean Ippolito (2445 - USA)
IM A. Almeida Saenz (2419 - MEX)
IM Milos Scekic (2371 - SRB)
IM Mikhail Zlotnikov (2345 - USA)
Mackensie Molner (2337 - USA)
Evan Ju (2286 - USA)

Average Rating = 2439 (Category 8)

Erenburg is returning to defend his title from last year's tournament. Many of the participants are the same as last year; new players this year are Ehlvest, Palatnik, Saenz, and Scekic. Ehlvest, formerly in the world's top five, and Palatnik, with his team and individual medals at the Student Team Championships in 1974 and 1976, are impressive additions to this powerful tournament.

Most importantly (in the context of this blog), is the fact that Ippolito, Zlotnikov, Molner, and Ju were all members of the Knockouts last year! Just a couple of weeks ago, Molner picked up an IM norm at the Marshall Chess Club. Ippolito may have a homefield advantage, playing at his own school. Let's cheer them all on to floor the rest of the competition.

Schedule (White listed first)

Round 1 (July 7, 2008: 3:15pm)
Ju - Yudasin
Scekic - Erenburg
Zlotnikov - Molner
Ehlvest - Palatnik
Saenz - Ippolito

Round 2 (July 8, 2008: 10:00am)
Yudasin - Saenz
Ippolito - Ehlvest
Palatnik - Zlotnikov
Molner - Scekic
Erenburg - Ju

Round 3 (July 8, 2008: 4:00pm)
Erenburg - Yudasin
Ju - Molner
Scekic - Palatnik
Zlotnikov - Ippolito
Ehlvest - Saenz

Round 4 (July 9, 2008: 10:00am)
Yudasin - Ehlvest
Saenz - Zlotnikov
Ippolito - Scekic
Palatnik - Ju
Molner - Erenburg

Round 5 (July 9, 2008, 4:00pm)
Molner - Yudasin
Erenburg - Palatnik
Ju - Ippolito
Scekic - Saenz
Zlotnikov - Ehlvest

Round 6 (July 10, 2008: 10:00am)
Yudasin - Zlotnikov
Ehlvest - Scekic
Saenz - Ju
Ippolito - Erenburg
Palatnik - Molner

Round 7 (July 10, 2008: 4:00pm)
Palatnik - Yudasin
Molner - Ippolito
Erenburg - Saenz
Ju - Ehlvest
Scekic - Zlotnikov

Round 8 (July 11, 2008 10:00am)
Yudasin - Scekic
Zlotnikov - Ju
Ehlvest - Erenburg
Saenz - Molner
Ippolito - Palatnik

Round 9 (July 11, 2008, 4:00 pm)
Ippolito - Yudasin
Palatnik - Saenz
Molner - Ehlvest
Erenburg - Zlotnikov
Ju - Scekic

The Season is Over for the Knockouts

2007-10-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

A glorious first season came to a tragic end tonight, as the New Jersey Knockouts lost to the New York Knights, by a score of 2.5 - 1.5. GM Joel Benjamin won on first board against GM Pascal Charbonneau, but the Knockout's Mike Zlotnikov and Mackenzie Molner, lost on boards 2 and 3 respectively. Evan Ju, on Board 4, fought a long difficult struggle, but had to settle for a draw, after 117 moves and the 50 move rule. The Knockouts end their inaugural season with a respectable record of 4.5 - 5.5.

All Knockouts' matches in the year were extremely close, all ending by a score of 2 - 2 or 2.5 - 1.5. The Knockouts were competitive all year long, and, although counted out by some at the beginning of the season, put up a resilient and brave fight.

Congratulations to the winner of the match tonight, the New York Knights, who take third place in the Eastern division of the USCL, and play Philadelphia in the playoffs.

Thanks go to Greg Shahade, commissioner of the United States Chess League, for all his hard work. Check back periodically throughout the year for updates on the Knockouts' players, and other events in Garden State.

Knockouts flooring the Knights

2007-10-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the New Jersey Knockouts are flooring the New York Knights. I was unable to real-time blog, tonight, but Debbie Benjamin was kind enough to send me a picture of the Halloween donuts at the site, for all you donut lovers.

Until next week, when the Knockouts are in the playoffs!

Justice Prevails: Molner wins game of the week!

2007-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

For the first time in the Knockouts' brief history, a player has won game of the week in the USCL. Mackensie Molner's (a.k.a. Big Mac and the Sac Attack) thrilling and innovative crush of Baltimore's IM Larry Kaufman on Board 3 has prevailed.

While Molner came in second in the GotW contest several weeks ago, this week the judges rightly came to their senses and awarded Big Mac and this Sac Attack this weeks prize. His innovative knight sacrifice and resourceful, and well-timed, defense maneuvering clinched it for him. Plus, as the tiebreak judge remarked, it was quite an interesting game.

Congrats to Big Mac and have fun replaying the wild game here.

Real Time Blog for Week 9: KO and Fish

2007-10-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Next week is the last week in the USCL. Unfortunately, this will be last real-time blog of the regular season. If (when) New Jersey makes the playoffs, I should be back in November for another blog.

But next week, when New York and New Jersey will play, it might be for the final playoff spot! Watch the United States Chess League action next week on the Internet Chess Club, sponsored by PokerStars.com.

11:13pm

Blehm resigned! And the Knockouts have tied the match 2.0 - 2.0!

11:09pm

And Joel has won a piece, but Blehm is trying to mate him and get a perpetual.

11:05pm

And Molner put the final crush on Kaufman, and Kaufman resigned! The Knockouts now are behind only 1.0 - 2.0.

11:01pm

Molner's got Kaufman in a nasty zugzwang. He just needs to push his pawns to victory, it seems.

10:54pm

But Khodarkovsky's game really wasn't as interesting as I made it out to be. A few short moves later, White's central passed pawn stopped the dancing monarch, and Michael had to resign. Therefore, the Knockouts are down 0.0 - 2.0.

A bad taste of donuts infects the bile within me.

10:51pm

Khodarkovsky's game is rather interesting. In this R+B vs. R+B, his king is kind of tied up dancing around White's pieces, but at the same time, when not dancing, he's pushing is outside passed baby queens toward their birthing center.

10:48pm

After a furious exchange of pieces, Mac's game has turned into a very unbalanced position. Mac has a Queen and two pawns for Kaufman's Bishop, Knight, and Rook. Point-wise it is straight up, but Molner's queen is well-positioned, and if he can take advantage of it before Kaufman manages to coordinate his pieces, then he's in good shape.

10:45pm

Blehm make what looked like a threatening move, but Joel has calmly and quickly moved his queen to g3, attacking Blehm's queen and threatening further to simplify the position. Joel would be living off the increment, but in a materially equal endgame.

10:43pm

The Knockouts are low on time on all the other boards too. Molder has three-and-a-half minutes left, but Khodarkovsky and Benjamin have less than two minutes each.

10:42pm

And Aviv has resigned. The mating attack was just too strong. The Knockouts are down 0.0 - 1.0 to the Kingfishers.

10:34pm

Uh-oh. It looks like Board 2 is in bad shape for the Knockouts. Enkhbat has what appears to be a crushing attack against Friedman. He's just sacced a Rook for what appears to be a smash up mating attack.

Molner is still trying to figure out a way to wipe out Kaufman, and hope his knight sac was not in vain.

10:24pm

Another Mac sac! He let go of his light-squared bishop for another rook lift. If he can pull this out, he's definitely in contention for game of the week again... although Irina Krush's rook sac in her game is also pretty.

Here is Mac's game...

10:12pm

Battsetseg - Khodarkovsky is looking pretty drawish. Michael's pawns are on square colors that complement his bishop, but there's a lot of harmonic tension in the position. My guess is that they are going for a repetition soon.

10:11pm

Mac's pieces are all posed for the attack. He's standing up now, striking an imposing figure over the physical board. The smack is back!

10:04pm

I've been too busy watching the games to actually blog. For which I apologize. Profusely.

What I did notice that Mac's attack ain't wack, and we're gonna see a sac, that will hack Black.

10:02pm

Ratings for the games at the 10:00pm hour.
Board 1: 72 observers (+9%)
Board 2: 30 observers (=0%)
Board 3: 27 observers (+4%)
Board 4: 21 observers (=0%)

9:42pm

While we await the photos of the donuts at the Boston Blitz site, let's check out Aviv's game on Board 2. It looks like there are three little two pawn islands for White, while Aviv (as Black) has a three-pawn island on both coasts of the board. Aviv is lining up his heavy pieces to fire at the central island. Clocks are approximately equal.

9:37pm

On Board 1, Joel is currently playing from the screen, not the physical board.

On Board 2, Aviv is angled between the screen and the board, but mostly looking at the board itself.

On Board 3, Molner is close to the screen, with his hand poised on the mouse.

On Board 4, Khodarkovsky is ignoring the screen, and his hunched over the board, hand ovre mouth, thumb on cheek.

9:32pm

On Board 4, we have a pretty equal looking endgame, although Khodarkovsky is down a bit on time. Nevertheless, it is R+B vs. R+B and bishops are same color and pawns are equal. Looks drawish.

9:25pm

Indeed, Blehm is having a long think about what to do with a pawn stuck in his throat.

9:11pm

On Board 1, GM Joel and GM Blehm are getting ready to set up the pieces for a game of Fischer Random. Pieces are slowly moving back to the first couple of ranks.

Actually, you know what it really reminds me of. A cat. Both sides, actually. A cat that this ready to spring forth and pounce on a rodent. The pieces on both sides are lying in wait for the opportunity to strike.

9:04pm

Molner is viscious. He's castled on the queenside (opposite), moved his king a tad safer to b1, and has now started another attack against poor Kaufman's king. He grabbed the mouse, pressed and held the mouse-button for a perceptible instant, while slowly -- with the deliberation of a Senator pondering a response to a question from an Ethics committee -- shifting his mouse cursor north, guiding his determined and grim h-pawn toward its ultimate sacrificial goal, of smashing the living crap out of the pawn shield that feebly guards Kaufman's emasculated monarch.

9:02pm

Ratings for the games at the 9:00pm hour.
Board 1: 61 observers (+43%)
Board 2: 30 observers (+20%)
Board 3: 26 observers (+4%)
Board 4: 21 observers (+5%)

8:55pm

Let's move onto Board 4. The Knockouts' assistant manager, Michael Khodarkovsky, played his Alekhine against his opponent, WIM Tsagaan Battseteg. As you may know, Michael is the president of the Kasparov Chess Foundation, and was a coach/manager of the 2004 US Women's Olympiad team. Michael may be mumbling "oil can" to shake off the rust, but he's already in a dynamic position, lining up the big guns on White's isolated d-pawn. I sense there may be a big exchange of pieces soon.

8:39pm

Let's see what Big Mac is up to on Board 3. As everyone knows, Mac was inexplicably ripped off in a complete travesty of justice as he missed out on the Game of the Week prize (he lost to this pedestrian effort) with his brilliant win from late September (which you can replay here), and the USCL tried to justify their shameful voting in this post.

Anyway, he's attempting to win the prize again this week, as he is gobbling up space on Kaufman's side of the board, and showing once again, that the French reputation (shrink and surrender) is not wholly undeserved.

8:36pm

On Board 2, Enkhbhat declined the draw by playing 15. Qc4. He will regret that Aviv gave him an opportunity to live and play another day. Now, the crushing begins.

8:33pm

Only 75 minutes in, and Friedman has offered a draw to his opponent on board 2!

8:27pm

Back to Board 2... FM Aviv Freidman has traded off three minor pieces a side, to reach what appears to me to be a relatively equal position. Both sides have a Knight and their heavy pieces, Aviv has a 3-2 majority on the queenside, but his e-pawn is pretty far advanced and looks lonely. It might need some more protection at some point soon.

8:19pm

The destruction has begun. GM Joel has blasted open the a-file for his rook, who smartly stayed at home, while the Fish's rook, went, um... fishing on the b-file, looking for a tasty snack. All he found was a worm, and GM Joel is poised to gut him and fry him. Perhaps with a bit of tarragon and a side of leeks.

8:15pm

Let's look back in a little more depth at the situation on the boards.

On Board 1, the DMZ seems to be the line separating the fourth and fifth rank. No one seems willing to cross it. The real question is, though... where will the pawn break occur? Will the a-file open up for both sides? What about the center? Who will make the first pawn capture? Both sides just castled. When will the destruction begin??

8:07pm

The coffee is excellent tonight. And the donuts, well... The munchkins are covered with Halloween-theme-colored sprinkles. And the sprinkles are crunchy, not chewy.

8:04pm

As I said, Mac Molner, New Jersey's third board tonight, just completed the World Junior Championship. You can see the final standings at their website, here.

8:01pm

Ratings for the games at the 8:00pm hour.
Board 1: 43 observers
Board 2: 25 observers
Board 3: 25 observers
Board 4: 20 observers

7:54pm

Finally, on Board 1, GM Joel Benjamin has forcefully slammed his finger down on the mouse, when he smashed out 3 Bb5+ to his unsuspecting, and fashionably late, opponent, GM Pawel Blehm. Blehm tried the supposedly more unusual reply 3...Nbd7, and they are only at move 6, already 40 minutes into the game.

7:49pm

On Board 2, the Knockouts' late roster replacement, FM Aviv "Sveshi" Friedman has surprised his opponent FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat with a Chigorin Defense. Morozevich would be proud. Aviv has clearly shaken off the rust of his long layoff, and will soon be tempting the Kingfisher with his wily ways.

7:40pm

On Board 3, the Knockouts' Mackensie "Big Mac Attack" Molner, is White against IM Larry Kaufman. Molner just returned last week from a solid showing at the World Junior Championships in Armenia. Despite starting ranked 60th, he finished in a tie for 48th-56th, with 6.0/13.0, and a performance rating 122 points over his FIDE rating. The experience he gained there is bound to help him in the White side of Kaufman's French Defense.

7:34pm

A quick look around the four boards before a deeper look. Let's start with Board 4. The Knockouts Assistant Manager and Team Alternate Michael Khodarkovsky, has played the Alekhine defense against US Women's Championship participant WIM Tsagaan Battseteg. They have already hit move 8, and Khodarkovsky's fianchettoed bishop aims at White's pawn center, consisting of a c- and d-pawn.

7:33pm

Three of the four games have started. GM Joel Benjamin has been unable to start his game as his opponent is late. We're the only team that seems to get to the matches on time!

7:25pm

Everyone has arrived, and the matches are about to start. We are waiting on the Fish to swim up to our hooks.

6:51pm

GM Joel Benjamin and his wife Debbie are here. Mac Molner just walked in. Ready to hook the fish.

Pictures from Tonight's Contest versus the Boston Blitz

2007-10-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm not in New Jersey tonight, Debbie Benjamin was kind enough to email me a few pictures from tonight's match.

ABOVE: Joel Benjamin showing off his loyalties, although the placement of the Indians hat is probably not a coincidence, considering Cleveland is playing Boston in the American League Championship Series (in baseball).

ABOVE: Evan Ju (far) and Victor Shen (close) start their games. Dean Ippolito is on the left in the back.

ABOVE: Dean Ippolito prepping before the game. With him, is his ubiquitous Red Bull.

Player Profile: Victor Shen

2007-10-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Victor Shen is a 14 year old national master, living in Edison, New Jersey. After being taught to play at age seven by his father, Victor admires from afar the attacking games of Kasparov and Tal, and his former coach Scott Massey, and current coach (and Knouckouts' manager) Joel Benjamin. Interestingly, he also mentions that current American #3 Alexander Onischuk is a favorite because of his superb opening preparation and his classical style.

Besides the hundreds of Kasparov games that Victor claims he doesn't actually study, a particular game that he admires is Tal's victory against Smyslov in the 1964 USSR team championship. Victor is awed by 24...Qe2!! and extraordinarily impressed by Tal's endgame technique at the end. You can replay the Tal-Smyslov game here.

Victor has played two games so far for the Knockouts with a loss and a draw. The draw, especially, was an amazing save, and if you don't know the story, you should check it out here. Despite his 0.5 - 1.5 record, he thinks the USCL is a brilliant idea. The camaraderie of being on a team with others from your area, the possibility of being in "must win" situtations, and the practice with the FIDE time control, all make playing for the Knockouts a great experience for which Victor is thankfuoopyl.

Highly emotional experiences make for lasting memories, and while most people's memorable experiences over a chess board are joyous, Victor's was on the other end of the happiness spectrum. It happened earlier this year in the last round of the 2007 Liberty Bell Open, where he was playing Alex Shabalov. Coming out of the opening in good shape, he blundered the exchange for a pawn, but it was a blunder of serendipity, as he came out of the opening with a big positional advantage that became winning. But then, disaster struck. He missed some wins in time trouble, then exchanged queens. The last board in the last round of the top section is always a harrowing experience, since the spectators crowd around you. In Victor's case, the pressure of the spectators was far greater than the pressure on the board, since the queen exchange produced a dead drawn endgame. Shabalov declined Victor's draw offer, and Victor traded rooks to produce what he thought was an even deader position. But it didn't work, and tactical shots by Shabalov caused Victor to resign. We've all likely experienced situations like Victor's -- I know I have -- but Shabalov's "I'm sorry" during the postmortem permanently etched this episode in Victor's mind.

He confesses to not being an avid reader or purveyor of television and movies, spending most of his time on chess and schoolwork. While he may relax for a few minutes, playing basketball with his friends, he takes the time he used to spend playing sports and studies his opening theory.

Finally, in my interactions with Victor, I've noticed that he has a wickedly self-deprecating sense of humor. He claims that he sucks at chess and has never have played a game of chess of which he was proud. Indeed, everytime he ruminates on his game versus Shabalov, he wonders why he still actually plays this maddening game. And, he claims that if he ever does play a game of which he is proud, he will send it in. I expect, though, that the remainder of his games this year with the Knockouts will provide moments of pride and glory.

Real-time Blog Week 7: Knocking out the Inventors

2007-10-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Next week, the Knockouts play the first place Boston Blitz. Tune in on Wednesday October 17th at 7:00pm for all the action. And this week, watch all the Wednesday night action of the USCL on the ICC sponsored by PokerStars.com.

10:55pm

And Jayson Lian resigned... And the Knockouts have lost the match 2.5 - 1.5. This takes the Knockouts back to a 3.5 - 3.5 record.

10:52pm

Another draw on Board 3 by repetition. It is 1.5 - 1.5... Only Jayson Lian's game on board 4 remaining!

10:39pm

And 10 seconds later, IM Dean has drawn by repetition on Board 2. The match is tied now 1.0 - 1.0! These two games were not expected to go for the Knockouts, so that fact that the KOs have drawn is another amazing accomplishment by the good guys!

10:38pm

And GM Joel has drown by repetition on Board 1. The match is currently tied 0.5 - 0.5!

10:36pm

Everyone is away from the physical board now, and all are working directly from the computer screen.

10:32pm

Boy, it is close, but not clear exactly what is happening. All boards could draw, all could lose. It is really interesting....

10:21pm

On Board 1, no one is quite clear how Benjamin came out of this, but material is equal, even if Joel has a disadvantage.

On Board 2, Ippolito and Smith are in what looks to be a complete draw.

On Board 3, Friedman is a pawn up, but Costigan's pieces seem a little better placed.

On Board 4, Yeager is way down on the clock, and will be living on the increment soon, while Lian's bishop is still trip for the taking.

It is looking up a little for the KOs!

10:04pm

Another grandmaster agrees with the first, but it is unclear to many others. Here's the critical position, where Kudrin just played 20. Bxe4, and Joel responded with 20...Bg4!

10:03pm

While the majority of titled players believe that Joel is lost on Board 1, one grandmaster is holding out, saying the Joel is, in fact, better. It seems odd to me, but what do I know?

9:57pm

It doesn't look too good for the Knockouts' chances inthe match. GM Joel is having a very tough time on Board 1. IM Dean may exchange into an endgame, but perhaps with a slight disadvantage. On Board 4, Jayson Lian's bishop sac was not accepted, but he still remains in a difficult position. Board 3 is relatively equal.

9:47pm

Jayson Lian has sacced his Bishop on f5. The consensus in the commentary is that is won't work, but in the USCL, you never know. New Jersey has been known to escape with miracles in the past.

9:39pm

Comments on the games are favoring Philadelphia on all boards. GM Hikaru Nakamura is predicting a 4-0 sweep for Philadelphia! Certainly the results cannot be that dramatic for the KOs!?!

9:33pm

Clock check time. Board 1 - Joel is down 22 minutes, and has only 12 minutes remaining. Board 2 - Dean is up 3 minutes, with 27 minutes remaining. Board 3 - Aviv is down 12 minutes with 19 minutes remaining. Board 4 - Jayson is down 8 minutes, with 23 minutes remaining.

9:28pm

An ICC observer with the handle 'mote' made an interesting comment: "Joel Benjamin is the Derek Jeter of American chess". While I'm sure Joel appreciates being compared to Jeter (as Jeter's work ethic and character are impeccable), Joel probably would recoil in horror when he remembered that Jeter is a Yankee. Of course, 'mote' also compared Joel to Joey Ramone. I'll let Joel decide how to respond to that one.

9:27pm

Dean took 33 minutes, and had to retreat his Queen back to f2. The times on the clocks are now approximately equal, and his 35 minutes time advantage has disappeared.

9:14pm

Well, I'm back commenting on the players' physical positions. All of them are actually looking at their physical boards, rather than the screen. That's unusual for so late in the evening. In previous matches, at a few minutes past the two hour point, about half the players are usually at the screen.

9:10pm

Everyone keeps asking about the donuts. Well, there are only six left, and I'm certain they were eaten so quickly tonight because we all need the extra calories to fight the 58 degree temperature of the room.

9:00pm

It appears that Dean Ippolito did not anticipate Smith's 16...Qe7, because he has spent a great deal of time pondering his move. The position does look critical -- here it is...

He is hunched over the board, his head actually extending beyond the fourth rank, and he's looking straight down at the position.

8:55pm

Joel has taken a walk around the room, looked at a few of the Knockouts' games. Them curiously, he turned to face the wall, put his hand on his chin, and pondered the green chalkboard for about 15 seconds. Then, he briskly walked back to his chair.

8:43pm

Finally, on to Board 1. The Knockouts' first board, and team manager GM Joel Benjamin (read office NJKO profile here) has the Black pieces against veteran GM Sergey Kudrin. Kudrin's Giuoco Piano has turned into a deceptively simple position. If I had to guess, it looks very much like a position someone would diagram in a book, with the caption "The End of the Opening Phase", and then discuss the middlegame. Chances for both sides, nothing crazy looking, only one pawn exchanged.

And, after 14 moves, Joel is down only 8 minutes on the clock, which is pretty good for him.

8:27pm

What's up on Board 2? The game started a half-hour late, as the Inventors' IM Bryan Smith (who in his picture looks a little like Seth Green, from Austin Powers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) got caught in traffic - perhaps he needed to invent a flying car. Anyway, Smith has the Black pieces against noted teacher IM Dean Ippolito - you can read his NJKO profile here. Dean has some space in the center, and a Queen and Rook battery aiming down the f-file at Black's castled king position. While White has more space in the center, his Bishop is bad. However, Black is still lagging a bit in development.

Ippolito is up 20 minutes on the clock, but remember he started with an extra 35 minutes. A pawn and a couple of minor pieces have been exchanged for both sides.

8:12pm

Let's move to Board 3. The Inventors' IM Rick Costigan has White against the Knockouts' FM Aviv "sveshi" Friedman. With the Black pieces, Friedman responded with 1...e6 to White's d-pawn sortie, perhaps hoping for White to play 2. e4 and transpose into a French. But White made the unusual move 2. Bf4, which to me looks like from the "Getoutofbookquickly Opening". Most people do not know, but Vladimir Borisovich Getoutofbookquickly was a Ukrainian master of the 19th century, who played what looked like reasonable moves according to Opening Principles 101, but no one ever played before or afterward. FM Friedman responded with 2...Nf6, which according to the statistics at chessgames.com, has a 49% success rate with Black, and only a 33% success rate with white. Only 18% of games that start 1. d4 e6 2. Bf6 Nf6 are drawn, (granted, small sample size).

Looks like Board 2 may turn out to be an exciting battle. After a dozen moves, Costigan is only up 5 minutes on the clock, and while two minor pieces have been exchanged, all the foot soldiers remain.

8:01pm

Let's start on Board 4. We see the Inventors' Daniel Yeager as Black against the Knockouts' sole winner last week, Jayson "I wasn't really born in 1995" Lian, as White.

Jayson started the game with the Queen Pawn, and it quickly went into a Nimzo Indian. Black ended up with what appeared to be an oddly placed dark-squared bishop on a5, outside his pawn chain. On move 11, Black pushed his d-pawn to d5, and we had one of the most fun pawn structures around, the c- and d-pawns of each side in a staredown on c4, c5, d4, and d5. A flurry of exchanges has left white with a half-open c-file and a kingside fill of pawns. Black has a full complement of pawns on the queenside, and some space. Minor pieces are equal. White may need to shelter his king, but his Bishop on d3 peers down both diagonals on the board.

Jayson is up on the clock too, by about 18 minutes. 15 moves have been completed.

7:58pm

It is almost 8:00pm. Time to go around the horn for each game!

7:55pm

I usually wear a sport coat to work, but today I wore a turtleneck and no jacket. I am a fool because it is about 58 degrees in this room. Even the hot coffee is growing icicles.

7:49pm

Tonight, the room is exceedingly cold. The air conditioning is blowing strong and hard, and I'm freezing!

7:44pm

And the Ippolito-Smith game has started! It is a Modern system I've seen a lot. The Bangiev Squares Strategy recommendation for Black is this system with 1...g6, 2...Bg7, 3...c5 against almost anything that White plays (except a queenside fianchetto). Ippolito has decided to gain some space in the center with 4. d5, and now has a strong looking light-squared pawn phalanx in the middle of the board.

7:40pm

The more things change... Bryan Smith will play board 2 after all. There will be a 35 minute time penalty, and the Knockouts' IM Ippolito will have 90 minutes and the Inventors' Smith will have 55 minutes.

7:35pm

From the USCL Commissioner:

**UPDATE** There will be a last second replacement on Board 2. FM Mike Shahade will be replacing IM Bryan Smith. Rules dictate that he will start with a 90-45 time disadvantage... however New Jersey has waived this penalty and it will just be 90-70, as it's 20 minutes past starting time.

Some have commented that this was good sportsmanship on New Jersey's part. Which it is, but it is entirely due to the donuts, which I think Dean is out in the hall devouring right now.

7:30pm

The Inventors' Board 2 has bagged. An emergency replacement for Board 2 has been announced. It is FM Michael Shahade, father of the USCL's commissioner, Greg Shahade. The game has yet to start, and IM Dean Ippolito awaits.

7:25pm

Quietly, on Board 4, young Jayson Lian has the white pieces in a Nimzo Indian. In the line that's there, according to the statistics at chessgames.com, 6. a3 leads only to a 32% winning percentage for white (34% draw, 34% black win).

7:23pm

Conference on the mound. Board 2 of Philadelphia still has not shown.

7:17pm

No pictures tonight, unfortunately. You will just have to imagine the donuts. There are about equal numbers of glazed, powdered, and cinnamon. There are only a few chocolate ones. That will tick off GM Joel, and it is likely he will take out his rage on Kudrin on board one, turning his Giuoco Piano into a Giouco Fortissimo!

7:15pm

According to the statistics at chessgames.com, the line GM Joel Benjamin chose for himself in this line (6...Ba7) is pretty drawish, with 48% of games ending in draws. White does win 33% of the time and Black wins 19% of the time.

7:11pm

On Board 1, Kudrin-Benjamin have played a Giuoco Piano, that apparently follows Sadvakasov - Becerra (Miami 2007) according to IM Mark Ginsburg.

7:09pm

All these crazy openings! On Board 3, we have 1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 ... what?!?

7:07pm

Three of the four games starts. Philly's second board, Bryan Smith, is stuck in his garage inventing something.

7:04pm

The games are about to start. Everyone is here.

4:19pm

Prepare for the epic showdown tonight, as the Knockouts try to extend their winning streak to three matches by lobotomizing the Inventors, who are desperate for a win, which would get them back into playoff contention.

Goeller annotates KOs-Snakes games

2007-10-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Michael Goeller, of the Kenilworth Chess Club (which is a nice club that I attended a few times last year, but unfortunately never got back to for a number of reasons) has annotated this past week's games versus Carolina.

You can get the annotated games here.

Real Time Blog (Week 6) - NJKOs vs. Cobras

2007-10-03T16:00:00.001-07:00

10:47pm

And Dean drew! And the Knockouts have won the match, 2.5 - 1.5! Two in a row! The Cobras have proved themselves to be nothing but garter snakes!

Stay tuned next Monday, for Monday night chess versus Philadelphia!

10:42pm

And not a minute later, Zaikov offered a draw to Friedman, and it was accepted! The Knockouts are assured to draw the match. It is 2.0 - 1.0 for the good guys over the Snakes.

10:41pm

Jayson survived the attack, and his extra exchange proved worthwhile, as he crushed Jones! The Knockouts now lead 1.5 - 0.5!

10:32pm

Still two pawns up on Board 2, but they are pretty ugly pawns.

10:30pm

Yes, game drawn by repetition on board 1. So the current score is 0.5 - 0.5...

10:29pm

Looks like we have a repetition upcoming on Board 1. Wait for details...

10:27pm

Craig Jones, on board 4, has what looks like a dangerous attack on Jayson's king. Can Jayson survive it?

10:25pm

The games are speeding up. It is difficult to go from board to board. All boards are low on time, and the games are all complex. Most likely just results from now on.

10:20pm

On Board 4, Carolina has sacced the exchange, for an attack, but Jayon is holding on so far with a little over three minutes remainins.

10:18pm

Milman declined the draw, and he an Benjamin play on, while the clock is now far more balanced.

10:17pm

A bunch of trades in the Friedman game, and there's what looks to be an interesting, and difficult, B+R ending.

10:12pm

GM John Fedorowicz is commenting on Friedman's game, and saying that Aviv got his money worth. The end here is exciting!

10:07pm

How interesting. Three pawns down, down on the clock, and FM Friedman has offered a draw to his opponent on Board 3. It is an interesting offer; while materially and temporally, Friedman is far worse, his most recent move, 25. Nf5 suggests that he may have a devastating attack, that is not 100% sound. But, will Zaikov risk that it is, in fact, unsound? Or will he take the draw?

10:05pm

The Knockout's Board 4, Jayson "I'm not 12 even though the USCL website claims I am" Lian, has rammed a knight down the throat of his Cobric opponent. 21...Ne3. Blam!

10:04pm

Zaikov didn't do a Kramnik.

10:03pm

On Board 3, Friedman is threatening mate in 1 with 24...Qd7#. Will Zaikov see it? Or will he do a Kramnik?

10:01pm

IM Milman is still thinking about the draw offer....

9:57pm

The crowd is buzzing. Has Joel made a "team" decision, because the KOs are looking good on Board 2? Or, Joel, cognizant of his own clock status, has made a strategic decision to call it a day, even though he may be a tad better, and has White.

9:56pm

On Board 1, GM Joel has offered a draw to IM Milman. The crowd seems in disbelief.

9:53pm

A look around the room here would suggest that the match is not going well for the Knockouts. Players are slouched, chewing on themselves, grumpy. The KOs are down on the clock on most boards. The time is getting short. The scramble should start soon.

9:42pm

I've determined that for next year, I will have a better camera!

9:36pm

The situation doesn't look so promising for a few reasons.

First, the Knockouts are losing time on the clock. GM Joel has 14 minutes left compared with IM Milman's 32 minutes. And they are still only on move 19. And on Boards 3 and 4, the KOs are down to 18 and 12 minutes respectively, while their opponents have move.

Moreover, on Board 3 FM Aviv Friedman is a pawn down, but his opponent has a 3-1 majority on the queenside -- soon perhaps 3-0.

The guys need some water. Like this...

9:28pm

Boston is having a good night. The Red Sox won the baseball playoff, and their Board 4, Chris "is Awesome and 0 friends" Williams won his game quickly versus San Francisco. Whatever you may think of young Mr. Williams and his "awesomeness" at chess and (ahem) "music", it cannot be denied that his 4-0 record in USCL is pretty awesome.

9:18pm

Knockouts player Victor "Stalemate" Shen informs me that Jayson Lian was born in 1992, not 1995 as stated on the website. That makes much more sense, as he would be really tall for a 12 year old.

9:16pm

On Board 2, Dean Ippolito looks like he's returned one of the two pawns.

9:12pm

The games have all still not reached the 20th move yet. And, unlike other Knockout matches, the clocks remain reasonably balanced for both sides.

Looks like the increment rush will happen in an hour or so.

9:02pm

It is an hour and forty-two minutes later. Only 13 1/3 donuts left. See below. These people are animals!!

8:55pm

Almost 9:oo, and here are my assessments of the Knockouts' games so far.

Board 1: Benjamin's game looks like it is a game between GMs, so therefore, it is far too complicated for me to figure out.
Board 2: Ippolito's game has him up material, and way behind in development. I wouldn't want to be Ippolito is I was playing against Zapfrybizkapa.
Board 3: Friedman's game looks like it was plucked from the library of bullet games.
Board 4: Lian's game has too much mixing of the colors -- the pieces need to go back to their own sides!

8:47pm

Time used on the clocks is very balanced across the teams. (Team with more time indicated)
(1) 43-49 (CAR)
(2) 36-51 (NJK)
(3) 44-46 (CAR)
(4) 50-38 (CAR)

8:45pm

Interesting factoid: All games are on a different odd move (11, 13, 15, 17). Concidence?? I think not!

8:38pm

Back to the physical layout of the room. If you've read the blog before, you know that the Knockouts play at the Chapel Hill Academy in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. It is a charter school. We're in the computer lab, and the players are spread out in the room. GM Joel is in the corner of the room by himself. Big Dean is at the head of the room at his own table with his dual drinks (Poland Spring water and Nestle strawberry milk). Young Lian, and "Sveshi" Friedman are at opposite ends of a long table.

8:36pm

It just seems like the atmosphere in the room tonight is a little different than the other matches I've attended. There is more of a determined atmosphere.

It is also a little hotter in here than it has been the previous weeks.

8:28pm

Back to the unusual opening on Board 2... Ippolito is up 30 minutes on the clock, two pawns ahead. White didn't take the apparent draw, and castled instead.

8:20pm

"They" have commented on whether I have better things to do, than take pictures of donuts. So.... here's a picture of the coffee, instead.

8:14pm

Comments on the Ippolito games suggest that White may have a "perpetual" attack on Black's queen, with this line.

9. Be3 Qe5 10. f4 Qa5 11. b4 Qb4 12. Rb1 Qa5 13. Rb5 Qc3 14. Rb3, etc.

But it seems like taking a quick draw with White may not be in Carolina's best interests. However, White down some material, so maybe it is best at this point? What will Schroer do?

8:09pm

Board 2, Ippolito versus Schroer has acquired its own gravity. Not that I'm anywhere near qualified to comment on the quality of the chess, but... Dean Ippolito did get a little greedy, it seems, when he played 8...Nxe4. Will White chase Dean's queen clean from the scene?

7:58pm

All the games have interesting positions. On Board 1, GM Joel Benjamin's position looks more serpentine than the Cobra's player's position. His pieces are lurking back, ready to strike at any moment. On Board 2, IM Dean Ippolito looks like he may be a pawn or two ahead, but whether White's compensation will give him anything is unclear -- Dean just can't get too greedy, I suspect. On Board 3, the acreage that FM Aviv Friedman has encountered is impressive looking, but will black just squat his pieces in White's space? On Board 4, young Jason Lian has some potential holes in White's position at which to poke.

7:55pm

FM Aviv Friedman is munching on peanuts from a Ziploc bag.

7:51pm

On Board 1, GM Joel seems to be a little underdeveloped. His light-squared bishop flew out to c4 early, and now has backed into c2, after a few moves. The consensus of the 80 people watching the game is the White is playing a Ruy Lopez, and Black is playing a Sicilian Dragon. The question is, though... who will prove triumphant? The Spaniard or the Italian?

7:48pm

On Board 2, the Cobra's Schroer took over seventeen minutes to figure out how to recapture Ippolito's cleric, who giving check. It looks like Ippolito is a pawn up, maybe more.

7:40pm

The first week, there were sandwiches, chips, donuts, coffee, soda, and water all very generously provided to the players. The second week, the sandwiches were gone, but the chips, donuts, coffee, soda, and water were still available.

But now, it is the staples of life. Donuts, coffee, and water.

Here are the donuts.

I know that I and the players are all very grateful for the food. Thanks!

7:30pm

On Board 3, our newest player, FM Aviv Friedman is gaining a great deal of space on the kingside, with pawns on e4, f4, g4, and h4. He's White in a Sicilian, and he's prepping his kingside attack, although Black hasn't quite castled over there yet.

7:26pm

More on Dean Ippolito's game. His 4...Bb4+ is a relatively rare move. More common is4...Be7. His move scores 38% for white and 30% for black. However, Schroer's response 5. Nbd2 is extremely uncommon, only played about 2% of the time. 98% of the time, 5. Nc3 is the move.

7:19pm

On Board 2, IM Dean Ippolito, playing black, is in a Queen's Gambit Declined, which is a nice change from all the Slavs we've seen recently in the World Championships.

7:18pm

On Board 4, Craig Jones decided to give up his advantage of the first move by playing Nf3 and e3.

7:06pm

And we're off! The games started on time tonight... On Board 1, GM Joel Benjamin takes on IM Lev Milman, while on Board 2, IM Dean Ippolito tackles IM Jonathan Schroer.

The Knockouts tonight feature the debut of two player on board 3 and 4. On Board 3, FM Aviv Friedman, who was an early roster substitution for FM Tom Bartell plays youngster FM Oleg Zaikov. And on Board 4, the Knockouts youngest member, Jason Lian (born 1995, you do the math) plans on not pulling his punches against Carolina's Craig Jones.

7:00pm

The KOs versus the Snakes.

GM Joel Benjamin annotates his win over GM Pascal Charbonneau

2007-09-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: GM Joel Benjamin has generously annotated this game for the blog. In it, you can clearly see Joel's wry sense of humor and dry wit. And, furthermore, the detail and clarity of his annotations really give good insight to a grandmaster's thinking process. Thanks GM Joel!

Joel Benjamin –Pascal Charbonneau [B80]

USCL NJ vs. NY, 26.09.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6

Move order can be quite sophisticated for GMs. If 3…Nc6 White could switch into a Rossolimo with 4.Bb5.

4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.0–0 d6

In the 2005 World Open Pascal tried 6…Qc7 against me.

7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7

Now I had to think for a few minutes to remember what I liked to do in this line. Fortunately, my memory still works on occasion.

9.a4 Be7 10.Nb3

The plan with Be3, trading on c6, and a5 is more common (see a million Alexander Ivanov games) but I think it's a bit boring. The knight retreat to b3 is logical with Black’s bishop committed to d7. I once won a nice game in this line over Aussie GM Darryl Johansen, a.k.a. Buster Poindexter.

10...b6

I must have defended this position against deFirmian at some point. With me a Taimanov maven and Nick a g3 devotee, it seems likely. I probably tried Na5 here. After Pascal's move Black's position just doesn't look right.

11.f4 0–0 12.g4

I thought for a moment about 12.e5 to stick his knight on e8, but I didn't want to let him sack the exchange with 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 Nxe5. The g4 push is well timed, because Black doesn't have time to get the d7 square for his knight.

12...g6

Of course not 12...Bc8? 13.e5. I thought during the game that 12…d5!? was a good practical chance. After 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 exd5 Black has at least has freed his position.

13.Qe2 Ne8

I thought 13...Qc7 would be more natural, and wondered about 14.e5!? Ne8 15.exd6 Nxd6 16.f5.

14.Be3 Ng7 15.Rad1 Qc7

15...f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Nd4 (other moves are strong too) leaves Black too loose.

16.f5

With the Black queen no longer observing the dark squares on the kingside, it seems like the right time to pounce.

16...Bf6 17.Bh6

17…gxf5

Black’s position is getting increasingly uncomfortable. Pascal was running low on time looking for a way out. 17...Rae8 18.e5! kills Black with f6 or Ne4 to follow. Fritz recommends 17...Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rfc8, but Black’s dark squares look pretty scary in that event.

18.exf5 exf5

18...d5 (preventing 19.Ne4) was definitely a better try. 19.g5 (I considered 19.Bf4 followed by 20.Bd6 as well) 19...Bxc3 20.bxc3 Nxf5 21.Bxf8 Rxf8 22.c4 looks strong for White but is a bit messier.

19.Nd5 Qd8 20.gxf5

I didn’t consider the Fritz suggestion 20.Nxf6+ Qxf6 21.g5 Qg6 22.Qd3, but I don’t think it’s any stronger anyway.

20...Bg5

This loses quickly but I don’t think there’s much hope anyway. After a plausible move like 20...Kh8, 21.Qd2 Rg8 22.Nxf6 Qxf6 23.Qxd6 wins easily.

21.Bxg5

This was a tough call for me. I was tempted to play 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.f6+ Kh8 (I knew 22...Kh6 had to lead to mate; 23.h4 Bxh4 24.Rf4 Bg5 25.Kf2! was one line I calculated) and now:

A) 23. Qh5 Rg8 24. h4 Bg4 (24...Rg6 25. hxg5 Qg8 is of course lost but I found it slightly annoying) 25.Qxg4 Be3+ 26.Nxe3 Rxg4 27.Nxg4 and White’s three pieces should triumph over the queen.

B) 23.h4 (probably even stronger) 23…Re8 24.Qh5 Be3+ 25.Nxe3 Rxe3 26.Qg5 wins the rook. 23…Bxh4 or 23…Bh6 24.Qh5 traps the bishop.

In the end I decided the other continuation was simpler and left less to chance.

21...Qxg5 22.Nxb6 Rad8

Or 22...Rae8 23.Qd2 and White will clean up pawns in the endgame.

23.h4!

This isn’t necessary to win, but it wins a piece and isn’t difficult to calculate.

23…Qg3 24.Rd3 Qe5 25.Re3 1–0

As an infrequent tournament competitor these days, I can go a long time between wins as satisfying as this one (especially because we won the match, woo-hoo!)

Pascal is working full time on Wall Street so he has an even greater challenge to play up to his level. Given the few minutes he already spent on his second move, I would say he didn’t have much time to prepare for this game.

Real-time blogging: Week 5 -- battle of NJ and NY

2007-09-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

11:43pm

Finally! They've agreed to a draw! And the Knew Jersey Knockouts win!! 2.5 - 1.5 over the Knew York Knights.

Next week, Wednesday October 3 at 7:00pm against the Carolina Cobras!

11:37pm

We're all tired, but the game continues. Is it a win for white or a draw?

11:19pm

The commentary is buzzing. It looks like it might end up with three pawns (NY) versus a rook (NJ). But things are still unclear.

11:09pm

Hess offered a draw to Mike Zlotnikov, but we don't think Zlotnikov acutally saw the offer, else he would have immediately accepted, since that would have won us the match. Oh boy...

11:04pm

Zlotnikov is still playing. Hess lost a pawn, but that seems to make his position freer, and he needs to win. They are shuffling pieces around the board, but Zlotinkov has got his rook in Hess's face, but it isn't clear how much it can do there.

10:46pm

Evan just blundered, and fell victim to ...Rxg6+ Kxg6 Qg5+ and then he resigned, as his rook was about to become victim to a Queen fork.

So the match stands at 2.0 - 1.0, with New Jersey still in the lead.

10:35pm

Hess knows he needs to win, and is justifiably reluctant to draw his game (and thus, lose the match for his team).

10:27pm

We've at least drawn the match. Evan is struggling to hold on on board 4, but it doesn't look good. He's exchanged his queen, and now has three minor pieces for White's queen and two pawns. She's pretty low on time, though. She needs to win, as it looks like Zlotnikov Hess has turned into the closed position shuffle.

10:18pm

Boom! Boom! Two wins back to back! Benjamin and Molner both won within seconds of one another, and the Knockouts lead 2.0 - 0.0!

10:14pm

Zlotnikov has offered a draw to Hess. Zlotnikov is way up on the clock, but the consensus seems to be that the position is roughly equal.

10:11pm

Evan Ju is still thinking. His time has now gone below his opponent. I am still blogging.

10:02pm

Mac played 30. Re7 ... he sacced another piece! Will it work? Does it win?? Is this the game of the week????

10:00pm

Mac is staring intently on the screen. Does 30. Re7 win for him?

Oh, and Bionic Woman is over.

9:57pm

The room is very tense. Mac is making waiting moves, trying to gain some time on the clock, but he is still very low on time. Zlotnikov and Hess are locked up in a very closed position. Evan Ju is still trying to figure out how to convert his advantage. The consensus is, though, that Joel has a significant advantage against Charbonneau.

9:47pm

Evan Ju has been thinking hard about his his opponent's 28. Rc3. He may be trying to calculate how the endgame will look for him if all the pieces have been swapped off. While he has a knight and a bishop for a rook and a pawn, the pawn on g3 will be lost soon, one way or another. He is up on the clock, though, and has the luxury of planning how to grasp a victory from the Tree of Winners.

9:40pm

There is a tactical possibility that has arisen on the Molner board, which Mac missed. 26. Re7 Bxe7 27. dxe7 Qc7 28. Qxh5!! +/-

9:31pm

Unlike most of the other weeks, the Knockouts are actually up on the clock on three of the four boards. The only board on where we are down is the Molner board, and that was due to the 49 minute think on the piece sac.

9:30pm

Molner (white) is trying to press his advantage. Looks rather dangerous for black, but if he comes out of it okay, then black is a piece up.

9:18pm

Eighteen minutes into the Bionic Woman premiere, and all four games are still going. Here are some random observations.

On Board 1, Charbonneau has forgotten that pawns can move two squares on their first move.
On Board 2, Hess gives new meaning to the phrase bad bishop.
On Board 3, the Big Mac Attack is still on track.
On Board 4, there is unbalance on the board and on the clock.

9:09pm

I didn't fully give credit to Mac Molner's piece sacrifice on Board 3. The jury is out on whether it is sound or not, but the crowd seems to think it is at least dangerous for black.

9:04pm

The coffee is especially good tonight. But the cups are a little too flexible. There are two choices of donuts, cinnamon and powdered sugar, but the powdered sugar has orange food coloring in it. Halloween is coming early, it seems.

8:49pm

Ugh. The series premiere of Bionic Woman starts in 11 minutes. I have to get a donut to console myself.

8:41pm

Life master Dr.Brian McCarthy (DropZone on ICC) made these comments about GM Joel's play in his game:
Joel has saved a tempo on Nigel Short's system of Be2-f3-g2 and g4, vs g3 g4 and bg2, and Nigel has been wiping the floor with people lately in one of the only lines he still scores with. Joel can try to save the Be3 tempo for something else (a trick Nigel also uses) but Joel can think he is 2 tempi up on a main line, maybe even 3, since he has left out Kh1, a universal Nigel move.Thanks for letting us use the comments, DropZone!

8:37pm

The general consensus is that Joel Benjamin seems to have a very good position against Charbonneau, and he's up on the clock to boot. One observer made what appears to be astute comments about the game, and claimed that Joel has made improvements on Nigel Short's system of beating the Sicilian.

8:34pm

Observers at each of the games...
Board 1: 86
Board 2: 43
Board 3: 34
Board 4: 37

8:33pm

Mac still hasn't moved. He's gone from looking at the physical board to the screen.

8:22pm

Wow! On Board 3, Mac Molner has gone into a very long think. It is almost 40 minutes so far. The wide open position allows a lot of possibilities for attack and Molner is ready for a Big Mac Attack! (image taken from: www.andygonsalves.com)

8:20pm

On Board 1, Joel Benjamin's 12. g4 has confused Charbonneau, who is thinking long and hard as to why he only occupies 3/8 of the board.

8:09pm

I'm hopeful the Knockouts can win the matches quickly tonight, so I can go home and catch the premiere of "Bionic Woman".

8:08pm

As many of you know, at the playing site, the players have the option of playing on the physical board or on the computer screen. The rules state that once you make a move on the board, you must make that move on the screen. Most of the players seem to use the physical board for the first half of the game, and then they move to the screen.

7:57pm

On Board 1, captain GM Joel Benjamin is on the White side of some strange "Marmotta Nordamericana" opening, which is actually Italian for 'woodchuck', since I was trying to find hedgehog in Italian, cause to me it started as a Sicilian and turned into a hedgehog.

Ok, I'm losing it.

7:47pm

On Board 2, IM Mike Zlotnikov wields the ebony warriors against the ivory soldiers controlled by IM Robert Hess. Mike has played a Modern-like opening, jettisoned his bad bishop and has eyes on the big hole on g3.

Here's Mike setting up his pieces at the beginning of the game, while GM Joel Benjamin looks on.

7:38pm

On Board 3, the Knockouts' Mac Molner is playing white against FM Marc Arnold. Already on the 16th move, Mac has castled long and has flung his kingside pawns in what appears to be a kitchen sink attack against Arnold's wing. Arnold's king is stuck in the center, and it appears that this will be a wild ride.

Here's a picture of Mac in his pre-match warmup -- trademark headphones, playing a 5-minute game.

7:31pm

We'll go around the horn now, and check out each of the games. Let's start with Board 4...

On Board 4, the Knockouts' Evan Ju, the current US Cadet Champion, has the black pieces against WFM Irina Zenyuk. 26 people are tuned in watch Evan skillfully rearranging his pieces on the back row, while keeping an eye on the closed phalanxed center.

7:26pm

Finally all the games have started. Because of their delay in starting the games 2 and 3, the Knights were given a 12 minute penalty on those two boards. USCL commissioner Greg Shahade threw the yellow flag, blew his whistle, crossed his arms, and said "Delay of game!"

7:21pm

A picture of GM Joel Benjamin's board, awaiting Charbonneau's response to 2. Nf3.

7:18pm

The Knights are having trouble getting their act together. Maybe they are helping each other set up the boards properly? :-)

7:11pm

And two of the games have started! Evan Ju is black in a King's Indian Defense, and !st board Joel Benjamin seems to have completely stumped New York's Pascal Charbonneau, with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf6 ... Charbonneau is having a long think about this incredibly unusual move from Benjamin.

7:05pm

Evan Ju is here, he's here from the Garden State Parkway.

7:01pm

The matches are scheduled to start in five minutes. Most of the New Jersey team is here, the remainder is on the Garden State Parkway, again...

3:43pm

Its getting time for the battle of the Hudson River, the battle of the silent Ks. The Knew Jersey Knockouts and the Knew York Knights have Knever met, and the clash begins at seven tonight.

Real Time Blog (Week 4) - NJ vs. Queens rematch!

2007-09-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Next week, the Knockouts take on preseason favorite the New York Knights. Will we see the huge potential matchup of former US champions Benjamin - Nakamura? Stay tuned to this blog and the United States Chess League for next weeks 7:00pm match!

10:47pm

Evan spun a mating web, and Parker Zhao resigned. So, the Knockouts lose by the slimmest of margins, 2.5 - 1.5.

10:40pm

And its official. Joel has resigned, and the Knockouts are unable to pluck another miracle from the Miracle Tree. We've already picked the tree dry, it seems. Queens has won the match, and is ahead 2.5 - 0.5, with only Evan Ju left to finish his game.

10:29pm

Stunning. In a matter of a few short minutes, IM Zlotnikov looked like he dropped an exchange, which his opponent didn't take for some reason that isn't clear to me and several others, and then a few moves later fell victim to a knight fork on e2. He promptly resigned, and now Queens leads New Jersey 1.5 - 0.5. It will take another amazing comeback to draw this match, let alone win it.

10:21pm

It is looking still pretty tense. On Board 4, Evan is up in the endgame and on the clock, and should be able to pull it off with some good technique and solid play. Board 1 is not looking good for NJ. Zlotnikov is up on the clock and may have a slight advantage -- there's a disagreement whether he's better or its equal, so I'm splitting the difference and saying +=.

However, in the past three weeks of the Knockouts' matches, we've had some wacky finishes, so anything can happen. It's probably the water. Or the refineries. Or all the secretly buried bodies. There's just something about New Jersey!

10:17pm

Molner and Critelli finally saw each others' draw offer, and the score is now 0.5 - 0.5.

10:15pm

Things are getting tense. Joel's position on Board 1 is not looking good. Zlotnikov's position on Board 2 is looking good, and he's up on the clock to boot. Molner and Critelli are in a drawn position, but neither seems to be either (a) seeing or (b) accepting each others' draw offers. On Board 4, Evan Ju has to get out of some complications, but he should emerge with a material advantage. Michael Khodarkovsky shrugs.

10:01pm

The Knocnkouts' Michael Khodarkovsky believes that 22.Qg4 is winning for Stripunsky on Board 1. His dispassionate analysis hits the Knockouts like a cold fish on a frozen Siberian lake.

10:00pm

Molner has offered a draw on board 3, to which Critelli is pondering his response.

9:48pm

Back to the clocks. The Knockouts have an advantage on the clock on boards 2 and 4, where we are way behind on the clocks on the other two boards.

9:29pm

Pre-teen, or just-teen Parker Zhao is loading up his pieces on the a7-g1 diagonal, with his surprising 15...Qb6.

9:26pm

Meanwhile back on board 1, Joel's move of 17...Kxe7 has surprised the crowd of over 150 observers. Most expected the natural recapture 17...Qxe7. Joel's move, however, may allow white to take a pawn and centralize his queen, forcing a queen exchange. The crowd now is buzzing with hints of "what if" and "but then" analysis.

9:25pm

Of course, the Knight on f6 is en prise. There are complications though, and it will be interesting how it plays out.

9:20pm

I confess I don't understand Evan's response of 15. Qh3 as it seems to me that 15...Nf2+ is a good move that wins the exchange. I'm clearly missing something. Here's the position.

9:12pm

Does Zhao's 14...h4 just drop a pawn? Or is he opening up the h-file for an assault on Ju's king?

9:05pm

Taking a stroll around the room, here's what I see. We're in a computer lab at the Chapel Hill Academy in Lincoln Park, NJ

Board 4, Evan Ju, is sipping a bottle of ice cold water, leaning back in chair, looking at the screen. He's just played 14. e5, and is now walking around the room, checking out the other games.

Board 3, Mackensie Molner has his ubiquitous headphones on, a Montclair Soccer t-shirt, and has played 12...Rad8. He's staying close to his machine, as if he's expecting a reply soon. He's also down on the clock a bit.

Board 2, IM Mikhail Zlotnikov, is finally standing up. I don't believe he's gotten up at all in the past two hours, but now he's standing, taking a short stroll around the room, checking out GM Joel's game over Joel's shoulder.

Board 1, GM Joel Benjamin, however, is all business. He's upright in his chair, no longer leaning on the table. He's in front of the physical board, but looking at the screen. His body is still, yet relaxed, in a focused beam of concentration on the task at hand, namely, to force the Pioneers to circle their wagons, and wait for the fourth board jab, the third board cross, the second board hook, and the first board uppercut to finish them off.

8:57pm

The kibitzing in Board 1 is starting to center around the excitement of the USCL. People are excited to have their own teams in Canada, Mexico, even Israel, although I think that the time difference between Israel and the USA may be a bit much.

8:51pm

Perhaps surprised by the fact that Stripunsky didn't take his knoght on e4, GM Benjamin has sunk into a long deep think. He's hunched over the physical board, hands on the table, perfectly still.

8:46pm

We have turtle!

8:44pm

On Board 2, IM Zlotnikov has flown his rook over to the open c-file, starting a staring contest with the Black queen, which has settled on c7. The Black Queen is no longer comfortable in her little nest. Time to decide, Black queen. Time to figure out where to park yourself for the rest of the game... Will you bravely move out and center yourself? Or will you retreat, like a frightened turtle, back toward the corner of the board. (Apologies to Seinfeld for the turtle reference)

8:40pm

Queen's Board 4, Parker Zhao, is taking his time on his twelfth move. The Knockouts' Board 4, US Cadet Champion Evan Ju, prophylactically slid his king into the corner of the board, which has Zhao in a long think... Shao just moved 11...Bd7 after 14 minutes of thought.

8:34pm

After almost 6 minutes of thought, GM Joel did play 13...Nxe4.

8:32pm

GM Joel Benjamin is taking is time on his thirteenth move. It appears that he's calculating whether 13...Nex4 works.

8:30pm

You might ask, why do so many players take a long time on somewhat obvious recaptures? The reason why is that (when it is their opponent's turn) many of the players spend their time looking at the plastic pieces and vinyl board in front of them, and glance at the screen every minute or so, to see if their opponent moved.

8:27pm

To those that noticed. No pictures tonight, sorry. I could recycle more donut pictures. In a few minutes, though, I will go around and give physical profiles of all the players.

8:24pm

I noticed that last week, and it looks like this week too, our lower boards seem to get into time trouble early. Molner and Ju are both down on the clock, and it is pretty early in the game. Ju has used 40 minutes, and it is only the eleventh move in his game!

8:22pm

On Board 3, Queen's Critelli clearly took Nakamura's time management class. He's used less than three minutes off the starting time. Remember, though, there's a 30 second increment.

8:18pm

New Jersey Knockout's team member Victor Shen said, and I quote, "BENJAMIN PLAYED THE TAIMANOV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

8:10pm

Ratings update. No not Elo ratings... Observer ratings.

Board 1: 142 people
Board 2: 42 people
Board 3: 42 people
Board 4: 33 people

As a comparison, the end of the Gelfand-Morozevich game has 827 people.

8:02pm

On Board 1, GM Joel has slammed down the left-click button of his mouth, in a gesture that resembled the chisel's first strike on the stone that became David, and pushed 10...b4 which seems to have completed flummoxed, befuddled, and indeed, flabbergasted GM Stripunsky. Lost in thought, Stripunsky may be calculating whether he can lash out with the risky knight foray 11.Nd5 or whether he needs to play a little more cautiously. The clock ticks while we await his loaded reply. His move will tell a lot about the character of the Queens team, and indeed, the character of the entire borough. Maybe.

8:01pm

That's really not too easy to see... hmm..

8:00pm

Here's an update of the state of all four boards.

7:55pm

Back to the games... On Board 3, The Pioneer's player FM Critelli, has not taken more than 14 seconds on any of his moves so far.... and that 14 seconds was on his first move 1. e4 !!

7:47pm

As the games zip toward the middlegame, it is time to reflect on week 1's match versus Queens. It was a 2-2 tie, and this week, we see the early rematch. Also, this week there are donuts again. There were donuts last time.

7:43pm

Someone in the crowd has predicted a 2.5 - 1.5 New Jersey win. The masses are coming to the side of the Garden State.

7:35pm

The combined ages of the players on Board 4 is a whopping 29! Evan Ju just turned 16, I believe, and Parker Zhao is all of 13, maybe even only 12. Parker has just zinged his h-pawn toward Ju's castled king position. The elder statesman, Evan, is concentrating at the board, trying to find the reply that will show the whippersnapper, Parker, the errors of his youth.

7:30pm

Apparently, I love blogging. See screenshot below from the US Chess Leag website...

7:24pm

On Board 2, IM Zlotnikov's game versus IM Vovsha has turned into an English opening versus some sort of hedgehog type formation. In week 1, IM Vovsha beat former NJKO member FM Tom Bartell. Bartell, unfortunately, had to resign from the team due to a scheduling conflict. It is hoped, of course, the Zlotnikov can take the momentum from his great World Open finish this past July and use it to crush Vovsha tonight.

7:16pm

Evan Ju is patiently sitting here, awaiting the start of his game. His opponent, Parker Zhao, is apparently not yet available.

7:14pm

Mac Molner has blazed ahead in his game. They are already on the ninth move, and Mac has his queen-knight's pawn on b5.

7:11pm

And we've started... Benjamin has played a Sicilian on board 1. Zlotnikov is finachettoing his kingside bishop. Molner in a Pirc.

7:08pm

Slight delay to the start, but any moment, we hear!

7:01pm

The matches are about to start. The crowd here is intense. The players are intense. The sleeping bags are in tents. Ha ha ha...

6:54pm

Mac Molner and IM Mikhail Zlotnikov have just arrived and are getting set up. We are awaiting our Board 4, Evan Ju.

6:52pm

Joel Benjamin has arrived and is getting psyched to crush the opposition.

3:03 pm

USCL Commissioner Greg Shahade predicts that Board 1's epic rematch between GM Joel Benjamin of the Knockouts and his Pioneer opponent GM Alex Stripunsky is the premiere matchup of the night. Watch all the live blogging from the NJ playing site at the Chapel Hill Academy in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, starting at 7:00pm tonight!

IM Ippolito annotates his win versus Baltimore

2007-09-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

(Editor's note: Dean Ippolito has generously agreed to annotate his win from the match against Baltimore. You can replay an unannotated version here. IM Ippolito is the New Jersey State Chess Federation's Teacher of the Year, and so you can learn a great deal from his insightful annotations. Thank you Dean!)

IM Ippolito - FM Enkhbat [D15]
USCL, Baltimore vs. New Jersey, 12SEP2007

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3

4.Nf3 a6 5.c5 I recently played this against Kritz at the NE Masters and got a winning position. I thought he might have prepared something so I went back to a line that I had only played once before.

4...a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Be2 e6 8.0-0

8.h3 Bf5

8...Nbd7 9.h3 Bf5

9...Bh5 is the main move and goes into my Itkis game from the 2006 US Championships.

10.Ne5

10.Nh4 Ne4;
Better is 10.Bd3!+= which is known to be best for white. I tried getting a little creative here.

10...Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7

11...Ne4 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.f3 Bg6 is also fine for black.

12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Bb2 Bc5

13...Nxe5? 14.Nxb5

14.Bg4 (diagram 1)

14...Bxg4

14...Qg5! was the move I missed when playing 10.Ne5. This gives black no problems and only black can be better. When playing 14.Bg4, I had a decent response lined up against 14...Qg5!, though I was still concerned about it. 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 16.Qe2! was my idea when 16...Nxe5 ( 16...Qxe5 17.Nxb5; Better would be 16...0-0 17.e4 Qxe5 18.Nxd5 Qg5=) 17.e4 with initiative;
14...Bg6 15.Nxd5 was another idea though he can play (even stronger is 15.Ne2 and white is a little better) 15...h5! ( 15...exd5! 16.Qxd5 Rc8 17.Rfd1 Rc7 18.Rac1) 16.Nf4 hxg4 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Qxg4 Qe7 19.Qxg6+ Qf7 and black covers up.

15.Qxg4 0-0 16.Ne2

16.Qg3 f6

16...Qe7 17.Nf4 Rfc8 18.Rfc1

18.Rac1+=

18...Bb6 19.a4?!

Better was 19.Nh5 g6 20.Nf6+ Nxf6 21.exf6 and black has to worry about g7 for a long time to come. I wanted to try for more, and as in most cases of asking too much from a position, got much less.

19...Qb4! 20.axb5 Rxc1+ 21.Rxc1 axb5 22.Bd4 Qd2!

22...Bxd4 23.Nxe6! fxe6 24.Qxe6+ Kf8 25.exd4 Qd2 26.Rf1 and black is in danger. I saw this position after 20.ab but missed his 22nd move which is very strong.

23.Rd1 Qc2 24.Re1?

This is inconsistent with my previous play of going for an attack. Here, time was getting low and I played a passive move. 24.Nxe6! fxe6 25.Qxe6+ Kh8 26.Rf1 and while the position is unbalanced, white is at least no worse.

24...Bxd4 25.exd4 Qc3 26.Qd1

Better is 26.Rd1

26...Ra3 27.Re3

Better is 27.Kh2

27...Ra1 28.Rxc3 Rxd1+ 29.Kh2 Rxd4

Now black is much better.

30.Rc8+ Nf8 31.g3 g6

31...Rb4!?

32.Kg2 Rb4

32...Kg7 33.Ne2 Re4

33.Rc3 Re4 34.Nd3 Kg7 35.Rc7 g5 36.Rb7 Ng6 37.b4 h5

37...Nxe5!? is safer though it's still difficult to demonstrate a win 38.Nc5 Rxb4 39.Nxe6+ Kg6 40.Nxg5 ( 40.Nf8+) 40...Kxg5 41.f4+ Kf5 42.fxe5

38.Nc5 Rxe5 39.Rxb5

Black's advantage is now in doubt due to white's passed b-pawn.

39...Re1 40.Rb7 g4?

Better was 40...Kf6

41.hxg4 hxg4 42.b5

White is now very active and black needs to be careful.

42...Kf6 43.Nd7+ Kg7?

Better was 43...Kf5

44.b6

Black is the one who needs to be careful now. I had seen the coming tactical idea for the previous couple of moves.

44...Ne5?? (diagram 2)

44...Nf8

45.Nxe5 Rxe5 46.Rxf7+!

Now white will queen.

46...Kxf7 47.b7 Re4 48.b8Q Rc4 49.Qe5 Re4 50.Qg5 Rc4 51.Qh6 Ra4 52.Qh7+ Kf6 53.Qh8+ Kf7 54.Qe5 Rc4 55.f4

The easiest way to win is to create a passed pawn.

55...gxf3+ 56.Kxf3 Re4 57.Qh5+

Now the g-pawn will advance and white will win easily. A very lucky win!

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