August 30th, 2010 
Matt Phelps The results from week 1 are best forgotten.
Week 2; Boston Blitz vs. Philidelphia Inventors
White Black
----------------------------------------------------
1. GM Christiansen (BOS) GM Panchanathan (PHI)
2. IM Smith (PHI) GM Perelshteyn (BOS)
3. SM Shmelov (BOS) FM Bartell (PHI)
4. K. Sivakumar (PHI) G. Xu (BOS)
Play begins Wednesday night, September 1st at 7:00 PM EDT.
August 21st, 2010 Matt Phelps 
Here we are! Monday night at 7:00 PM EDT the 2010 US Chess League campaign begins. Here are the matchups:
1. GM Lenderman (NY) GM Christiansen (BOS)
2. SM Shmelov (BOS) GM Charbonneau (NY)
3. FM Goetz (NY) NM Martirosov (BOS)
4. NM Krasik (BOS) NM Ostrovsky (NY)
June 28th, 2010 Chris Bird The 2010 US Chess League Schedule has been released and the Boston Blitz will open and close their 2010 regular season against their favorite foe, the New York Knights. The opening match will be on Monday, August 23rd at 7:00 pm, while their week 10 encounter will be on Monday, October 25th, also at 7:00 pm.
As if that isn’t a tough enough “draw,” the Blitz will also face the New Jersey Knockouts twice, in weeks 5 and 7. The Knockouts won the Eastern Division with an 8-2 record last season and will be looking to go a step further than last year after getting knocked out in the Championship Semi-Finals by New York.
Of their other eagerly awaited encounters, the Blitz will face new local rivals, the New England Nor’Easters on Wednesday, September 15th in week 4, while the only game they will play against a team in the Western Division will be in week 6 against the San Francisco Mechanics, who finished in 2nd place in their division last year.
The Blitz’s remaining games will be against the Philadelphia Inventors in week 2, the Manhattan Applesauce (previously the Queens Pioneers) in week 3, the Carolina Cobras in week 8 and the Baltimore Kingfishers in week 9.
Each year the USCL determines the schedule based on pitting successful teams in the previous year against other, with teams basically becoming a victim of their own success. This is no doubt in an effort to give those so called “weaker” teams a fighting chance by evening things out. (Check out someone else’s slightly humorous take on this topic.)
With the addition of the extra teams this year to increase the size of the league to 16, I personally thought this was a perfect opportunity for the league to switch to a four divisions of four situation.
Eastern Conference
East Division 1: Boston, Manhattan, New England and New York
East Division 2: Baltimore, Carolina, New Jersey and Philadelphia
Western Conference
West Division 1: Chicago, Dallas, Miami and St. Louis
West Division 2: Arizona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle
Each team would play the other team in their division twice, 6 games, once with each color on board 1. They would also play 2 games against teams in the other division in their conference and then 1 game each against teams in the opposite conference divisions 1 and 2. This would total 10 games.
The top 2 teams from each division would qualify for the play-offs, winner of Division 1 plays the runner-up in Division 2, and vice versa, and they would finish from there.
If you were running the league, and you had free reign to change the divisions or schedules, how would you do it?
December 1st, 2009 Chris Bird Voting for the 2009 Boston Blitz Player of the Year has now closed. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the results.
Who did you choose? Was it…
Eugene Perelshteyn who led the Blitz in MVP points after only losing one game in the regular season only to crucially lose in the quarter-finals against NY or…
Ilya Krasik who lost only one game all year while scoring some good wins and draws, albeit on board 4 or…
Marc Esserman with his 4 wins, including a game of the week performance in week 4, despite his 2 losses or…
Anya Corke who went unbeaten in her first season for the Blitz although she only played 3 games or…
Vadim Martirosov with his 75% scoring record of 3 wins and one defeat or…
Andrew Wang for his debut performances on board 4 or…
Denys Shmelov who provided some great Houdini games on a tough board 2 or…
Larry Christiansen whose two wins provided great entertainment, one of which produced the famous “mouse slip” game or…
Jorge Sammour-Hasbun who had to combine his team management skills with playing on board one throughout the year?
And the winner is… Read the rest of this entry »
November 25th, 2009 Chris Bird Lecture: 7:00 pm, Tuesday, December 8th
Entry fee: $10/ free for BCF members
If there is sufficient interest, IM Esserman will play a Smith Morra thematic simul – EF $5 for all.
Marc is an experienced chess teacher based in Somerville, MA, a member of the board of the Boylston Chess Foundation, and a recognized expert on the Smith-Morra Gambit. (See the October NYT’s article about one of Marc’s Smith Morra games by Dylan Loeb McLain.) Recent achievements include:
For more information please contact the Boylston Chess Club using the information below:
Club phone: 617-629-3933
Web: http://www.boylstonchessclub.org
Email: boylstonchess@aol.com
BCF Blog: http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/
November 17th, 2009 Mark La Rocca What can I say? The Blitz lost to the New York Knights in the quarterfinals… a bitter pill to swallow. However, I have always believed that what it takes to be a good chess player is the ability to take one on the chin and get back up… to quickly forget… and concentrate on the next game. Some rationalization, Huh? Well, to some extent it is true, and especially so for the Blitz fans… just forget… take a Valium… or any of the benzodiazepines will do… there’s always next year.
I was worried going into this match as our top boards had not rounded into form at all this season. Let’s go to the stats… after 10 season matches and 1 quarterfinal…
(wins – draws – Losses) = total pts/11 games
First Board…….. (5 – 0 – 6) …. 5.0 pts.
Second Board…. (3 – 3 – 5) …. 4.5 pts.
Third Board……. (5 – 3 – 3) …. 6.5 pts.
Fourth Board….. (7 – 2 – 2) …. 8.0 pts.
Boston’s negative score on it’s top boards was it’s Achilles heal this season. But, enough recrimination… I’m not bitter… and I’m not one to point fingers… Or, am I? Let’s take one last painful look at the season’s end.
On a night when the bottom boards astonished… the top boards disappointed… and the Blitz will watch the rest of the playoffs through the bottom of an empty beer bottle… or at least Ilya will… but, he watches every match that way.
The evening started well on 3rd board with Vadim on his game in what seemed a hard fought draw… which he won!
Read the rest of this entry »
November 11th, 2009 Chris Bird November 10th, 2009 Chris Bird | Board | White | Result | Black |
| 1. | GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2666) | 1-0 | GM Larry Christiansen (2662) |
| 2. | GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2588) | 0-1 | GM Pascal Charbonneau (2560) |
| 3. | Matthew Herman (2275) | 0-1 | Vadim Martirosov (2235) |
| 4. | Ilya Krasik (2252) | ½-½ | Yaacov Norowitz (2354) |
| Boston Blitz | 1½-2½ | New York Knights | |
November 9th, 2009 Mark La Rocca Well, the game is on as the New York Knights have White against our Boston Blitz in tonight’s semi-final. If there is such a thing as home field advantage, Boston has it in the draw odds factor. Due to Boston’s better season record, they will advance in the case of a draw. Believe me, this is a big advantage in match play.
To call this a grudge match is understating things. The BOS – NY rivalry crosses all boundaries in Boston… from Baseball to Tiddlywinks… we just can’t lose to the “Evil Empire”… can we?
The history is that NY beat us in a semi-final match in 2006 and Boston returned the favor in 2007. So, this is the big one… the “Naahh! Naahh! Na Naahh! Naahh!”… We’re the best of all-time… match of the decade. So, let’s get ready to Rumbbblllleee… as manager Jorge Sammour-Hasbun has put up his 10th new lineup (in 11 matches) this year… and a very surprising one it is.
GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) vs. GM Larry Christiansen (BOS)
This was an automatic for Boston. Larry is the heart of the team and must return to form for Boston to go far into the playoffs. On the other hand, GM Kacheishvili has shown top form in the last match of the regular season as he overcame Jorge’s slightly unsound attack for a nice victory in week 10. I predict a no holds barred, barn burner.
GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs. GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY)
This will be a tough one for Eugene… witness their last league encounter in 2007 where GM Charbonneau won GOTW as Black. Eugene has been rock solid with White this year and is playing well. Will he return to his favorite English… or venture e4. I have no clue on this one, but expect some heavy preparation from both sides… maybe a theoretical novelty?
NM Matt Herman (NY) vs. NM Vadim Matirisov (BOS)
This was the shocker pairing of the match. What happened to Marc or Anya? Third board was expected to be advantage Boston in either case… Now, the pressure is on Vadim who turned in his best performance of the year last week in an easy romp over NY’s NM Erenburg on 4th board. Vadim is always well prepared and I expect a very close battle here. This may be the swing game of the match.
NM Ilya Krasik (BOS) vs. NM Yaacov Norowitz (NY)
This was another automatic for Jorge for as much as Larry is the heart… Ilya must be the soul. Ilya is in good form at this season’s end. Expect him to be theoretically accurate and to complicate whenever he gets the chance. NY must have anticipated this matchup… which manager will get the pat on the back after this one is anyone’s guess.
Has Jorge overdone the strategy in this match? We’ll know tonight. But, that’s the way it always is in Boston – NY matches… the manager always suffers the second guessing of us fans… win or lose. But, right now… we’re with you all the way Jorge… Go Boston!
November 8th, 2009 Mark La Rocca This was a night that didn’t count… didn’t count unless you considered pride and rivalry, and, yes, a slight bit of hatred… for the NY symbol of course… not personal at all. The team could never relax and just play chess… not against NY. So, again the tension was palpable… the audience, the standard crew, true and loyal Bostonites… here to watch the demise of the enemy from that city where they talk even funnier that we do. No, there was no let up in this match… on either side. In the analysis room, Ilya was pounding his fist on the table with every bad move his teammates made… and, for that matter, every good one. It’s a strange thing this rivalry… Boston and New York… kind of like Superman and Lex Luther… surely, the bad guys can’t win… not ever.
Our first game to finish, seemed to promote this thought… as Super Vadim walked through his opponents hail of bullets… without even working up a sweat.
Read the rest of this entry »
 Jorge Sammour Manager |
 Larry Christiansen GM |
 Eugene Perelshteyn GM |
 Denys Shmelov |
 Marc Esserman IM |
 Vadim Martirosov |
 Anya Corke WGM |
 Ilya Krasik |
 Matt Phelps Assistant Manager |
 Mark LaRocca Assistant Manager |
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