“Oh, oh, Boston you’re my home.” Down by the river Charles we may have “Dirty Water”… But, here on US Chess League nights we have “Muddy Water.” Boston’s first round playoff (2½ – 1½) victory over the Evil Empire jr., New York Knights, was anything but clear as boards two and three made me hold my breath and swallow deeply several times. In the end, relief was spelled J-O-R-G-E.

First board, and first to finish, matched the Blitz’s GM Larry Christiansen as Black against the Knight’s GM Hikaru Nakamura. Of late, GM Nakamura has been stomping on the international players in impressive style. I’ll admit, my faith was tested and I was worried about this game. I should have known better as Larry made the draw seem effortless in a Ruy featuring White’s 5.d3… I guess this is forced since the e-pawn is hanging… eventually reaching my first favorite position.

Position after 17.Qa5

How does Black counter White’s dominance on the open a-file? Again, I failed the test of faith… 17…c4!, of course… now, after 18.Nbd2 cxd3 19.cxd3 Bc6 Black will exchange everything on the a-file and have the better side of equal with the Bishops. But, the d5 weakness allows White to plant a Knight that is just too strong to ignore. Black trades his Bishop for pawn structure and the game continues to reach this position…

Position after 43.Kxg4

I must say I was amazed… because during the game Jorge, who was involved in his own harrowing experience on board two, came over to me and predicted after White’s 37.g4 that Black now had a draw… How? No problem. Larry now played 43…Bxb4 44.Nxb4 Kc5 and the game reached the final drawn by agreement position…

Position after 55.Nc4

Black will play 55…Kc3 and White has nothing better than to repeat. From start to finish, easy draw… right? Boston (0.5 – 0.5)

Is there any doubt that second board (and sometimes first) superstar SM Jorge “Muddy Waters” Sammour-Hasbun truly was meant to play in Boston? Give him the White pieces and the position becomes unclear from about move six or seven… with Black it may take a little longer.

Last week it was the Danish… be still my heart… this week the ever popular 5.f4… against the Sicilian Kan. When he played this, everyone in the room was looking around at each other. I think we all together swallowed our first big nervous gulp. Jorge told me after the match that he just wanted a position where “pieces are hanging everywhere”.

No one told me that this was the aim of a good opening… I think I need to reevaluate my repertoire. On the board, things were continuously critical for both sides reaching my first favorite position…

Position after 12…Bxe4

Black has won a pawn but is uncastled and has weak pawns that can be plundered at a later time. But, how should White proceed? Fritz liked 13.Nb6 Nd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.f5 with a continuing attack and a Black pawn hanging on a6 if White can’t find anything better. At this point, Jorge seemed to be straining at the board to find the way. I think he just didn’t like trading pieces on d5… he wanted more… So, he played 13.Bc5 Nd5 14.Bxf8 Rxf8 (at least there will be no safe Kings in this game) and the game continued through several tense positions to reach…

Position after 25…g5

Jorge quickly played 26.fxg5 Later, he criticized this move preferring 27.Ra7… Fritz agrees. After the game move, Black builds an attack. 26…Qxg5 27.Rf3 Rf7 28.Qe5 Rbf8 29.Ra1? White falters in time pressure. He should have played 29.Bf1… So, we reach…

Position after 29.Ra1

Now, it seems that Black has a big advantage after 29…Qd2! 30.Bf1 Qxb4 or 30.Bd3 Rg7… Instead, Black played 29…Rg7 30.Bf1 Qh5 31.Ra3 and White is not in immediate danger.

I should take time to point out that both players were under some time pressure during these moves… White was down to seconds and Black to a minute or so. I also want to espouse a theory of mine about Jorge’s style. He puts so much pressure on an opponent right from the opening moves. There just is no let up and eventually, I believe, the tension has a cumulative affect… in the form of a blunder from his opponent. This is only my opinion, but I’ve seen it in several games now. I offer as proof Black’s tactical blunder 33…Qg5?

Position after 33…Qg5?

Black is threatening the f4 Rook and would be better if not for 34.Rg3!!… White wins the Queen and the game after 34…Qh6 35.Rh4 Rxg3 36.Rxh6… Oh, the other thing is… don’t get into a time scramble with Jorge… He’s one of the best there is in speed chess… reference Dos Hermanas 2007. Boston (1.5 – 0.5)

And now, on to the game that actually won the match. NM Chris Williams playing White on board four against a recent nemesis, WFM Iryna Zenyuk. You talk about “Muddy Waters”… this game meets the criteria. I’m sure they understood what was going on, but, I was at a loss. Just take a look…

Position after 14.Kf1

White looks to be struggling here. Quite frankly, I didn’t see Chris winning the cramping d4 pawn any time soon. WFM Zenyuk was playing very aggressively and I had the feeling that she was confident in this position… especially, after her next move 14…Bf5 which forces Chris to win the knight or Bishop after 15.f4

Now, it’s just hope that there is no good way for Black to pick up a few pawns and continue the attack against White’s ruined Kingside. Fritz likes 15…h5 16.fxe5 Qxe5 17.g4 hxg4 18.hxg4 Bxg4 19.Nf3… and Black has two pawns and an attack for the piece. White seems to be winning, but, there’s a long way to go.

Instead, she played 15…Qd7?! 16.fxe5 Bxh3 17.e6… forcing the exchange of Bishops and a simple piece up game after 17…Bxg2+ 18.Kxg2 fxe6 19.e4 dxe3 20.Nf3 exd5 21.Qxd5+ Kh8 22.Bxe3… and White checkmated Black on move 52. Another clutch win from Chris. Boston (2.5 – 0.5)

With this win, the celebration was on… outside the building, of course, since Denys was still playing. Strangely, Denys’ game is the only game I had no concerns about. I felt he was better in the middle game and winning after a very nice piece sacrifice… take a look…

Position after 30.Qf3

Now, I thought at the time that Black would play for a draw with 31…Qg5 32.Qg2 Qf6+ 33.Qf3… and a repetition is forced. Fritz says no… Black has an easy win after 31…Qg5 32.Qh1 (Qg2 is worse) Rxc5! As it turns out, Black has a mate or win of major material… for example, 33. Ne4 Rf5+ 34.Ke1 Qg6! And the threat of Rh5 will win the Knight and more.

Analysis after 34…Qg6

Black missed this and went for the protracted win… 30… Qxf3 31.exf3 Bxc1 settling for a Rook and 3 pawns for two pieces. The draw here seems secure and after a few more moves the match was won. It was then that Denys began to think more. With the match over, he said he just “wanted to play chess” meaning he felt the position was a win and wanted to test his technique. However, he got into time trouble and made some small mistakes that led to a troublesome position…

Position after 67.Be3

It seems that Black can just keep the White King cut off from the pawn and things should be drawn here. For example, 67…g6 68.Nc5 Kb5 and there don’t seem to be any good discovered checks. If the Knight moves to the Kingside, Black can attack the pawn with the Rook and check the White King away if it moves.

Denys, in time trouble, chased the Bishop and after some nice play by IM Bonin reached a final position where Black cannot stop the pawn from Queening. Boston (2.5 – 1.5)

When the game ended, Denys got the customary “Bear” hug from Chris and congratulations and thanks from all team members. Odd that it was arguably Denys’ great play on third board that got the team this far. I’m sure he felt bad that he couldn’t finish off this playoff round with a win. But, wait till next round…

Congratulations to all for the nice Thanksgiving present. I can now eat a lot and keep my food down. See you at the Championship.