Boston Blitz vs New Jersey Knockouts
Wednesday, September 17, 7:00 pm

The Boston Blitz go into week 4 needing to shrug off last week’s loss to Dallas, and what better way to do it than to beat up one of their divisional foes, the New Jersey Knockouts. Be it by a first round knockout, a 12 rounds points decision or even by biting the heads off their opponent’s pieces, the Blitz really need to get back to winning ways to ensure they don’t get caught up in a tense fight for the play-off positions and to put some pressure on Queens who are leading the Eastern Division with the only perfect record in the USCL.

Last year the Blitz faced the Knockouts after having lost their only regular season game of the year and Manager Matt Phelps has signaled a return to the line-up that beat Carolina a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to avoid what was termed as a “slump” by Assistant Manager Mark LaRocca.

A year ago the Knockouts were a new team and a fairly unknown prospect when the Blitz tied with them in week 8. This year they have been realized as a respectable force and currently sit in third place in the East having used their two GM line-up for the first time in last week’s draw with Seattle. They have some really steady punch at the top of their line-up and some incredibly underrated juniors towards the bottom, a recipe that definitely helps in this league as was demonstrated by Boston last year.

The all GM match-up on board 1 between Joel Benjamin and Blitz All-Star Larry Christiansen promises to be the highlight of the night for most followers. Christiansen managed to eventually hold the draw with the black pieces in last year’s game and to be honest the Blitz may be hoping for a similar result given the out of sorts, lackluster performance in his last outing. Outside problems, such as computers burning up, may have had Christiansen’s attention for the previous game but those seemed to have been resolved as he was back commentating on ICC towards the end of the Bilbao tournament.

On board 2 Denys Shmelov will face off against IM Dean Ippolito. Last year’s match between Sammour-Hasbun and Ippolito grabbed the headlines as Sammour-Hasbun whipped out a Danish Gambit and eventually went on to win. This year it is harder for the Blitz to get a GM and Sammour-Hasbun in the same line-up (although not impossible) and so Shmelov has to step up to his higher rating and take on some tougher opposition on board 2. Shmelov will probably switch back to his regular 1.d4 opening move for this game after going orthodox in his last outing, especially since Ippolito plays the hard to crack Petroff’s.

Boards 3 and 4 were the dominant aspect of that week 2 win against Carolina and the Blitz will be hoping for the same against the Knockouts. Charles Riordan will take the black pieces this time although his young opponent, Mackenzie Molner, is regarded as one of the most underrated and aggressive players in the league. This game may not garner the audience of the board 1 match but in my mind it promises to have more fireworks, especially if Riordan can muster up another impressive performance. Incredibly Molner has only had the white pieces 3 times in 11 games in the USCL but he has scored 2½/3 beating FM (now IM) Marc Arnold and IM Larry Kaufman in the process.

Board 4 may once again be Boston’s greatest hope with Marc Esserman returning from his successful trip to the Miami Open to take on Jason Lian. Esserman finished second in Miami against a strong field, taking the scalps of GMs Ehlvest and Mikhalevski in the process and so it may just be over confidence he has to watch out for against his young opponent. Lian is fairly new to the USCL although his draw was a key part of their half-point against Seattle last week. However, his position was probably winning (two pawns up) and so the youngster may have to learn to take up the reigns on the bottom board, along with all the risks that accompany it, rather than take the safe route every time.

FREE BLITZ MUG! This week we are also giving out a free Boston Blitz mug to one of our lucky fans that shows up to see the match. All on-site spectators will be entered into the free drawing courtesy of the USCL trivia expertness of one of our fans.

Play starts at 7:00 pm at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge. (This week we will be in room A-101, Building A.) A large projection of all the games will ensure you don’t miss any of the action. For all those who can’t make it to see the games live, coverage of all the Blitz games can be followed at http://www.boston-blitz.com/live.htm or you can tune into the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

Match Line-Ups