Who are Queens?  Well, they are playing the Blitz in the quarter-finals and so lets take a look.

Queens Pioneers came into the US Chess League in 2007 and while they didn’t make the play-offs in their inaugural season, they did finish with a respectable 4½-5½ record.  However, 2008 has seen a change in their fortunes although the impressive 5-0 start couldn’t see them into winning the Eastern Division, eventually finishing in 2nd thanks to a 2-3 finish in the second half of the year.

They have been led this year by a new recruit, IM Alex Lenderman, who usually plays on either board 2 or 3.  Lenderman has captured the 2008 MVP award and finished with a +7 =1 -0 regular season record.  Lenderman is also regularly assisted by GM Alex Stripunsky on board 1, a staple in both of their seasons, who also finished in the top 10 of the MVP standings with a +3 =2 -0 record.

Let’s take a look at their players 2008 records:

As you can see both Stripunsky and Schneider have shared board 1 duties this year but the difference in their records is big.  Vovsha has usually held down board 2 while Lenderman has fluctuated between boards 2 and 3.  When needed the kids have filled in on the bottom boards but only Katz has played on a regular basis, usually at the bottom.  Zhao and Thaler have both filled in nicely on board 3 but their opportunities have been limited.

And let’s take a look at the line-ups used so far and their records:

Their strongest line-ups have Stripunsky on board 1 and a combination of Schneider, Vovsha and Lenderman on boards 2 and 3.  However, the line-up with Schneider on board 1 that the Blitz just beat is not too far behind the Stripunsky line-ups in terms of ratings and is actually the most popular line-up used so far this year.  There is a lot of flexibility between Schneider, Vovsha and Lenderman and further down the line-up with Zhao, Thaler and Katz which means they have thrown out no less than 8 different looks this year!

So what should the Blitz expect?  I cannot see Queens going without Stripunsky and so one of the top two lines would be most predictable.  About the only guarantees are that Stripunsky will be on board 1 and then Ostrovskiy will be on board 4.  That leaves the question of which of the two of Schneider, Vovsha and Lenderman fits in on boards 2 and 3.  It would be hard for them to leave out Lenderman after the season he has had and so it just probably remains to be seen whether Schneider or Vovsha plays on board 2.

So, my predicted line-up for Queens is Stripunsky, Schneider/Vovsha, Lenderman, Ostrovskiy.

So what colors should Boston choose?  Well, I guess a lot depends on the line-up that Boston will use but I will try to give them these pointers:

• Stripunsky has mainly played white and has a solid record.  He has only played black once but won that game.
• Schneider has mainly played black and has struggled.  Vovsha is a toss up and has not drawn a game in 7 attempts this year.  I would look for either of these two players to get black.
• Lenderman has dominated with the white pieces and showed some decent preparation with the black pieces in the final game of the year.  This is a tough call and will probably depend on who the Blitz have playing on board 3.
• Ostrovskiy has had black twice and has struggled in both games.  This is most definitely the weakest link in the Queens line-up.

I’ll leave it to the Blitz players to go into openings and prepare for their expected opponents.  Apparently colors have to be decided by this Thursday, October 30th, 9:00 pm and the line-ups will be chosen by Wednesday, November 5th at 9:00 pm.  I guess all will be revealed soon!