Boston Blitz vs Queens Pioneers
Monday, November 10, 7:00 pm

Well, the line-ups have been announced for the quarter-finals and there is a shock in that Queens have left out 2008 League MVP, IM Alex Lenderman.

Is it really a shock though?  Well, to most of the league I’m sure it is, but to the great minds behind the scenes at the Boston Blitz, I’m afraid not.  Already, well before Lenderman’s entertaining blog post about the numerous mistakes made before and during the season by the Queens Manager, GM Alex Stripunsky, the Blitz had decided that Queens’ best line-up would be the one they have produced, minus their MVP!  Obviously with such foresight, the Blitz players were able to get a few days extra jump on their preparation and so we’ll see whether that helps in what should be a classic battle between two powerhouse teams from the East.

However, guessing the Queens team could have been a lot more difficult had Lenderman not easily accepted the draw (or offered one, which he did a few moves before accepting it) when he was in an advantageous position, and up on time, against Esserman in the final match of the season.  I’m certain the Queens management would probably have looked more favorably on using the MVP, win, lose or draw, if he’d just had the courage to continue fighting until the bitter end.  Surely though they can’t be blaming the fact that they finished 2nd in the division, by a mere half a game point, on that one result… can they?  I guess Lenderman’s public, and extremely believable, explanation of why he accepted the draw (manager’s permission, securing the MVP – there’s no “I” in TEAM!) was overshadowed by his down to earth, behind the scenes look into the failings of a team that turned a 5-0 start into a 2nd place finish.

Of course, having said all of that, maybe they’re just really annoyed that they now have to play a super-confident Blitz team that just stomped them 3½-½ rather than mopping up a team that, by some miracle, just scraped into the 4th and final spot in the East.

For the quarter-final, Queens have totally restructured the team that lost in week 10 and nobody is playing on the same board, unlike the Blitz team which is entirely the same all the way down.  GM Alex Stripunsky comes back onto board 1, which shuffles the other players down a notch and forces the use of Aleksander Ostrovskiy on board 4.

Board 1 will see an all-GM match-up with the Blitz’s GM Larry Christiansen taking the white pieces against Stripunsky.  Christiansen seems to be back to his formidable self having turned around his bad start to the season with some impressive games in recent weeks.  Even his loss to GM Pascal Charbonneau in week 7 was a good performance apart from finding the finishing touch.  Stripunsky has also had a good year for Queens, especially with the white pieces, and this could be one reason that the Blitz elected for white on boards 1 and 3.

On board 2 the Blitz roll out their other GM, Eugene Perelshteyn.  Perelshteyn is very solid although he had an impressive win against IM Eli Vovsha in week 10 with the black pieces.  He will be lined up against IM Dmitry Schneider who lost to Christiansen in week 10 up on board 1.  Theoretically the drop down a board should make Scheider’s task much easier but unfortunately against the Blitz that theory just doesn’t hold water.  Giving Perelshteyn the black pieces looks to have also been a clever decision by the Blitz management team as he rarely loses and pops up with the (very) occasional win.

Board 3 is surely where Queens rest all of their hopes, which is a dicey game to play when they are matching up against the Blitz’s own team MVP in Marc Esserman.  Admittedly Esserman’s preparation let him down against IM Alex Lenderman in that week 10 match and he is now facing a tougher prospect in IM Eli Vovsha.  In a game that could swing the whole match, it was again smart thinking for the Blitz management to give themselves the advantage of the white pieces although a potential Smith-Morra Gambit could leave them having some sleepless nights in the run up to the game and a few heart attacks on the night of!

Ilya Krasik will look to continue his fine run of form on board 4, once again facing the lowest rated opposition so far this year in Aleksander Ostrovskiy.  Krasik stopped the rot with the black pieces in his week 10 game against Benjamin Katz and showed that he is capable of collecting the full point on either side of the board.  Ostrovskiy, playing out of necessity because of the line-up on boards 1-3, has not had the white pieces so far this year and has not won a game for Queens yet this season.  That’s an awful lot of pressure to be putting on a youngster!

Obviously, one must remember that Queens do have draw odds, meaning that if the final result is a 2-2 tie then they will advance to the semi-finals.  However, the Blitz have yet to tie a single game all year and looking at all four boards, there are more than enough chances for decisive finishes.  It’s going to be an exciting match and one definitely not to be missed.

As usual everyone is invited to come and watch the games live at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge.  There will be a huge display off all the games so you won’t miss a beat of the action.  However, if you can’t make it down to the site, you will be able to follow all the action on the Internet Chess Club.  Play starts at 7:00 pm. 

Match Line-Up