“All the World’s a stage…” and, yes, we’re merely players… chess players, that is… and thanks to Chris Bird’s Boston Blitz Picture Show… we’re in show-biz.

“Who is that guy with the Australian accent?” was the most common question I got from viewers…  “That’s no Australian.”  I replied.  “Martian is a closer description.”  But, hey it was one heck of a good time as the Blitz proved once again… they are in the running for the USCL cup… or whatever it’s called.

Chris hosted the first ever Live Webcast of any USCL match, specifically, the Boston Blitz vs. Queen’s Pioneers round one playoff match, in elegant style… dressed in Armani tee shirt and matching Gucci sneakers… he was, to say the least, impressive.  The analysis was crisp and incisive as a cast of thousands (would you believe hundreds?) joined in during the four hour… let’s all bash the dumb moves and pretend we saw the good ones coming… number one rated webcast.  Such Boston chess luminaries as Paul MacIntyre,  Charles Riordan,  Vadim Matirisov,  Chris Williams… and of course, team Captain Jorge Sammour-Hasbun… who openly admitted that being made captain was the only way Matt could keep him on the bench this night.

From the beginning Jorge had it pegged… “Ilya must win.”  I thought it was too much pressure to place on Boston’s secret weapon… but, it turned out to be the correct strategy and the only way to a happy ending on this night of the Stars…

Speaking of Stars… first to finish, and an inspiring lift for the team, was GM Larry Christiansen… turning in this gem of a game as White against Queens’ very strong GM Alex Stripunsky…  Shall we begin…

GM Larry Christiansen (BOS)  vs.  GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS)  –  Board 1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qg4…

A very aggressive move… Larry is up for a fight.

7… Nf6 8. Qg3 d6 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bd2 Nh5

This position was reached in Charbonneau – Stripunsky, 2007, 0-1.

Position after 11…Nh5

Charbonneau continued 12.Qh3 Nf6 13.f4 b5 14.0–0–0 b4 15.Ne2 a5 16.Bb5 Bd7 17.e5 dxe5 18.fxe5 Nxe5 and Black has a pawn for his troubles.  Larry’s move seems better…

12.Qf3 Nf6

Often GM games display moves of this sort.  The Knight goes to the rim to drive the Queen away and returns… basically saying… “Ok… I didn’t want to move anyway.”  Vallejo Pons – Kamsky, 2005, 0-1 offered 12… Qh4 13.g3 Ne5 14.Qe2 Qg4 which seems to try to make some sense out of Black’s 12th.

13. O-O-O e5 14. Nd5 Be6 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. h3 Nd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. c3 Ba7 19. g4 Nxd5 20. exd5 Bd7 21. Qg3 f5?

Up to now, White has been making quite normal moves and has a nice advantage… after 21.Qg3… White must have been thinking… “Hmmm…. How can I pry open the g-file?”

Position after 21…f5?

After 21… f5? chucking a pawn, White has his answer… and Black is losing.  Black’s problem is that f4 is coming… still, after 21…Qa5 22.Bc2 Ba4 23.b3 Bd7 24.f4 Qc7 he can hope to hang on.

22. gxf5 Qf6 23. Ka1 O-O 24. Rhg1 Rf7 25. Be3 Bxe3?

25…Bc5 is again hanging on… if only by a thread.

26. fxe3 e4 27. Bxe4 Rxc3 28. Bb1 Rc7 29. e4 Be8

White has consolidated and his extra pawn is safe. Now, he musters a Queenside attack to finish things

30. Rc1 Rfe7 31. Qf2 Kf8 32. Qb6 Rxc1 33. Rxc1 Qe5 34. Rc8 Rd7 35. a3 Kf7 36. Rb8 Qe7 37. Bd3 Rc7 38. Ka2 Kf6??

A time pressure blunder, no doubt… but, all was lost anyway.

Position after 38…Kf6??

And now the Bishop is lost… do you see it?  Almost everyone in the webcast room saw the pretty move… 39.Rxe8… Black resigns.  Boston (1-0)

Smooth, positional crunch by GM Christiansen.  This win lifted the team’s spirits and with Ilya waltzing through his game… we only need a draw on 2 or 3 to lock things… But, at this time, both middle boards seemed to be losing.  I should mention that Queens had draw odds due to their better season record.  This meant that if the match ended 2-2, Boston went home for the year and Queens moved on to the semi-finals.

The most important game of the night finished next…

SM Marc Esserman (BOS)  vs.  IM Eli Vovsha (QNS)  –  Board 3

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. Nf3 Ne4 7. Qc2 f5 8. d5!?…

Well, I’ll admit, Marc is pretty good at gambits… but, this one had us all worried.

Position after 8.d5!?

Can you say “new move in the opening”?  Marc came over to me at this point and said… “You see, you can avoid the Morra… but not this… this is better.”  And, I thought, all is right with the world…  at least in a chess sense.

At the time, I didn’t know this move… but, I assumed it was a known gambit… now, I believe that it is new… and I hereby dub it the “Esserman Gambit.”  Hey, if I am wrong, I’m sure some smart guy/gal out there will let me know.

Fritz now calls it equal after 8… Qf3 9.O-O Bxc3 10.bxc Qxc 11.Qb1… and the games afoot.

8… exd5 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd6 12. Bb3 Qf6 13. e4!?…

A Morphy-like move that goads his opponent into capturing the wrong way.  It is certainly an interesting… but incorrect… sacrifice.  White still had a good game with the simple 13.Ba3…

Position after 13.e4!?…

Admittedly, all captures look kind of dangerous… Let’s rank them from best to worst… 13… fxe! -/+ or 13… Bxe4 =/+ or 13… Nxe4 =

After the best… 13… fxe  I don’t know what Marc intended, but Black is two pawns up and the attack doesn’t look to be enough… for example… 14.Re1 Na6 15.Bg5 Qf5 16.Bh4 Nc5 17.Nd4 Qh5 18.Bg3 Nxb3 19.Qxb3…

Analysis position after 19.Qxb3

Black is better… but, still there are difficulties.  Gambits are like that and I think Marc would have enjoyed playing even this position… he’s like that.

13… Nxe4

Fritz rates this dead equal.

14. Re1 Kd8 15. Bf4 Re8 16. Rad1…

This seems more aggressive, but, 16.a4!?… may be an option.  Fritz considers the game equal in either case.

16… Na6 17. Qe2…

With this move, White starts to get in trouble.  17.Nd4… keeps things about equal.

17… h6 18. Bd5?…

Nd4… is still the move…  After the game move, Black has a large advantage.

18… Kc8 19. Qc4 Nac5 20. Nd4?

But, now this move fails.

Position after 20.Nd4?…

20… Ba6

Black is winning… Yet, better was 20…c6!  forcing 20.Bxe fxe and …d5 will lock up the center with an easy game for Black.

21.Qb4 c6 22. Bb3 g5 23. Bc1 Kb7?!

Much better was 23…Nd3! winning the exchange.  But, the game move keeps the win in hand.

24. c4 Nd6 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Bb2 Qe7 27. h3 Nxb3?

This makes the win difficult.

Position after 27…Nxb3?

Strangely, after 28.axb… the open a-file creates threats.  If 28… c5 forking Queen and Knight, White has… 29.Qa4 cxd 30.Ra1… winning back the piece and the d-pawn with an attack.  30… Nc8 31.Qxa6+ Kb8 32.Bxd4… the advantage is still Black’s, but there is no clear win in sight.  The game move gives Black a winning advantage.

28. Nxb3 Ne4 29. c5 Bb5?

In time pressure, Black cannot find the best.  Fritz quickly finds the killer 29…Nxf2 30.Rb1 Nxh3+ 31.Kh2 Nf4 and Black is safe and up three pawns… of course, the Knight could not be captured due to mate or major material loss.

30.a4 a5??

Again missing 30… Nxf2 and, in addition, throwing away the win.

Position after 30…a5??

31. Nxa5+! bxa5 32. Qxa5 Nxf2

He sees… but it is too late.

33. axb5 Nxd1 34. Qa6+ Kb8 35. Qb6+ Ka8 36. Qa6+ Kb8 37. Qb6+ Ka8

There is no escaping the perpetual check… Boston (1.5 – 0.5)

This was certainly the most important game of the match… and the team as a whole let out a deep sigh of relief… Marc should have lost… but his determination… and his opponent’s time pressure allowed a miracle escape… and perhaps placed a new gambit in the books.

And now… the star of our show… Ilya convincingly solidifies his position as “the best worst fourth board in the league.”

Alex Ostrovskiy (QNS)  vs.  NM Ilya Krasik (BOS)  –  Board 4

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 d5

This was a surprise and not at all what Ilya had prepared for… luckily, Ilya is up on the Theory of Everything… often called the Grand Unification Theory, or GUT…

3. Bb2 c6 4. d3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Bd6 8. c4 O-O 9. O-O Qe7 10. Rc1…

A rather calm and quiet opening by White… no “Big Bang” here… Alex must be a “Plasma” guy… the universe always was and always will be…

Position after 10.Rc1

I remember that in this position I was thinking that Ilya was playing under control and, when he does, he is very difficult to beat.  I was hoping for 10…Ba3 11.Qc2 Bxb2 12.Qxb2… when I could relax and Ilya would have a draw in hand.

But, he knew better… the win, as it turned out, was necessary and he played sharply, grabbing more space…

10… a5 11. Qc2 e5 12. e4…

White should at least open the c-file with 12.cxd… now his piece placement makes no sense, as Black blocks things up and grabs a nice advantage.

12… d4!

A nice decision.  Black will play on the Queenside and White’s counterplay is far behind.

13. h3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 a4 15. Ra1…

The Rook returns… a symptom of a bad setup.  I must give credit to Alex, as not many players will admit mistakes.

15…Ra7 16. Nd2…

It was time for White to try and drum up some counterplay… 16.Nh4 g6 17.f4… seems equal.  This takes some advantage of Black’s 15… Ra7 since his f1 Rook will now be needed over on the Kingside.  Fritz preferred 15… Ba6 or 15… b5 with incredible Queenside tension.

16… Ne8 17. f4 Nc7 18. f5…

This kind of attack is too slow, given Black’s Queenside pressure.

Position after 18.f5

18.fxe5 Bxe5 19.Nf3 Ne6 20.Nxe5 Nxe5 is about equal as, at least, White has the two Bishops for his positional woes.

18… Qg5

After the game, Ilya was critical of this move.  But, it is really as good as any.

19. Kh2 Rfa8 20. Nf3 Qd8?

This is the mistake allowing equality, 20…Qe7 kept Black on top, as White can now achieve some play with 21.f6!… and if 21…Nxf6 22.c5!… wins the e-pawn.  White misses this chance…

21. g4? (again too slow) Be7 22. Kg3? Na6

Now, White is much too passive and Black is crawling all over the Queenside.

23. Rfd1 Nb4 24. Qd2 Nc5

The threats come fast and furious… White is in time pressure…and lost.

25. f6 Bd6 26. fxg7 Nbxd3 27. Nh4… desperation.

Position after 27.Nh4

Ilya has his choice of wins here… but, quickest seems… 27.axb3 axb3 28.Ra7… winning the Bishop… and prettiest seems… 27… Nxb2 28.Qxb2 axb3 29.axb3 Nd3… winning the exchange.

27. Nh4 Be7 28. Nf5 Bg5 29. Qc2 axb3 30. axb3 Rxa1 31. Bxa1 Bf4+ 32. Kf3 Nb4 33. Qb1 Ra3 34. Ke2 Rxb3 35. Bb2 Na4 36. Qa1 Rxb2+

Game… Set… Match… a stunned White plays on in agony.

Position after 36…Rxb2+

White finally resigned on move 50… a great game by Ilya… and a star is born… now that we have the webcast… maybe the new Seinfeld… The Krasik show has a ring to it. Boston (2.5-0.5)

Meanwhile, Eugene was struggling in what had seemed a very bad position for quite a while.  Once he sacked the exchange, the game seemed drawish… but, at some point, he seemed to overplay his hand in an attempt to create winning chances… His opponent, IM Shneider, made him pay the price…

IM Dmitry Shneider  (QNS) vs.  GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS)  — Board 2

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6

In round 10, Eugene reached the position after 6.Nc3… against IM Vovsha where he played 6… Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6, in order to avoid 7.Nd2… Eugene must have expected some preparation here, since he reverted to the main line that he recommends in his book.

7. Nc2 Bg7 8. Be2 Nd7 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O a5 11. Qc1…

This move is unusual, but has been played before.

11… Nc5 12. Bh6…

Position after 12.Bh6

Eugene is no stranger to this position.  In Predojevic – Perelshteyn, 2007, ½ – ½ Black played 12…Be6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Qd2 f6 and the game was lifeless and drawn on move 29.

12… Bxc3!?

With this exchange sacrifice, Eugene infuses life into the game… for both sides.

13. Bxf8 Qxf8 14. bxc3 Nxe4 15. Qe3 Nc5 16. Nd4 Bd7

Position after 16…Bd7

Some dust has settled and most of us believed that Black was safe and a draw the likely outcome.  Ganguly – Bacod, 2007, 1-0 had continued 16… Ne5 17.f4 Nd7 to bring the Knight to the king’s defense.  The problem Black has is that he has no constructive moves.  Any move seems to leave weaknesses that White’s Rooks can take part in exploiting.

17. Rfe1 a4 18. Bf1 Re8

Both of White’s Rooks are doing a fine job of tying down Black’s pieces… but, is there a breakthrough?  Fritz gives White about a half pawn advantage.

19.f4 f5?!

After the game, I asked Eugene about this move.  He said that he probably should have played it safe with 19…Qf6 but, he felt that he could play aggressively against White’s weak c4 pawn with this move and … Qf2.  This turns out to be a dangerous decision.

19. Nb5 Rc8 20. Rab1 Qg7 21. Nd4 Re8 22. f4 f5 23. Nb5 Rc8 24. g3 Qf7 25. Rbd1 Be6

Here, many of us in the Webcast were a bit worried about a sacrifice on d6.

Position after 25…Be6

We all saw the terrible variation… 26.Rxd6 exd 27.Nxd6 Qf8 28.Qxc5… and White is winning as after 28… Bf7 29.Qa3 Rd8 30.c5…  Black is suffering.

Only after the game when we talked to Eugene did we realize that all is not so bad… 26.Nxd6 exd6 27.Rxd6 Ne4; 26.Rxd6 Ne4 27.Rxe6 Qxe6 28.Bd3 Kf7 29.Bxe4 Qxe4 30.Qxe4 fxe4 31.Rxe4…  and it is hard to see how White’s extra pawn can win.

Analysis position after 31.Rxe4

The materialistic Fritz likes White, +/-.80… but I think it should be a draw.

After the game move, Black is very nearly equal.

26. Nd4 Bxc4 27. Nxc6 bxc6 28. Qxe7 Bxa2

Fritz doesn’t like this move, recommending instead… 28…Ne4 29.Qxf7+ Kxf7 30.c4… but, in either case, White has good winning chances.

29. Rxd6 Qxe7 30. Rxe7 Bb3 31. Ra7 Ne4 32. Rdd7 Nxc3 33. Rg7+ Kf8 34. Rxh7…

Black has been scrambling, but, IM Schneider has been one step ahead.  White is now winning.

Position after 34.Rxh7

During post-game analysis, we thought that 34… Kg8 might hold the game.  Fritz gives the following… 34…Kg8 35.Rag7+ Kf8 36.Rxg6 a3 37.Rh8+ Kf7 38.Rxc8 a2 39.Rgxc6 a1Q 40.R8c7+ Kf8 41.Rxc3…

Analysis position after 41.Rxc3

With two Rooks and two pawns for the Queen, White will slowly advance his pawns and should win.  However, Queens are tricky and this offers a better chance than in the game.

34. Rxh7 Nb5 35. Rad7 Bg8 36. Rh8 Nc7 37. Bc4 Nd5 38. Ba2 Rb8 39. h4 a3 40. h5 gxh5 41. Ra7 Rb2 42. Rxa3 Kg7 43. Rxh5 Be6 44. Bxd5 Bxd5 45. Rxf5 Kg6 46. Re5 Kf6

There is no hope from here…

Position after 46…Kf6

Black resigned on move 62… Nice technique by IM Schneider and a well deserved win. Boston (2.5-1.5)

Congratulations to all for a well deserved… if a tiny bit lucky… match win.  But, hey… that’s chess… and a fitting ending to a Seinfeld comedy… and a Chris Bird webcast… Laughs all around, on the Boston side, that is…  Who will be the Star in next week’s comedy… stay tuned to the top rated show on chess TV!!