The players were intent on their games, but, I was glancing through the window that covered the left wall of the playing room. The darkness outside seemed all consuming when suddenly in the distance I spotted the faint flickering of a thousand points of light (sorry, wrong nightmare). My curiosity took me into the night air where I was confronted with a strange scene. Down by the gates to the Harvard Center was a small but angry group of what can only be described as feudal peasants. There was a very officious type lecturing them from a platform… “Yunk Frankenshtein iss indeed VALLOWING EEN EES GANDFADDA’S VOOTSHTAPS.” , he bellowed. Torches and pitchforks were waving, but this brought the crowd to a halt, yielding a collective…”huhhh?”… “VOOTSHTAPS!… VOOTSHTAPS!” he reiterated as he began to dance… his feet pounding the platform.

“Only at Harvard…” I thought as I rejoined the ongoing games within.

It didn’t look good in Denys’s game… not good at all. It was obvious he wasn’t in his best form right from the beginning…

(more…)

As the night wore on, a dreadful silence fell over the audience as the unthinkable became reality and the Monsta (played by Dallas) spoke… “For as long as I can remember, people have hated me. They looked at my face and my body and they ran away in horror. In my loneliness I decided that if I could not inspire love, which is my deepest hope, I would instead cause fear… He! (pointing to Matt) used his body as a guinea pig to give me a calmer brain and a somewhat more sophisticated way of expressing myself.”

Of course, we all thought… “Matt, you traitor.” But, no one said a word until Matt offered… “Hello Handsome.”

The Monsta began to cry.

(more…)

The story I’m about to reveal is not fictitious… Unfortunately, it’s all too true. The part of Doctor Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronkensteen”) will be played by any and all members of the Boston Blitz. Most other parts, including the Monsta, will be played by that versatile troupe, the Dallas Destiny.

It was a dark and stormy night and the electricity from the flashing clouds rattled in the towers of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as I creaked opened the door to the playing room. “DESTINY! DESTINY! NO ESCAPING THAT FOR ME!” Dr. Frankenstein (presently played by Matt Phelps) was in one of his rare moods as he busily hurried to set up for the match. I took this as an Ominous sign.

The players trickled in one by one and gathered for a group hug and the usual Matt Phelps pre-match pep talk…. “From that fateful day when stinking bits of slime first crawled from the sea and shouted to the cold stars, ‘I am man’, our greatest dread has always been the knowledge of our own mortality. But, tonight we shall hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of death itself. Tonight, we shall ascend into the heavens. We shall mock the earthquake. We shall command the thunders, and penetrate into the very womb of impervious nature herself… on three… one… two… three… Revenge!”… touching as always.

(more…)

Since the weather outside is frightful, I thought I’d finally finish this not so delightful task of commenting a bit on the USCL final. First, let me give congratulations to Dallas for a fine win… especially to IM Stopa, the hero of the blitz rounds in which he single handedly took out the bottom three Boston boards and to IM Boskovic for his fine play in the regular game and his win to clinch the match in the blitz.

That said, it’s time to complain a little about the tiebreaker format. It just takes too darn long. Each player plays one game while the others stand around. In this particular case, the rounds weren’t over until after 2 am. This is just an exhausting format. Most team players work during the day and are tired to begin the nights play. When GM Christiansen made the final bishop blunder in the blitz round, it seemed so silly until you consider in the exhaustion factor. Either move the tiebreaker to another night or change the format to an all play all which will, hopefully, be over in one or two rounds (30 minutes or so). Enough said… no sour grapes here, I just want to point out this defect in the tiebreak system.

Now, on to the games… The first board matchup was Dallas IM Drasko Boskovic playing White against Boston’s GM Larry Christiansen. There was really not much excitement here as IM Boskovic easily held a draw. White employed a strategy of control d5 and ask Black to show his plan. Black, on his part, grabbed a bit of space and, of course, kept the two bishops. However, the participants agreed to a draw by repetition in this position.

Position after 22.Nd5

White is threatening the Black Rook… Black plays 22…Rf8 then 23.Ne3 Rf6 24.Nd5 Rf8 draw by repetition. The position is dead equal. If Black gives up the two bishops for the Knight, he will be worse due to the backward pawn on d6. Boston (0.5 – 0.5)

The next game to finish was third board where Dallas’ IM Jacek Stopa, playing White, chose a very unusual response to NM Denys Shmelov’s attempt to transpose to a French. After 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 e6 3.g3!?

Position after 3.g3

A very interesting opening. From games I have looked at, most top players choose the safe 3…dxe4. This should keep the game in known lines where White may have wasted a move with g3. I sure am no expert and Denys knows his French. He played 3…d4 which seems the most principled. Fritz considers this better than 3…dxe4 and gives Black a slight advantage in just about all lines. IM Stopa shows that chess is not so simple as he gains a passed pawn in the early middlegame to reach this somewhat equal position…

Position after 18.e5

Who is better? Who knows… Black has better piece play… White has a passed pawn. Black can sit on things here and centralize a knight with 18…Nd5 waiting to see what’s up. But he decides to gamble a bit and plays 18…c4!? 19.dxc4 Qe6.

Position after 19…Qe6

Now White has a slight advantage, but he must think like a computer to keep it. Fritz suggests 20.Nd2 Na5 21.Ncb3 Nxc4 22.Nd4 with a small plus for White.

IM Stopa decides to use the time it takes Black to take the pawn back to drum up an attack. This seems to also lead to an advantage (not quite as big, yet…) and keeps the pressure on Black to play precisely. As both players move into mild time pressure, Black falters…

Position after 28…Bd8?

Black is in trouble after 29.Nxf5… winning a pawn. White can also play 29.Bf3… threatening to trap the Queen with 30.Bh5… either way White has a winning advantage. However, White begins playing a series of winning but second best moves, probably due to time pressure. That is, he drifts a bit to reach…

Position after 38…gxf4

Now, 39.Bxf4 maintains a large advantage. White played 39.Bxe7?! Bxe7 reaching this interesting, but drawn position, on move 46.

Position after 46.Re6

Black draws with 46…Rd8! threatening mate. 47.Nxe7+ Kf7, forking Rook and Knight. 48.Re1 f2, now the Rook must leave the defense of the Knight. 49.Rf1 Kxe7 40.Rxf2 Rc8 and we reach an easily drawn Rook endgame. Nice squirming Denys! Boston (1 – 1)

The above game, as it turns out, saved the match in regulation for Boston… that is, if you consider that Jorge usually wins tactical skirmishes… hair raising games are par for the course for Boston’s first team all-star. Check it out…

Position after 11.Rh3

Jorge, White, is playing a slightly risky variation against IM Davorin Kuljasevic’s solid French setup. I was relaying moves for this game and, I must admit, I thought, “Black must be better here… right?” But, then I thought… “So what!?” I remembered what Jorge told me much earlier in the season… “I just want a position where all the pieces are hanging.” Well, this is heading in that direction and so I relaxed… he had him where he wanted him.

After a few more pawn moves by White, we reach the following “What? Me worry?” position.

Position after 13…Nc4

I was hoping, very hard as a matter of fact, that Jorge might play one defensive move… namely, 14.Nc3… and the position might calm down a little with the threat of 15.Bxc4… preventing the sac that just about everyone saw coming. The crowd was on the edge of their seats when Jorge, almost without any thought, played the calm 14.Ng3… Now, this is a well known strategy in chess… it’s called the “Kingside Cluster.” Who cares what your opponent is doing, just move as many pieces as you can into the vicinity of your opponent’s King and things will turn out well in the long run… hopefully. Picking up the gauntlet, Black correctly played 15…Ndxe5! 16.dxe5 Nxe5 reaching this incredible position that Fritz evaluates as winning for Black (about -1.5).

Position after 16…Nxe5

I was nervous again… but, still it was the old “hanging pieces” trick. Of course, this time White could hang mate with 17.Nxe5 Qf2# a sure sign that White’s game was going well. Now, after 17.Ra2 Nxf3+ 18.gxf3 e5 19.Rhh2 Be6 20.Rag2…

Position after 20.Rag2

Great, the old Kingside Cluster is going fabulously and Black’s advantage (according to Fritz) is now over -2.0.

Black now falters a bit with 20…Rf7 allowing his winning advantage to drop a few hundredths of a point but, he quickly picks up on the correct idea 21.Bb2 a5! leading to another interesting position…

Position after 25.Rg5!

According to Fritz, White has worked his way back to near equality. But wait, what about 25…e4 picking up the Rook on h2? Do you see a defense for White?

How about… 26.Qd4 Bxh2 27.Nxg7!!… Are you kidding me? Did Jorge see this? I don’t know… White is an exchange and 2 pawns down and has a winning attack…

Analysis after 27.Nxg7!!

Now, any King move loses the Queen to 28.Nxe6 check… Holy Moley!

IM Kuljasevic correctly played 25…d4! 26.Rhg2 Bf8 27.Qe4 Bd5? A blunder, as both players moved into time pressure, the game turns in Jorge’s favor. Black is still apparently a little better after 27…Kh8. White is now winning. Do you see how?

Position after 27…Bd5

Jorge quickly found 28.Qxe5!… a scary move as the Queen can be pinned to the King. But, after 28…Re7 29.Rxg7+ Bxg7 30.Rxg7+… We reach another “hanging pieces” position…

Position after 30.Rxg7+

Wow!… 30…Rxg7 is impossible as it is Black who hangs mate after 31.Qe8#. After 30…Kf8 (forced) White transposes to a technical win with two Bishops + Knight against Rook and Bishop. The final position…

Position after 45…Kd6

Black resigns. Boston (2 – 1)

With an exchange for Bishop and 2 pawns, one on the seventh, on fourth board, things seemed up in the air… as NM Chris Williams as White was under a lot of pressure from WFM Bayaraa Zorigt.

Chris seems to like these convoluted positional Catalan type openings. But, he played this one a little too loosely to reach this crazy position…

Position after 14.Qg4?

This attack just doesn’t work if Black plays 14…Nxe5. For example, 15.fxe5 Qxd2 16.Qxg7 Rf8 17.Na4… and now 17…b5 or …c3 or …Qd4+ all win material. Black missed this and continued 14…O-O letting him off the hook after 15.Rfd1… protecting the Bishop. But, Black maintained a nice pawn up advantage until she played 24…Bd4 which allows an equal game after Chris’ 25.Nc4 Bxc4 26.Rxc4 Bc3?!

Position after 26…Bc3

Now things are dead equal after 27.Bd2 Bxd2 28.Rxd2… White will win his pawn back with an equal game. But, Chris plays instead the aggressive 27.Bc5… which leads to Black’s very good exchange sac and the following position.

Position after 44…Qb6?!

White has been lost for most of this exchange up endgame; however, Black’s 44…Qb6 lets him back in the game since after 45.Qe7 Qb8 46.Rf1 c5 47.Rd8… Black must give up the advanced pawn. Yet, the game is still a draw… a result that would have given Boston the match. But, White’s game is definitely more difficult to play and Chris gives back the advantage with 45.Rd7 Qb8 46.a5?… now White will eventually lose his a-pawn.

Position after 49…Qxa5

In this position White played the blunder 50.Rxf7… and the game is over. Boston (2.0 – 2.0)

Well, it’s on to tiebreaker blitz. Chris made up for his loss by eliminating WFM Zorigt. Then he met IM Stopa and could have eliminated him with a win or draw… the “why didn’t I see this move?” position…

Position after 49.Rg5

Now, 49…Qf1+ wins as White can’t play 50.Rg1… because of mate on h3. So, after 50.Kh2 Qf4+ Black wins the Rook on g5. A very nice game by Chris having played an earlier Knight sac and then a Rook sac/combo on f3. But, such is blitz and Chris went on to lose this. IM stopa then went on to sneak by Denys Shmelov…

Position after 34…Bh6

White wins with 35.a6!… for example, 35…Be3+ 36.Kf1 Na4 37.Bb4… and there is no good way to save the d-pawn. White played instead 35.Kf2 Nfxe4+ 36.fxe4 Nxe4+ 37.Kf3 Nxc3 and Black went on to win this drawn endgame.

So, IM Stopa was a bit lucky… but luck favors the brave (and good) players. He followed this with his best game and a critical draw against Jorge to eliminate Boston’s 2nd Board and super blitz player.

So, now it was up to GM Larry Christiansen to win a game against both of Dallas’ top two boards… I might add that it was around 1:30 am by now and we all knew that this was no easy task. He managed to win the second game against IM Kuljasevic in a typical blitz scramble. This put him into the winner takes all blitz match against Dallas’ board 1, IM Boskovic. Unfortunately for Boston, and fortunately for Dallas, Larry blundered this game in the following (probably) drawn position.

Position after 48…Bc6

White simply forgot to defend his e-pawn and played 40.Bc8… and so goes the match and the season on a late night/early morning blunder. Who said that second place is like kissing your sister… let me tell you… it’s much, much worse.

Bottom line congratulations Dallas… and to Boston for a fine match and season. Let’s get a better (or shorter) tiebreak system… before someone must default because they need to go to work in the morning. As it is, I think Matt slept in the tournament room to make it to work in the morning… I just went in late… I have my priorities… chess then work then family…

Scoring Summary

Blitz Tie Break Games