Walk with me if you will, down the back streets of Cambridge on this night of a dark moon rising… a Devil’s moon… toward a match celebre’, The Boston Blitz vs. The New Jersey Knockouts. Peripherally, I spy the iconic orange logo of Boston’s own Dunkin’ Donuts… you are tempted, aren’t you?… but, we didn’t stop to pick up the dozen sugar-fix morsels to stimulate team neurons. No, it wasn’t a donut atmosphere… Such a mistake… As we arrive at the Harvard Science center, I search the educated air for the smell of pizza… sausage, peppers, onions… so greasy the lift from the plate to the mouth must be made in less than 0.25 seconds, or one risks permanent shirt spackling. You don’t smell anything?… Hmmm, not a pizza night either.

The alarms in my head were faintly tinkling… something amiss; do you feel it?… and, sure enough, as the match begins, a dark-haired miscreant (some suspect alumni Paul MacIntyre) drops some boxes on the table… Sacre bleur, pastries, the most deadly form of brain fuel… You know the kind… they come with squiggly frosting decorations, some even look like birds or squirrels… they have French names you can’t pronounce and you wonder as you pick them up between your thumb and index finger whether it is proper to extend your pinky… They’re pretty and small enough to inhale, but you don’t. You take a small bite and shout magnifque! They’re not made by bakers… no, their authors are chefs… Oh, I don’t blame Paul (if, indeed, it was him)… How could he know the psychological terror he was unleashing in these insidious confections… nor, could he suspect the ghastly fate that awaited our innocent heroes as each, in turn, consumed the perilous electuaries contained therein.

Continue with me now to that middle ground between light and shadow… Let us view a creation of the mind… a strangely Marzipan game molded and shaped and marked with a B and left in the oven just a little too long… by team manager, and glucose intolerant, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun…
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It’s times like these that good coaches search for inspiration to give their team a spark… to ignite the inner fire… to instill confidence… to root out the malaise that pervades a team’s psyche… Yes, I’m sure Matt Phelps is pouring over Vince Lombardi’s old speeches.  Well Matt, I’m here to help.  What we need is a better motto and some non-racist pizza.  I offer this article in hopes that we can borrow from the wisdom of those great thinkers of the past… even if some of them didn’t play chess.  Let’s begin with the words of Homer,  “Here’s to alcohol, the cause of—and solution to—all life’s problems.”…  You didn’t think I meant that Homer, did you?

And there were plenty of problems in this fourth round match as Boston took on a very tough opponent in the New Jersey Knockouts.  Would Matt’s decision to suspend Jorge and Ilya for this match come back to haunt him?  Would Jorge and Ilya carry through with their threat to picket the match?  And what about their list of demands… Would Matt provide non-pork pizza to assuage Jorge’s perceived affront to his Muslim heritage?  And what about Ilya’s request for a four member, female, under twenty cheerleading squad?  Yes, turmoil was evident both off and on the board as the Blitz fell victim to themselves… and old axioms became reality…

Much of your pain is self-chosen.  ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923

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What’s a “slump?” I sure can’t define it, but I know one when I see one… and the Boston Blitz is smack dab in the middle of an unexplainable malaise, better known as an old fashion S-L-U-M-P. Of course, when the team is hot, the players get all the credit… and when the team is cold, the manager feels the heat in the form of nasty words from irate fans. Will he “stick by the guys that got him there”, or, will he give in to the pressure and bench “J.D.” (Game 6 might have been tough without him). My guess is that Matt “Tito” Phelps has the answers.

Last Wednesday’s match against the New Jersey Knockouts was not a disaster… just a bit of a disappointment, as Boston seemed to let a win slip away. This time things started well with GM Larry Christiansen battling on the Black side of Semi-Slav against GM Joel Benjamin’s tricky anti-meran system that began 1. d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.e4… Can White do this? First e3, then e4?

Position after 7.e4

Actually, this is more than legit as when Black captures (and he must since a fork on e5 is threatened), he will be suffering from “space deprivation”… how’s that for a new chess term? GM Benjamin did his best and worked the position into the endgame with a nasty Knight on d6. In Nimzowitsch’s day, such a Knight was usually enough for the win. Looks scary…

Position after 25…Ne7

White need only get his King Rook into the game… maybe Rf1 or Ke2… and the pressure would continue. But, he slipped up with 26.b5 and things quickly fizzled to a draw after 26…Bb3 27.Bd1 Bxd1 28.Kxd1 g6 29.Kc2 Nd5!

Position after 29…Nd5

The Rook endgame is drawn after 30.cxd5 Rxd6 31.dxe6 Rc8+! 32.Kd1 Rxe6 etc… A draw with Black against a strong GM, we’ll take it… Boston (0.5 – 0.5)

Then there was our third board, NM Denys Shmelov, playing Black against NM Evan Ju, letting the win get away. After playing a very nice, and very sharp, e6 Sicilian, Denys has reached what should be a won game with White’s Queen way off sides and in danger.

Position after 24.c4

He can finish things here with the very nice 24…Ke7 threatening to trap the White Queen. But, Denys played instead 24…O-O and only drew… But, wait.. you say. Doesn’t this threaten the same thing. Unfortunately not… White plays 25.Nb5 Nxb5 26.cxb5… and now 26… Ra8 will be answered by 27.b6 and the Queen escapes. Ah, but if the Black King is on e7 and the Black rook is still on h8 we would reach the following position after 27.b6 Qc6 28.Qe2

Analysis position after 28.Qe2

Now, you see, don’t you? With the Rook on h1, Black plays 28…e3 winning by an invasion on the h file. It’s missing these kinds of things that Slumps are made of… But, credit to Denys, his part of the “slump” ended in a draw. Boston (1 – 1)

Romantic chess is not dead… not as long as SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun is alive and well and playing one of the top boards for the Blitz. He came up with this “Blast from the past” Danish Gambit playing White against a very strong opponent, IM Dean Ippolito. My favorite position…

Position after 17.e5!

Now there are many possible moves for Black, most of which simply use up his time. For example, 17… Bxf3 18.exf6 g5 (d5 is better but not holding either) 19.Nxf3 gxh4 20. Qg4+ and mate on g7. The same is true of 17…d5 or 17…Bxd4. So, it comes down to… best is simply 17…dxe5 18.Nxe5 leading to…

Position after 18.Nxe5

Although the position looks scary for Black, he can maintain equality with the odd looking 18…Bc8. For example, 19.Re1 Bxd4 20.cxd4 Be6 21.Qb4 and the Bishop is out again with at least equality.

The trouble is that this move runs contrary to our thinking in the fight against gambits… undeveloping a piece in a tense position is just too much… and so, Black played the more natural and much inferior move 18…Bh5 and after 19.Nf5 Kh7 20.g4 Bg6? (g5 had to be played) 21.Rad1 Qe8 22.Bxf6 Bxf5 23.gxf5 Rg8 24.Nd7! gxf6+ 25.Kh1 Kh8 we reach my favorite position of the game…

Position after 25…Kh8

Now, White wins easily right?… with either 26.Rfe1 Qd8 27.Qh4 Rg7 28.Nxf6… and Black cannot avoid heavy losses or mate. Or, the forceful 26.Qh4 Rg7 27.Rg1 (favored by Ilya Krasik in post game analysis).

But, it was late, and Jorge was tired and irritated from the long traffic hassle he fought through to get here about 20 minutes late… and thus we explain how a tactical superstar misses such an easy tactic after playing so well to get there. He settled for winning the exchange and a pawn with 26.Qh4 Rg7 27.Qxh6+ Rh7 28.Qxf6+ Rg7 29.Qh6+ Rh7 30.Qxh7+ Kxh7 31.Nf6+… and wins back the Queen eventually reaching the following exchange up endgame.

Position after 33…Rh8

Best here seems to be activating the rooks with 34.Re7… if Black takes the f2 pawn he will lose to doubling rooks on the 7th. Jorge played the prosaic 34.Re2… making the win difficult… indeed, it took another 33 moves and some tense moments before he finally won.

So, Jorge’s contribution to Boston’s slump is a less than pretty win. I can take slumps like this. Boston (2 – 1)

On fourth board, NM Chris Williams was playing NM Victor Shen. Early on, Chris shuns the draw, offering an exchange sac that probably should lose. Check it out…

Position after 34.h4?!

White could have just retreated the rook or exchanged it with no harm done, but Chris seemed bent on winning. At this point, the match was still unclear and as it turned out, no harm done, as he reached this easily drawable endgame…

Position after 47…Qg7

White can play either Qc8 and continue with a policy of checks along this diagonal… or, Qd8 and ask Black to move. Either way, there is no way to lose this… no way but what Chris played… 48.Qxd6?? f5! and White can resign due to the double threat of RxQ or Qg4+ winning the Rook. Boston (2 – 2)

Too bad, as a draw would have won the match and put Boston in great shape in the division lead. But, such errors are slumps made of… Can Boston snap out of it?… Will there be a roster shakeup?… Will our manager be a hero, or, a @#$%? Only the blogs will tell.