Sammour-Hasbun | Boston Blitz

Three Points for Trio at Eastern Class Champs

March 8th, 2008

Chris Bird

All three Blitz players that participated in the Eastern Class Championships in Sturbridge, February 29-March 2, finished with 3 points in their respective sections, but they all did it in their own special ways.

Blitz All-Star Jorge Sammour-Hasbun arguably had the toughest adventure in the Masters section, playing 3 GMs on his way to a joint 3rd place finish behind US Champion GM Alex Shabalalov and Uzbekistan GM Darmen Sadvakasov. A last round defeat in a crazy game to Sadvakasov made him miss out on a chance to finish in 2nd place.

Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (right) playing Darmen Sadvakasov on board 2, round 5

Jorge’s two losses, to the top two GMs, were encompassed around another exciting adventure, this time a win, in round four against GM Alexander Ivanov. His other wins were against Sergey Vertkin and Chris Bird.

FM Bill Kelleher also finished in 3rd place with 3 points in the Masters section, which included a draw against Ivanov in round 2. In round 3 Bill played a good, tough game against Sadvakasov but eventually ended up recording his only loss in the tournament. His other victories were against Bennet Pellows and Deepak Aaron. A last round half-point bye ensured he finished with 3 points.

Bill Kelleher and Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
GM Alexander Ivanov and Bill Kelleher playing on board 1, round 2, while Jorge Sammour-Hasbun looks on from board 2.

Ilya Krasik played in the Experts section and by Saturday night he was leading the tournament on a perfect 3/3. However, two Sunday losses to eventual joint winners Vadim Kudryavtsev and Carey Theil, meant he finished with the same score. His loss on Sunday morning was definitely not helped by him sleeping in and being about 40 minutes down on the clock before he’d even played a move.

Ilya Krasik plays Carey Theil in the final round of the Expert section

To view all the photos I took, please visit my Eastern Class Championships 2008 Photo Gallery. You can also view more reports from the tournament at the Chess Life Online (USCF), Braden Bournival’s Blog, Hardcore Pawnography Blog and Lizzy Knows All Blog.

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Blitz Players Are All-Stars

December 16th, 2007

Chris Bird

All four of the Boston Blitz “regulars” were given honors on the 2007 USCL All Star Teams, which were decided by the league using various criteria.

Jorge Sammour-Hasbun made the 1st team on board 2 after finishing the season with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and no losses from his 7 games. His performance rating for the season was a whopping 2833, the highest of any player in the USCL this season. The only blemish on his record was his draw with GM Hikaru Nakamura, the highest rated player in USCL history! Jorge also took the USCL honor of Rookie of the Year!

Denys Shmelov received 2nd team honors on board 3 for his rock solid performances all year for the Blitz. Denys finished with a record of 4 wins, 6 draws and just 1 loss, which came in the semi-final win over New York when the match score was already decided in the Blitz’s favor. Denys was close to taking 1st team honors but lost out thanks to the USCL Final heroics of Dallas’ IM Jacek Stopa.

Chris Williams also received 2nd team honors on board 4 for coming up big for the Blitz on numerous occasions during the season. According to the voters, Chris would have taken 1st board honors had he managed to draw or win in the USCL Final against Bayaraa Zorigt to capture the title for the Blitz, but it was not to be. Chris ended up with a final record of 6 wins and 3 losses in his first season for the Blitz.

GM Larry Christiansen was the other Blitz player to make the All Star teams capturing the honor of 3rd team All Star on board 1. Larry’s rock solid record of 2 wins, 8 draws and no losses, especially against a field of other strong players in the league was the perfect compliment to the efforts of Denys and Chris on boards 3 and 4.

Here are the complete All Star Teams for the 2007 United States Chess League:

All Star Team 1
Board	Player	Record	Perf. Rating
1	GM Julio Becerra (Miami)	7/10	2738
2	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston)	6½/7	2833
3	IM Jacek Stopa (Dallas)	4½/6	2555
4	WFM Iryna Zenyuk (New York)	5½/8	2398

All Star Team 2
Board	Player	Record	Perf. Rating
1	GM Joel Benjamin (New Jersey)	6/9	2734
2	IM Davorin Kuljasevic (Dallas)	6½/8	2703
3	Denys Shmelov (Boston)	7/11	2471
4	Chris Williams (Boston)	6/9	2345

All Star Team 3
Board	Player	Record	Perf. Rating
1	GM Larry Christiansen (Boston)	6/10	2719
2	IM Vinay Bhat (San Francisco)	6/8	2689
3	IM Jay Bonin (New York)	5½/8	2506
4	WFM Bayaraa Zorigt (Dallas)	3½/6	2240

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Interview with Matt Phelps, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun and Ilya Krasik

October 17th, 2007

Chris Bird

Matt, Jorge and Ilya give their thoughts on the New Jersey match, the season so far and their wishes for the remainder of the season.

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Analysis of Martirosov-Rohonyan (16.Qxf7)

September 26th, 2007

Chris Bird

The Blitz players, GM Larry Christiansen, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, Vadim Martirosov and Ilya Krasik provide some entertaining analysis of the Martirosov-Rohonyan game on board 3 of the match against Baltimore.