Quarterfinals Lineup

Monday, 7:15 PM EST
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Sergey Erenburg (2700) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2509)
FM Tom Bartell (2489) - GM Larry Kaufman (2445)
FM Dov Gorman (2327) - NM Kevin Wang (2366)
IM Richard Costigan (2288) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2304)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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After missing the playoffs last year, the Baltimore Kingfishers have returned to the playoffs in 4th place in the Eastern Division. That means they will now do battle with the Philadelphia Inventors, who finished 1st place in the Eastern Division with a 7.5-2.5 record and return to the playoffs for the 2nd straight year. Since Phildelphia is the higher seed, they will advance in the case of a drawn 2-2 match. They also received the choice of colors and picked to play white on Boards 1 and 3. Philadelphia leads the all-time series with a 8 match points against 5 match points for Baltimore. These two teams played in Week 1 this season, which ended in a draw. Five players (GM Erenburg, FM Gorman, IM Costigan, IM Enkhbat, and FM Zimmer) from that match return to play this one. All except two of the players (both board 3 players) in this match have playoff experience. Baltimore is 2-2 in playoff matches but they have not won since 2005. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is 0-2 in the playoffs.

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. GM Sergey Erenburg, a former Baltimore Kingfisher, is (+4 =5 -1) in his 6th USCL season, (+1 =1) against Baltimore, and (+1 -1) in the USCL Playoffs. He won last week with black on Board 1 against GM Alexander Ivanov (NE). He placed 4th in the USCL MVP race, but surprisingly only 2nd on his team. In Week 1, he drew with white against his upcoming opponent, IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. IM Enkhbat is (=3 -1) in his 8th season, (+3 =3 -1) against Philadelphia, and (=2 -2) in the Playoffs. He lost in Week 9 with white against IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) on Board 2.

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. FM Tom Bartell. GM Larry Kaufman is (+1 =2 -2) in his 8th season, (+2 =3 -3) against Philadelphia, and (+2) in the Playoffs. He lost last week as black against FM Kazim Gulamali (BOS) on Board 2. He has played twice with white (a draw in Week 4, 2009 and a loss in Week 2, 2008) against his opponent, FM Tom Bartell. FM Bartell is (+1 =1 -2) in his 6th season, (+1 =4 -1) against Baltimore, and (-1) in the Playoffs. He won last week with white against IM David Vigorito (NE) on Board 2.

Board 3: FM Dov Gorman vs. NM Kevin Wang. FM Dov Gorman is (+6 =2) in his first USCL season and (+1) against Baltimore. He won last week as black against Carey Theil (NE) on Board 3. With his impressive record, he placed 2nd in the USCL MVP race and first on his team. Also in his first USCL season, NM Kevin Wang is (+1 -1) and has not yet played against Philadelphia. He won in Week 8 with black against GM Boris Gulko (NJ) on Board 2.

Board 4: FM Ralph Zimmer vs. IM Richard Costigan. FM Ralph Zimmer is (+4 =1 -1) in his 7th season, (+4 =2) against Philadelphia, and (=1) in the Playoffs. He won last week against NM Ilya Krasik (BOS) with black on Board 4. That win gave FM Zimmer the slight half-point edge in the team MVP race. He has won twice (with white in Week 1, 2012 and with black in Week 8, 2009) against his opponent, IM Richard Costigan. IM Costigan is (=3 -1) in his 7th season, (+2 =3 -5) against Baltimore, and (-1) in the Playoffs. He drew with black against Nicolas Checa (NY) on Board 4 in Week 9.

Catch the games live on ICC!

Week 10 Review

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz 2.5-1.5
GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2593) - SM Denys Shmelov (2502) 0.5-0.5 View Game
GM Larry Kaufman (2445) - FM Kazim Gulamali (2419) 0-1 View Game
NM Jared Defibaugh (2357) - NM Vadim Martirosov (2345) 1-0 View Game
FM Ralph Zimmer (2304) - NM Ilya Krasik (2261) 1-0 View Game

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers clinched the 4th spot in the Eastern Division and a playoff spot with a win over the Boston Blitz. Baltimore finished the season with a 5.5-4.5 record, tied with New York though they took 3rd place on the first tiebreaker.

Board 1: The game began with a Queen's Gambit: Slav with white playing 4. Qb3 with a later fianchetto on the kingside. White's pair of bishops allowed him to win a pawn in the middle game. As boards 2 and 3 concluded, the match was tied 1-1 with board 4 looking unclear, so GM Margvelashvili had to press for the win. Then suddenly, FM Zimmer won his game and it became clear that Baltimore just needed a draw to win the match and secure a playoff spot, so GM Margvelashvili offered the clinching draw. He certainly could have played on to try to win in the final position:

Board 2: FM Gulamali won the Game of the Week and it is analyzed by GM Alex Yermolinsky on ICC. This very exciting game started as a French Defense: Steinitz, Bradford Attack. White castled queenside and aimed his pieces at black's kingside. FM Gulamali even sacrificed a knight to prevent a queen trade and open up the kingside. It looked like GM Kaufman should be able to hold the position, but he blundered with 26... Bg7:

FM Gulamali found a spectacular mate with 27. g6 Qf6 28. Rh8+! Bxh8 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Bb4+ Nd6 31. Bxd6+ Ke8 32. Qg8+ and blacked resigned before 32... Qf8 33. Qf8#.

Board 3: A Scotch Gambit transposed into a tame Two Knights Defense/Philidor Defense. NM Martirosov decided to allow his pawns to be doubled on the e-file and soon white won control of the open d-file. White managed to get his queen and rook lined up on the 7th rank and black had to look for a perpetual against the white king to try to survive. The perpetual just wasn't there as seen in the game when NM Defibaugh won, but there was a very interesting attempt not played after 36. Kh4:

If black tried 36... Rf4+, NM Defibaugh noted that 37. g4! wins with 37... Qf2+ 38. Kh5 Qxh2+ 39. Kg6 Rf6+ 40. Qxf6 gxf6 41. Ra8#. White had to avoid the mistake 37. gxf4? Qf2+ 38. Kg4 (38. Kh3? and Kh5? are actually forced mates for black! i.e. 38. Kh5 Qxf3+ 39. Kg6 Qxe4+ [not 39... Qg4+ 40. Qg5! with Ra8# coming] 40. Kh5 Qf3+ 41. Kg6 [41. Kh4 Qxf4+ 42. Kh5 Qf3+ 43. Kh4 g5+ and black will win the queen and rook] Qd3+ 42. Kh5 Qh3+ 43. Qh4 [43. Kg6 Qf5#] Qf5+ 44. Qg5 hxg5 and now black has h7 for the king) Qg2+ with a perpetual check.

Board 4: In what started as a Benoni, the game transposed into Queen's Gambit Declined and Queen's Indian lines. The game became very interesting when FM Zimmer sacrificed his two queenside pawns and a rook for a bishop and white's g-pawn to open up NM Krasik's king. Black's attack took a little while to develop and white missed some chances to defend better. For example, white could have played 27. Be4 with the idea of returning the exchange on d5 and 34. h3 instead of giving up the exchange with 34. Re4. Thus, black's adventurous play was rewarded and FM Zimmer ended the game with a picturesque queen sacrifice for mate with 43... Qd1+:

Week 10 Lineup

Wednesday, 7:30 PM EST
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2593) - SM Denys Shmelov (2502)
GM Larry Kaufman (2445) - FM Kazim Gulamali (2419)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2357) - NM Vadim Martirosov (2345)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2304) - NM Ilya Krasik (2261)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers (4.5-3.5, 6th place) battle the Boston Blitz (4.0-5.0, 7th place) in the final week of the USCL regular season. Both teams are fighting for a playoff spot, but even with a match victory here, they will need help from the other matches going a favorable way. Baltimore could finish as high as 3rd place while Boston could move into the 4th spot in the Eastern Division. Now, Boston leads the all-time series with 6.5 match points to Baltimore's 4.5 match points. They last played in Week 9, 2011 when Boston won 3-1. Four players (GM Kaufman, FM Zimmer, NM Martirosov, and NM Krasik) in that match return to play this time.

Board 1: GM Giorgi Margvelashvili vs. SM Denys Shmelov. GM Giorgi Margvelashvili, is (+2 =2) in his 2nd USCL season. He has not played against Boston previously. He won with white on Board 1 against GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) in Week 7. He will be facing SM Denys Shmelov, who is (=2) in his 5th USCL season and (+1 =1 -1) against Baltimore. He drew last week as black against IM Jonathan Yedida (NE) on Board 2.

Board 2: FM Kazim Gulamali vs. GM Larry Kaufman. FM Kazim Gulamali is (+4 -3) in his 1st USCL season. He won last week as white against FM Braden Bournival (NE) on Board 2. His challenger, GM Larry Kaufman is (+1 =2 -1) in his 8th USCL season and (=2 -5) against Boston. He won in Week 7 as black against FM Michael Bodek (NY) on Board 2.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. NM Vadim Martirosov. NM Jared Defibaugh is (+3 -3) in his 3rd USCL season and (+1) against Boston. He lost in Week 8 as white against IM Albert Kapengut (NJ) on Board 3. His opponent, NM Vadim Martirosov is (+2 =1) in his 6th USCL season and (=5) against Baltimore. He drew with black against NM Christopher Wu (NJ) on Board 3 in Week 7.

Board 4: NM Ilya Krasik vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. NM Ilya Krasik is (+3 -1) in his 8th USCL season and (+4 =1 -3) against Baltimore. He won with white against NM Andrew Ryba (MAN) on Board 4 in Week 8. He will have a somewhat familiar opponent in FM Ralph Zimmer, whom NM Krasik won against in Week 8, 2008. FM Ralph Zimmer is (+3 =1 -1) in his 7th USCL season and (=3 -1) against Boston. He won in Week 8 with black against Praveen Balakrishnan (NJ) on Board 4.

Will either team make the playoffs? Everything will be decided this week so follow the action live on chess.com or as relayed on ICC!

Week 9 Lineup

Tuesday, 7:30 PM EDT
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Vladimir Romanenko (2513) - GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2593)
IM Eli Vovsha (2514) - IM Nazi Paikidze (2444)
NM Andrew Shvartsman (2343) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2345)
NM Andrew Ryba (2202) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2304)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Manhattan Applesauce will battle against the Baltimore Kingfishers this week. Manhattan has dominated the series, scoring 5.5 match points to Baltimore's 1.5 match points. They last faced each other in Week 8, 2011 when Manhattan won with a 3-1 score. Only IM Eli Vovsha and GM Giorgi Margvelashvili have returned to play in this match as well.

This match is scheduled to be played on a Tuesday to avoid having to play on a holiday as Wednesday is Halloween. However, Hurricane Sandy has threatened to change these plans. Please bear with us as we attempt to get this match played as safely and smoothly as possible.

Board 1: GM Vladimir Romanenko vs. GM Giorgi Margvelashvili. GM Vladimir Romanenko is (+1 =3 -2) in his first USCL season. He lost his last game in Week 7 with black against GM Sergey Erenburg (PHI) on Board 1. His challenger, GM Giorgi Margvelashvili, is (+2 =2) in his 2nd USCL season and (=1) against Manhattan. He won his last game with white in Week 7 on Board 1 against GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY).

Board 2: IM Nazi Paikidze vs. IM Eli Vovsha. IM Nazi Paikidze is (=1 -1) in her first USCL season. She last played in Week 4 when she lost with black to FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) on Board 2. Her opponent, IM Eli Vovsha, is (+1 =2 -2) in his 6th USCL season and (+2 =3 -1) against Baltimore. He drew last week with white against GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) on Board 1.

Board 3: NM Andrew Shvartsman vs. NM Adithya Balasubramanian. NM Andrew Shvartsman is (+1 =2 -1) in his first USCL season. He won last week with white against NM Michael Vilenchuk (BOS) on Board 3. He will be facing NM Adithya Balasubramanian, who has only played one game so far in his 3rd USCL season. He drew with white in Week 4 against FM Curt Collyer (SEA) on Board 3. He also drew his only game so far against Manhattan.

Board 4: FM Ralph Zimmer vs. NM Andrew Ryba. FM Ralph Zimmer, a 7-year USCL veteran, is (+3 =1 -1) on the season and (-2) against Manhattan. He won last week with black against Praveen Balakrishnan (NJ) on Board 4. He will square-off against NM Andrew Ryba, who is (+1 -1) in his first USCL season. He lost with black last week against NM Ilya Krasik (BOS) on Board 4.

Let us know what results you predict in the polls to the right. Catch the games live on chess.com or relayed on ICC!

Week 8 Review

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New Jersey Knockouts 2-2
GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2582) - GM Alex Stripunsky (2673) 0-1 View Game
NM Kevin Wang (2366) - GM Boris Gulko (2590) 1-0 View Game
NM Jared Defibaugh (2357) - IM Albert Kapengut (2367) 0-1 View Game
FM Ralph Zimmer (2304) - Praveen Balakrishnan (2097) 1-0 View Game

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers and the New Jersey Knockouts drew the match with wins by black on all boards! Both teams dropped 1 rank in the standings to 4th and 5th place, respectively, as both Philadelphia and New York won to stay in 1st and 2nd place, respectively, in the East, and Manhattan also won to move into 3rd place on tiebreaker over Baltimore and New Jersey.

Board 1: GM Huschenbeth played an unusual Caro-Kann with 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Qe2 d4 4. Nd1. The game continued with black having a slight edge but nothing concrete until after 27... Rf8:

White erred with 28. Rc2? instead of Rc5. The game continued 28. .. f5 29. exf5 Nxf5 30. Rac1 e4 31. dxe4 Ne3 (Now we see that 28. Rc2 loses a tempo) 32. Rc5 Ne5! 33. Ke2 (33. Rxe5 Ng4+ 34. Ke1 Nxe5) Nxf3. Play went on with white down a knight for two pawns, but GM Stripunsky clearly had a won position.

Board 2: The game began as a Semi-slav Defense and then more resembled a French Winawer, Advanced variation. GM Gulko, as white, chose to go for an interesting sacrifice in the following position:

GM Gulko struck with 20. Nxg7!? Kxg7 21. Bh6+ (The immediate 21. Rd3 might be an improvement) Kg8 22. Rd3 Qc4 23. Rh3. However, NM Kevin Wang managed to defend his king and emerged with 2 knights for a rook and pawn. As the queens had been exchanged, NM Wang took advantage of the knights to create a dangerous passed c-pawn. GM Gulko sacrificed a rook for a knight and the c-pawn, but this just let to an ending where he was down a full knight, so he resigned.

Board 3: An English Opening: Bremen, Smyslov system saw white slowly push his queenside pawns looking for an advantageous break in the position.

It seems NM Defibaugh tried to be too aggressive with the move 20. c4? and found himself worse when IM Kapengut opened the position to his advantage instead with 20... axb4 21. Rad1 dxc4 22. Qxc4 e3!. The game actually continued with equal material for awhile but it was clear black was better as he had a pair of connected passed pawns. Eventually IM Kapengut won while up a knight for a double-pawn.

Board 4: This game started as a Modern Defense where Balakrishnan chose to fianchetto his own King's bishop as well. As a result, black enjoyed a space advantage in the early middlegame but white then built-up a kingside attack. After 28... fxg4, white missed a chance to grab the advantage:

Sacrificing the queen with 29. Bxg7! Qxh5 30. Bxf8 leaves white with a rook and 2 knights vs. a queen and pawn. White also has control of the open d-file and a solid position that black will find difficult to exploit. The game actually continued with 29. Nd5 Rf5 30. Qe8 Rxe5 31. Ne7 Bc4 32. Ne3 Qc5 33. Rd7 Rf6 34. Ra4 Bf7 35. Qd8 Qb5 36. Rb4 Qe2 37. N7f5 and FM Zimmer has managed to diffuse white's attack and begins his own attack eventually taking the full point with an extra promoted queen. White actually has a forced mate in 13 from this position: