Monday, October 17, 2011

Week 8 Lineup/Preview

Wednesday, 7:15 PM EDT
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Eli Vovsha (2531) - GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2538)
IM Dmitry Schneider (2522) - GM Larry Kaufman (2467)
FM Andrei Zaremba (2417) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426)
NM Matan Prilleltensky (2186) - Charles Yang (2046)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: IM Eli Vovsha vs. GM Giorgi Margvelashvili. IM Vovsha is (+1 =1) on the season and (+2 =1 -1) against Baltimore. GM Margvelashvili is (=1 -1) on the season and has not played Manhattan.

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Dmitry Schneider. GM Kaufman is (=3 -2) this season and (+2 -1) against Manhattan. IM Schneider is making his season debut and is (+1 =1) against Baltimore.

Board 3: FM Andrei Zaremba vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. FM Zaremba is (=1) on the season and (+1 =1) against Baltimore. Meanwhile IM Enkhbat is (+2 =3 -2) this season and (=2 -2) against Manhattan.

Board 4: Charles Yang vs. NM Matan Prilleltensky. Charles Yang is making his USCL debut for the Baltimore Kingfishers. NM Prilleltensky is (+1 -1) on the season and has not played Baltimore.

The top 3 boards in this match are all fairly even match-ups, but Manhattan has a relatively good advantage on Board 4 as NM Prilleltensky has a 140-point rating advantage over Baltimore's youngest and newest team member, Charles Yang. Manhattan currently sits with 3.5 match points in 3rd place in the Eastern Division. Baltimore is only half a match point back along with 3 other teams (5th place by tie-break). With only 3 weeks to go and practically just 2 playoff spots up for grabs, every game point could turn out to be the difference between a post-season berth or season's end for either team.

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