Monday, September 10, 2012

Week 2 Lineup/Preview

Wednesday, 8:00 PM EDT
Time Control 75 min. with 30 sec. increment

St. Louis Arch Bishops vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Ben Finegold (2568) - GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2582)
IM Priyadharshan Kannappan (2457) - GM Larry Kaufman (2445)
IM Levan Bregadze (2416) - NM Kevin Wang (2366)
Matthew Larson (1918) - NM Ricky Selzler (2242)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Ben Finegold vs. GM Niclas Huschenbeth. GM Finegold is a 2-year veteran of the USCL, who has played all but 2 matches for the St. Louis Arch Bishops. He is coming off a tough loss in Week 1 against Miami's GM Becerra, but his record from previous years shows he has performed above his rating. Meanwhile, GM Huschenbeth is a 20-year-old from Germany, who has recently started attending the University of Maryland: Baltimore County. This will be his first time playing in the USCL.

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Priyadharshan Kannappan. GM Kaufman is an 8-year veteran of the USCL, playing for Baltimore since USCL's inception. IM Kannappan scored the lone point in Arch Bishops' Week 1 match, his USCL debut. He appears to have moved from India, possibly for University.

Board 3: IM Levan Bregadze vs. NM Kevin Wang. IM Bregadze also appears to have traveled to attend University as he hails from the country of Georgia. His opponent, NM Wang is a 15-year-old resident of Maryland, who just this month surpassed the 2400 USCF mark. This will be the first USCL game for both players on this board.

Board 4: NM Ricky Selzler vs. Matthew Larson. NM Selzler is a recent graduate of UMBC and former president of its well-known chess club. He played a couple of games last year in the USCL. His opponent, Matthew Larson, is a young player also making his USCL debut this week for St. Louis.

Be sure to vote in our polls to the right to let us know your predictions!

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