Monday, September 9, 2013

Week 3 Lineup

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Zviad Izoria (2624) - IM Levan Bregadze (2469)
IM Dmitry Schneider (2516) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2492)
FM Rico Salimbagat (2259) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2297)
NM Ryan Goldenberg (2348) - NM Ian Schoch (2294)

Wednesday, 7:20 PM EDT
Time Control 75 min. with 30 sec. increment

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers will do battle with the Manhattan Applesauce in Week 3 of the US Chess League (USCL). Baltimore is currently mired in 4th place in the Northeast Division with a 0.0-2.0 match record. Meanwhile, Manhattan is tied for 2nd (but 3rd on tiebreaks) place in the Atlantic Division. As these teams are not in the same division, they are only scheduled to play once this season. Manhattan has actually dominated the series with a 6.5-1.5 match record. They last played in Week 9, 2012 which Manhattan won with a 3.5-0.5 game score. IM Enkhbat is the only player from that match scheduled to play this week as well.

Board 1: GM Zviad Izoria vs. IM Levan Bregadze. GM Zviad Izoria is (+1) in his first USCL season. He defeated FM Tom Bartell of the Philadelphia Inventors on Board 1 in Week 1 with the white pieces. His opponent, IM Levan, Bregadze, is (+1 -1) in his 2nd USCL season. He won last week with the white pieces against IM David Vigorito of the New England Nor'easters on Board 1.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. IM Dmitry Schneider. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat, in his 9th season, has lost twice and has a (=2 -4) record against Manhattan. He lost last week with the black pieces on Board 2 against FM Steven Winer of the New England Nor'easters. Playing opposite him will be IM Dmitry Schneider, who is in his 8th USCL season, having missed playing only in 2006. He drew his only game this season in Week 1 with the black pieces against FM Dov Gorman of the Philadelphia Inventors on Board 2. He is (+2 =1) against Baltimore in his career.

Board 3: FM Rico Salimbagat vs. NM Jared Defibaugh. FM Rico Salimbagat is (=1 -1) in his first season in the USCL. He lost last week on Board 3 with the black pieces against FM Michael Bodek of the New York Knights. He will be facing NM Jared Defibaugh, who is also (=1 -1) this season. NM Defibaugh is playing in his 4th USCL season and has not played against Manhattan previously. He drew last week with the white pieces against FM Charles Riordan of the New England Nor'easters on Board 3.

Board 4: NM Ian Schoch vs. NM Ryan Goldenberg. NM Ian Schoch lost his 1st game this season in Week 1 with the white pieces against Jason Shi of the Connecticut Dreadnoughts on Board 4. He is (+1) in his career against against Manhattan. He will play NM Ryan Goldenberg, who is (+1 -1) in his first USCL season. He lost with the white pieces against FM Aravind Kumar of the New York Knights last week on Board 4.

TRIVIA: During the games last week, I mentioned on chess.com that this year's Baltimore Kingfishers roster has only 3 players who are currently attending UMBC. FM Mike Klein posed this as a trivia question to USCL President, IM Greg Shahade, during the live commentary on chess.com/tv. Coupled with seeing a certain player's name in this week's match, I realized this is the first season in which there are more former UMBC attendees on other USCL rosters than current and former ones on the Baltimore Kingfishers' roster. So can you figure out which 5 players (and 1 manager) on other USCL rosters are former UMBC alumni? Here's a hint: 3 of the 6 have played for the Baltimore Kingfishers in past years.

Catch the games live on chess.com and vote in the polls to the right!

Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

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