Saturday, September 20, 2014

2014 Week 4 Review

Atlanta Kings vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 0.5-3.5
IM Carlos Perdomo (2400) - IM Tanguy Ringoir (2583) 0-1 View Game
NM Damir Studen (2372) - IM Levan Bregadze (2530) 0-1 View Game
NM Richard Francisco (2382) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2325) 0-1 View Game
NM Michael Corallo (2284) - NM Andrew Zheng (2208) 0.5-0.5 View Game

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

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.


In their first-ever meeting, the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Atlanta Kings with a 3.5-0.5 result. Baltimore scored wins on the top three boards and secured a draw on Board 4. The teams swapped places in the Southern Division standings as Baltimore (2.0-2.0 match record) is now in 3rd place (of 6) while Atlanta (1.5-2.5) is in 5th place.

Board 1: IM Carlos Perdomo vs. IM Tanguy Ringoir. The top board began with an unusual English Opening, 1. c4 f5 2. b3. IM Tanguy Ringoir played the novelty 7... g6. At first the game revolved around black's e4 pawn, but once that cleared up, black set his sights on the kingside. IM Carlos Perdomo did not find the best reaction on move 19 and his king's protection quickly disappeared. The game ended on move 25 with mate in 4 on the board.

Board 2: IM Levan Bregadze vs. NM Damir Studen. The second board saw a Slav Defense: Declined (4. e3). NM Damir Studen played the novelty 11... Qb4, and then, the game progressed into a rather closed position. NM Studen ambitiously chose to break open the position with 26... Nxg5. However, IM Levan Bregadze returned the extra bishop with 33. Bxa6 to create passed pawns on the queenside and take control of the game's course. Black resigned on move 46.

Board 3: NM Richard Francisco vs. NM Jared Defibaugh. Board three featured a Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense Deferred (4... Nge7) that has been played before in the USCL by NM Jared Defibaugh. The positions in the late opening have been reached through various transpositions, so we saw the rather late novelty 19. Ng5 played by NM Richard Francisco. The middlegame had both sides playing with a queen, 2 knights, and the open f-file. In the ensuing knight and pawns endgame, white seems to have pressed too hard to find winning chances after declining a draw offer when Baltimore had already clinched the match victory. NM Defibaugh managed to convert a pawn advantage into another victory for Baltimore in 62 moves.

Board 4: NM Andrew Zheng vs. NM Michael Corallo. The fourth board exhibited another variation of the Ruy Lopez, the Closed Defense (4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7). The unusual 6... 0-0 allowed white to take a pawn. NM Andrew Zheng played the novelty 10. Nf3. In the middlegame, NM Michael Corallo sacrificed an exchange for capturing two pawns and opening diagonals for the dark-squared bishop. It seemed like black was nearing a decisive blow when shockingly, he sacrificed a rook and queen for a knight and two rooks, which left white with a queen for 2 bishops and a pawn. With victories on boards 1 and 2 already secured for Baltimore, NM Zheng went for a draw by threefold repetition to secure the match victory.

Note that IM Tenguy Ringoir gained his first victory in his USCL debut.

Next week, the Baltimore Kingfishers face the Manhattan Applesauce at 7:30 PM EDT on Tuesday, September 23rd.


Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

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