Baltimore Kingfishers

Week 9 Lineup/Preview

2011-10-22T11:49:00.000-04:00

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

Boston Blitz vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2604) - GM Larry Kaufman (2467)
IM Jan van de Mortel (2499) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426)
NM Vadim Martirosov (2329) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2280)
NM Ilya Krasik (2264) - NM Ian Schoch (2296)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun vs. GM Larry Kaufman. SM Sammour-Hasbun is (+4 -1) on the season and (+2 -1) against Baltimore. GM Kaufman is (=3 -3) on the season and (=2 -4) against Boston. SM Sammour-Hasbun has a large rating advantage and the white pieces so it will be all GM Kaufman can do to try to at least hold a draw.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. IM Jan van de Mortel. IM Enkhbat is (+2 =3 -3) on the season and (+2 =1 -3) against Boston. IM van de Mortel is (=3) on the season and has not played Baltimore. IM van de Mortel has a rating edge but IM Enkhbat has the white pieces so this match-up seems about even.

Board 3: NM Vadim Martirosov vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. NM Martirosov is (+2 =1 -2) on the season and (=4) against Baltimore. FM Zimmer is (=1) on the season and (=2 -1) against Boston. These two played to a draw during last year's Quarterfinals. NM Martirosov has a slight rating advantage and the white pieces.

Board 4: NM Ian Schoch vs. NM Ilya Krasik. NM Schoch is (+3 -1) on the season and (+1) against Boston. NM Krasik is (+1 -4) on the season and (+3 =1 -3) against Baltimore. This time, NM Schoch has the only rating edge for Baltimore, albeit a slight one, and the white pieces.

Both teams are fighting for a playoff berth with Boston currently holding the 4th and last spot in the Eastern Division. Baltimore, which is 1 match point behind, can tie Boston (and be ahead on the first tie-break) with a win this week. Also, either the New England Nor'easters or Carolina Cobras could take control of that coveted final playoff spot if Baltimore wins.

A drawn match would still keep some faint playoff hopes alive for Baltimore, but it would depend on having at most one team of Manhattan, Boston, New England, and Carolina passing 4.5 match points for the season and Baltimore being able to pass those teams in game points. Of course, Baltimore would like to avoid such a dire scenario.

Finally, a match loss would eliminate Baltimore from playoff contention.

Week 8 Lineup/Preview

2011-10-17T11:50:00.001-04:00

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.

Week 7 Lineup/Preview

2011-10-09T23:43:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Carolina Cobras
GM Larry Kaufman (2467) - IM Jonathan Schroer (2435)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426) - FM Kassa Korley (2368)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2363) - FM Ron Simpson (2317)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2280) - NM Craig Jones (2305)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Jonathan Schroer. GM Kaufman is (+3 =1 -1) against Carolina and (=2 -2) on the season while IM Schroer is (+1 =3 -1) against Baltimore and (+1 =1 -2) on the season. These two have played twice before: a draw in 2007 and a GM Kaufman win in 2010. This is a pretty even match-up but having the white pieces and a win in their previous head-to-head game bodes well for GM Kaufman.

Board 2: FM Kassa Korley vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. FM Korley is (+2 =1 -1) on the season but he has not yet played Baltimore while IM Enkhbat is (+3 =2 -2) against Carolina and (+2 =3 -1) on the season. IM Enkhbat has the slight rating advantage but FM Korley has the white pieces. This game may come down to which team needs to press for a win as the match situation clears up.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. FM Ron Simpson. NM Defibaugh is (=1) against Carolina and (+3 -2) on the season while FM Simpson is (-2) against Baltimore and (+2 =2) on the season. NM Defibaugh has the slight rating edge and the white pieces. He will be looking to snap the recent (-2) cold streak after starting (+3) this season.

Board 4: NM Craig Jones vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. NM Jones is (+1 =2 -3) against Baltimore and (=2 -2) on the season while FM Zimmer is making his season debut and (+1 =1 -2) against Carolina. These two have also played twice before: a NM Jones win in 2007 and a draw in 2006. Another fairly even match, but this time, Carolina's NM Jones has the white pieces and the plus score in the head-to-head.

Week 6 Lineup/Preview

2011-10-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

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

Chicago Blaze vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Mesgen Amanov (2576) - GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2538)
GM Dmitry Gurevich (2547) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426)
IM Angelo Young (2415) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2363)
NM Gopal Menon (2222) - NM Ian Schoch (2296)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Mesgen Amanov vs. GM Giorgi Margvelashvili. GM Amanov is (+2) this season while GM Margvelashvili is (-1) this season. Amazingly, GM Amanov will be playing on the third different board in his third game. He faces fellow-GM Margvelashvili who will be looking to rebound from the loss in his first USCL game. This is one of the few times Baltimore has not been heavily out-rated on Board 1 this season, so they would definitely like to make the most of the opportunity.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. GM Dmitry Gurevich. IM Enkhbat is (=1) against Chicago and (+1 =3 -1) on the season while GM Gurevich is (+2 =1) on the season. A tough match-up for IM Enkhbat as he at a 121-point rating disadvantage and GM Gurevich has only conceded 1 draw in 6 USCL games against non-GM opponents.

Board 3: IM Angelo Young vs. NM Jared Defibaugh. IM Young is (=1) against Baltimore and (+2) on the season while NM Defibaugh is (+3 -1) on the season. IM Young will face his toughest opponent so far this season while NM Defibaugh looks to put last week's loss behind him. IM Young has the rating edge and the white pieces while this will be NM Defibaugh's first game with the black pieces this season.

Board 4: NM Ian Schoch vs. NM Gopal Menon. NM Schoch is (+3) on the season while NM Menon is (+1) on the season. NM Schoch has the only rating advantage for Baltimore in this match and he will have the white pieces. That bodes well for continuing his excellent record from the first half as he faces another league newcomer in NM Menon.

Week 5 Lineup/Preview

2011-09-26T13:04:00.000-04:00

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

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Sergey Erenburg (2679) - GM Larry Kaufman (2467)
FM Tom Bartell (2405) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426)
IM Jay Bonin (2438) - WGM Sabina Foisor (2416)
NM William Fisher (2369) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2363)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. GM Larry Kaufman. GM Erenburg had previously played for Baltimore until moving to Philadelphia this year so he has not played against Baltimore while GM Kaufman is (+2 =3 -2) against Philadelphia. This game is the biggest ratings mismatch (212 point difference) of the season for Baltimore. As the other boards are quite evenly matched according to ratings, Philadelphia will surely want GM Erenburg to push for a win on this board with the white pieces. Will GM Kaufman be able to fend off his former teammate? Vote in the polls on our sidebar with your predictions!

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. FM Tom Bartell. IM Enkhbat is (+3 =1 -1) against Philadelphia while FM Bartell is (+1 =3 -1) against Baltimore. In fact, these two played to a draw in 2009. This season, IM Enkhbat is (+1 =2 -1) and FM Bartell is (+1 =2). This is the only board where Baltimore has a rating advantage, but it is marginal, so this is a toss-up.

Board 3: IM Jay Bonin vs. WGM Sabina Foisor. IM Bonin is (+1 =2 -3) against Baltimore while WGM Foisor has not played against Philadelphia. IM Bonin is (+1 =2) this season and WGM Foisor is making her season debut. This game is another toss-up as both players are fairly close in rating.

Board 4: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. NM William Fisher. NM Defibaugh is (-1) against Philadelphia while NM Fisher, who is in his first USCL season, has not yet played against Baltimore. Both players are 3-0 this season and are 6th and 7th, respectively, in the USCL MVP Race - a fairly surprising matchup to see on a Board 4. Also, this game is probably the highest rated Board 4 matchup in USCL history!

Week 4 Lineup/Preview

2011-09-17T09:00:00.004-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Larry Kaufman (2467) - FM David Griego (2494)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426) - NM Vadim Martirosov (2329)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2363) - NM Ilya Krasik (2264)
NM Ian Schoch (2296) - Christopher Gu (2283)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Larry Kaufman vs. FM David Griego. GM Kaufman is (=1 -4) against Boston. FM Griego is new to the USCL this year and only has one game (-1) under his belt. This is the only board where Boston has a rating advantage, but it's only 27 points and GM Kaufman has the white pieces, so it is a wash.

Board 2: NM Vadim Martirosov vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. NM Martirosov is (=3) against Baltimore while IM Enkhbat is (+2 -3) against Boston. IM Enkhbat has a 97 point rating edge. With the black pieces, he will look to play solidly and then strike outwardly if the opportunity presents itself.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. NM Ilya Krasik. NM Defibaugh has not yet played Boston and NM Krasik is (+3 =1 -2) against Baltimore. NM Defibaugh has both a 99 point rating advantage and the white pieces. It is the best statistical advantage of the match especially noting NM Krasik's record against Baltimore with the black pieces is (=1 -2) as opposed to (+3) with white, so NM Defibaugh should be pressing here.

Board 4: NM Christopher Gu vs. NM Ian Schoch. NM Gu is another Boston Blitz player who is new to the league this year. He has played just one game so far - a draw with the black pieces. NM Schoch has not played against Boston. These players are very closely matched in rating, but despite that fact, do not expect a draw as I anticipate both players aiming for victory.

Week 3 Lineup/Preview

2011-09-10T13:30:00.002-04:00

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

New England Nor'easters vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Sam Shankland (2624) - GM Larry Kaufman (2467)
IM David Vigorito (2547) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426)
FM Braden Bournival (2396) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2292)
NM Mika Brattain (2208) - NM Ian Schoch (2296)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Sam Shankland vs. GM Larry Kaufman. Neither of these two players played in the previous NE-BAL match last year - New England's inaugural USCL match, which they won 2.5-1.5. GM Shankland is returning from the World Cup, which he explains here at the USCF site. GM Kaufman faces another tough matchup with a large rating disdvantage (157 points) and the black pieces.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. IM David Vigorito. IM Enkhbat is (-1) against New England while IM Vigorito is (+1) against Baltimore. IM Enkhbat sat on Board 1 last in the last NE-BAL match, but Board 2 will not be much easier with a 121-point rating disadvantage. However, he will have the white pieces for the first time this season.

Board 3: FM Braden Bournival vs. NM Adithya Balasubramanian. Baltimore is again at a rating disadvantange, but this is a rematch from Week 1 last year, which ended in a draw. Expect a similar Philidor Defence from these two again.

Board 4: NM Ian Schoch vs. NM Mika Brattain. NM Schoch is (+1) against New England and he squares off against another player making his USCL debut - NM Brattain. This appears to be a developing theme with NM Schoch as he is (+2) against USCL debutants and (+3) against players in their first USCL season. This is the one board where Baltimore holds a rating edge and judging from NM Schoch's previous games, it will be a highly entertaining affair.

Week 2 Lineup/Preview

2011-09-05T09:00:00.007-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New Jersey Knockouts
GM Larry Kaufman (2467) - GM Boris Gulko (2587)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426) - IM Dean Ippolito (2554)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2363) - FM Arthur Shen (2291)
NM Ian Schoch (2296) - Christopher Wu (2151)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Larry Kaufman vs. GM Boris Gulko. New Jersey really seems to have GM Kaufman's number as he is (-3) against them while GM Gulko's only game (+1) against Baltimore was with GM Kaufman. Having a 120-point rating disadvantage, GM Kaufman will have a tough time turning that dubious record around against GM Gulko, who is one of the best performers (in terms of win percentage and performance rating) in USCL history.

Board 2: IM Dean Ippolito vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. IM Ippolito is (+3 =1) against Baltimore and IM Enkhbat is (+2 =2 -2) against New Jersey. These two players have actually squared off three times (See 1 2 3) already with 2 wins for IM Ippolito and a draw between them. IM Enkhbat did manage to draw against GM Fedorowicz last week. With the black pieces again this week and facing another large rating disadvantage (128 points), IM Enkhbat will look to hold on again.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. FM Arthur Shen. NM Defibaugh is (-1) against New Jersey while NM Shen is playing for the first time against Baltimore. NM Defibaugh notched the only victory for Baltimore last week while FM Shen, the only returning player from New Jersey's Week 1 lineup, drew his game. This time, with a slight rating edge and the white pieces again, NM Defibaugh has a great opportunity to make a strong start this season.

Board 4: Christopher Wu vs. NM Ian Schoch. Christopher Wu is playing his first USCL game while NM Schoch scored 2.0/3 overall last year. NM Schoch has a significant 145-rating advantage, so he will be counted on to press for victory with the black pieces.

Week 1 Lineup/Preview

2011-08-29T23:48:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights
GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2538) - GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2653)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2426) - GM John Fedorowicz (2523)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2363) - SM Matt Herman (2426)
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2292) - NM Justus Williams (2239)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

Board 1: GM Giorgi Margvelashvili vs. GM Giorgi Kacheishvili. GM Margvelashvili is new to the USCL while GM Kacheishvili is (=1) against Baltimore. GM Margvelashvili takes the top spot on Baltimore's roster as GM Erenburg moved to Philadelphia. He'll look to start off his USCL career with a solid showing especially having the white pieces, but he faces a tough match-up in GM Kacheishvili, who helped lead New York to the USCL Championship in 2009.

Board 2: GM John Fedorowicz vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. GM Fedorowicz has not played against Baltimore until now and IM Enkhbat is (+2 =3 -3) against New York. Facing a GM on board 2 is tough, but that should not faze IM Enkhbat as over the years, he's played on Board 1 several times so tough opposition comes with the territory. His record against GMs in the USCL is (+1 =2 -1).

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. SM Matt Herman. NM Defibaugh is (=1) against New York while SM Herman has a record of (+1 =2 -2) against Baltimore. NM Defibaugh returns to the Kingfishers roster after a 1-year hiatus while sporting about a 200-point rating increase. However, he is still at a rating disadvantage against SM Herman. Perhaps having the white pieces will bridge that (rating-)gap.

Board 4: NM Justus Williams vs. NM Adithya Balasubramanian. Neither player has played against the other team. This is the only board that Baltimore has a rating advantage, but NM Balasubramian has the black pieces. He was (=2 -1) last year on that side of the board while NM Williams won the only game he had with the white pieces last year.

Players News

2010-11-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

GM Larry Kaufman tied for 1st with 8.5/11 (and took 4th place on tie-breaks) in the World Senior Championship!

View the results at USCF Chess Online,
chess-results.com,and the Official Site.

Quarterfinals Lineup/Preview

2010-10-31T13:53:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Larry Christiansen (2665)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - IM Marc Esserman (2492)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) - NM Vadim Martirosov (2248)
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) - NM Ilya Krasik (2253)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The playoffs are finally here and we see a rematch of Week 9 between Baltimore and Boston. Boston receives draw odds and Baltimore chose white on Boards 1 and 3. Baltimore is using a similar lineup as in Week 9 (and the same as Week 10) but with IM Enkhbat replacing IM Kaplan on Board 2. Boston counters with a new lineup headed by their stalwart Board 1, GM Larry Christiansen.

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. GM Larry Christiansen. GM Erenburg is (+2 =1) against Boston and (+4 =4) on the season while GM Christiansen is (+1 =2 -2) against Baltimore and (+3 =4 -1) on the season. This is the only pairing that has played before in the USCL and that was just 2 weeks ago. In that game, GM Christiansen surprised GM Erenburg with a rare Philidor's Defense variation that eventually went into a drawn rook ending. What's in store for this game is anybody's guess, but it has got to be more exciting especially since this is the playoffs!

Board 2: IM Marc Esserman vs. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat. IM Esserman is (+1 =1) against Baltimore and (+2) this season. IM Enkhbat is (+2 -2) against Boston and (+2 =1 -2) this season. At 67 points, this game has the largest rating difference of the match. With a 75% (15.0/20) career scoring percentage, IM Esserman is one of the most successful players in the USCL. On the other side of the board, IM Enkhbat has a solid 51% (22.5/44) career scoring percentage. Expect IM Esserman to steer toward sharp play and press for a win here.

Board 3: FM Ralph Zimmer vs. NM Vadim Martirosov. FM Zimmer is (=1 -1) against Boston and (+1 =2 -2) on the season. NM Martirosov is (=2) against Baltimore and (+2 =3 -1) this season. This game is the first time since Week 6 that FM Zimmer has not been at a severe rating disadvantage. In fact, he has a 31 point advantage. If Baltimore wants to overcome Boston's draw odds, FM Zimmer may have to push for a victory.

Board 4: NM Ilya Krasik vs. NM Adithya Balasubramanian. NM Krasik is (+2 =1 -2) against Baltimore and (=4 -1) this season. NM Balasubramanian is (=1) against Boston and (+2 =3) this season. NM Krasik is one of the most experienced players in the USCL with 41 games played while NM Balasubramanian is new to the league this year. With a 70% score in 5 games, NM Balasubramanian has been nice addition for Baltimore. He'll need to stay undefeated to help Baltimore continue further this season.

Player News

2010-10-31T10:50:00.000-04:00

GM Larry Kaufman is currently playing in the World Senior Championship and has scored 4.0/5.

Follow the results at USCF Chess Online,
chess-results.com,and the
Official Site's Live Games.

Week 10 Results/Review

2010-10-31T10:28:00.001-04:00

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 1-3
GM Joel Benjamin (2614) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) 0-1
IM Mackenzie Molner (2548) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) 0-1
IM Albert Kapengut (2372) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) 1-0
Sean Finn (2123) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) 0-1

Knowing that just one draw in the match would clinch a playoff berth creates a strange kind of tension. You know it is just so close, yet it is not guaranteed. Inevitably, you wonder "What if the incredible happens? What if we lose 0-4?" I knew that it's happened before - Carolina defeated Tennessee 4-0 (thanks to a win on time in a dead lost position) to edge Philadelphia on game points for the final playoff spot in 2006. Perhaps it was best that most of the players didn't know about that incident!

The match didn't start out very well for Baltimore. You just know it's not going good when your pieces are forced back to the starting rank as in the above position from Board 3. FM Zimmer played on, looking for any complications, but IM Kapengut allowed nothing and even trapped black's queen to seal the game.

The match looked even worse when Board 4 reached the above position. NM Balasubramanian was losing the exchange with 27. Qe3 Nxe1 28. Qxe1 (28. Bxf8?? Qg2#) Kxg7 and would have to fight hard to even draw.

Meanwhile, GM Benjamin was trying hard to drum up an attack on GM Erenburg's King as seen in the following position:

Perhaps 21...g5 was best, but it would have allowed white to expose the black king after 22. Nxh6+ Bxh6 23. Bxg5 (23... Bxg5 24. Qxg5+ Qg6 25. Rxe5 Nxe5 26. Qxe5 =/+). GM Erenburg chose to defend his king (and offer a queen-trade) with 21... Ng6. The game continued 22. Qg4 Qc6 23. Qe2 Rd5 24. Rf1 Nf6 25. Re3 Rad8 26. Qf3 Qd7 27. Bxh6 gxh6 28. Qf4?? Nxf4. With that dropped queen, Baltimore finally clinched the playoff spot and was then playing for a chance at the 3rd seed. Also, GM Erenburg had clinched at least 2nd in the MVP race. GM Becerra would take a draw Wednesday to win the UCSL MVP for the 3rd time.

IM Mackenzie Molner fought hard to keep the game complicated, culminating with 24... Nxf2 in the above position. However, IM Enkhbat calmly diffused those complications with 25. Qxf2 Ng4 26. Qf4 Qxf4 27. gxf4 Bxc3 28. Ra2 Ne3 29. Rd3 Nxg2 30. Kxg2 and came out with a nice plus in the advanced c-pawn. He used that advantage to convert into a winning king and pawn endgame that brought about a resignation on move 47.

After IM Enkhbat's game finished, we saw that Boston-New York was going to be drawn, so NM Balasubramanian needed to at least draw his game for Baltimore to take the 3rd seed from New York. The game had become about even (around move 50) despite white going down that exchange earlier. Then, black made a final inaccuracy with 52... Rd8? that would give white the advantage:

NM Balasubramanian played 53. d7! e3 (53... Rxd7 54. Qa8+ Kh7 55. Nf8+ Kg7 56. Nxd7 Qxd7 57. Qxe4 +/=) 54. fxe3 Rf8 55. Nxf8! Qxa2 56. d8=Q Qb1+ 57. Kf2 Qf5+ 58. Ke2 and Finn resigned seeing as there was no compelling reason to continue playing.

So Baltimore clinched the playoff spot and passed New York for the 3rd seed. That sets up a Baltimore-Boston match in the Quarterfinals with Boston having draw odds but Baltimore having color-choice.

Week 10 Lineup/Preview

2010-10-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

Monday, 7:45 PM EDT
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Joel Benjamin (2614) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646)
IM Mackenzie Molner (2548) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425)
IM Albert Kapengut (2372) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279)
Sean Finn (2123) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The final match of the regular season is upon us! The Baltimore Kingfishers face the New Jersey Knockouts in an elimination match for the final playoff spot. The catch is that Baltimore has a special kind of draw odds: 1 draw on any board means New Jersey is eliminated, but Baltimore could keep playing to have a shot at 3rd place in the Eastern Division. Thus, the New Jersey players will have to go all out for wins from the beginning, which should make for a very entertaining match!

Board 1: GM Joel Benjamin vs. GM Sergey Erenburg. GM Benjamin is (+4 =2 -1) on the season and (+2 =2 -2) against Baltimore. GM Erenburg is (+3 =4) on the season and (+2 -1) against New Jersey with each of those games played against GM Benjamin. Both players are tied for 3rd in the USCL MVP race with 15.0 points (GM Erenburg holds the 2nd tie-breaker, Overall Team Record). GM Erenburg would win the league MVP with a win (20.0 points), a GM Becerra loss, and a non-win by GM Nakamura. GM Benjamin could tie for first with 19.0 points but would not be able to pass GM Becerra on the first tie-breaker (Total games played). With all the possible individual and team achievements on the line, this should be the Game of the Night!

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. IM Mackenzie Molner. IM Enkhbat is (+1 =1 -2) on the season and (+1 =2 -2) against New Jersey. IM Molner is (+1 =1 -2) on the season and (+3 =1 -1) against Baltimore. The must-win situation fits well with IM Molner's well-known aggressive style. Will the white pieces be enough for IM Enkhbat to counter the 123-point rating difference? After all, Baltimore is 3rd best (tied with Arizona at 11.0/18) in the league with the white pieces and New Jersey is last in the league with the black pieces (6.0/18).

Board 3: IM Albert Kapengut vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. IM Kapengut is (+1 =3 -1) on the season and (+1) against Baltimore. FM Zimmer is (+1 =2 -1) and (-1) against New Jersey. Here is another rating advantage for New Jersey in this matchup; this time it is 93 points and the white pieces. However, FM Zimmer has been able to draw his last two games against higher-rated opposition (145 and 192 point differences), so he has proven to be up to the task. The question is how will IM Kapengut needing to play for a win affect the gameplay?

Board 4: NM Adithya Balasubramanian vs. Sean Finn. NM Balasubramanian is (+1 =3) on the season and this will be his first time playing New Jersey. Sean Finn is (-2) on the season and (+1) against Baltimore. This time, Baltimore has a sizable 132-point rating advantage and the white pieces. Also taking into account the previously mentioned color-specific scoring statistics for these teams, this board might be the toughest of all for New Jersey to try to win. Try they will, and that'll be a win for the audience on Monday night!

Week 9 Results

2010-10-24T08:34:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz 1.5-2.5
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Larry Christiansen (2665) 0.5-0.5
IM Sasha Kaplan (2482) - SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2603) 0-1
FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) - SM Denys Shmelov (2471) 0.5-0.5
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) - Grant Xu (2061) 0.5-0.5

Boston beat Baltimore 2.5-1.5 to clinch 2nd place in the Eastern Division. Meanwhile, Baltimore stays in 4th place. Also, thanks to Philadelphia's defeat of Manhattan, Baltimore only needs 1 drawn game against New Jersey to clinch the final Eastern Division playoff spot. However, New Jersey can pass Baltimore with a 4-0 win, so they will have to play all out in the final regular season match.

Week 9 Lineup/Preview

2010-10-17T01:35:00.001-04:00

Monday, 7:15 PM EDT
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment
(Note: On Board 3, FM Zimmer will have 101 minutes to SM Shmelov's 79 minutes due to a late lineup change)

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Larry Christiansen (2665)
IM Sasha Kaplan (2482) - SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2603)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) - SM Denys Shmelov (2471)
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) - Grant Xu (2061)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

In a tightened Eastern Division playoff race, the Baltimore Kingfishers face the Boston Blitz. Both teams are looking to secure playoff berths this week. Boston has a playoff berth by at least drawing the match or if Manhattan does not win its match. Baltimore gets a playoff berth if it can keep a 1 match-point and 4.5 game-point lead on Manhattan and New Jersey. Furthermore, Boston, Baltimore, and New York are each striving for 2nd place, which gives draw odds (or color choice) in at least the first round of the playoffs. Also, Boston still has an outside shot of catching New England for 1st place in the Eastern Division. Therefore, both teams have plenty on the line for which to play!

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. GM Larry Christiansen. GM Erenburg is (+2) against Boston and (+3 =3) on the season while GM Christiansen is (+1 =1 -2) against Baltimore and (+3 =3 -1) on the season. Both players have a chance to be the USCL MVP, with GM Erenburg in 4th place (15.0 points) and GM Christiansen in 8th place (10.0 points). GM Erenburg took 2nd in Week 7's Game of the Week contest and GM Christiansen won Game of the Week in both Weeks 6 and 8. Though the team result will be most important, I am sure both these individuals want to score the full point with that special flair. Make sure you catch this game live!

Board 2: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun vs. IM Sasha Kaplan. SM Sammour-Hasbun is (+1 -1) against Baltimore and (-1) this season while IM Kaplan is making his USCL debut. SM Sammour-Hasbun had a brilliant rookie season in 2007, but his USCL performance rating has dropped markedly in the years since then. However, he is still a very dangerous player who has shown many flashes of brilliance as seen by his 3.5 Game of the Week awards including 2007 Game of the Year. This is definitely a tough spot to make one's USCL debut as IM Kaplan will be a 121-rating point underdog with the black pieces. This year's President's Cup (College Chess Final Four) program lists IM Kaplan's chess accomplishments as: 2007 Israel Junior Champion, Under 20; 2008 Army Champion; 2nd Place, Herzeliya International Round Robin Tournament. Anticipate a solid opening and then a sharp late-middlegame.

Board 3: FM Ralph Zimmer vs. SM Denys Shmelov. FM Zimmer is (-1) against Boston and (+1 =1 -1) on the season while SM Shmelov is (+1 -1) against Baltimore and (=1 -3) on the season. FM Zimmer has played once each on Boards 2, 3, and 4 while SM Shmelov has played twice each on Boards 2 and 3. SM Shmelov is a 192-point rating favorite. However, SM Shmelov has the black pieces and starts with a time disadvantage (101 to 79 - the 22-minute difference is approximately one-fourth of the original 90 minute starting time) as he is a late lineup replacement for IM Marc Esserman. Expect this game to deviate from theory early with some original play afterward.

Board 4: Grant Xu vs. NM Adithya Balasubramanian. Grant Xu has only played one USCL game, a win. NM Balasubramanian is (+1 =2) this season. Coincidentally, both players got the win against Philadelphia. However, NM Balasubramanian did it on Board 3, and he is a 194-point rating favorite. Baltimore will probably need to win here to counter its rating disadvantages on Boards 2 and 3, so look for NM Balasubramanian to mix it up in the middle game.

Week 8 Results/Review

2010-10-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Philadelphia Inventors 2.5-1.5
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - FM Tom Bartell (2429) 1-0
FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) - IM Jay Bonin (2424) 0.5-0.5
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) - FM Karl Dehmelt (2308) 1-0
NM Richard Selzler (2252) - IM Richard Costigan (2288) 0-1

In the shortest 90/30 match I can remember Baltimore playing, the Kingfishers edged the Philadelphia Inventors 2.5-1.5. Although the match was decided in Baltimore's favor after only 3 boards finished, you will see in the analysis below that the match could just as likely have been drawn. Also, during Monday night, New Jersey was able to comeback from a 0-2 deficit to draw the match against Manhattan. Thus, Baltimore is now 1 match point clear of Manhattan for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division. Now, let's take a look at the games which actually finished in board order.

The Board 1 battle between GM Sergey Erenburg and FM Tom Bartell began with a Sicilian: Taimanov. The novelty occurred when FM Bartell played 13... e5 instead of 13... Nxe3 (=1 -1 for white). Later, FM Bartell tried the overly-ambitious 19... e4:

GM Erenburg neatly diffused the aggression in the center with 20. fxe4 fxe4 21. Rxe4! Bd5 (21... Nxe4 22. Bxe4 and the black king comes under heavy fire) 22. Rd4 Be4 23. Rc4 Qd5 24. Bc3 Bxd3 25. Rxd3 Qxg2 26. Rg3 Qf1+ 27. Kb2 (Black resigned as Rf4 and Rxf6 are coming).

GM Erenburg now has 15 USCL MVP Points along with GM Joel Benjamin and IM Julio Sadorra (GM Benjamin holds the tiebreaker with the most games played). Also, GM Julio Becerra, GM Hikaru Nakamura, and GM Pascal Charbonneau each have a chance to tie or pass that total on Wednesday night.

The IM Jay Bonin and FM Ralph Zimmer game on Board 2 looked as if it was going to be a King's Indian Defense, but soon switched to a Sicilian: Maroczy Bind. The novelty was IM Bonin's 13. Bxg7 (13. Rac1 [+1 for white] and 13. b4 [-1] have been tried). IM Bonin gained space after 14. b4 and seemed to have a good edge through 20. Nxe5 fxe5:

White could keep a clear edge with 21. Rd2! planning to double rooks on the d-file. Instead, the game continued 21. Qd2 h6 22. cxd6 exd6 23. Qxd6 Qxd6 24. Rxd6 Rc2! This active rook allows black to win back the pawn on a2 as in the game or with 25. Bd1 Rc4! (Not 25... Rxa2? 26. Rxa2 Bxa2 27. Bh5! when white wins either the b-pawn or e-pawn). The game ended in the 3-fold repetition that put Baltimore up 1.5-0.5 with Boards 3 + 4 looking slightly better for Baltimore but far from conclusive.

Board 3 between NM Adithya Balasubramanian and FM Karl Dehmelt started "very quietly" with a Giuoco Pianissimo: Four Knights variation. The novelty came quickly with 7... Bb4 (7... Bxe3 with one draw has been played). The middle game was anything but quiet with 12. Nh4 g5 (12... Nxe4 is impossible due to 13. dxe4 Qxh4 14. Qd5! attacking a5 and f7) 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14. exf5 Qd7 15. Qf3 d5 16. Rfb1 0-0-0 17. Rb4 e4!? 18. dxe4 dxe4 19. Qe2 Qxf5?! (19... Nd5 was better):

Here, white missed a chance to play the imaginative shot 20. Rxb7! Nxb7 (20... Kxb7 21. Rb1+ +/-) 21. Qxa6 Qa5 (otherwise Rb1 and xb7 are coming) 22. Qxf6 Nd6 23. Rb1 (+/=; Black could even blunder into mate with 23... Rdf8? 24. Be6+! fxe6 25. Qxe6+ Kd8 26. Rb8+ Nc8 27. Rxc8#). Now, the game actually continued: 20. Bxf7 Rhf8 21. Bh5 Nxh5 22. Qxh5 c5 23. Rb6 Nc4 24. Rxh6 Nxe3 25. fxe3 Qf2+ 26. Kh1 Qxe3 27. Qg4+ Kb8 28. Rh7 Rd6 29. Re7 Rdf6 30. Qxe4 Rf1+ 31. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 32. Kh2. Here, I am not sure if FM Dehmelt felt he had to play for a win due to the match situation or simply missed the draw that NM Balasubramanian admitted he overlooked earlier:

32... Qg1+ 33. Kg3 Qf2+ 34. Kh2 (Definitely not 34. Kg4? Qh4#) Qg1+ with perpetual check. The game actually went 32... Qf4+? 33. Qxf4+ Rxf4 34. a5 Rc4 35. Rg7 Rxc3 36. Rxg5 b5 37. axb6 Kb7 38. h4 Rc4 39. h5 Kxb6 40. Rg3 Rf4 41. h6 Rf7 42. Rh3 Rh7 43. g4 a5 44. g5 a4 45. g6 a3 46. gxh7 and Black resigns. With this win, Baltimore was assured the match victory with at least 2.5 points.

The Board 4 game between IM Richard Costigan and NM Richard Selzler began in an offbeat variation: 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 f6 (NM Selzler said he saw this move in the game Petrosian-Fischer, 1971; however, IM Costigan deviated from that game on the next move) 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qd2 e5 7. e3 Be6 8. Be2 Bb4 9. c3 Ba5 10. 0-0 Nge7 11. Rc1 (Novelty - 11. Rd1 tried with one draw) O-O 12. b4 Bb6 13. c4 Rc8 14. c5 Bc7 15. a3 Qd7 16. Nc3 Rfd8 17. Bb5 Qe8 18. Ne2 Qg6 19. Ng3 h5 20. Qe2 Qh6 (20... e4 21. Nd4 Nxd4 22. exd4 h4 =/+) 21. h3 g5 (21... e4 is playable still) 22. Nh2 h4 23. Nh1 Qg6 24. f3 Kf7?! (24... a6 25. Bd3 f5 or 24... f5 immediately seem more to the point) 25. Nf2 f5 26. Rf1 Kg8 27. Rad1 e4? (It is bad now due to white's rooks, which are better placed on the soon to open files):

28. fxe4 dxe4 29. Rxd8+ (29. Nxe4! is even stronger as the e6-bishop won't be supported when Rf6 is played) Nxd8 30. Nxe4! (30. Nhg4! is also good) Bxh2+ 31. Kxh2 fxe4 32. Rf6 Qh7 33. Qf1 (33. Bc4! Bf7 34. Qg4 +/-) Bf7 34. Bc4 Rc6 (34... a6 35. Be5 b5 36. Ba2! +/=; Black is still worse but can play on for awhile with the extra piece for a pawn) 35. Qd1 Rc8 36. Qd7 Kf8 37. Be5 Kg8 38. Qxe7 (Black resigns with mate coming soon; 38... Qe8+ is the threat).

The match would have been drawn had FM Dehmelt taken the perpetual check on Board 3, so Baltimore had a little luck this week to take the match victory. However, Capablanca said "A good [team] is always lucky," no? Look for Baltimore to try to cement a playoff spot next week against the very tough Boston Blitz!

Week 8 Lineup/Preview

2010-10-10T01:37:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Philadelphia Inventors
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - FM Tom Bartell (2429)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) - IM Jay Bonin (2424)
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) - FM Karl Dehmelt (2308)
NM Richard Selzler (2252) - IM Richard Costigan (2288)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

This week the Baltimore Kingfishers face the Philadelphia Inventors. This is another same-season rematch as these teams faced each other in Week 4, which ended in all-draws. Five of the players (2 Baltimore, 3 Philadelphia) in this match also played in the first match. However, the stakes in this match are much higher as Philadelphia cannot lose if they want to keep playoff hopes alive. Meanwhile, Baltimore is trying to hold onto its half-match-point lead for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division.

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. FM Tom Bartell. GM Erenburg is (+1 =4) against Philadelphia and (+2 =3) in the USCL this season. FM Bartell is (+1 =3) against Baltimore and (+2 =4) this season. Both players are also competing for this season's USCL MVP as GM Erenburg has 11.0 points and FM Bartell has 10.5 points while GM Becerra and GM Nakamura lead with 14.0 points. This game will only be FM Bartell's 2nd time on Board 1 this season, but he has played 3 GM's on Board 2 with a 2.0/3 score including an Upset of the Week with the black pieces against GM Boris Gulko. The 217-point rating difference in this game will be even tougher to overcome, but it is clear one should not underestimate FM Bartell. I anticipate this game could turn into quite a tactical melee!

Board 2: IM Jay Bonin vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. IM Bonin is (+1 =1 -3) against Baltimore and (=2) this season. FM Zimmer is (+3 =1) against Philadelphia and (+1 -1) this season. This match is FM Zimmer's third consecutive time playing and he's been on a different Board each time! This time, he has a 145-point rating disadvantage and the black pieces against one of the most active USCF players ever, IM Bonin. Last week, IM Bonin played 1. b3 and got a good position against IM Hungaski. Perhaps he'll try the Larsen Opening again this week? If so, I am sure it will lead to some very interesting play!

Board 3: NM Adithya Balasubramanian vs. FM Karl Dehmelt. Both players are new to the USCL this year, but FM Dehmelt has played nearly every week for Philadelphia. NM Balasubramanian is (=2) this season while FM Dehmelt is (+1 =1 -4) with the draw coming against Baltimore's IM Ray Kaufman this season. They both played black against New England's FM Braden Bournival with NM Balasubramanian scoring a draw, but FM Dehmelt having a loss. Transitivity suggests NM Balasubramanian should win despite a 53-point rating disadvantage. However, FM Dehmelt's win came the only time he had a rating advantage this season. I think the game will end more peacefully but not without bloodshed on the board!

Board 4: IM Richard Costigan vs. NM Richard Selzler. This game is the one rematch (with colors reversed) from Week 4. IM Costigan is (+1 =3 -4) against Baltimore and (+1 =4) this season while NM Selzler's only USCL game was the draw against IM Costigan. NM Selzler has since won the title of UMBC Student Champion. Now, there is only a 36-point rating advantage for IM Costigan, but he also holds the higher title and has the white pieces. Who will win the Richard-Row, Round 2? Watch Monday on ICC to find out!

PS. Good luck to GM Larry Kaufman, IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat, and IM Ray Kaufman, who are playing in the Continental Class Championships in Arlington, Virginia this weekend.

Week 7 Results/Review

2010-10-06T16:45:00.006-04:00

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5-1.5
GM Alex Stripunsky (2659) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) 0-1
IM Lev Milman (2501) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452) 1-0
IM Eli Vovsha (2539) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) 1-0
James Black (2102) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) 0.5-0.5

The Manhattan Applesauce defeated the Baltimore Kingfishers by the score 2.5-1.5, keeping the Eastern Division Playoff Race going for at least another couple weeks. The match featured a few hiccups, including two takebacks for Manhattan and a complete network (wireless and LAN) outage for Baltimore around 10:30 PM! Thankfully, the outage lasted less than five minutes, but coincidentally, it (re)asks the question of what is to be done if the network did not come back up, which was the topic of conversation on ICC channel 129 about half an hour before the outage when New York also had trouble with their connection. Phone relay; Adjournment; Restart at a later date; Agreed Draw; Adjudication; Forfeiture?! Any reader preferences/suggestions? Meanwhile, let's get back to the games:

This Board 2 rematch (with colors reversed) saw a relatively long theoretical line of the Queen's Gambit: Semi-Slav played between GM Larry Kaufman and IM Lev Milman. 13... b5 has only been played twice before with wins for white in both games, but the real novelty was 15... gxf6 (15... Nxf6 likely leads to a Rook+Pawn for Bishop+Knight imbalance). IM Lev Milman was down approximately 50 minutes when he tried to open up the diagonals for his bishops with 17... f5?!

White should have responded with 18. Qd2 (or Qd3) fxe4 19. Qxd6 Qxd6 20. Rxd6 exf3 21. Bb5 Ne5 22. Nxc5 and white is better due to his iniative and more active rooks. However, the game continued: 18. e5 Nxe5 19. Qxf5 Nxf3+?! (19... Ng6 seems safer) 20. gxf3? (missing Black's defense played in the game; 20. Bxf3 +/= as white has the Qg5+ Kh8 Qf6+ maneuver) Bxh2+ 21. Kh1? (Wanting to clear the g-file for Rg1+ Bxg1 Rxg1+, but still missing black's next move; 21. Kg2 supporting f3 was safer) Qe5! 22. Qg4+ Kh8 23. Bd3 c4? (Black is still better, but after 23... f5, there is nothing white can do to get at the black king.)

White could have fought much longer for a draw with 24. Bxh7! Black must be careful as 24... Kxh7? (24... Qf4 =/+) runs into 25. Qh4+ Kg8 26. Rg1+! Bxg1 27. Rxg1+ Qg7 28. Rxg7+ Kxg7 and white is slightly better since black's rooks are not yet active. Instead, play went 24. Bxc4 Rg8 25. Qh3 Rg5 26. Rd3 Rag8 and GM Larry Kaufman resigned with his king under heavy fire. This was the first game to finish and a big setback for Baltimore as it was a loss with white.

The next game to finish began with a surprise! I expected a Reti/KIA on Board 1, but instead, it appeared (albeit a different variation) on the Board 4 game between NM Adithya Balasubramanian and James Black. The novelty was 10. Nh4 (10. Qc2 [+1 =4 for white], b4 [+1]). White went on the offensive early and pressed against Black's kingside. However, Black allowed the opening of the g-file and actually seemed to get better use of it as he doubled his rooks quickly. A takeback occurred when 24... Bd4 was played instead of the obviously intended Bxe3. The advantage then slipped once white was allowed to play the Bg4-Bf5 manuever. White could have capitalized on this advantage after 32... Qe7:

33. Qg4! Qf8 34. Qg3 Qg7 35. Qh2! (35. Qxe5 Rg6 is +/=) Qf8 36. Qxe5 Qd8 37. Bg4 (important to answer Ng7 with Rd1) Qe7 38. Rf1 Kg7 39. Bf5 Qd8 40. Bxh7 (+/-). Instead, NM Balasubramanian played 33. Qh2 (right idea, but black now has a defense) Nf8! 34. Qg3 Ng6 35. Qg5 Rd6 and the players traded into a Rook and Pawn endgame that was eventually drawn. Baltimore would now need a draw and win to tie the match or two wins for a victory.

The Board 3 encounter between IM Eli Vovsha and FM Ralph Zimmer was a Scandinavian Defense. IM Eli Vovsha played the novelty 8. Be3 (8. Be2 [+1 =1 -1], Nh4 [+2 for white], Bd3 [+1]). Both players spent their time developing pieces until black decided to open the center with 15... e5. After 15. a3 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxc3?! (16... Bc5 breaking up white's bishop pair was better) and here:

White apparently typed "bc3" and the server took with the b-pawn. IM Vovsha intended to take with the Bishop but would have needed to capitalize the B for the command. Originally, I mistakenly thought he had capitalized it, and then, the server prioritized pawns over bishops, but an ICC admin assured that capitalization does work, and I have since tested that it does. In any case, another takeback was granted by the league. Once that was fixed, IM Vovsha slowly increased his advantage, playing against black's weak a-pawn and c-pawn. FM Zimmer played on, looking for any chance at a perpetual check with just Queens and Pawns on the board. However, none were to be found and he resigned when it was clear white could force a queen-trade and then promote a pawn. Thus, Manhattan was guaranteed the match victory with at least 2.5 points.

Finally, the Board 1 rematch (with colors reversed) of GM Stripunsky and GM Erenburg began with another surprise as GM Erenburg played the rare 3... a6 in a Caro-Kann: Two Knights variation. However, it was GM Stripunsky who played the novelty 6. Nf4 (6. d3 [=1 -1 for white], c3 [+1], Ng3 [-1]). Early play revolved around the e5-pawn, but soon black changed targets by placing pressure on the long h1-a8 diagonal. Black seemed to have all the play as white's knights were reduced to blockers on the diagonal. The most interesting point of the game came when GM Erenburg played the rank-clearing move 32... f6!?, leaving the knight en prise on f5, but threatening a rook invasion of the h-file.

Perhaps GM Stripunsky's best chance was to accept the sacrifice and try to complicate the position as GM Erenburg had only 5 minutes at this point. One line (see game viewer below) runs: 33. gxf5 Rch7 36. Rd2 Rh3 35. Nd6!? Qd7 36. Qxh3 Rxh3 37. Rc2 Bb7 38. fxe6 (38. exf6 gxf5! {only move to stay -/+}) Qxe6 39. exf6!? {when} Rh1+! (39... Qxd6 40. Re8+ Ka7 41. f7 Qd5 42. f8=Q Qh5 43. Ra8+! Ba8 44. Rc7+ Bb7 45. Rxb7+ Kxb7 46. Qf7+ {White gives perpetual check along the a4-g8 diagonal}; 39... Qxf6 40. Re8+ Ka7 41. Nb5+ Ka6 42. Nc7+ {Knight gives perpetual check}) {is the only move that keeps the advantage for black} 40. Kxh1 Qxe1+ {as the g2-knight is pinned} 41. Kh2 Qe6 {-/+}.

Later, GM Erenburg could probably have ended the game faster with 34... Rh1+ 35. Kf2 R1h3 (white still has some counter play with 36. Qxh3 Rxh3 37. f7 Rh8 38. Rh1 Rf8 39. gxf5 Qxf5 40. Rh7), but since he was low on time, he chose the safer 34... Qd7 and eventually converted the win in the endgame with two extra pawns. Although the match was already decided in Manhattan's favor by the time this game finished, the victory gave Baltimore some extra cushion in the first tie-break in case the playoff race comes down to that as a decider.

However, the Baltimore Kingfishers will certainly try to make it unnecessary in the coming weeks! See you next week when the Philadelphia Inventors are the matchup.

Week 7 Lineup/Preview

2010-10-03T00:22:00.002-04:00

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

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Alex Stripunsky (2659) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646)
IM Lev Milman (2501) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452)
IM Eli Vovsha (2539) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279)
James Black (2102) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers are rematched against the Manhattan Applesauce, but colors are reversed from Week 2's encounter. Actually, Manhattan is using the same lineup as in Week 2 while Baltimore changed the lower 2 boards. This is an important matchup as Manhattan is in 5th place in the Eastern Division, one and one-half points behind the 4th place Kingfishers. A win here by Baltimore and the Eastern Division Playoff Race could just be a matter of positioning between the top four teams. A Baltimore loss and the final playoff spot could be still be taken by any of five teams though Baltimore would still be up by half a point.

Board 1: GM Alex Stripunsky vs. GM Sergey Erenburg. A rematch from Week 2 with colors reversed. GM Erenburg won that encounter to improve his record against Manhattan to (+2 =2), and GM Stripunsky is now (=4 -1) against Baltimore. Meanwhile, GM Stripunsky has won one game and drawn two games since Week 2 while GM Erenburg has drawn three straight games. I wonder if we'll see a three-peat of the Reti/KIA-like opening of which GM Erenburg has been on the black side twice this season since in neither game was white in any serious trouble. However, let's hope for something different, for variety's sake!

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Lev Milman. Another rematch from Week 2 with colors reversed! Last time, GM Larry Kaufman won to improve to (+2) against Manhattan while IM Milman is now (+1 =3 -3) against Baltimore. GM Larry Kaufman has played every week since that match, amassing a (+3 =1 -1) season record while IM Milman has played only one game to bring his season record to (+1 -1). GM Kaufman seems to have the hot hand, especially with the positions he has been getting with white. Though don't sleep on IM Milman's chances, as this is the same player who held down Board 1 during Carolina's division-winning run in 2008!

Board 3: IM Eli Vovsha vs. FM Ralph Zimmer. IM Vovsha is (+1 =2 -1) against Baltimore after defeating IM Enkhbat in Week 2, but he has lost two games since that match. His opponent this time is FM Ralph Zimmer, who is (-1) against Manhattan, but won his game last week on Board 4. He will have a much tougher time as FM Zimmer will be outrated by a whopping 260-points and have the black pieces. Anticipate some good preparation!

Board 4: NM Adithya Balasubramanian vs. James Black. Both players are new to the USCL this year. NM Balasubramanian is (=1) on the year and James Black is (+1 -2). NM Balasubramanian has a 153-point rating advantage and the white pieces. He's also known to play some unusual openings, so I don't really know what to expect from this game, except that it will to be fun to watch!

Week 6 Results/Review

2010-10-02T18:38:00.000-04:00

Arizona Scorpions vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 1.5-2.5
IM Rogelio Barcenilla (2583) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) 0.5-0.5
IM Daniel Rensch (2471) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452) 0-1
FM Warren Harper (2408) - IM Ray Kaufman (2433) 1-0
NM David Adelberg (2275) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279) 0-1

In a tense match that lasted past midnight EDT, the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Arizona Scorpions by 2.5-1.5 as GM Sergey Erenburg held onto a draw as black on Board 1. On all the other boards, the player with the white pieces won. Let's take a look at how they did it in order of their finish.

Board 2 started with a Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical variation. IM Rensch played the novelty, 7... Nh5 (other common moves played before include 7... dxc4, Nbd7, or c5). After 11. Be2 Nxg3 12. hxg3, it was clear white would have significant play against the black kingside. GM Larry Kaufman doubled his rooks on the h-file, centralized his knights, and then fended off the black's attempts at disturbing the queenside. Take a look at the position after 27... Rd2:

GM Larry Kaufman secured his advantage with 28. R1h5! Black offered his queen, knight and pawn for the two rooks with 28... Qg7 29. Rg5 Ng6 30. Rhxg6 hxg6 31. Rxg6 Qxg6 32. Qxg6+ Kf8 33. Qf6+ Ke8 34. Bf3 and black resigned as white's material advantage is clearly too great once the e- and f-pawns fall. This was the first game to finish, and on the lower two boards, white seemed to have an advantage on both, but they were not clear wins yet.

The next game to finish was Board 4, which began in the English Opening. NM Adelberg played the novelty 8... Qe7 (only 8... 0-0 has been tried with +2 =2 for white). The c-file opened with 9. cxd5 cxd5. Black took control of it quickly, but white prevented any good use of the open c-file. Then, it was white who made use of it after 22. Nc6 Nb8:

23. Qc2! (23. Bh3 was also good) Nxc6 24. Rc1 Qd6 25. bxc6 Nd7?! 26. Bh3! and white kept the initiative after 26... f5 27. e4 Nc5 28. Bxa5! Qxc6 29. exd5. Eventually white ended up with an extra a-pawn, which FM Zimmer managed to promote before NM Adelberg resigned. Baltimore was up 2-0 at this point, but Board 3 was looking good for Arizona and Board 1 was drawish, but still unclear.

Board 3 began sharply as FM Harper played a version of the Halloween Gambit (a month early!): 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. a3 (avoiding the critical 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6. d5 Bb4!) g6 5. Nxe5!? Then, after 5... Nxe5 6. d4 Nc6 7. d5:

IM Ray Kaufman chose to give the piece back with 7... Bg7 rather than having to "undevelop" his pieces as in the variation 7... Nb8 8. e5 Ng8 9. d6 cxd6 10. exd6. The game continued 8. dxc6 bxc6 9. Be2 0-0 (Novelty; 10... d6 played in one game that black won) 10. 0-0 Re8 11. Bf3 d6, and now, the position looks more like it came from a Pirc. 12. Bg5 h6 13. Be3 a5 14. Qd2 g5 (Perhaps 14... Rb8 15. Bxh6 (15. Rab1 g5) Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Rxb2 was better in view of white's following moves):

15. e5! Rxe5 16. Bxc6 Rb8 17. f4! and black sacrificed the exchange with 17... Rxe3 (17... gxf4 18. Bxf4 Rc5 [18... Rf5 19. Rab1 =/+] 19. Bxh6! and the c6-bishop cannot be taken due to Qg5 and if 19... Rxb2 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Nd5! a move similar to the game and gives white an even larger advantage) to slow white's attack. However, FM Harper showed that he still had enough of an advantage to win the game. This was the third game of the match to finish, so all eyes turned to Board 1.

Board 1 started out pretty quietly. It actually followed Week 4's game, GM Panchanathan - GM Erenburg, up through 8. e4. Not wanting to allow his opponent to simply follow that game, GM Erenburg deviated first with 8... dxe4. However, the game was still very similar to the one against GM Panchanathan. 13. Bf4 was actually the novelty (13. Qb3 tried once, leading to a draw; in fact, IM Barcenilla offered a draw around here and GM Erenburg was given a bonus 2 minutes by the league. Warning: Don't offer early draws!), but the new idea was trading trading black's light-squared bishop for white's remaining knight with 15... Bxf3. This kept a pair of minor pieces on the board, allowing for the complications that would arise later. Around move 25, it became clear that IM Barcenilla would have to play for a win with white in order for the Arizona Scorpions to draw the match, and so the game opened up after 26. g5. The game became really exciting after 47... Ne3+:

IM Barcenilla sacrificed the exchange for a pawn with 48. Kxf4! (48. Kh3 Rf2 was too drawish with white needing to win) Ng2+ 49. Kg4 Nxe1 50. Rxe1. Then, it looked like white had made progress after 65. Rg8:

However, GM Erenburg sacrificed the exchange back with 65... Rxe4! Both sides were under a minute here. For several moves in a row, GM Erenburg nearly flagged as he would move with less than 5 seconds to go (the closest was 1.6 seconds left). However, the position had simplified and both players soon gained time from the increment. It seemed like black's rook could always disturb the white king, preventing promotion threats, so the game was drawn by repetition. While the match victory was clinched, the Kingfisher players were just so enthralled by this endgame that they continued to analyze for awhile after the match ended around half past midnight.

The Kingfishers gained ground on the New York Knights, who are now in 3rd place in the East, while also adding to their lead over the 5th-8th place teams in the East. With only 4 matches to go, Baltimore is in firm control of the final Eastern Division playoff spot.

Week 6 Lineup/Preview

2010-09-27T17:04:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, 9:00 PM EDT
Time Control 60 min. with 30 sec. increment

Arizona Scorpions vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Rogelio Barcenilla (2583) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646)
IM Daniel Rensch (2471) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452)
FM Warren Harper (2408) - IM Ray Kaufman (2433)
NM David Adelberg (2275) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2279)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

It's Interdivision Week in the USCL; that is, Eastern Division teams play against Western Division teams. That also means the time control is shorter (60 min. with 30 sec. increment) than usual for both teams this week. You may think that would favor Western Division teams as they are used to shorter time controls than the Eastern Division teams, but USCL history shows that interdivisional matchups are fairly even with the West leading the East by only 1 match point (36-35).

For Interdivision Week, the Baltimore Kingfishers face the Arizona Scorpions. They are matched up for the second year in a row. Could this be a budding rivalry? Only the Kaufmans are returning to play from the previous matchup, so it will take some time to grow the individual matchup histories. Now, Baltimore is looking to stay ahead of the pack for the fourth and final Eastern Division playoff spot while Arizona is neck-and-neck with San Francisco for first place in the Western Division. Baltimore is using its highest-rated lineup to date with a 2452.5 rating average. Arizona counters with a strong lineup having a 2434.25 rating average.

Board 1: IM Rogelio Barcenilla vs. GM Sergey Erenburg. IM Barcenilla is (+2 -2) this year while GM Erenburg is (+1 =2). This is the only board with a somewhat significant rating difference as GM Erenburg holds a 63-point rating advantage. All other boards have a rating difference of 25-points or less, so a Baltimore win here and draws on the other boards or another all-drawn match would seem likely. However, who plays just to draw? Expect sharp, exciting battles, especially with the shortened time control! Look for GM Erenburg to come out swinging after being held to two draws previously.

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Daniel Rensch. GM Larry Kaufman is (=1) against Arizona and has a good (+2 =1 -1) record on Boards 1+2 this season. He will be looking to rebound after an opening miscue last week. However, his opponent, IM Rensch, is spectacular (+3) on Board 3 this season. He moves up a board this week, but that don't take that to mean much as he has achieved that perfect record against 2400-level competition.

Board 3: FM Warren Harper vs. IM Ray Kaufman. FM Harper is (-1) this season while IM Ray Kaufman is (=1) against Arizona and (+1 =1) for the year. Last time against Arizona, IM Ray Kaufman played a tense 119-move draw against FM Adamson. I don't imagine this game will be quite as long, but anticipate that it will be just as tense a struggle!

Board 4: FM Ralph Zimmer vs. NM David Adelberg. Both players have won their last two USCL games, but FM Zimmer is playing his first game of the season while NM Adelberg has played 1 game already. Let's see if either player can keep their streak going, which may turn out to be the key game in this relatively even match.

Week 5 Results/Review

2010-09-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights 1-3
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Alex Lenderman (2608) 0.5-0.5
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - GM Pascal Charbonneau (2566) 0-1
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - NM Matt Herman (2313) 0.5-0.5
NM Ian Schoch (2245) - NM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2289) 0-1

The Baltimore Kingfishers fell to the New York Knights by 3-1. With Boston's victory over New Jersey, Baltimore falls to 4th place in the Eastern Division. Three teams (Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Manhattan) are one match point behind the Kingfishers for the final playoff spot.

The Board 1 battle between GM Erenburg and GM Lenderman was not as exciting as anticipated, but it did have some interesting points. They opened with a Caro-Kann: Advanced Variation. The position with 7... f6 8. 0-0 has been played three times, all within the past two years. 8... fxe5 was tried once before with white winning (the other two times, 8... Ne7 was tried with +1 =1 for white). GM Lenderman played the novelty with 9... 0-0-0 (9... Nxe5 played previously). Now, take a look at the position after 12... Qd7:

In the game, played continued 13. Nxe6 Bxe6 14. Rxe6 Nf6 (GM Erenburg said he missed this move as he thought he could play 15. Rxf6 gxf6 16. Bg4, but 16... f5 saves the queen). He added that he should have tried 13. Rxe6 as 13... Bxe6 14. Nxe6 would give white a slight advantage i.e. 14... Rd8 (14... Nf6 15. Nxd8 Kxd8 16. Be3) 15. Nxf8 Rxf8 16. Bg4 Rf5 17. Qd3. Later in the game, GM Erenburg won a pawn here:

29. Bxh7 g6 30. Bxd6 Bxd6 31. f5 but with opposite-colored bishops, GM Lenderman was even able to jettison another pawn for a blockade of white's pawns, and the game was drawn by repetition.

The Board 2 matchup between GM Charbonneau and GM L. Kaufman was another Caro-Kann: Advanced Variation. 8... Nc6 appears to be an error as white has scored (+3 =1). Instead, 8... Ne7, which is only (+1 =4 -2) for white, should be played intending to recapture on d5 with the knight. However, after 9. cxd5:

9... cxd4 became the critical mistake. 10. Nc4 Qc2 and white could have played 11. Qxc2 Bxc2 12. dxc6 dxe3 13. cxb7 Bb4+ 14. Kf1 Rb8 15. Rc1 Ba4 16. Nb6! Bd7 (16... axb6 17. Rc8+) 17. Rc8+ Bxc8 18. bxc8=Q+ Rxc8 19. Nxc8 and since the knight can escape to a7 or d6, white is a clear piece up. Instead, the game continued 11. dxc6 Qxd1+ 12. Rxd1 dxe3 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. exd6 bxc6 15. d7+ Kd8 16. Ne5 and here:

Black could try for better drawing chances with 16... exf2+ 17. Kxf2 Ne7 (The knight takes a more central position and keeping the c6-pawn instead of the f7-pawn provides the king cover on c7, where it will be forced to move anyway). However, it would still be clear that white is the only one playing for a win, and that is exactly what GM Charbonneau did in the game.

On Board 3, the game between IM Enkhbat and NM Herman appeared to start as an expected Queen's Gambit, but then, it transposed into a Grunfeld Defense: Russian, Szabo (Boleslavsky) variation with 13... Bg4 as the novelty. Previous moves include 13... Be6 (=2 -4 for white) and 13... Na6 (+3 =2 for white). Then, 14. Rad1 Nd7, and black offers the e-pawn:

White declined the offer with 15. Qc2 seeing as 15. Bxe7 Rfe8 16. Ba3 Rab8 17. Qd3 Ng5 gives black plenty of play. There after, the game never strayed far from equality. Perhaps white's best chance to play for the advantage was here:

22. Bd3 Re8 23. Qf4 and wait to see how black deals with his slightly cramped position. The game would eventually liquidate into a drawish ending with Queens and opposite-colored bishops when both players agreed to a draw as the match result was clear.

Board 4 was an Alekhine's Defense played by NM Ostrovskiy and NM Schoch. Black chose a plan involving the king's knight moving from g8-f6-d5-b6-d7-f6. The 9... Nb6-d7 maneuver has actually been played at least 24 times before but with only a 37% score. The novelty occurred with 13... Bf5 (13... b6 [+1 for white] and 13... h6 [-1 for white] were tried before). Black's position in the middle game actually was not as bad as might be expected after losing so many tempos with the knight. After 21. Qe2, black missed an interesting shot at white's center:

21... Bxd4! 22. Nd5 (if 22. Bxd4 Nxd4 23. Rxd4 [23. Nxd4 Qxg5+ 24. Kh2 Rxd4 25. Rxd4 Qxc1 26. Rd8 Bg4! 27. Qxe7 Rxd8 28. Qxd8 Be6! 29. Nd1 Kh7 -/+] Rxd4 24. Nd5 [24. Nxd4 Qxg5+ 25. Kh1 Qxc1 -/+] Rxd5 25. cxd5 =/+) e5 with chances for both sides. The game actually continued 21... Nd6 22. Bg2 Qa5 23. Nb5 and here:

NM Schoch erred with 23... Nxb5? (23... a6 or 23... Nf5 instead were better) 24. cxb5 Nb4 (24... Nb8 25. Bf4 Re8 26. Ne5 and black's queenside pieces are stuck since 26... Nd7? 27. Rxc8! Raxc8 28. Nxd7 +/-) 25. Bd2 Bf5 Qc4 and black resigns as there is no compensation for the lost knight.

Week 5 Lineup/Preview

2010-09-20T17:00:00.002-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Alex Lenderman (2608)
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - GM Pascal Charbonneau (2566)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - NM Matt Herman (2313)
NM Ian Schoch (2245) - NM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2289)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers (3rd in East) battle against the New York Knights (2nd in East) in a fight for 2nd (or possibly even 1st) place in the Eastern Division. The Kingfishers have the same lineup as in Week 2 when they defeated Manhattan 3-1. If this match plays out just as well for Baltimore, perhaps we should call this lineup "The New York Special." However, that won't be an easy feat as the New York Knights counter with a very strong lineup, featuring GM Alex Lenderman, who holds the highest win percentage (10+ games) in the USCL with a score of 12.5/14 (89%). Now, let's take a look at the individual matchups:

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. GM Alex Lenderman. These are two of the highest performing players in USCL history. GM Erenburg is (+1 -1) against New York, and GM Lenderman is (+2) against Baltimore. Their ratings are relatively close with GM Erenburg having a 38-point advantage. So what happens when two USCL titans face-off? Fireworks? Game of the Week? Game of the Year? Don't miss this game!

Board 2: GM Pascal Charbonneau vs. GM Larry Kaufman. GM Charbonneau is (+2 =1 -2) against Baltimore, and GM L. Kaufman is (+4 -1) against New York. This matchup is another duel of GMs, showcasing two USCL veterans - both are New York Knight-Slayers, but for opposing sides!. GM Charbonneau holds a significant 114-point rating advantage and has the white pieces, with which New York has a near-perfect 7.5/8 score this season, so New York will look to win here. However, Larry has been getting good positions so far this year. Will he continue his strong track-record against New York? Keep an eye out (or board window up) for this game as well.

Board 3: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. NM Matt Herman. IM Enkhbat is (+2 =2 -3) against New York, and NM Herman is (+1 =1 -2) against Baltimore. IM Enkhbat holds the rating advantage here at 112-points. He will be looking to break even in this season's MVP points with a win. NM Herman is making his season debut, and he will be out to start it off positively. Expect a Queen's Gambit Declined with sharp play.

Board 4: NM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy vs. NM Ian Schoch. Neither player has played the other team. Both players are 2-0 this season and have not played since Week 2. However, NM Ostrovskiy recently became the youngest player to win the title of New York State Champion. He also has a 44-point rating advantage and the white pieces. On the other side, NM Schoch has played well from worse positions this season - it just looks like the worse position starts earlier than the middle game this time. Will he be able to turn it around once again?

PS. Both Baltimore and New York have a player - WGM Sabina Foisor and IM Irina Krush, respectively - representing the U.S.A. in the Women's Team Olympiad, starting Tuesday, September 21st. Games start at 5 AM EDT (1 AM for the final round), but you can follow the results for both the Open and Women's Olympiad Teams at USCF Online, Official Olympiad Site, Chess-Results.com, and TWIC.

Week 4 Results/Review

2010-09-16T07:30:00.006-04:00

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 0.5-0.5
GM Magesh Panchanathan (2535) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) 0.5-0.5
FM Tom Bartell (2429) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452) 0.5-0.5
FM Karl Dehmelt (2308) - IM Ray Kaufman (2433) 0.5-0.5
IM Richard Costigan (2288) - NM Ricky Selzler (2252) 0.5-0.5

An all-draw match! Amazingly, that's even rarer (this is the 3rd occurrence) than a 4-0 victory (10 occurrences) in the USCL. Let's check out how this uncommon result came about.

Board 1 was the first game to finish. The clash of GMs, Panchanathan and Erenburg, featured a King's Indian Attack-like (d4 instead of d3) setup stemming from the Reti Opening. GM Panchanathan played the novelty with 10. Qb3 - previously, 10. exd5 (+1 =2) had been played exclusively. All the minor pieces were quickly traded in the center. Then, white had the initiative in attacking black's pawns, so GM Erenburg had to find some resourceful ways of keeping the position even. For instance, take the position after 24. Kg2:

GM Erenburg played 24... Rb2 with the threat of 25. Rxc6 Rxf2+ 26. Kxf2 Qb2+ followed by Qxa1. Instead, the game continued 25. Ra2 Rxa2 26. Qxa2 Rd5 27. Qc4 Qb7 28. a5 Qb1 29. Rxd5 cxd5 30. Qc8+ Kh7 31. Qc7 and a draw was agreed as a perpetual check by the black queen on the b1-h7 diagonal would surely ensue.

Board 3 was the next to finish. This matchup of FM Dehmelt and IM Ray Kaufman followed a relatively long (for USCL games) theoretical line of the Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik Attack. Finally, on move 18, the novelty was played - 18. 0-0; other moves tried before include 18. Ke2 (+2 =1 -1), 18. Kd2 (+1), and 18. Bd4 (-1). 18... Rhc8 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Bxa7 Ra8 21. Bd4 Rxa2 22. Re1+ Kf5

Here, 23. Bxg7 f6 would appear to give black the better chances as the b-pawn will soon fall. The game actually continued 23. Re8 g6 (23... f6 is also possible) 24. Rd8 Ke6 25. Re8+ Kf5 26. Rd8 Ke6 27. Re8+ Kf5 and a three-fold repetition was claimed.

Board 4 concluded soon afterward. In the Battle of Richards, NM Selzer - IM Costigan, the game as a Queen's Gambit Declined: Slav variation with 8... b5 as the novelty. Previous games had tried 8... Nbd7 (=1) and 8... c5 (+1 for white). White seemed to have a slight edge from the opening, but Black's strong move 23... e5 had the position looking very equal. Then, after some liquidation of pieces on e5, there was the position after 27... Bxe5:

28. Nxa5 would have given white some chances to win. For instance, 28... Bxh2+ 29. Kxh2 Qe5+ 30. g3 Rxd1 (30... Qxa5 31. Rxd7 Rxd7 32. Rc8+ Kg7 33. Rc4 +/=) 31. Rxd1 Qxa5 (31... Rxd1 32. Qxd1 Qxa5 33. Kg2 +/=) 32. Qb5 is better for white due to white's passed a-pawn and black's weak b-pawn. However, the game continued: 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Rd1 Bc7 30. g3 Qd8 31. Rxd7 Qxd7 32. Qd2 Qxd2 33. Nxd2 and a draw was eventually agreed.

The result of the match came down to Board 2. The rematch of GM Larry Kaufman and FM Tom Bartell was quite a tension-filled game! They opened with a King's Indian Defense with 13... Nh7 as the novelty. Moves tried before include: 13... Qe7 (+1 -1), 13... Nh5 (+1 -1), and 13... Kh7 (-1 for white). Larry got an edge in the opening and eventually won the d-pawn on move 25. However, FM Bartell kept his pieces active and managed to make it difficult to convert the edge. In fact, toward the end, it seemed as if FM Bartell was even playing to win by setting up mating ideas against the white king! Take the position after 53. Be8:

Here, black chose 58... Nf4!? instead of the seemingly safer Ne7. 54. Rh7 Rc3 55. Rd7+ Ke6 56. Ra7 Rc2 57. c7 Kd6 58. Kf1 h4 59. Rxa5 Rxc7 60. Ra6+ Ke5 61. Bxg6 Rg7 62. Ra5+ Kd4 63. Be8 Nxg2 64. Rh5 Ke3 65. Bc6 Nf4 - Both players have been under 2 minutes each for awhile here:

White declined playing 66. Rxh4 worrying about 66... Rc7 threatening Rc1#, but 67. Rh6 holds an advantage for white as the bishop cannot be forced out without letting the white king out of the mating net. White played 66. Re5+ instead and the game finished with a three-fold repetition with Kd3 67. Rf5 Ke3 68. Re5+ Kd3 69. Rf5 Ke3 70. Re5+.

And with that, the match ended in all-draws! Baltimore was surely disappointed with not being able to pull out the win considering the moderate rating advantage going into the match and the advantage on Board 2 during the match, but they can be happy they have maintained 3rd place in the Eastern Division thanks to New England's drawn match with Boston on Wednesday night. Tune in next week for the matchup against the 2nd place New York Knights!

Week 4 Lineup/Preview

2010-09-11T12:30:00.003-04:00

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

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Magesh Panchanathan (2535) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2646)
FM Tom Bartell (2429) - GM Larry Kaufman (2452)
FM Karl Dehmelt (2308) - IM Ray Kaufman (2433)
IM Richard Costigan (2288) - NM Ricky Selzler (2252)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers have won two matches in a row, and they enter Week 4 with a strong lineup looking to continue that streak. Both Kaufmans come back for an encore this week after fine victories against Carolina. Also, returning after a week's hiatus is GM Erenburg, who took 2nd place in Game of the Week in his last time playing. Finally, we see the USCL debut of NM Ricky Selzler, who is the UMBC Chess Club President. Now, let's look at each of the matchups:

Board 1: GM Magesh Panchanathan vs. GM Sergey Erenburg. GM Erenburg is (+1 =3) against Philadelphia, and GM Panchanathan is (+1 =1) against Baltimore from his seasons with the Dallas Destiny. Erenburg is the 111-point rating favorite though he has the black pieces in this matchup. However, that also could be a slight advantage seeing as the league is scoring 56% this year with black, and Baltimore is one of three teams making the most of playing the black side. Don't count Panchanathan out though - I still remember Blehm's astonished reaction when Panchanathan uncorked that Rxf3! move in Season 2. Anticipate quite a struggle between these two GMs!

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. FM Tom Bartell. GM L. Kaufman is (+2 =2 -2) against Philadelphia, and FM Bartell is (+1 =2) against Baltimore with that one win coming against Larry in 2008. Looking at the game, you will see that Larry was actually winning until a late blunder (38. Rc3?) into a trap. Considering also the length to which Larry tested IM Schroer's defenses last week, don't expect either player to concede a conclusion without trying everything in his power.

Board 3: FM Karl Dehmelt vs. IM Ray Kaufman. IM R. Kaufman is (=1 -3) against Philadelphia while his opponent, FM Dehmelt, is new to the USCL this year. FM Dehmelt is (+1 -1) in the league thus far. Ray has a sizable 125-point rating advantage and will be looking to score Baltimore's first victory on Board 3 this year (=2 -1, so far). Envision a fantastic middlegame skirmish!

Board 4: NM Ricky Selzler vs. IM Richard Costigan. As previously noted, NM Selzler is making his USCL debut. He faces a veteran of the USCL in IM Costigan, who has a (+1 =2 -4) record against Baltimore. IM Costigan has the only rating advantage for Philadelphia, so they will be counting on him to prevail in this matchup. Will Selzler be able to hold him off or even turn the tables?

Will Baltimore enjoy its first 3-match win streak since 2005? Find out during Monday Night Chess!

Week 3 Results/Review

2010-09-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Carolina Cobras 3.5-0.5
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - IM Jonathan Schroer (2437) 1-0
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - FM Ron Simpson (2330) 1-0
WGM Sabina Foisor (2367) - NM Carlito Agner (2251) 0.5-0.5
IM Ray Kaufman (2433) - NM Craig Jones (2286) 1-0

The Baltimore Kingfishers scored a lopsided 3.5-0.5 match victory against the Carolina Cobras. However, the games were much closer than the final score. Let's take a look at each game.

The Board 1 battle between GM Larry Kaufman and IM Jonathan Schroer began as a Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation. The novelty occured with 15. Rfc1 (Only one game, played by two German Masters, continued with Black's 14... Bd6 line and 15. Bf5 was played with an eventual white win). Larry thought for over 20 minutes after 18... Re6, finally deciding on Bf5. Apparently, what he was worried about was the position after 20. Qg4:

Here, Schroer could have gone for the shot 20... Qxf2+! 21. Kxf2 Bxf5 when white probably has to return the queen with 22. Qh4 Bxb1+ 23. Qxf6 gxf6 24. Rxb1 and black has an extra (though doubled) pawn. After Schroer missed this opportunity, Larry took over the initiative, but it was far from won. On move 33, Larry could have made the win clearer with Ra1 or Ra2, as the a6 and c6 pawns will fall in short order and the b-pawn will be much more difficult for black to try to hold than the a-pawn as in the game. The final mistake by black was 67... Bb4 where Be7 instead keeps hopes of holding a draw alive. With the long victory, GM Larry Kaufman is off to a nice 2-0 start to the season, and he leads the Kingfishers with 8.0 USCL MVP Points.

On Board 2, the game between IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat and FM Ron Simpson moved away from well-trodden lines pretty quickly. Enkhbat's usual Caro-Kann defense was met by the novelty 7. Qb3 (An unusual attempt at mixing things up; it's difficult to say what move would have been better as white only scores 27.2% in 138 games in the position after move 6). There was a strange relay error of 8. Qc2 instead of gxf3, but clearly a master would not drop a piece when there is a simple recapture, so a takeback occurred (We were also assured that the player had made the correct move 8. gxf3 on a physical board). Enkhbat only though for more than 10 minutes on the move 11... e5, deciding to open up the center for an eventual rook invasion. Simpson tried to keep play sharp, choosing to allow a 2 Rook for Queen and Pawn trade by playing 21. cxd5:

21... Rbxb2+ 22. Qxb2 Rxb2+ 23. Kxb2 and a draw was offered by Simpson around here. However, Enkhbat smoothly demonstrated that he knew how to win the position by working to advance his kingside pawns. IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat has put his earlier defeats behind him and will look to repeat his triumphant performance for the rest of the season.

Board 3 between WGM Sabina Foisor and NM Carlito Agner opened with a King's Indian Defense; and the novelty was 11. Kh1 (White only has a 27.8% score in 18 games after 10... Qe7; other white tries that have scored are 11. Be3, 11. Bg5, and 11. b3). Both players seemed fine out of the opening, but Foisor's 16. f4 allowed Agner to keep white from maneuvering in the center with 16... e4 (16. f3 kept the possibility of more open play). White's pieces were slightly cramped through the middle game, and black was able to take advantage by lifting the queen's rook to the h-file! Foisor slowly built toward a break on the g-file and found some play. For instance, Agner had to watch out for the blunder 29... Bf7??

30. Qg8+! Bxg8 31. Rxg8#. Instead, Agner played 29... Qg7 and allowed Foisor the opportunity to trade Rook and Bishop for Queen with Rg8+ from moves 31 to 34. However, Foisor declined - probably due to the relatively closed position, which would make it difficult for the queen to assert dominance. Agner might have even been better if he had allowed the trade possibility for one more move with 34... Bxb2 35. Rg8+ Qxg8 36. Bxg8 Kxg8 and white's remaining pieces will have difficulty finding useful points of attack. Finally, the game ended with a repetition as black's king was kept stuck in the corner. WGM Sabina Foisor scored a well-timed draw that clinched this week's match victory. Look for her to try to improve the result as she continues to gear up to play for the US in the Women's Olympiad.

The game between IM Ray Kaufman and NM Craig Jones on Board 4 transposed, from an unusual move order, into a Queen's Indian Defense where the novelty was 11. 0-0-0 (Each of 4 previous games had white [+3 -1] kingside castling and capturing on c3 with the b-pawn). White pushed for a quick kingside assault while black positioned to play in the center. In the following position, Jones decides to go for the attack with 21. gxh6?!:

21... Qxh4 22. Rxg7+ Kh8 23. Qxe5 Nf6 24. Qf5?? (24. Rg5 suggested by IM Ray Kaufman - although white is still worse, it keeps chances to complicate). See if you can find the win:

24... Rxd2! 25. Rxd2 Qe1+ 26. Rd1 Qe3+ and Jones resigned in view of 27. Kb1 Rxd1+ 28. Bxd1 Bxe4+ winning the white queen (it is also mate in 7). IM Ray Kaufman makes his season debut with a spectacular finish. Hope his future games are just as entertaining!

Week 3 Lineup/Preview

2010-09-05T17:25:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Carolina Cobras
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - IM Jonathan Schroer (2437)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - FM Ron Simpson (2330)
WGM Sabina Foisor (2367) - NM Carlito Agner (2251)
IM Ray Kaufman (2433) - NM Craig Jones (2286)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Kingfishers bring a very balanced lineup for Week 3 against the Carolina Cobras. IM Ray Kaufman is making his seasonal debut on Board 4. Yes, that's right - a 2433 rated player on Board 4 - that must be a USCL record!

Board 1: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Jonathan Schroer. GM L. Kaufman is (+2 =1 -1) against Carolina, and IM Schroer is (+1 =3) against Baltimore. Also, these two played once previously in Week 2, 2007, a draw in an Open Catalan. Now, with the Cobras heavily outrated on Boards 2-4, don't expect such a peaceful conclusion to this game as IM Schroer probably needs to play for a win.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. FM Ron Simpson. These two have not played each other, though IM Enkhbat is (+2 =2 -2) against Carolina, and FM Simpson is (-1) against Baltimore. Both players are coming off (-2) starts in the league, so each will be hungry for a win, especially IM Enkhbat, as he holds a 95-point rating advantage. Expect slow-building, but exciting conclusion on this board.

Board 3: WGM Sabina Foisor vs. NM Carlito Agner. These two players are relatively new to the USCL, so neither has played against the other team. WGM Foisor, in 2 games, has yet to score in the USCL. With a 116-point rating advantage, she'll be looking to change that here against NM Agner, who is making his season debut for Carolina. Look for a complicated, unbalanced middle game with a decisive conclusion.

Board 4: IM Ray Kaufman vs. NM Craig Jones. IM R. Kaufman is (-1) against Carolina, and NM Jones is (+1 =2 -1) against Baltimore. IM R. Kaufman has been getting significantly stronger in recent years by playing tournaments in Europe. He'll be looking to change his relatively poor USCL record thus far. Theoretically, what better place to start than with a 147-point rating advantage on Board 4? His opponent, NM Jones, has been a solid veteran of the USCL, and he will not make it easy for Ray to achieve his aims. Expect this to be the match's most entertaining game throughout.

Week 2 Results/Review

2010-09-03T00:02:00.002-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Manhattan Applesauce 3-1
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Alex Stripunsky (2659) 1-0
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - IM Lev Milman (2501) 1-0
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - IM Eli Vovsha (2539) 0-1
NM Ian Schoch (2245) - James Black (2102) 1-0

The night started out with a nervous tension as by the start of the match, only GM Erenburg and IM Enkhbat were on-site. About 15 minutes into the match, GM Larry Kaufman arrived to start his game against IM Lev Milman. Larry played the opening quickly and actually caught up on time by move 9. Then, NM Schoch arrived 25 minutes into the match. Quite a daunting time deficit in 90 minute game!

Board 4 was the last to start and the first to finish. It started out in a Nimzo-Indian: Botvinnik System. Schoch seemed to be on the worse side of the opening after 11... c4 (b6 appears to be the main line). James Black played the novelty with 14. Bd2 (My database shows 7 games with 14. e4 played with a score of +4 =2 -1 for white). Schoch's position looked really bad starting with 19. Ba4! (18... b3 is an improvement over Rb7). The outlook changed quickly as 22... Rb2! was allowed. Suddenly, Schoch was not losing a piece as anticipated, but keeping a material balance and gaining an initiative. After 28. g3? (Rc1 was better), Schoch relentlessly attacked the king and his opponent resigned. Just like in Week 1, Schoch managed to complicate a worse-looking position and come out with a win! With 2 two wins, once with the Black pieces, Schoch is tied for 7th place at 5.0 in the USCL MVP Leaderboard.

Board 2 was next to finish. The opening was a Closed Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation. 13. Qd2 was the novelty (a4 and f4 were each tried once before). Both players positioned their pieces in the center, but when black chose to keep it closed after 23... f5, white tried to attack on the kingside. Then, as Milman had maneuvered a Rook to h4, Larry abruptly sprang out 28... g5 to the bewilderment of the audience, and probably Milman as well. Milman looked for some complications with 30. Rxh7, but Larry calmly took it with the rook, and Milman resigned with less than a minute on his clock. The continuation was probably 31. Bf6+ Kf7 32. Nxf5 Rg8 33. Qf2 Nf4 when the black king is actually safe due to the long range attacks of its pieces against the white king. A good season debut for GM Larry Kaufman and congratulations to him for recently earning the official US spot for the World Senior Championships.

Board 1 opened with a Paulsen Sicilian. The position after 14... f6 has been reached at least 7 times (+2 =3 -2) including a Leko-Ivanchuk game that continued 15. Qd2 with an eventual draw and a Shabalov-Stripunsky game continuing with 15. Bc2, also a draw. Clearly, Stripunsky was prepared, but was Erenburg? It seemed so - Sergey played the novelty 15. Rab1 and nicely maneuvered his f3-knight to d5. After 23. Rdc1 and 24. Qa3, white was clearly going to win a pawn on the queenside, but the question was whether the a-pawn could be moved toward promotion safely. I am sure many players (including myself) would have tried pushing the pawn immediately on move 30, but Sergey displayed a nice technique with 30. Ba7 and 31. f3 - not allowing Black to complicate matters by playing 31... f3 himself. Then, he continues to focus on neutralizing Black's kingside play culminating with 48. Bxh8 when Black resigned in view of 48... Kxh8 49. Qxh5+ Qxh5+ 50. Kxh5, and finally, it is clear that the a-pawn will promote. Another great performance by the Kingfisher's top player.

The final game to finish was board 3. The opening was a Neo-Grunfeld where Vovsha played the novelty 11... Rd8 (4 prior games had continued 11... Bh3 with +2 =2 for white). Vovsha opted for play on the queenside white Enkhbat gained space in the center and kingside with his pawns. Both players were under 10 minutes by move 30. Black's queen on d4 was quite menacing, so perhaps 31. Qe4 was a better continuation than 31. e6, which was played in the game. Black gained a pawn and kept the material advantage with aid of an aesthetic duo of knight-blocking maneuvers 37... Nc4-d6 and 41... Nd6-c4. So unfortunately, IM Enkhbat starts 0-2, but expect that to change soon as he has been playing up about 100 rating points in both games.

So the Kingfishers ended up with a 3-1 victory over the Manhattan Applesauce. It's a good turnaround from last week's (-1) loss. Baltimore will look to continue it's winning ways against the Carolina Cobras, next Tuesday!

Week 2 Lineup/Preview

2010-08-30T10:15:00.006-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Manhattan Applesauce
GM Sergey Erenburg (2646) - GM Alex Stripunsky (2659)
GM Larry Kaufman (2452) - IM Lev Milman (2501)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) - IM Eli Vovsha (2539)
NM Ian Schoch (2245) - James Black (2102)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers, looking to turn fortunes around after a loss, offer a much higher rated lineup than previously as can be seen by last week's Board 1, IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat, moving to Board 3! Last week's chess magician, NM Ian Schoch, returns to Board 4; while GM Sergey Erenburg and GM Larry Kaufman make their season debuts.

The Manhattan Applesauce (formerly known as Queens Pioneers) counters with a slightly stronger (numerically-speaking) lineup with IM Eli Vovsha and James Black returning from Week 1; while GM Alex Stripunsky and IM Lev Milman make their debuts.

Board 1: GM Sergey Erenburg vs. GM Alex Stripunsky. These two have yet to face each other in the league. Nonetheless, GM Erenburg has 1 win and 2 draws against Manhattan; while GM Stripunsky has 4 draws against Baltimore (no games since 2007). Expect a solid battle after an early novelty.

Board 2: GM Larry Kaufman vs. IM Lev Milman. Despite having 75(!) USCL games between the two players, these have not played each other yet either. GM L. Kaufman has only played Manhattan once, but came out with a win; however, on the other side of the board, GM Milman has played Baltimore 6 times, resulting in 1 win, 3 draws, 2 losses. Five of those games were against GM Erenburg and IM Enkhbat - I am sure they will be sharing their experiences with their teammate. Expect a long theoretical battle.

Board 3: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat vs. IM Eli Vovsha. These two have actually played each other once, a draw in Week 10, 2007. They will have the same colors this time around, so should we expect another Pirc?

Board 4: NM Ian Schoch vs. James Black. Both players are new to the USCL and both managed to pull out wins in Week 1, despite their opponents' having clear advantages during the game. Whose tenacity will win out this week? Watch Wednesday to find out!

Week 1 Results

2010-08-26T18:31:00.000-04:00

New England Nor'easters vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5-1.5
IM Robert Hungaski (2520) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425) 1-0
IM David Vigorito (2524) - WGM Sabina Foisor (2367) 1-0
FM Braden Bournival (2381) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255) 0.5-0.5
FM Christopher Chase (2382) - NM Ian Schoch (2245) 0-1

Week 1 Lineup/Preview

2010-08-24T17:15:00.000-04:00

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

New England Nor'easters vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Robert Hungaski (2520) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2425)
IM David Vigorito (2524) - WGM Sabina Foisor (2367)
FM Braden Bournival (2381) - NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2255)
FM Christopher Chase (2382) - NM Ian Schoch (2245)

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

The Baltimore Kingfishers begin the 2010 USCL Season with a matchup against the Eastern Division expansion team, New England Nor'easters! Five players are set to make their USCL debut in this match - Hungaski, Bournival, and Chase for New England; Balasubramanian and Schoch for Baltimore.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, there is approximately a 100-point rating gap in New England's favor on each board. The last time Baltimore overcame such a large rating disadvantage on each board to win the match was Week 1, 2007 against New York. Players will have to be very well-prepared to pull off another such upset.

As usual, Baltimore will be playing its matches at the UMBC Library. Though for this week only, NM Adithya Balasubramanian will be playing remotely from Virginia. Thanks go out to Mike Hoffpauir, USCF Associate National TD and President of the Virginia Chess Federation, for agreeing to oversee Adithya's match.

Player News

2010-08-22T16:57:00.007-04:00

Follow the USCF's coverage of the US Senior Open with GM Larry Kaufman.

Congratulations to WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor for making the US Women's Olympiad team!

Season 6 Roster

2010-08-22T16:22:00.002-04:00

Welcome all to Season 6 of the US Chess League. This year's Baltimore Kingfishers lineup features 6 returning players and 4 players new to the USCL. New players include IM Kaplan, NM Balasubramanian, NM Selzler, and NM Schoch.

Here is the full Baltimore Kingfishers roster including USCF Ratings:

(Sept. 2009 Rating) [Current Rating]

GM Sergey Erenburg (2614) [2646]
IM Sasha Kaplan (2471)* [2472]*
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) [2452]
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2420) [2425]
WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor (2390) [2346]
IM Ray Kaufman (2306) [2433]
FM Ralph Zimmer (2259) [2265]
NM Adithya Balasubramanian (2231) [2255]
NM Ricky Selzler (2227) [2254]
NM Ian Schoch (2141) [2241]

* = FIDE Rating + 50 points

Quarterfinals Photos

2009-11-10T07:17:00.001-05:00

All photos taken by Masako Uesugi.

Quarterfinals Results

2009-11-10T07:03:00.003-05:00

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 3-1
GM Joel Benjamin (2641) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) 1-0
IM Dean Ippolito (2535) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) 0.5-0.5
SM Mackenzie Molner (2446) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) 0.5-0.5
Sean Finn (2114) - WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265) 1-0

And the Baltimore Kingfishers' 2009 season ends.

Quarterfinals Preview: NJ-BAL

2009-11-08T17:56:00.002-05:00

Board 1: GM Joel Benjamin (2641, NJ) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616, BAL)
These two GMs faced off twice last year, with GM Erenburg going 2-0, in Weeks 1 and 6 (See viewer below), including the 5th place Game of the Year when GM Erenburg played as Black. Baltimore may need another masterpiece from GM Erenburg if they are going to overcome New Jersey's draw odds (and their donut-loving deities) in the match.

Board 2: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430, BAL) - IM Dean Ippolito (2535, NJ)
These two IMs have also faced each other twice in the USCL: Week 3 of 2007 and Week 6 of 2008. Though they were close games, IM Ippolito scored wins with the nice 46. Rxf7+ shot (viewer game 3) and after IM Enkhbat missed winning opportunities with the mouseslip 46. Ra7 & accidental premove 47. Ra8 (viewer game 4). However, this game will be IM Enkhbat's 7th white (in 8 games) and he is undefeated as white this year. Clearly, this game will hinge on white's 46th move.

Board 3: SM Mackenzie Molner (2446, NJ) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354, BAL)
It does not appear that these two have played each other - USCL or otherwise. They both have even scores this year in the USCL, and they both defeated New York's NM Matthew Herman just before his 33rd move. However, SM Molner has a rating advantage and white, so FM Uesugi must look to avoid the famed Big Mac Attack.

Board 4: WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265, BAL) - Sean Finn (2114, NJ)
These two have not played each other either. This is the only board on which Baltimore has a rating advantage, so WIM Battsetseg will be looking to score a victory here, but Finn is no slouch as he defeated the higher-rated WGM Jennifer Shahade (2301) in Week 9. Look for an exciting tactical finish here.

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World Senior Chess Championship Ends

2009-11-08T14:10:00.000-05:00

GM Larry Kaufman finished the 19th World Senior Chess Championship tied for 3rd place with 8.0/11 (+7 =2 -2). GM Miso Cebalo (CRO) and GM Janis Kolvans (LAT) finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, with 8.5/11.

Check out GM Larry Kaufman's tournament reports on the USCF's Chess Life Online:

Quarterfinals Match

2009-11-06T23:43:00.001-05:00

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

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Joel Benjamin (2641) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616)
IM Dean Ippolito (2535) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430)
SM Mackenzie Molner (2446) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354)
Sean Finn (2114) - WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.
New Jersey has Draw Odds (i.e. They advance on a 2-2 draw).

Analysis: FM Bereolos vs. FM Zimmer

2009-11-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

Analysis by FM Ralph Zimmer:

This was a difficult game to prepare against UNTIL I found FM Peter Bereolos’ very accommodating website! There, I was able to find plenty of games and analysis by my opponent which allowed me to determine which lines I may wish to challenge him in and which I should probably stay away from. To my dismay, there were many lines I felt I had to avoid as my opponent’s knowledge seemed overly extensive in those areas.

To my delight, I found only two games where my opponent encountered a Dutch defense and in both he favored gambit variations (g4) and made mention of other gambits against the Dutch without specifying in detail. In the two games I found, black did not play f5 in the first move.

Therefore, I could not know what gambit I would be confronted with after 1..f5. So, I studied them all! And the Staunton Gambit was one of them. :

1. d4 f5 I should add I haven’t played this move in decades.
2. e4 (Played rather quickly to my surprise. I thought my first move would catch my opponent by surprise. Whether it did or not, he reacted quickly. I was happy to see this gambit as I play it myself with White on occasion).
2….fxe4
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. f3?!...[The ?! are assessments given by at least one GM in his analysis of this variation. I concur and like 4. Bg5 much more.]
4…d5
5. fxe4 dxe4
6. Bg5 Bf5
7. Bc4 Nc6
8. Nge2 Qd7!? [This was played in Zurakhov-Kortchnoi, Minsk 1952) and is an alternative to the move 8…e6 played in Liardet-Malaniuk, Geneva 1997, where play continued 9. 0-0 Na5! 10. Bf6 Qf6 11. Bb3 Bd6 12. Ng3 Nb3 13. axb3 Qh4 and black is clearly better.]
9. d5 [Perhaps this move is premature as it ends up giving Black good play against the Bishop. In Zurakhov-Kortchnoi, mentioned above, play continued 9. 0-0 e6 10. d5 ed5 11. Nd5 0-0-0 12. Nf6 Qd1 13. Rad1 Bc5 14. Kh1 Rd1 15. Rd1 gf6 16. Bf6 Rf8 17. Rf1 Bg6]
9…Ne5
10. Bb5 c6
11. dxc6 Nxc6
12. 0-0 0-0-0
13. Ng3 Qc7! [From this point on, Black has the initiative and begins to be incrementally better]
14. Qe1 Bg6
15. Kh1 [This is indicative of the problems white already faces. The King must remove itself from the g1-a7 diagonal, but in so doing the White King is facing the Black rook on the opposite end of the file….]
15…Nd4 [15…h5!? With the idea of h4 and h3 is also highly considerable.]
16. Ba4 Qa5!
17. Bd2 [A concession which makes black’s life much easier, but white’s alternatives are unenviable.]
17…e5!
18. Bb3 Qb6
19. Bg5 [ In addition to the time lost with White’s white squared bishop, White’s black squared bishop makes a second trip to g5.]
19…Bb4 [Completing Black’s development favorably]
20. Bxf6 gxf6
21. Ngxe4 [White will almost always get the sacrificed pawn back in the Staunton Gambit – Black’s task is to make sure this happens under unfavorable circumstances, as is the case here]
21…f5!
22. Nd2! [White’s best shot to stir things up].
22….Nb3 [Netting White’s last bishop and securing the bishop pair.]
23. axb3 Rhe8!? [ Not a simple choice to make as I realized I would have to give up the Bishop pair after this move. However, I finally decided that my remaining bishop would still be stronger than White’s knight in an open position. The alternative I considered was 23…e4 but it did not appeal to me as much].
24. Nc4 Qc5
25. Na4 [ As expected ].
25…Qxc4
26. bxc4 [26. c3!? May have been a better shot here in an effort to complicate and initiate an attack on Black’s King on the queenside in exchange for sacrificing the b3 pawn].
26… Bxe1
27. Rfxe1 f4 [27…Rd2 was also seriously in contention here].
28. Nc3 Kb8
29. Ra5?! E4!
30. Nd5 e3
31. Nxf4 Bxc2
32. Rd5 Rc8
33. Rd4 Bb3
34. Rd3 Rxc4
35. g3 Bc2
36. Rdxe3 Rxe3
37. Rxe3 [ It is interesting to view this position. At first glace, both sides have three pawns and their respective kings on the side with the most pawns to queen. However, the difference is the power of black’s bishop over White’s knight as contemplated many moves ago. Black’s ‘weak’ h pawn is protected by the long range bishop while White’s ‘weak’ b-pawn is much more difficult for white to protect.
37…a5! [And the race is on – the problem is only black is advancing].
38. Re2 a4
39. Kg1 b5!
40. Nd5 Be4
41. Ne3 Rc1+ [In the last 5 moves or so, White has made little progress and black’s pawns have advanced decisively. The rest of the moves need no further comment].
42. Kf2 b4 43. Rd2 a3 44. bxa3 bxa3 45. Ra2 Rc3 46. Nc4 Rxc4 47. Rxa3 Bc2 48. Ke3 Kc7 49. Ra7+ Kd6 50. Ra5 Ke6 51. Rb5 Kf6 52 .Ra5 Bf5 53. Rb5 Kg5 54. h3 Kf6 55. Rb6+ Be6 56. Kf3 Ke5 57. Rb5+ Bd5+ 58. Kf2 Rc2+ 59. Kf1 Ke4 60. Ra5 Bc4+ 61. Kg1 Bd3 62. g4 Kf3 63. Ra3 Rd2 64. g5 Kg3 65. Ra1 Kxh3 66. Re1 Kg4 67. Re5 Bf5 68. Re7 Kxg5 69. Rg7+ Kf4 70. Rf7 h5 71. Rf8 h4 72. Rf7 h3 73. Rf8 Kg3 74. Kf1 Rd1+ 75. Ke2 Bg4+ 76. Ke3 h2 White resigns 0-1

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Week 10 Results

2009-11-05T00:35:00.001-05:00

Tennessee Tempo vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 1.5-2.5
IM Ron Burnett (2380) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) 0.5-0.5
FM Todd Andrews (2360) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) 0.5-0.5
FM Peter Bereolos (2329) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2282) 0-1
David Justice (2087) - Jared Defibaugh (2155) 0.5-0.5

With the victory over Tennessee, Baltimore clinches 4th place and the final playoff spot in the East!

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Week 10 Lineup

2009-11-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

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

Tennessee Tempo vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Ron Burnett (2380) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616)
FM Todd Andrews (2360) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430)
FM Peter Bereolos (2329) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2282)
David Justice (2087) - Jared Defibaugh (2155)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Playoff Scenarios

2009-10-31T18:27:00.007-04:00

For the 3rd time in five seasons, the Baltimore Kingfishers have left their chances of a playoff berth up to the last match of the regular season. In both 2006 and 2007, they tragically went from possibly taking the final Eastern Division Playoff Spot to finishing last in the division.

This time, Baltimore faces the Tennessee Tempo while the Philadelphia Inventors, trailing by 0.5 match points, face the Carolina Cobras and the Queens Pioneers, trailing by 1 match point, play the New Jersey Knockouts. With a match victory, Baltimore can clinch the playoff berth without worrying about how Philadelphia and Queens do in their matches. However, if Baltimore does not win, then check the USCL Standings and Tie-breaks, and you will see that in the first tie-breaker, Philadelphia and Queens are 1.5 and 2.0 game points behind Baltimore, respectively.

For the third tie-breaker (opponents' average rating), Philadelphia can pass Baltimore if Carolina fields a lineup with a rating average of 22.5 points higher than Tennessee will field, which is likely if Carolina and Tennessee have similar lineups as they did last week. Baltimore (2400.575) would edge Philadelphia (2398.375) if there are no more lineup changes. Queens would not need the third tie-breaker if the Pioneers tie for the final playoff spot.

~~For the fourth tie-breaker, Philadelphia defeated Baltimore 1.5-0.5 in head-to-head results, and again, Queens would not need the fourth tie-breaker if the Pioneers tie for the final playoff spot.~~

Got all that? Now, for the difficult to predict, but possibly crucial second tie-breaker: Strength of Schedule (SOS), which is the sum of opponents' records against other teams. This means that all the matches of the final week, except Dallas vs. San Francisco, could affect this playoff race (Queens did play SF, but Queens cannot be caught in SOS by either Baltimore or Philadelphia). Philadelphia's SOS is (34.0-34.0) while Baltimore's SOS is (32.5-35.5), and they both play teams with (2.0-7.0) records against other teams, so there is only a 1.5 point gap in SOS. Queens has an SOS of (32.5-35.5), but the Pioneers play New Jersey with a (8.0-1.0) record against other teams; thus giving Queens insurmountable leads of 4.5 and 6 points over Philadelphia and Baltimore in SOS.

If Baltimore draws, then Philadelphia would take the final playoff spot IF:

Philadelphia wins 4-0
Philadelphia wins 3.5-0.5 and at least three of these do NOT happen:
- Arizona wins
- Chicago loses
- New Jersey loses
- New York wins
- Exactly TWO of the above four teams draw
  Note: If exactly THREE of the above listed team draws and the fourth team performs as listed above, then Philadelphia and Baltimore have the same SOS; see the aforementioned third and fourth tie-breaks.

If Baltimore loses, then:

Queens gets the final playoff spot if:
- Queens wins while scoring at least 2.0 game points more than Baltimore scores and Philadelphia draws or loses
Philadelphia gets the final playoff spot if:
- Philadelphia wins
- Philadelphia draws, Queens draws or loses, and:
  - Baltimore loses 0-4
  - Baltimore loses 0.5-3.5 and at least three of these do NOT happen:
    - Arizona wins
    - Chicago loses
    - New Jersey loses
    - New York wins
    - Exactly TWO of the above four teams draw
      Note: If exactly THREE of the above listed team draws and the fourth team performs as listed above, then Philadelphia and Baltimore have the same SOS; see the aforementioned third and fourth tie-breaks.

If any of the above scenarios do not occur, then Baltimore takes the final playoff spot.

Now that the scenarios are clear (I hope), let's get on with the games!

Updated 3rd tie-breaker @ 12:50 AM, Monday, Nov. 2nd.

Week 9 Results

2009-10-29T00:31:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights 1-3
GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) - GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2666) 0.5-0.5
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - GM Pascal Charbonneau (2560) 0-1
WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor (2390) - NM Matt Herman (2275) 0-1
Jared Defibaugh (2155) - NM Yaacov Norowitz (2354) 0.5-0.5

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World Senior Chess Championship

2009-10-27T00:59:00.005-04:00

Defending World Senior Co-Champion GM Larry Kaufman reports in Chess Life Online on his harried arrival in Condino, Italy for the 19th World Senior Chess Championship. Good luck to GM Larry Kaufman and may his tournament go more smoothly than his trip there!

Week 9 Lineup

2009-10-26T00:10:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights
GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) - GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2666)
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - GM Pascal Charbonneau (2560)
WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor (2390) - NM Matt Herman (2275)
Jared Defibaugh (2155) - NM Yaacov Norowitz (2354)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 8 Results

2009-10-22T00:26:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2-2
IM Bryan Smith (2528) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) 0.5-0.5
FM Tom Bartell (2411) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) 0.5-0.5
IM Richard Costigan (2288) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2282) 0-1
WGM Jennifer Shahade (2301) - Jared Defibaugh (2155) 1-0

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

Week 8 Lineup

2009-10-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

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

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Bryan Smith (2528) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616)
FM Tom Bartell (2411) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430)
IM Richard Costigan (2288) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2282)
WGM Jennifer Shahade (2301) - Jared Defibaugh (2155)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 7 Photos

2009-10-15T01:02:00.001-04:00

All photos taken by Masako Uesugi.

Week 7 Results

2009-10-15T00:38:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New Jersey Knockouts 0.5-3.5
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - GM Joel Benjamin (2641) 0.5-0.5
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - GM Boris Gulko (2609) 0-1
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - IM Albert Kapengut (2379) 0-1
Jared Defibaugh (2155) - Anna Matlin (2003) 0-1

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

Week 7: Baltimore vs. New Jersey

2009-10-13T19:57:00.001-04:00

This week the Kingfishers face the New Jersey Knockouts who have been having fantastic season so far. We need a win to put us back in third place. A draw would keep us tied with New York who are now a half point ahead of us in the standings after their draw against Philly last Monday. We were able to hold them off after last week's exciting battle in which it was hard to tell which way the match was going to go all the way to the end. Leonid Kritz had lost early, Shinsaku Uesugi won soon after and Sergey Erenburg fought on for a while in a seemingly equal position. Meanwhile, I was trying to work a nice queen side advantage against Yaacov Norowitz who out rated me by more than 200 points. Unfortunately I succumbed in time pressure in what had suddenly become a very complicated position. Fortunately, Sergey somehow pulled out a win to save the match.

Talk about tough fights! New Jersey will certainly be looking to recover from their loss last week and are using their double GM lineup against us this week. This week will be even tougher, although even a loss this week would keep us in fourth place in the East. Meanwhile, Queens could catch up to us, but they would have to topple Boston.

Board 1: IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) BAL vs. GM Joel Benjamin (2641) NJ

Originally this was going to be a very exciting rematch from last year between GMs Erenburg and Benjamin, however, Sergey was unable to play this week due to his heavy work load. Instead, IM Enkhbat will take the reins on board one and we have high hopes. Recently his performances have been quite impressive winning both the UMBC Championships and more recently the MD Open. Enkhbat is a very solid player and will have white so I give him a good shot for at least a draw despite the large rating gap.

Board 2: GM Boris Gulko (2609) NJ vs. GM Larry Kaufman (2444) BAL

Another exciting GM vs. GM match here. Again the Knockouts have the advantage as Gulko has been a force to be reckoned with. Larry will have his work cut out for him, but he has been performing well this year so I would not be surprised if Gulko's USCL winning streak is ended once and for all.

Board 3: FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) BAL vs. IM Albert Kapengut (2379) NJ

This is the only game in this match that is actually close on paper. Both players have been doing well so far. Uesugi has been critical to our success so far this year and his result this week will be no different. Seeing as New Jersey has nice advantages on boards one and two, it seems that we cannot afford anything less than a draw on board three. No pressure Shin! You can do it!

Board 4: Anna Matlin (2003) NJ vs. Jared Defibaugh (2155) BAL

Board four is a clear advantage for Baltimore. Jared is a pretty aggressive player so I expect he should come out on top of any complications. At least I hope he will because this is where New Jersey has been the weakest and without a good result on this board it will be very difficult to beat them.

So far this week there have been two upsets and I don't think they will end there. I think we have a good shot at pulling out a draw against New Jersey. Who knows, maybe Queens will upset Boston and Chicago pull out a similar upset against Tennessee. Seattle vs. Miami is certainly crucial for the standings in the West. I actually think Miami is going to push hard for the win and I think they will be successful. Wouldn't it be nice if San Francisco takes out Arizona? Although that is not a really uneven match, it is important for the Mechanics to get an upset here and move one step closer to the championship match against Baltimore.

Good luck to everyone! Should be a night full of interesting fights!

Week 7 Lineup

2009-10-12T00:04:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New Jersey Knockouts
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - GM Joel Benjamin (2641)
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - GM Boris Gulko (2609)
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - IM Albert Kapengut (2379)
Jared Defibaugh (2155) - Anna Matlin (2003)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 6 Photos

2009-10-06T00:49:00.004-04:00

All photos taken by Masako Uesugi.

Week 6 Results

2009-10-06T00:28:00.000-04:00

New York Knights vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2-2
GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2666) - GM Leonid Kritz (2654) 1-0
GM Pascal Charbonneau (2560) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) 0-1
NM Matt Herman (2275) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) 0-1
NM Yaacov Norowitz (2354) - Ian Harris (2172) 1-0

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

Week 6 Lineup

2009-10-03T01:08:00.000-04:00

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

New York Knights vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2666) - GM Leonid Kritz (2654)
GM Pascal Charbonneau (2560) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616)
NM Matt Herman (2275) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354)
NM Yaacov Norowitz (2354) - Ian Harris (2172)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

U.S. Women's Championship

2009-10-01T22:26:00.001-04:00

Starting this weekend is the U.S. Women's Chess Championship. The field includes two of our own Kingfishers, WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor and WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg! We wish both of them good luck at this prestigious tournament!

Check out Chess Life Online's coverage and the official schedule. Live coverage will be provided by Internet Chess Club, Monroi, and the official site.

Week 5 Review

2009-09-29T20:14:00.004-04:00

Board 1: GM Leonid Kritz vs. GM Larry Christiansen
The game began with a Modern Defense and white appeared to carry a slight edge into the middle game.

In the above position, GM Kritz could have played 34. Nxg6! Nxg6 35. Bxf6 Qc6 (35... Rxf6 Rd7+) 36. Bb2 with a good edge. Instead, the game continued with 34. Bb4 Bh4 35. Qxh4 Ne6 36. Qg4 Nf4 37. Rd8 Qc7 38. Qc8 Qe5 39. Rd7 Ne2+ 40. Kf1 Ng3+ 41. Ke1 Qa1+ 42. Rd1 Qf6 when they reached this position:

and disaster struck with 43. Bc5? (43. Qc5 would have kept the game about even) to which GM Christiansen quickly responded with 43... Qc3+ 44. Rd2 e3! and white resigned in view of 45. fxe3 Rf1# or 45. Bxe3 Qxc8.

Board 2: SM Denys Shmelov vs. GM Sergey Erenburg
This game was a Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-slav where white played an early 7. e4. White has just played 13. 0-0-0 in the following position:

Here Black could have played 13... Nd7! 14. Be5 (14. Qxe8+ Qxe8 15. Bxd6 Qxe2 16. Rhe1 Qxc4+ 17. Kb1 Nf6 -+; 14. Qd4 Bxf4+ 15. Qxf4 Rxe2 -+) 14... Nxe5 Nxe5 Qf6 16. f4 Bf5 17. Qd4 Bc7 with a moderate edge as white's f-pawn will fall. GM Erenburg played 13... Nd3+ still with an advantage and managed to convert it into a win when SM Shmelov resigned after 55 moves.

Board 3: FM Shinsaku Uesugi vs. SM Marc Esserman
This game began with a Reti Opening with play directed toward the open c-file early on. Esserman would then take white's center pawns with a knight while Uesugi created the passed a-pawn with a bishop.

In order to play for a win, Black probably should have kept the bishop with 49... d5+ 50. Kd3 Bc5 (and not 49... Bf2 50. Kb5 Bxg3 51. Nc6 Bxf4 52. Ba5+ Kc8 53. Nd8 Kb8 54. Bc7+ Ka8 Nxf7 and probably a draw due to black's cornered king). Instead, the bishop trade 49... Bxc3 50. Kxc3 allowed white to use the a-pawn as a distraction to collect a couple of black's pawns, assuring the draw.

Board 4: NM Ilya Krasik vs. Ian Harris
This was probably the most anticipated match-up (At least there are more votes in our Board 4 poll than the rest) due to Ian's intentionally ironic prediction. Clearly, Caissa loves to facilitate irony in the US Chess League.

Now, the game was a Dutch Defense that soon came to the following position:

Ian played 9... h5? missing that Krasik could and did respond with 10. g4! Ian tried to hold starting with 10... Qh7, but Krasik kept black's pieces tied down and eventually took the full point.

This was a disappointing loss for the Kingfishers as they had a chance to take 2nd place in the East, but now they may fall to 4th place by the end of Wednesday night's matches. However, with only divisional match-ups left in the schedule, the Kingfishers will still have control over whether they make the playoffs.

Week 5 Photos

2009-09-29T17:09:00.001-04:00

All photos taken by Masako Uesugi.

Week 5 Results

2009-09-29T17:04:00.003-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz 1.5-2.5
GM Leonid Kritz (2654) - GM Larry Christiansen (2662) 0-1
GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) - SM Denys Shmelov (2474) 1-0
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - SM Marc Esserman (2461) 0.5-0.5
Ian Harris (2172) - NM Ilya Krasik (2252) 0-1

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

Download the PGN file.

Baltimore vs. Boston

2009-09-26T18:41:00.004-04:00

So last week was insanely busy and I didn't have time to preview the Arizona match. This week is still crazy but I have a little more time. This week we face Boston who is half a point ahead of us in the Eastern Division. A win here could be crucial to eventually securing our spot at the top of the table. A loss, would give New York or Queens a chance to catch up to us. Therefore, for the first time, we are breaking out our Kritz and Erenburg double GM lineup.

Board 1: GM Kritz 2654 (BAL) vs. GM Christiansen 2662 (BOS)

Not really sure what to say here. Both are really strong grandmasters, with Christiansen having perhaps a slight advantage in the experience category while Kritz has white. I expect quite a fight but it is hard to tell who will come out on top.

Board 2: SM Shmelov 2474 (BOS) vs. GM Erenburg 2616 (BAL)

Having Sergey relegated to board two is pretty scary... especially when you consider how well he did on board one last year. I don't think anyone can argue that Baltimore is the clear favorite on this board. I expect Shemlov will work hard to come through for his team but I don't believe he will be successful.

Board 3: FM Uesugi 2354 (BAL) vs. SM Esserman 2461 (BOS)

Shin has his hands full this week with Esserman. Advantage to Boston. However, Shin has been doing well for Baltimore so far and this will be his first white. A solid performance here should neutralize Boston's only real advantage and clinch the match in favor of Baltimore.

Board 4: NM Krasik 2252 (BOS) vs. Ian Harris 2172 (BAL)

No need for predictions here. What else could happen but a victory for Baltimore?

With victories likely for Baltimore on 2 + 4, it looks like Boston is going down... to chinatown. Tune in Monday 7:15 to witness the carnage first hand...

Week 5 Lineup

2009-09-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Leonid Kritz (2654) - GM Larry Christiansen (2662)
GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) - SM Denys Shmelov (2474)
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - SM Marc Esserman (2461)
Ian Harris (2172) - NM Ilya Krasik (2252)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 4 Review

2009-09-22T19:55:00.001-04:00

What a match the Kingfishers had against Arizona on Monday night!

First, we switched from our usual "Absolutely Quiet Floor" to the Library's Entrance. As the match started at 9PM EDT, we anticipated that any game that went 60+ moves would go past midnight - the Library's closing time - so we used the closest empty tables to the Library Atrium, which is open 24-hours but was nearly full while setting up for the match. The players did have to deal with slightly more noise than usual, but the players seemed mostly unfazed by it. However, the high traffic area did attract more spectators, most of whom (sadly) assumed we were UMBC's (renowned, but apparently mysterious) Chess Team despite the fact that none of this week's players is currently a UMBC student.

Now, as the match began, the players clearly made adjustments for the shorter (60/30) time control as they moved quickly through their openings, especially FM Shinsaku Uesugi, who had specifically prepared much of the Sveshnikov line he played on Board 4. He appeared quite calm and strolled about observing the other three games until about 24. Nb6. He had the worse position until NM Leo Martinez played 37. h4? instead of h3!

The move h4 allows the possibility of 37. ... f2 38. Rgf1? Rxh4+! 39. gxh4 Qe4+ 40. Kh2 Be5+ 41. Kh3 Qf3#. Martinez instead gave up the rook on g1 with 38. Qg4 and Shinsaku went on to convert his advantage for the only win of the match.

IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat's game on board 1 against IM Levon Altounian never seemed to deviate far from even. He tried to fight for an advantage with 16. Nd5.

However, the ensuing trade-offs ended in a three-fold repetition position in which both players had KR+4P's.

Both teams played an alternate this week, so for these players, you may only see them play again once more or not at all for the rest of the 2009 Season. For Arizona, IM Mark Ginsburg played GM Larry Kaufman on Board 2. The opening phase appeared slightly better for white, but Larry managed to win white's f-pawn. He tried hard to convert this advantage, but he go into a Rook and Pawns endgame that gave chances to both sides. The following position was reached:

White could have tried 55. Rg5 Rg8 56. Kf7 Rxg7+ 57. Rxg7 when endgame tablebases assure me that black can draw starting with b5! (only move), but of course, players have not yet memorized 6-piece tablebases, so the result may have gone either way as both players would have been very low on time.

Finally, on Board 3, Baltimore Alternate IM Ray Kaufman faced FM Robby Adamson. Ray has recently had some great tournament results: tied 1st in the Okie Chess Festival's Masters Invitational and the St. John's Masters where he defeated both GM Rohde and GM DeFirmian and drew GM Yudasin, so he was hoping to continue his hot streak into a good USCL performance. Now, in the game, Ray came out to attack by opening up black's king with 22. Rxf6. However, FM Adamson defended well and even had several chances to gain a decisive advantage including in this position:

Black had the exchange-winning 35. ... Kg8! 36. Rg4 fxg4 37. Bxg6 Rd1+ 38. Kh2 Bd6 getting the queen back.

With both players in time trouble, they eventually traded into a Bishop and Pawns endgame that Adamson pressed, as Arizona had lost board 4, until move 119.

Before the trade of rooks on move 44, the Library was announced to be closing at midnight with the lights turned off on us a few times. Actually, all the games were still going at the time. Luckily, these distractions did not prove distrastrous for our players as they came out with the match win 2.5-1.5. Although, we're still looking forward to returning to our "Absolutely Quiet Floor."

Week 4 Photos

2009-09-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

Photos from Week 4 taken by Masako Uesugi:

Week 4 Results

2009-09-22T01:39:00.001-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Arizona Scorpions 2.5-1.5
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - IM Levon Altounian (2538) 0.5-0.5
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - IM Mark Ginsburg (2427) 0.5-0.5
IM Ray Kaufman (2297) - FM Robby Adamson (2354) 0.5-0.5
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - NM Leo Martinez (2230) 1-0

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

UMBC Championship

2009-09-20T23:43:00.006-04:00

The UMBC Championship (20 moves/1 hr + SD/1 hr), held this weekend, saw a 5-way (!) tie for first place with IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat, WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor, FM Shinsaku Uesugi, NM Adithya Balasubramanian, and Christopher Ventura all scoring 4.0/5. Only WGM Foisor did it by scoring 4 wins, but IM Enkhbat held the best tie-breakers to take the tournament victory. NM Adithya Balasubramanian had the 2nd best tie-breakers, so he took the title of UMBC Student Chess Champion.

The field also included Kingfishers members Ian Harris (3.5/5), WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (3.0/5), and Jared Defibaugh (2.5/5).

Thanks to the Maryland Chess Association, especially TDs Wilbert Brown and Sathish Nath, for helping to run the tournament. Check out the crosstable here.

Also, check out these photos by Masako Uesugi!

Week 4 Lineup

2009-09-19T00:24:00.002-04:00

Monday, 9:00 PM EDT
Time Control 60 min. with 30 sec. increment

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Arizona Scorpions
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) - IM Levon Altounian (2538)
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - IM Mark Ginsburg (2427)
IM Ray Kaufman (2297) - FM Robby Adamson (2354)
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - NM Leo Martinez (2230)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 3 Photos

2009-09-15T22:22:00.001-04:00

Visit our Full Gallery.

Week 3 Results

2009-09-15T21:29:00.001-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Philadelphia Inventors 1.5-2.5
GM Leonid Kritz (2654) - GM Sergey Kudrin (2602) 1-0
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - IM Alex Lenderman (2638) 0-1
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - FM Tom Bartell (2411) 0.5-0.5
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265) - Kavinayan Sivakumar (2048) 0-1

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game.

Kingfishers vs. Inventors

2009-09-12T19:31:00.005-04:00

I don't consider myself much of a baseball fan, but I do pay attention enough to know that the Orioles beat the Yankees on Friday night. Since my permanent residence is in Yankee territory I suppose that would make me a Yankee fan by default. However, all that can be put on hold when you are in Baltimore late at night sitting in the middle of a bar, with a whole bunch of hard core Oriole fans, where the slightest notion of support for the Yankees would certainly prove to be an unwise decision that would bring an otherwise fun night to a abrupt end. Don't get me wrong, I like the Orioles. After all, I have been in Baltimore for the last four years and I drive right past Camden Yards at least twice a day.

Anyway...

While we are not facing NY in week three (how fitting would that be?) and Philadelphia is certainly not very close to where I live, several of their players are from my neck of the woods and you could normally find me rooting for GM Kudrin and IM Lenderman at the local tournaments. Once again I have to choose where my loyalties lie and once again it is not a very hard choice. Let's take a quick look at the match which sees Baltimore playing white for the first time...

Board 1 GM Leonid Kritz 2654 (BAL) vs. GM Sergey Kudrin 2602 (PHI):

This board sees what should be an exciting GM vs. GM match up between my good friend Leonid Kritz and fellow Connecticitian (!?!? I made that one up because when I googled it I got so many different and bizarre answers) Sergey Kudrin. Kudrin has had his work cut out for him this year. So far he has played Shabalov, Benjamin and now Kritz. Although he has faced some really tough competition, his results leave something to be desired for both him and Philly. Perhaps he is not in form or perhaps it is the commute. Either way, if he doesn't change something quickly, he will have his hands full with black against Kritz. I would have to say that this board looks good for us both on paper and on the board.

Board 2 IM Alex Lenderman 2638 (PHI) vs. GM Larry Kaufman 2444 (BAL):

Needless to say Philadelphia's ability to put Lenderman on board 2 while still playing a 2400+ on board 3 is quite scary. Both Lenderman and Kaufman have been very active and playing well lately. Kaufman recently qualified for the opportunity to defend his World Senior Champion title. Meanwhile, Lenderman won the Atlantic Open and also had a good showing at the NY Open. This is a clear 200 rating point advantage for Philly but it is hard for me to see how Lenderman can keep up with such a busy schedule. I am assuming he must be quite busy with managing, tournaments and a similar commute to Kudrin. I expect to see an intense fight and would not be surprised to see us take a half point or more.

Board 3 FM Shinsaku Uesugi 2354 (BAL) vs. FM Thomas Bartell 2411 (PHI):

I don't have much to say about this match as I don't really know Bartell at all. I suppose he will be trying to have a repeat performance of last week when he was the only player to win for Philly. Meanwhile, Uesugi returns with white this time and will undoubtedly be looking to reverse his start to his USCL career. It is a close match on paper and will be perhaps closer on the board.

Board 4 Kavinayan Sivakumar 2048 (PHI) vs. WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg 2265 (BAL):

Like most 4th boards in the league, Sivakumar is an unknown to me. While quite strong for his age, it is unlikely that he will be able to compete with the strength and experience of WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg who holds a significant rating advantage. Look for Battsetseg to pull through nicely for Baltimore as she did last week with the crucial win. By the way, no word yet on the reason why she has only played in the odd years but I have a hunch that it is just a coincidence after all.

Anyway, what is up with Philadelphia? At the beginning of the season I pegged them to be major contenders for the playoffs, but they have yet to pick up a point. Perhaps they just have not found the right line up, or perhaps the CT/NY to PA commute is taking it's toll (trust me it is not fun). Weaknesses for Philly on boards 1 + 4 give us a nice advantage. Seems like they will have to invent some magic in order to win and recover from weeks 1 + 2. Otherwise I predict Baltimore to continue to win on the field and at the board while Philadelphia's skid will continue to 0-3.

Also, look for more pictures from our matches. I brought my camera last week but the stupid battery died. Fortunately Shinsaku Uesugi's mother Masako was on hand and provided us with some nice pictures as always! I intend to include some pictures in future blogs.

GO BALTIMORE!

Week 3 Lineup

2009-09-12T00:31:00.000-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Philadelphia Inventors
GM Leonid Kritz (2654) - GM Sergey Kudrin (2602)
GM Larry Kaufman (2444) - IM Alex Lenderman (2638)
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) - FM Tom Bartell (2411)
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265) - Kavinayan Sivakumar (2048)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 2 Photos

2009-09-09T22:06:00.000-04:00

Perfect environment for serious chess

That's me, the TD, set up to follow the match

Getting FM Shinsaku Uesugi online

GM Sergey Erenburg playing Board 1

IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat playing Board 2

FM Shinsaku Uesugi playing Board 3

WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg playing Board 4

Ian Harris comes to support the team

Kingfishers quite satisfied with a drawn match!

Photographs taken by Masako Uesugi, mother of Shinsaku.

Week 2 Results

2009-09-09T21:34:00.001-04:00

Queens Pioneers vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2-2
IM Dmitry Schneider (2510) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) 0.5-0.5
IM Yury Lapshun (2504) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) 0.5-0.5
FM Andrei Zaremba (2398) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) 1-0
WFM Elizabeth Vicary (2106) - WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265) 0-1

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game

Labor Day Weekend Tournaments

2009-09-07T23:28:00.001-04:00

GM Larry Kaufman (5.0/6) finished clear 2nd, behind GM Larry Christiansen (5.5/6) of the Boston Blitz, in the U.S. Senior Open! Since GM Christiansen is not yet 60, GM Kaufman wins a return to the World Senior Championship in Arco, Italy (Nov. 4th-15th), where he'll have a chance to defend his status as World (Co-)Champion.

More locally, several Kingfishers played in the Maryland Action, Quick, and Blitz Championships, hosted by the Maryland Chess Association.

IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat won the Quick Tournament (G/15) with 6.0/7, ahead of of FM Shinsaku Uesugi (5.0/7), Jared Defibaugh (5.0/7), and WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (4.5/7).

Jared Defibaugh won the Blitz Tournament (G/5) with a fantastic 9.0/10! FM Shinsaku Uesugi placed 4th with 6.0/10. Defibaugh's blitz prowess could be handy in a Championship Tie-break except that Ian Harris already predicted a tie-break won't be necessary!

Finally, FM Ralph Zimmer won the Action Tournament (G/30) with 6.0/7, losing only to Jared Defibaugh (4.5/7), but defeating top seed GM Sergey Erenburg (2nd place with 5.5/7)! IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat and Ian Harris finished tied for 3rd place with 5.0/7.

We'll see tomorrow if the weekend action warmed up our players for the upcoming match against the Queens Pioneers!

Week 2 Preview

2009-09-06T20:17:00.006-04:00

So last week went according to plan and we started the season off well by defeating Carolina 3-1. Leonid Kritz and Jared Defibaugh made their debuts in the league and did not disappoint. On Tuesday we face Queens in what is looking to be a pretty exciting and difficult to predict encounter.

Queens also has an extremely flexible roster and like us they have chosen almost a completely different line up from what they had last week. Lets look at it board by board...

Board 1 IM Dmitry Schneider 2510 (QNS) vs. GM Sergey Erenburg 2616 (BAL):

This match will see Erenburg try to pick up from where he left off last season. Although he has played far less chess than he did last summer, it seems he has gotten some games in here and there. So hopefully he will be in good form. Meanwhile, can Schneider take over the reins from Stripunsky and lead the Pioneers down the long road to victory? It is hard to think that he will be prepared since it looks as if he hasn't played in a single tournament in quite a while. It will be difficult for him to pull through for his team if he is still shaking off the dust.

Board 2 IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat 2430 (BAL) vs. IM Yury Lapshun 2504 (QNS):

Queens' hopes for a win will fall on this board as this is where they hold the greatest rating advantage. Both players have been active lately which means they should both be playing well. I expect Lapshun will push hard for a win but if Enkhbat is able to hold a draw or better, it will probably guarantee Baltimore the win.

Board 3 FM Andrei Zaremba 2398 (QNS) vs. FM Shinsaku Uesugi 2354 (BAL):

No GM on board 3 for Baltimore this week as Larry Kaufman is participating in the US Senior Open. Good luck Larry! Zaremba returning to board 3 for Queens is not a real surprise as he is really the only player that fills the gap between the 2500's and the many experts on their team. He had a strong performance in Week 1 so it will be a tall order for Uesugi's first ever USCL match. However Uesugi has been improving rapidly so Zaremba will surely have his hands full.

Board 4 WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg 2265 (BAL) vs. WFM Elizabeth Vicary 2106 (QNS):

Week 2 sees the return of our team manager Tsagaan Battsetseg after not playing at all last season. She will surely be out for blood and a repeat performance of her previous encounter with Vicary at the 2007 US Women's Championships. Battsetseg holds a nice rating advantage on this board but I expect it to be an exciting struggle since Vicary has already indicated her intentions for revenge. By the way, I don't recall the last time two women faced off in the USCL. Does anyone know or is this a first? And what is the deal with Battsetseg only playing during odd years? I will have to investigate whether this is some sort of long term strategy or just a coincidence.

So I think I made enough bold predictions to last a while so I am not going to bother predicting the score on this one. However, for sure I can say that Tuesday's match between Queens and Baltimore will be a bloody affair. Queens will be looking to rebound from their loss against Boston while Baltimore will want to continue with their strong start by posting a second straight win. My first and only game in the USCL (up until now at least) was against Queens last year and we suffered a very unfortunate loss, so revenge is certainly in the air.

Week 2 Lineup

2009-09-06T00:55:00.004-04:00

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

Queens Pioneers vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Dmitry Schneider (2510) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2616)
IM Yury Lapshun (2504) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430)
FM Andrei Zaremba (2398) - FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354)
WFM Elizabeth Vicary (2106) - WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2265)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 1 Results

2009-09-03T01:08:00.003-04:00

Carolina Cobras vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 1-3
IM Jonathan Schroer (2429) - GM Leonid Kritz (2654) 0.5-0.5
FM Oleg Zaikov (2388) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430) 0-1
FM Ron Simpson (2290) - GM Larry Kaufman (2444) 0-1
NM Craig Jones (2275) - Jared Defibaugh (2155) 0.5-0.5

Here's How to Publish a Chess Game

Week 1 Lineup

2009-08-30T23:42:00.000-04:00

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

Carolina Cobras vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Jonathan Schroer (2429) - GM Leonid Kritz (2654)
FM Oleg Zaikov (2388) - IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2430)
FM Ron Simpson (2290) - GM Larry Kaufman (2444)
NM Craig Jones (2275) - Jared Defibaugh (2155)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

'09 Season Outlook

2009-08-30T21:46:00.006-04:00

What a competitive season this is shaping up to be! With so many excellent teams formed by USCL veterans and newly recruited rising stars, it is virtually impossible to predict what will transpire over the boards during the next few months. However, there is one thing that I know for sure. The Baltimore Kingfishers are back and better than ever!

This year we are fielding one of our most versatile line-ups to date. Our roster allows us several ways to place two very strong GMs on boards 1 + 2. Thus making it feasible for last year's board 1 All Star Sergey Erenburg to be relegated to board two, making him quite a force to be reckoned with should he continue at the pace he left off with last season. With both Kaufmans' as well as Enkhbat's acquisition of shiny new titles, we know that they are playing at very high levels. Couple that with the addition of great talents Kritz, Foisor and Uesugi and you have a fantastic team that Kingfisher fans will surely not want to miss in action.

We are looking forward to our opening match Wednesday night against the Carolina Cobras. Carolina holds a 4-2 lifetime record against us, however with serious advantages on boards 1-3 the Kingfishers hope to start the season strong and put a large dent in that record.

As for the rest of the season, who knows what will happen? Will Baltimore be able to return to its former inaugural season glory? Can we win our division and the championships? With our newly constructed team it certainly seems like a strong possibility. Admittedly it is still a long road for us to get there, but if we do, it would be the greatest turn around between seasons in USCL history.

Finally, I thought I might as well throw out a prediction for the final championship match.

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. San Francisco Mechanics....score: 3.5-0.5

Once we establish ourselves as champs once again, the only thing left for other teams to do is to ponder over how we came up with our name.

Season 5 Roster

2009-08-30T13:26:00.001-04:00

Hello all! We're about to start Season 5 of the US Chess League with the Baltimore Kingfishers. Let's start with this year's team roster:

(Sept. 2008 Rating) [Current Rating]

GM Leonid Kritz (2666) [2654]
GM Sergey Erenburg (2621) [2614]
IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2439) [2430]
GM Larry Kaufman (2424) [2444]
WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor (2404) [2390]
FM Ralph Zimmer (2332) [2282]
FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2298) [2354]
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2256) [2265]
Jared Defibaugh (2143) [2155]

Alternates:

IM Ray Kaufman (2344) [2297]
Ian Harris (2076) [2172]

Congratulations to returning members Senior World Champion(!) GM Larry Kaufman, IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat, and IM Ray Kaufman for earning their titles in the off-season!

Let's also welcome new Kingfishers GM Leonid Kritz, WGM Sabina Foisor, and FM Shinsaku Uesugi!

Baltimore is now one of three teams to include 3 GM's in the roster (San Francisco has 4 and New York has 3), and GM Larry Kaufman could even play on Board 3! That could go a long way to eliminating what was last year's biggest weakness (1.5/10 on Board 3).

Week 10 Results

2008-10-30T00:14:00.003-04:00

Tennessee Tempo vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5-1.5
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2668) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) 0.5-0.5
FM Todd Andrews (2350) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) 0-1
FM John Bick (2249) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) 1-0
Gerald Larson (2120) - Aaron Kahn (2291) 1-0

The Kingfishers end the season with a record of 1.5-8.5 in Match Points and 14/30 in Game Points. Overall, it's been a disappointing season except for the performances (7/10) on Board 1, for which Baltimore is tied with Miami for the league lead. Special note goes to GM Sergey Erenburg for his +3 performance (5.5/8) and 16 MVP points on Board 1.

Looking forward to a clean slate next year!

Senior World Chess Championships

2008-10-27T06:11:00.004-04:00

The 18th Senior World Chess Championship is scheduled to begin tomorrow in Bad Zwischenahn, Germany. Our own IM Larry Kaufman (seed #20) will be competing! First prize includes a gold medal, 2500 Euro (about 3100 USD), and the GM title.

Week 10 Lineup

2008-10-27T06:04:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, 8:00 PM EDT
Time Control 90 min. with 30 sec. increment

Tennessee Tempo vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2668) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592)
FM Todd Andrews (2350) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446)
FM John Bick (2249) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2328)
Gerald Larson (2120) - Aaron Kahn (2291)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 9 Results

2008-10-23T21:59:00.002-04:00

New York Knights vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 3-1
GM Pascal Charbonneau (2524) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) 1-0
IM Irina Krush (2534) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) 0.5-0.5
SM Gregory Braylovsky (2445) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) 1-0
NM Matthew Herman (2271) - Aaron Kahn (2291) 0.5-0.5

Week 9 Lineup

2008-10-20T19:45:00.002-04:00

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

New York Knights vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Pascal Charbonneau (2524) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592)
IM Irina Krush (2534) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446)
SM Gregory Braylovsky (2445) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2328)
NM Matthew Herman (2271) - Aaron Kahn (2291)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 8 Analysis

2008-10-17T06:10:00.008-04:00

First, congratulations to GM Sergey Erenburg for winning Game of the Week (GOTW), which carries a prize of $100. View the full article.

This week's analysis has been uploaded:

Notes: Analysis done with the aid of the Chess Tiger engine.
An 'A' denotes the move has an annotation.
A '▼' denotes variations.
Here's How to Publish a Chess Game

Week 8 Results

2008-10-16T06:07:00.002-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz 1-3
GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) - SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2576) 1-0
IM Larry Kaufman (2424) - SM Denys Shmelov (2446) 0-1
FM Ray Kaufman (2348) - NM Marc Esserman (2307) 0-1
FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) - NM Ilya Krasik (2144) 0-1

Sadly, the Kingfishers have been officially eliminated from reaching the playoffs. It's been a tough season so far, but there are still two weeks left for the team to try to end on a high note.

There is one bright spot to keep an eye on: Sergey's win this week took 1 point off IM Alex Lenderman's lead in the MVP race. Stay tuned to see if Sergey can catch him!

Week 8 Lineup

2008-10-12T22:34:00.002-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Boston Blitz
GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) - SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2576)
IM Larry Kaufman (2424) - SM Denys Shmelov (2446)
FM Ray Kaufman (2348) - NM Marc Esserman (2307)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) - NM Ilya Krasik (2144)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 7 Analysis

2008-10-10T05:05:00.018-04:00

So I've been investigating several ways of displaying game analysis. ~~So far, this method intrigues me the most.~~ Let me know what you think of it!

Edit: Switched to this method.

Notes: Analysis done with the aid of the Chess Tiger engine.
An 'A' denotes the move has an annotation.
A '▼' denotes variations.

Week 7 Results

2008-10-09T00:19:00.008-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Carolina Cobras 0.5-3.5
GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) - IM Lev Milman (2502) 0.5-0.5
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) - IM Jonathan Schroer (2441) 0-1
FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) - FM Oleg Zaikov (2376) 0-1
Aaron Kahn (2291) - Udayan Bapat (2179) 0-1

Look for a more detailed report tomorrow night.

Week 7 Lineup

2008-10-06T09:17:00.002-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Carolina Cobras
GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) - IM Lev Milman (2502)
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) - IM Jonathan Schroer (2441)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2328) - FM Oleg Zaikov (2376)
Aaron Kahn (2291) - Udayan Bapat (2179)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 6 Results

2008-10-02T00:14:00.010-04:00

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2-2
GM Joel Benjamin (2644) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) 0-1
IM Dean Ippolito (2500) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) 1-0
NM Mackenzie Molner (2397) - FM Ray Kaufman (2348) 1-0
NM Victor Shen (2265) - Aaron Kahn (2259) 0-1

Benjamin-Erenburg after 30. ... Ke7

After enticing Benjamin's queen to the back rank, Sergey blocks in the white queen, planning to push his queenside pawns. After some maneuvering and eventually letting the white queen out, black's b-pawn could not be stopped. Sergey has improved to 2-0 against GM Benjamin. How many people can say that?

Enkhbat-Ippolito after 45. ... Rf7

Enkhbat had just over 4 minutes while Ippolito was just above 1 minute. Meaning to play 46. Ra8, Enkhbat mouseslipped 46. Ra7. Apparently not noticing that the slip had occurred, he was still trying to play Ra8, which was then set as the premove, so when Ippolito played Kxf3, it caused Enkhbat to make another move 47. Ra8. If not for the double mouseslip, he might have been able to notice that 47. Kc6 was still winning. (For example: 47. Kc6 Kg2 48. d6 Kxh2 49. Rxc7 Rf8 50. d7 Kg1 51. Rc8 h2 52. Rxf8 h1=Q+ 53. Kb6 {not 53. Kc7 Qh2+ when black can find a perpetual})

Molner-Ray Kaufman after 25. ... Ne3

In rematch of Week 1, Mackenzie Molner seems to have Ray's number as again it was the first game of the night to finish. Test your wits by figuring out how Molner finished the game.

Kahn-Shen after 40. c5

In severe time trouble, Shen plays 40. ... Rc3+? (dxc5 may have put up more resistance in light of the trick 41. Ne5+ Kg7 42. dxc5 Bxc5+ 43. Kd2? Be3+!). Aaron eventually won a piece and the game after stopping black's pawns.

With only the draw and Philadelphia's defeat of Boston, the Baltimore Kingfishers fall to 6th place. They are 1.5 match points behind Boston in the race for the last playoff spot.

Week 6 Lineup

2008-10-01T07:20:00.002-04:00

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

New Jersey Knockouts vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Joel Benjamin (2644) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592)
IM Dean Ippolito (2500) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446)
NM Mackenzie Molner (2397) - FM Ray Kaufman (2348)
NM Victor Shen (2265) - Aaron Kahn (2259)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 5 Results

2008-09-25T00:21:00.002-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Chicago Blaze 1.5 - 2.5
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) - FM Florin Felecan (2449) .5 - .5
IM Larry Kaufman (2424) - IM Emory Tate (2392) 0-1
FM Ray Kaufman (2348) - FM Mehmed Pasalic (2375) .5 - .5
Aaron Kahn (2291) - IM Angelo Young (2356) .5 - .5

Another loss for the Kingfishers, but they stay in 5th place, on tiebreaks.

Week 5 Lineup

2008-09-21T22:26:00.003-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Chicago Blaze
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2446) - FM Florin Felecan (2449)
IM Larry Kaufman (2424) - IM Emory Tate (2392)
FM Ray Kaufman (2348) - FM Mehmed Pasalic (2375)
Aaron Kahn (2291) - IM Angelo Young (2356)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 4 Results

2008-09-16T00:16:00.001-04:00

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Queens Pioneers 1-3
GM Pawel Blehm (2580) - IM Eli Vovsha (2504) 1-0
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2399) - IM Alex Lenderman (2463) 0-1
FM Ralph Zimmer (2261) - NM Parker Zhao (2227) 0-1
Ian Harris (2051) - NM Michael Thaler (2146) 0-1

Week 4 Lineup

2008-09-12T22:37:00.002-04:00

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

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Queens Pioneers
GM Pawel Blehm (2580) - IM Eli Vovsha (2504)
FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2399) - IM Alex Lenderman (2463)
FM Ralph Zimmer (2261) - NM Parker Zhao (2227)
Ian Harris (2051) - NM Michael Thaler (2146)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 3 Results

2008-09-10T23:58:00.002-04:00

Carolina Cobras vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 1-3
IM Lev Milman (2502) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) 0-1
IM Jonathan Schroer (2441) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2399) .5-.5
FM Oleg Zaikov (2376) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2261) 0-1
Udayan Bapat (2179) - Aaron Kahn (2259) .5-.5

The Baltimore Kingfishers grabbed their first win of the season with a convincing 3-1 score. Erenburg was first to finish with the Black side of a Berlin Defense. Then, almost simultaneously, Kahn and Enkhbat drew their games, by agreement and repetition, respectively. The Kingfishers had secured at least a draw in the match and all attention turned to board 3, where Zimmer, playing black, was already up a pawn and had a significant time advantage. He secured his position and took advantage as his opponent blundered in the time pressure.

Week 3 Lineup

2008-09-08T09:00:00.004-04:00

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

Carolina Cobras vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Lev Milman (2502) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592)
IM Jonathan Schroer (2441) - FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2399)
FM Oleg Zaikov (2376) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2261)
Udayan Bapat (2179) - Aaron Kahn (2259)

Note: Players in bold have the white pieces.

Week 2 Results

2008-09-03T22:52:00.005-04:00

Philadelphia Inventors vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5 - 1.5
GM Sergey Kudrin (2617) - GM Sergey Erenburg (2592) 1/2-1/2
FM Thomas Bartell (2415) - IM Larry Kaufman (2392) 1-0
NM Daniel Yeager (2304) - FM Ray Kaufman (2327) 1-0
NM Elvin Wilson (2240) - FM Ralph Zimmer (2261) 0-1

Another tough week for the Baltimore Kingfishers as early in the match, the positions were looking in their favor, but timely reversals by Daniel Yeager and Thomas Bartell did in the Kaufmans. With the match already decided in Philadelphia's favor, FM Ralph Zimmer salvaged the match score in a wild ending.

MD Action/Quick/Blitz Championships

2008-09-03T19:11:00.006-04:00

Over the Labor Day weekend, the Maryland Chess Association (MCA) sponsored the Maryland Action, Quick, and Blitz Championships. The event was run by TDs Wilbert Brown and Sathish Nath.

In the Action (G/30) tournament, GM Sergey Erenburg won with 6.0/7 with FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat trailing in second with 5.5/7. Other Kingfisher members FM Ralph Zimmer, Scott Low, and Jared Defibaugh finished in a six-way tie for 3rd at 5.0/7.

In the Quick (G/15) tournament, GM Sergey Erenburg, IM Larry Kaufman, and IM Ray Kaufman all tied for first with 6.0/7. They were the only ones to take points off one another as Ray beat Sergey, Sergey beat Larry, and Larry beat Ray in the tournament.

In the Blitz (G/5) tournament, IM Larry Kaufman won with 7.5/10. In second, there was a three-way tie between Kingfishers FM Ray Kaufman, Jared Defibaugh, and possible-future-Kingfisher Shinsaku Uesugi.

You can see the entire tournament crosstables on the USCF's MSA site.