2014 Week 6 Review

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. St. Louis Arch Bishops 2.5-1.5
GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2603) - GM Wesley So (2751) 0.5-0.5 View Game
IM Levan Bregadze (2530) - GM Le Quang Liem (2785) 0-1 View Game
NM Jared Defibaugh (2325) - NM Mathew Larson (2251) 1-0 View Game
NM Andrew Zheng (2208) - Jacob Wilkins (1909) 1-0 View Game

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the division-leading St. Louis Arch Bishops with a 2.5-1.5 score. Baltimore took victories on the bottom two boards and drew on the top board while St. Louis struck back with a win on board 2. Combined with the Miami Sharks' 2.5-1.5 victory over the Connecticut Dreadnoughts, Baltimore (3.0-3.0 match record) managed to leap into 2nd place in the Southern Division. Now, they are only a half-match-point behind the St. Louis Arch Bishops (3.5-2.5 match record) in the standings. There is also a crowd of 3 teams (Atlanta Kings, Connecticut Dreadnoughts, Miami Sharks) tied for 3rd place at (2.5-3.5 match record), which is just a half-match-point behind Baltimore. Finally, the Carolina Cobras (1.0-5.0 match record) sit at the bottom of the Southern Division, but they are not out of the playoff picture yet.

Board 1: GM Niclas Huschenbeth vs. GM Wesley So. The top board showcased a very interesting Najdorf Sicilian. GM Wesley So played the novelty 11... b5. In the middlegame, GM Huschenbeth maneuvered to attack the black kingside, but GM Wesley So managed to parry the threats. As pieces were traded in the center, it soon looked like white's king might be the more vulnerable one. Then, GM Huschenbeth regained an edge in the game with the strong 32. Rxc3! though it was not enough to convert to a victory. They played until bare kings on move 60.
Note: I did not do analysis of this game beyond the novelty search and finding interesting stem games as GM Niclas Huschenbeth has already posted his own spectacular in-depth analysis of the game on YouTube (Runtime: 34:56). Be sure to check it out below!


10:00 PM EDT Update: Board 1 won Game of the Week (GOTW). Read the USCL judges' commentary.

Board 2: GM Le Quang Liem vs. IM Levan Bregadze. The second board featured a King's Indian with opposite-side castling. GM Le Quang Liem played the novelty 11. h4 to begin his assault of the black kingside. IM Levan Bregadze soon countered with his a-pawn push against white's long-castled king. Complications arose as the center opened up. Black appeared worse by being down two pawns, but the power of the fianchettoed-bishop and a rook on the 2nd rank provided drawing chances and maybe more. Perhaps that chance for more was on IM Bregadze's mind when he played 26... Bd4, which was a mistake that GM Le Quang Liem pounced upon to seize a victory in 33 moves.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. NM Matthew Larson. Board three saw a Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Meran variation (6. Qc2) with 6... Bd6 7. b3. This opening has seen plenty of play at the top level of chess. The novelty 13. Bxc4 was played by NM Jared Defibaugh. Both the c-file and d-file were opened up and queens were traded in the early middlegame. After that, both players maneuvered pieces with the aim of controlling the open files. Both files were blockaded by knights, so NM Matthew Larson decided to expanded on the kingside with his black pawns. Meanwhile NM Defibaugh continued to attempt to breakthrough the blockade on the c&d-files. After an inaccuracy by black on move 47, white got the chance to break for which he was striving, and NM Defibaugh triumphed after 70 moves.

Board 4: Jacob Wilkins vs. NM Andrew Zheng. The fourth board bounced around opening theory names pretty quickly as the game started with a Reti Opening (1.Nf3), transposed into an English Opening after 1... e6 2. c4 d5, and then started to resemble a Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange variation (c4xd5) after 4. d4. The novelty was actually 9... Nbd7, played by NM Andrew Zheng. The two players exchanged evenly for quite some time. Eventually, black took control of the open c-file and then was allowed to invade the 2nd rank. White missed a surprising final chance at an equal game with 36. Nf2, and Jacob Wilkins resigned after 51 moves.

Next week, the Baltimore Kingfishers play the Arizona Scorpions on Wednesday, October 8th starting at 9:00 PM EDT.

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Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

2014 Week 6 Preview

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. St. Louis Arch Bishops
GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2603) - GM Wesley So (2751)
IM Levan Bregadze (2530) - GM Le Quang Liem (2785)
NM Jared Defibaugh (2325) - NM Mathew Larson (2251)
NM Andrew Zheng (2208) - Jacob Wilkins (1909)

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

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers and St. Louis Arch Bishops face-off in a rematch of Week 1 when St. Louis won with a 2.5-1.5 result. Baltimore is using the same lineup from Week 1 while St. Louis has two players (GM Le Quang Liem and Jacob Wilkins) returning from that match. Currently in the Southern Division, St. Louis (3.5-1.5) is on top of the standings with Baltimore (2.0-3.0) trailing in 3rd place (of 6). St. Louis has won both previous matches against Baltimore.

Board 1: GM Niclas Huschenbeth vs. GM Wesley So. GM Niclas Huschenbeth lost his only game this season, which occurred in Week 1 on Board 1 with the black pieces against GM Le Quang Liem of the St. Louis Archbishops. That starts him with a 2385 performance rating. He is (-2) against St. Louis in his 3-year USCL career. This week, GM Le Quang Liem drops down to Board 2, so GM Huschenbeth will do battle with GM Wesley So. GM Wesley So is (+2 =1) with a 2864 performance rating in his first USCL season. He won last week on Board 1 with the black pieces against GM Mackenzie Molner of the Arizona Scorpions.

Board 2: GM Le Quang Liem vs. IM Levan Bregadze. GM Le Quang Liem is (+3 =1) with a 2860 performance rating in his first USCL season. He is (+1) against Baltimore, and he won last week on Board 2 with the white pieces against IM Alexey Diulger of the Arizona Scorpions. Squaring-off against him will be IM Levan Bregadze, who is (+3 -1) with a 2690 performance rating in his 3rd season. IM Bregadze is (-1) against his former team, the St. Louis Arch Bishops. He won last week on Board 2 with the black pieces against FM Andrew Shvartsman of the Manhattan Applesauce.

Board 3: NM Jared Defibaugh vs. NM Matthew Larson. NM Jared Defibaugh is (+1 =2 -1) with a 2350 performance rating in his 5th season. He drew his only career game against St. Louis in Week 1. He last played in Week 4 when he won on Board 3 with the black pieces against NM Richard Francisco of the Atlanta Kings. He is set to play NM Matthew Larson, who is making his season debut. NM Larson is making his return to the USCL after only playing for St. Louis in 2012. He was (+2 -4) with a 2115 performance rating that year and scored (+1) against Baltimore.

Board 4: Jacob Wilkins vs. NM Andrew Zheng. Jacob Wilkins is (=2 -1) with a 1990 performance rating in his 2nd USCL season. He last played in Week 3 when he drew on Board 4 with the white pieces against Shaun Smith of the Manhattan Applesauce. He lost his only career game against Baltimore in Week 1 on Board 4 with the black pieces against NM Andrew Zheng, who is also his opponent this week. Colors will be reversed this time. NM Andrew Zheng is (+2 =1 -1) with a 2281 performance rating in his 2nd season. He last played in Week 4 when he drew on Board 4 with the white pieces against NM Michael Corallo of the Atlanta Kings.

Catch the games live on ICC and let us know your predictions in the 5 polls linked below/shown to the right!
Board 1 Result? | Board 2 Result? | Board 3 Result? | Board 4 Result? | Match Result?

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Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

2014 Week 1 Review

St. Louis Arch Bishops vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5-1.5
GM Le Quang Liem (2785) - GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2603) 1-0 View Game
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2758) - IM Levan Bregadze (2530) 1-0 View Game
WGM Anna Sharevich (2367) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2325) 0.5-0.5 View Game
Jacob Wilkins (1909) - NM Andrew Zheng (2208) 0-1 View Game

Note: Players in italic had the white pieces.

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The St. Louis Arch Bishops defeated the Baltimore Kingfishers with a 2.5-1.5 score. St. Louis scored wins on Boards 1 and 2 while Baltimore could only counter with a win on Board 4. St. Louis begins the season tied for first (2nd on tiebreak) in the Southern Division, and Baltimore is in the 4th spot (of 6) in the Southern Division. These two teams will have a rematch in Week 6 on September 30th.

Board 1: GM Le Quang Liem vs. GM Niclas Huschenbeth. The top board began with a Nimzo-Indian Defense: Nimzo-Queen's Indian Hybrid. The novelty was 14... Ne5, played by GM Niclas Huschenbeth. Black tried to slowly open up the queenside, seemingly underestimating how fast white's kingside attack would come. GM Le Quang Liem busted open black's king position, which allowed him to transition to cleaning up the queenside pawns. GM Huschenbeth held on to try some back-rank mate swindles, but resigned after those attempts were parried.

Board 2: IM Levan Bregadze vs. GM Varuzhan Akobian. The second board started with a Reti Opening: Advance Variation that transformed into what looked like a reverse-Blumenfeld's Gambit. GM Varuzhan Akobian played the novelty 8... b6. The critical moment of the game came after 20... Bxf3 when IM Levan Bregadze played the inferior move 21. b6 (as opposed to 21. c6; See analysis board below) and GM Akobian countered with 21... Nxb6. The game was slightly better for black after that sequence, but white may have had chances to hold a draw. However, black managed to keep an extra pawn and eventually cleared the way for his passed e-pawn to advance when white resigned.

Board 3: WGM Anna Sharevich vs. NM Jared Defibaugh. Board 3 exhibited with a Grunfeld Defense: Exchange Variation with 7. Ba3. NM Jared Defibaugh mentioned after the match that he saw WGM Anna Sharevich had several games with this move. They were following one of WGM Sharevich's games up until she varied from it with 12. Be2. After that, they were still following a couple games by GM Svidler (as black in both games) with one game against St. Louis' first board in this match, GM Le Quang Liem (Check out the analysis board below). The novelty was played by NM Defibaugh with 15... Re8. While the game lasted 73 moves and looked dangerous for black toward the end, the game never strayed far from equality. It ended as a draw by repetition.

Board 4: NM Andrew Zheng vs. Jacob Wilkins. The final board of the match saw another Nimzo-Indian Defense though this time, it was a Rubinstein variation (4.e3) with 4... b6. NM Andrew Zheng played the novely 10. Rb1. White slowly gained space with his pawns until he was able to break open the queenside and even win a pawn. Then, the game revolved around whether the passed d-pawn could march to promotion. The game nearly slipped away from white as black had some surprising drawing chances near the end. The game actually ended as Jacob Wilkins forfeited on time in a position where it was clear NM Zheng had sewn up the game. The final position is technically a mate in 6 (various lines) for white.


To conclude this week's review, note that two players (GM Le Quang Liem and WGM Anna Sharevich) secured their first points in the USCL, and two players (GM Le Quang Liem and NM Andrew Zheng) scored their first victory in the USCL.

Next week, Baltimore plays the Carolina Cobras on Wednesday, September 3rd starting at 7:20 EDT.

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Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

2014 Week 1 Preview

St. Louis Arch Bishops vs. Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Le Quang Liem (2785) - GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2603)
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2758) - IM Levan Bregadze (2530)
WGM Anna Sharevich (2367) - NM Jared Defibaugh (2325)
Jacob Wilkins (1909) - NM Andrew Zheng (2208)

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

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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The Baltimore Kingfishers and the St. Louis Arch Bishops begin their seasons in the newly-minted Southern Division of the US Chess League. Baltimore, having been in the USCL since its inaugural season, will be starting their 10th season while St. Louis will begin their 5th season. St. Louis leads the all-time series against Baltimore with a 1-0 match score. These two teams last played in Week 2, 2012 when St. Louis completed a rare 4-0 sweep. There are two returning players, GM Niclas Huschenbeth and IM Levan Bregadze, from that last match but with a twist as IM Bregadze has switched teams from St. Louis to Baltimore.

Board 1: GM Le Quang Liem vs. GM Niclas Huschenbeth. GM Le Quang Liem makes his USCL debut for the St. Louis Arch Bishops. He is currently the 2nd highest FIDE-rated player in the USCL. Challenging him will be GM Niclas Huschenbeth, who is playing in his 3rd USCL season. He went (+1 =1 -2) last season.

Board 2: IM Levan Bregadze vs. GM Varuzhan Akobian. IM Levan Bregadze faces off against his former team for the first time. He scored (+1 =4 -1) for the Baltimore Kingfishers last year and he will also be playing in his 3rd season. Meanwhile his opponent, GM Varuzhan Akobian, went (+3 =2 -2) in the previous season. He will start his 5th year in the USCL and 2nd year with St. Louis.

Board 3: WGM Anna Sharevich vs. NM Jared Defibaugh. WGM Anna Sharevich is another St. Louis player who will be making her USCL debut in this match. This debut is a long time coming as she was named to St. Louis' 2012 roster, but never played. Her opponent, NM Jared Defibaugh, will begin his 5th season with Baltimore. He managed a (+2 =3 -4) score last season.

Board 4: NM Andrew Zheng vs. Jacob Wilkins. NM Andrew Zheng will be playing in his 2nd USCL season. NM Zheng is the 8th-highest-rated 12-year-old in the United States as of the August rating list. He drew his only USCL game last year. Facing him will be Jacob Wilkins, who scored (+1 =3 -2) for a performance rating 200+ points above his current rating in his first season last year.

Catch the games live on ICC and let us know your predictions in the 5 polls linked below/shown to the right!
Board 1 Result? | Board 2 Result? | Board 3 Result? | Board 4 Result? | Match Result?
 

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Reposted at: Chess.com blogs

Week 2 Review

St. Louis Arch Bishops vs. Baltimore Kingfishers 4-0
GM Ben Finegold (2568) - GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2582) 1-0 View Game
IM Priyadharshan Kannappan (2457) - GM Larry Kaufman (2445) 1-0 View Game
IM Levan Bregadze (2416) - NM Kevin Wang (2366) 1-0 View Game
Matthew Larson (1918) - NM Ricky Selzler (2242) 1-0 View Game

The Baltimore Kingfishers suffered a stunning sweep by the St. Louis Arch Bishops.

Board 1: GM Finegold defeated GM Huschenbeth in a Nimzo-Indian that won Game of the Week honors and has been analyzed by GM Alex Yermolinsky on ICC here. In consolation, if the prizes have remained the same as previous years, GM Huschenbeth would receive $50 for playing in the Game of the Week. GM Finegold would win $150 as the winner of the game.

The game centered on the exploitation of the pinned black knight on f6 that finished in the following position after 25. Rxf6, intending 25... Rxf6 (or Qxf6) 26. Qg5+ anymove 27. Bxf6.

Board 2: These players fought in the longest game of the match. They also played a Nimzo-Indian, but this one remained a closed position for a long time. GM Kaufman was given the opportunity to open some lines and he jumped at 60. g5 fxg5 61. f6 Nxd8 62. Bg4+ Ke8:

However, he was not able to find the best move and played 63. Be6 instead of 63. e5! dxe5 64. Ke4 Nf7 65. Bh5 and black cannot stop the white king from eventually taking black's e-pawn and supporting a d-pawn push. As the game actually continued, white still had ways to draw but IM Kannappan came out victorious in the ensuing time pressure.

Board 3: The game stayed roughly even as both players manuevered their pieces to take action in the center of the board. White seemed to have a slight advantage by having the bishop vs. a black knight in an open game. However, black made a mistake with 47... Qc7:

48. Qa8! threatens Qg8# and Qxa4. The knight could not be saved, so IM Bregadze won the game.

Board 4: This game was a Sicilian in which NM Selzler was able to push black out of the queenside in the early middle game and won an exchange, but was unable to capitalize on the advantage when Larson broke open the center, eliminated white's kingside, and secured the path for the h-pawn to promote. White's best opportunity to win the game came after 24... Qb4:

White could play 25. Kb2, threatening to trap the queen by playing c3 or the Ra1-Ra4 maneuver. For instance, 25. Kb2 a4 26. Ra1 (not 26. c3? Qxb3+) e4 27. Rxa4 Bf6+ 28. Ka2 Qc3 29. Nxd6+ Kf8 30. Qxc3 Bxc3 31. Nxe4 and white is up 3 passed pawns.

Week 2 Lineup/Preview

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

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

Note: Players in italic have the white pieces.

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

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

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

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

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