New York Knights Rely On Experience
The New York Knights are one of two teams are one of two teams representing the Big Apple, the city so nice they named it twice, and the city that never sleeps. Whatever your epithet of choice is, the city of New York provides a bounty of experienced talent on which to draw. Unsurprisingly, there are no free agents on this team!
They are lead by GMs Oliver Barbosa, Mark Paragua, and Leonid Yudasin. All have similar FIDE ratings around 2500. It is Yudasin who has the most storied career. He has been ranked as high as #5 in the world and has been a world championship candidate. Here he is devastating Balashov in the 1986 Soviet Championship, a tournament he won four years later.
Next up, the Knights have added IMs Jay Bonin and Alejandro Montalvo to their roster. Most active U.S. chess players cannot help but be familiar with Bonin, the "Cal Ripken" of chess. According to the Knights' manager:
"He is known as the "Iron Man of Chess" and is among the most active tournament players in the U.S., having played over 25,000 tournament games (over 13,000 games since the U.S. Chess Federation started collecting data in 1991 and an estimated 12,000 games for his almost 20 years of tournament play prior). According to a 2012 article by Dylan McClain in the New York Times, Bonin has “probably has played more tournaments than anyone. The United States Chess Federation lists more than 3,300 tournaments Bonin has competed in since 1991, which is as far back as the computerized records go, though Bonin played just as frequently in the 1980s. His peak USCF rating is 2526."
The Knights team is filled out by FMs Ivan Biag and Ikrom Ibrohomiv. Each are strong FMs, well over 2300, and each actually has a higher Elo than their teammates Bonin and Montalvo.
The PRO Chess League welcomes the New York Knights!
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