CT Dreadnoughts Defeat St. Louis!

As if they knew the Dreadnoughts were about to steer their ship back on track, most of our team and a growing group of spectators turned out last night to root us to victory against St. Louis. Among our audience were 5 masters and some of our strongest juniors. Before long, two analysis sets were created and the live games were subjected to vivacious dispute.

Everyone is in good spirits as the games begin.

First to finish was GM Robert Hess who conducted a positional master class against Finegold, who never obtained meaningful counterplay. Robert masterfully probed the weaknesses in Finegold's position, then traded to a straightforwardly winning endgame. Finegold's desperate gestures of attack on the kingside were quickly reduced to naught.

Tanenbaum and Sarkar making their season debut!

Next to finish was the battle of the IMs with our own super strong Justin Sarkar taking victory in a super complicated Botvinnik Slav. The position was the type that favored cold-bloodedness and accurate calculation. Sarkar, a specialist in this arena, sank into thought for nearly 40 minutes at one point but emerged with by far the clearer picture of the position, transforming chaos to a clear advantage in a matter of moves. His opponent managed to make up the half hour or so time deficit but not the deficiencies in his position and was soon forced to resign. A wonderful game for the fans who were banging their head against the wall trying to decode that one and a great inaugural game for Mr. Sarkar!

Meanwhile the analysis session rages on downstairs.

With two victories in the bag all we needed was a draw. The boon was delivered by board 4 first-timer Zachary Tanenbaum, an exceptionally talented junior rated over 2000 who held his higher-rated opponent to a draw with apparent ease. Zachary showed discipline and determination in his handling of the position, and White never saw a chance at advantage. With the win in the bag, GM Kekelidze took some risks on board 2, ultimately overstepping the mark in the endgame and losing what objectively must have been a drawn endgame.

With that the Dreadnoughts continue their march forward in a tie for first with New York and Manhattan. Next week is the big match-up against New York so stay tuned!