USCL Week 4- Eye of the Tiger
It was a big week for the Inventors. The season was looking like it might be slipping away and we were playing the Seattle Sluggers for the first time since our loss to them in the FInals last season. Even though this match would mean a little less in the long run than that one did, we were still anxious to win.
And win we did! Two wins and two draws gave us a big 3-1 victory and nudged us up into second place in the Atlantic DIvision.
To top it off our first board FM Tom Bartell played a sparkling game against GM Emil Anka that won him Game of the Week!
GM Emil Anka vs FM Tom Bartell:
On Board 2 our rock in the middle FM Dov Gorman drew a very long game where he was decidedly better/winning much of the time. A disappointment for him but still a positive game for the match and as the season goes forward:
here is Dov's in-depth thoughts and analysis of the latter stages of the game:
Gorman,Dov - Collyer,Curt
[This game featured many mistakes by both players. At this point both players were down to the last minutes. While black is up a pawn, his a6 pawn is white's target. ]
35.Kf3 Bxh5+ 36.Kxf4 c4?! [Still not losing, but Black's has to be precise.]
[36...Bf7 37.e5 Bc4 (37...Kg7 38.Be4 Bc4 39.b4) 38.Be4 Kf7 39.b4 fxe5+ 40.Kxe5 Ke7 41.Bb7 Kd7 42.Bxa6 Kc7 43.bxc5 h5 44.Kf4 Kc6=; 36...Kf8 37.Bf1 Ke7 38.Bh3 Kd8 39.Kf5 Bf3=]
37.Bf1 Kf7 38.Bh3 Ke7 39.Bc8 Kd6 40.Bxa6 Kc6 41.Bc8 Be2? [Now black should be losing since the next move comes with a tempo and white is able to establish the bishop on the long diagonal.]
[41...Kc7 42.Be6 Bg6 43.Bf5 Be8=]
42.a6 Kb6 43.Kf5 Bf3 44.Bb7 [This is the difference. White will win the race]
44...h5 45.Kxf6 [While the position is still winning, White misses a clear win]
[45.e5 Bxb7 46.axb7 Kxb7 47.exf6+–]
45...h4 46.e5 Bxb7 47.axb7 Kxb7 48.e6 h3 49.e7 h2 50.e8Q h1Q 51.Qxb5+ Ka7 52.Qc5+ Ka8 53.Qxc4 Qh8+ 54.Ke7 Qh7+ 55.Kd6 Qh2+ 56.Kc6 Qh6+ 57.Kb5 Kb7 58.Qd5+ Kb8 59.Qd8+ Kb7 60.Qd7+ Kb8 61.c4 Qc1 62.b4 Qc3 63.Qd6+ Ka8 64.c5 [64.Kb6 Game is over]
64...Qe1 65.Qd5+ [65.Qd8+ Kb7 66.Qd7+ Kb8 67.Ka6 Qa1+ 68.Kb6 Qf6+ 69.Qd6+]
65...Ka7 66.c6 Qe2+ 67.Qc4 Qe8 68.Qd4+ [68.Ka5 Qd8+ 69.c7 Qd5+ 70.Qc5+ Qxc5+ 71.bxc5 Kb7 72.c8Q+ Kxc8 73.Kb6]
68...Ka8 69.Qa1+ [69.Qd6 Qe2+ 70.Kb6 Qa6+ 71.Kc7 Qa7+ 72.Kd8 Qh7 73.Qd7 Qh4+ 74.Kc8 Qh8+ 75.Qd8 Qe5 76.Qa5+]
69...Kb8 70.Qd4 Ka8 71.Kb6 Qb8+ 72.Ka5 Qc7+ 73.Kb5 Qb8+ 74.Qb6 Qe5+ 75.Qc5 Qc7 76.Ka4 [76.Qf5 Qb8+ 77.Ka4]
76...Kb8 77.b5 [77.Qb5+ Kc8 78.Qb7+ Qxb7 79.cxb7+ Kxb7 80.Kb5]
77...Qf4+ 78.Ka5 Qd2+ 79.Kb6 Qf4 80.Ka5 [80.Qg1 Qc7+ 81.Ka6 Qc8+ 82.Ka5 Qc7+=]
80...Qd2+ 81.Qb4 Qa2+ 82.Qa4 Qd2+ 83.Qb4 Qa2+ 84.Qa4 Qd2+ 85.Ka6 Qf2 86.c7+ [While this should still be winning, it is clearly worse than before.]
86...Kxc7 87.Qc4+ Kb8 88.Qg8+ Kc7 89.Qg7+ Kd8 90.Qh8+ [90.Qe5 Qa2+ 91.Kb7 Qg2+ 92.Kb8 Qf2 93.Qd6+ Ke8 94.b6]
90...Kd7 91.Qh7+ Kd8 92.Qd3+ Kc8 93.Qc4+? [93.Qc3+ Kb8 (93...Kd8 94.b6 Qa2+ 95.Kb7 Qf7+ 96.Qc7+) 94.Qe5+ Kc8 95.Qe6+ Kc7 96.Qc6+ Kd8 97.Qb6+]
93...Kb8 94.b6?? [After this move the position is even.]
[94.Qg8+ Kc7 95.Qg7+ Kd8 96.Qe5 is still winning]
94...Qg3 95.Kb5 Qe5+ 96.Ka4 Qa1+ 97.Kb4 Qb2+ 98.Ka5 Qa1+ 99.Kb5 Qe5+ 100.Kc6 Qf6+ 101.Kc5 Qe5+ 102.Qd5 Qxd5+ 103.Kxd5 Kb7 104.Kc5 Kb8 105.Kc6 Kc8 106.Kb5 Kb7 107.Kc5 Kb8 108.Kc6 Kc8 109.Kd6 Kb7 110.Kc5 Kb8 111.Kb5 Kb7 112.Ka5 Kb8 113.Ka6 Ka8 114.b7+ Kb8 115.Kb6 ½–½
Peter Minear also played a lovely attacking game against Seattle's Josh Sinanan:
And on the fourth board Philly vet Richard Costigan got a strong advantage over the young Roland Feng, but the kid was able to wriggle free with a perpetual to save the half-point and a little dignity for his team:
