US Chess League, Week 4: Queens Maintain Perfection
The US Chess League is now through the opening phase and all the teams hope to shake off the dust and make some positive results as the matches are getting more important as the weeks go on.
Now let's see what took place in week 4 of the US Chess League:
The first match up of the week took place on Monday night when the Baltimore Kingfishers faced off with the undefeated Queens Pioneers. This match saw 4 decisive games with GM Blehm won on the top board for Baltimore while Queens took victories on the bottom 3 boards to maintain a perfect 4-0 match record for the season.
IM Alex Lenderman
Now let's take a look at an important victory by IM Lenderman which led his Queens Pioneers to win the match:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: GM Blehm(BAL) - IM Vovsha(QNS) , 1-0
Board 2: IM Lenderman(QNS) - FM Enkhbat(BAL) , 1-0
Board 3: FM Zimmer(BAL) - NM Zhao(QNS) , 0-1
Board 4: NM Thaler(QNS) - Harris(BAL) , 1-0
Overall match score: Queens Pioneers - Baltimore Kingfishers , 3-1
The next match of the week was also a Monday night feature match between the Seattle Sluggers and the Chicago Blaze. This match featured 3 GMs competing, two for Seattle and one for Chicago. The match really came down to the super power battle on board 1 which Seattle ended up winning.
GM Nakamura
Now let's take a look at this critical board 1 battle from this match:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: GM Nakamura(SEA) - GM Mitkov(CHC) , 1-0
Board 2: IM van de Mortel(CHC) - GM Serper(SEA) , 0.5-0.5
Board 3: NM Lee(SEA) - IM Tate(CHC) , 0-1
Board 4: Strunk(CHC) - May(SEA) , 1-0
Overall match score: Seattle Sluggers - Chicago Blaze , 2.5-1.5
The next match was between the New Jersey Knockouts and the Boston Blitz. All 4 games from this match were decisive making for interesting chess. The New Jersey Knockouts claimed victory in the match by winning on the top 3 boards. The board 1 match featured two close friends and famous American Grandmasters.
GM Joel Benjamin
Now let's take a look at this interesting board 1 match up between the good GM friends:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: GM Benjamin(NJ) - GM Christiansen(BOS) , 1-0
Board 2: NM Shmelov(BOS) - IM Ippolito(NJ) , 0-1
Board 3: NM Molner(NJ) - NM Riordan(BOS) , 1-0
Board 4: NM Esserman(BOS) - Lian(NJ) , 1-0
Overall match score: New Jersey Knockouts - Boston Blitz , 3-1
The next match up was between the Carolina Cobras and the New York Knights. The spirit of fighting chess continued on in this match when Carolina sweeped New York with 4 victories on all 4 boards to take the match 4-0! The most impressive victory came on the top board with an unexpected result.
IM Lev Milman
Now let's take a look at the stunning result from the top board in this match:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: IM Milman(CAR) - GM Shabalov(NY) , 1-0
Board 2: IM Sarkar(NY) - FM Zaikov(CAR) , 0-1
Board 3: FM Simpson(CAR) - IM Bonin(NY) , 1-0
Board 4: WFM Zenyuk(NY) - NM Jones(CAR) , 0-1
Overall match score: Carolina Cobras - New York Knights , 4-0
The next match was between the Dallas Destiny and the Miami Sharks. In this match there was a late replacement for the Dallas Destiny on board 4 where WFM Karina Vazirova had to fill in but this did not stop Dallas from winning the match by a close 2.5-1.5 margin with only one decisive game in the match.
IM Davorin Kuljasevic
Now lets take a look at the only decisive game from this match which earned Dallas the win:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: IM Kuljasevic(DAL) - GM Becerra(MIA) , 1-0
Board 2: FM Martinez(MIA) - IM Bartholomew(DAL) , 0.5-0.5
Board 3: FM Schneider(DAL) - FM Perea(MIA) , 0.5-0.5
Board 4: Prilleltensky(MIA) - WFM Vazirova(DAL) , 0.5-0.5
Overall match score: Dallas Destiny - Miami Sharks , 2.5-1.5
The next match was between the Philadelphia Inventors and the San Francisco Mechanics. San Francisco reeled off 3 straight victories on the bottom 3 boards to win the match by a 3.5-0.5 score.
FM Daniel Naroditsky
Now let's take a look at the game of one of the youngest US Chess League players:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: GM Kudrin(PHI) - GM Wolff(SF) , 0.5-0.5
Board 2: IM Friedel(SF) - IM Smith(PHI) , 1-0
Board 3: IM Costigan(PHI) - NM Shankland(SF) , 0-1
Board 4: FM Naroditsky(SF) - NM Wilson(PHI) , 1-0
Overall match score: San Francisco Mechanics - Philadelphia Inventors , 3.5-0.5
The final match of the week was the Tennessee Tempo against the Arizona Scorpions. Arizona took the match 2.5-1.5 when they secured two victories on the bottom boards despite losing on the top board.
NM Joel Johnson
Now let's take a look at USCL newcomer Joel Johnson's game from this match:
Board results from this match:
Board 1: GM Ehlvest(TEN) - IM Barcenilla(ARZ) , 1-0
Board 2; IM Ginsburg(ARZ) - IM Burnett(TEN) , 0.5-0.5
Board 3: FM Andrews(TEN) - FM Adamson(ARZ) , 0-1
Board 4: NM Johnson(ARZ) - FM Bick(TEN) , 1-0
Overall match score: Arizona Scorpions - Tennessee Tempo , 2.5-1.5
League standings:
Eastern division:
1) Queens (4/4)
2) New Jersey (2.5/4)
3-4) Carolina, Boston (2/4)
5-7) Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York (1/4)
Western division:
1) San Francisco (3.5/4)
2) Dallas (3/4)
3-5) Miami, Arizona, Seattle (2/4)
6) Chicago (1.5/4)
7) Tennessee (0.5/4)
For more information on the US Chess League you can visit the official website at www.uschessleague.com
