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Chess Life Online 2011 US Chess League: Week Nine Highlights
Chess Life Online 2011 US Chess League: Week Nine Highlights | US Chess League: Week Nine Highlights |
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| By Kostya Kavutskiy | |
| October 31, 2011 | |
 In week nine of the US Chess League, the Miami Sharks dealt
the Chicago Blaze their first loss of the season, thanks to three time MVP GM
Julio Becerra outplaying GM Josh Friedel on the top board. This gives the
Sharks excellent playoff chances going into the final week, as they are
currently tied for third place and have good tiebreaks. The San Francisco
Mechanics and Dallas Destiny, who are also currently tied for third place, drew
a hard fought match with each other and are going to go all out next week to
make it into the postseason. The Los Angeles Vibe were able to clinch second
place in the division after drawing their match with the Arizona Scorpions.
Rounding out the West, the Seattle Sluggers were eliminated from playoff contention
after a draw with the Saint Louis Arch Bishops.In the Eastern Division the fight continued for the last two playoff spots (Philadelphia and New York have already clinched). The Boston Blitz defeated the Baltimore Kingfishers 3-1 to knock Baltimore out of contention and to jump into clear third place. The New England Nor'easters were able to finally recover from their very slow start this season by beating the Carolina Cobras to snatch a share of fourth place, along with the Manhattan Applesauce, who lost to the Philadelphia Inventors. Lastly, the New Jersey Knockouts salvaged some pride for the season by upsetting the New York Knights to hurt New York's attempts to wrestle the division title away from Philadelphia. Coincidentally, Philadelphia and New York face each other in the final week of the regular season. Game of the Week GM Jesse Kraai (SF) - GM Julio Sadorra (DAL) 1-0 5938 A well played game played by GM Kraai who seized the initiative and quickly won a decisive amount of material. See judges' comments and Game of the Week rankings on the USCL blog. Most Exciting Match San Francisco Mechanics - Dallas Destiny 2-2 Both of these teams are dying to make the playoffs and it really showed in these games. The match was a bloodbath... 5936 5935 5937 Best Move NM Justus Williams (NY) - NM Christopher Wu (NJ) 0-1 This is Christopher's second "best move award" from me this season, earned for the following combination:  20.g5 (20.Kxb3 Qa4#) 20...Rxc3+! No mercy! 21.bxc3 Ra2+ 22.Kb1 Qa4!  Nicely calculated by the youngster, White is helpless to stop checkmate. 23.gxf6+ gxf6 24.Nf5+ Kf8 25.Nd4 Ra1+ 26.Kb2 Qa2# 0-1 For more blogs and this week's line-ups and matches, go to the US Chess League homepage. Watch live games on Monday and Wednesday night on the Internet Chess Club. Kostya Kavutskiy will also be posting weekly recaps from his team's perspective at thelavibe.blogspot.com. Also look for an upcoming US Chess Scoop video featuring members of the Philadelphia and New York teams. |
