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Chess Life Online 2007 November Miami and New York Advance
Chess Life Online 2007 November Miami and New York Advance | Miami and New York Advance |
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| By Jennifer Shahade | |
| November 8, 2007 | |
Marcel Martinez of the Miami Sharks won a crucial game against Zilberstein.
Wildcard Round, November 7, 2007. Philadelphia Masterminds- New York Knights- .5-3.5 Miami Sharks- San Francisco Mechanics -2.5-1.5 Playoff Schedule: Next round Miami will play against Dallas in the playoffs, while New York faces Boston. Due to the SPICE Cup in Lubbock, Texas (November 9-16), the Dallas-Miami game will be delayed. SemiFinals - Wednesday November 14th 1. Boston vs New York (Boston receives draw odds) Monday November 19th 1. Dallas vs Miami (Dallas receives draw odds) New York Sprits High Irina Krush was thrilled with the results and the spirit of the New York Knights. She was particularly impressed by the performance of Iryna Zenyuk, who was the first one to win in the match against Philadelphia, against Elvin Wilson. She sacrificed a pawn in the opening, and managed to prove that her d-pawn was worth much more than two pawns! 1317 As excited as she was and as proud as she was of her team, Irina Krush was hard on her own play, even though she won. "The rook endgame should never have seen the light of day," she said, explaining that even though it was still probably a win for White, it was way more complicated than the dominated position she had on move 40 merited. Instead of 41. Re5, Irina could have played 41. Bc6 when all of white's pins and attacks are impossible to defend against. 1314 Jay Bonin came to each match with his shield and sword, and he also "really cares about the team and stepped it up in the last couple matches," according to Krush. Here is his win against Rick Costigan: 1319 Hikaru Nakamura and Sergei Kudrin drew on board one, but Irina pointed out that it was a hard-fought battle. "It helped the team to see Hikaru fight in this position." 
The New York Knights Left to Right: Hikaru Nakamura, Jay Bonin, Irina Krush and Iryna Zenyuk.
Miami Scorches San Francisco In a surprising start to the Miami-San Francisco match, Patrick Wolff and Julio Becerra, who is the USCL MVP for the second year in a row took a draw, despite the fact that Miami needed to win the match 2.5-1.5. The reason for this draw probably resides on board three, in which Marcel Martinez played 28 moves of home preparation, including the stunning Bh6! Most likely, Becerra took the draw because he had prepared the line with Marcel, and was confident that Marcel would win the game after seeing the preparation appear on the board. 1316 Boards two and four saw some major swings. Bhat was in great shape in a better endgame against Blas Lugo , but probably thought he needed to win because Young's position looked bad on board four. However, Young turned things around in time pressure, starting with 33.Rac1. After 36.Rc6, he was totally winning. 1320 Unfortunately for the defending champs, before he could realize Young was winning, Bhat had also turned things around, in Miami's favor. The match ended 2.5-1.5 for the Sharks. 1321 Now USCL fans anxiously await to see who will be crowned the new champion. Since the champs from 2005 and 2006, Baltimore and San Francisco are eliminated, we can be sure we'll see a new championship team. Will it be Miami, New York, Dallas or Boston? Check www.uschessleague.com for daily updates, and uschess.org for future coverage by Robby Adamson and Jennifer Shahade. |