Frisco Holds Blaze at Bay
Chicago bows to Mechanics 2.5-1.5
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Chicago bows to Mechanics 2.5-1.5
Posted by Tom Panelas at 11:26 AM
Labels: angelo young, betsy dynako, brad rosen, chicago blaze, florin felcan, gary alan fine, Jan van De Mortel, jesse kraai, len weber, mehmed pasalic, nikola mitkov, sam shankland, san francisco mechanics comments (0)
First there was Boomer the Wonder Dog. Now this. Four minutes of Zen.
Chicago finally gets on the board with a 2.5-1.5 victory over Tennessee
Posted by Tom Panelas at 3:07 PM
Labels: Alex Shabalov, angelo young, daniel parmet, florin felcan, glenn panner, jaan ehlvest, jon burgess, mehmed pasalic, tennessee tempo comments (0)
Another subject on which the vile Fox News know-nothing propagandist purports to be an expert.
BECK:
“OK. Any doubt in your mind that they're just going to throw these people — you know, I was thinking about — you and I were talking before I went on the show. And I asked somebody to go get a chess set, and a very nice one at this. Can we get a shot at this chess set?What did Philidor know, anyway?
“This is like ACORN. I keep thinking of these people, because I play chess — poorly, but I play chess. And the pawns don't matter. They just don't matter to me. When you're playing chess, it doesn't matter. You can take all the pawns. Who cares? It doesn't matter.
“The only thing that really matters is the king, and in this case — in ACORN — the king is a white guy, sitting there. I mean, it doesn't matter if everybody else is mowed down as long as he gets his cash.”
This is a game I played with a pleasant chap named Eddy at the Starbucks on Lincoln & Wilson in Chicago, across from the Old Town School of Folk Music. I resigned on move 24 because I had to pick up my son from his guitar lesson, but Eddy was up a pawn, clearly better overall, and I was headed for defeat anyway.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6
This was my crucial blunder, I think. Developing the king's knight was clearly the thing to do here, and may failure to do so invited White's next move, which caused me much grief.
5. Ng5 d5
I misread the position; I thought it was like the Fried Liver Attack, but it wasn't.
6. Bxd5 Be6 7. Nxe6 fxe6 8. Bxe6 Qf6 9. Bf5 Nge7 10. O-O Nxf5 11. exf5 Qxf5 12. Be3 b6 13. Bxc5 bxc5 14. Nc3 Rd8 15. Nb5 Qf7 16. b3 a6 17. Nc3 Nd4 18. Rc1 O-O 19. Ne4 Ne6
A generally weak and mediocre level of play on both sides, but White has had an advantage since early in the game, and Black has dome nothing to change the balance.
20. Qg4 Rd4 21. Rce1 h5 22. Qg3 Nf4 23. Nxc5 Qf6 24. Ne4 Black resigns 1-0
But IM Young comes through again
Angelo Young always shows up.
As any Blaze fan will tell you, the popular international master and seven-time Illinois champion plays hard and always gives the team 100 percent. True to his reputation and record, Angelo came through again last night, posting an impressive victory with the Reti/King’s Indian Attack against NM Eric Rodriguez of the Miami Sharks to give the Blaze a lift and maintain his undefeated record in USCL play.
That, however, was the good news, and unfortunately, there wasn't anymore of it, as Angelo’s teammates, GM Nikola Mitkov, IM Jan van DeMortel, and expert Trevor Magness each fell to their Miami opponents. The Sharks won the match 3-1, handing the Blaze their second consecutive defeat of the new season and leaving us with an 0-2 record heading into the third week of the ten-week season.
Here are the games.
Board 1. GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1
Board 2. FM Bruci Lopez (MIA) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0
Board 3. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs NM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) 1-0
Board 4. Miguel Recio (MIA) vs Trevor Magness (CHC) 1-0
Special thanks to Mike Cardinale of the Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago, who served as our celebrity tournament director for the evening. Mike will be back with us again later in the season.
Next up, the Tennessee Tempo:
Week 3:
Wednesday, September 16th
Tennessee Tempo vs Chicago Blaze
7:00 PM Central Time
I won this three-minute (G/3) game on time, with nine seconds left on my clock when my opponent flagged. The Computer says the position is dead even. Does this qualify as a Wacky Wednesday game?
Al Franken and I were born on the same day, both of us in New York City, but the recently seated U.S. senator from Minnesota has used his long life much more productively than I have, at least when it comes to mastering the art of map-making on the fly. Here he draws a map of the United States -- freehand and from memory. Very impressive.
Congratulations to FM Florin Felecan of the Chicago Blaze, who finished in a tie for first place with IM Mesgen Amanov in this weekend's Illinois Open. The two players, who both went 5.0/6 for the weekend, are now the co-champions of Illinois.
Other Blazers playing in the tournament were IM Angelo Young, Trevor Magness, NM Eric Rosen, and Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet. Special congratulations to Blaze tech guru Sevan Muradian, who went undefeated in his section and raised his rating to 1744. Sevan's rating has spiked about 250 points in the past year. Is he doing de la Maza?
Left: Florin Felecan ponders his position in last year's Blaze match against the Baltimore Kingfishers.
photo: Betsy Dynako
Posted by Tom Panelas at 5:00 PM
Labels: angelo young, eric rosen, florin felcan, sevan muradian, trevor magness comments (0)
Aside from the fact that both teams joined the U.S. Chess League at the same time last year, there are few similarities between them, especially when they go head to head. The Blaze dropped both of their matches to Arizona last year, and last night the Scorpions’ streak against the Windy City squad went to three as they handed us our most lopsided defeat ever, 3.5-.5. For the second year in a row, the Blaze lost their opening match of the season to the same team.
A Few Bright SpotsPosted by Tom Panelas at 10:54 AM
Labels: arizona scorpions, betsy dynako, chicago blaze, florin felcan, gary alan fine, glenn panner, mehmed pasalic, midway chess club, nikola mitkov, trevor magness, u.s. chess league, william shehan comments (0)
The Chicago Blaze, Illinois’s very own chess team, is about to begin its second season in the U.S. Chess League. Our first game of 2009 takes place tonight, and I would like to invite all chess fans in Chicago and Illinois to follow the team, root for it, enjoy it, and support it.
Chess at the Ballpark
Also part of the season opening will be a scholastic tournament to raise funds for the team on Saturday, September 12, at U.S. Cellular Field. Here is a flyer with the details that you can tack up on the fridge. Please help spread the word about this tournament to kids and the parents of kids in grades K-12 who play chess. We need a good turnout, and it should be a lot of fun. Every kid who plays in the rated tournament will get a spiffy, new Chicago Blaze t-shirt.
Here’s how you can follow the Blaze.
First Match Tonight Night
The first match is tonight, 8:00 Central time, against the Arizona Scorpions. The Blaze will gather at the Holiday Inn and play the Scorpions online, via the Internet Chess Club. I hope you can join us either in person or virtually. (If you don’t have an ICC subscription, tune in to Twitter.)
The Blaze has the blessing and support of the Illinois Chess Association, along with many individual people whom we hope to thank profusely in due course. (And one person I'd like to thank right now: Maret Thorpe, for creating the gorgeous flyer for the Celluar Field tournament)
Please let me know if you have any questions. The goal of the Blaze is to be a contributing part of the Chicago and Illinois chess communities and to help chess grow and prosper in the Windy City and the Prairie State. Please join the fun. Thanks.
Posted by Tom Panelas at 1:41 PM
Labels: chicago blaze, illinois chess association, maret thorpe, u.s. chess league comments (0)