The ride is over. The flight has landed. Our king is in a checkmate. Ok, enough of the metaphors!
Season is over so let's go over the deciding match top games.
(GM) Gurevich, Dmity - (IM)Bercys, Salvijus
Pre-game facts: I love KID. I do. But I also feel pragmatic enough to know playing KID as black against a player of Gurevich's caliber (especially with his skill to eat KID alive) was not right. I eventually found Dutch and was satisfied with his opening lines for black.
1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5!?
This has been played (with my opponent having a good chunk of the games in this line) before but to be honest this is no way to play against Dutch. I don't see how giving up a bishop compensated for anything. Temporary discomfort? Maybe.
e6 4. Nbd2 Be7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. e4 O-O 7. e5 ?!
A bit surprised is an understatement. And after I check the databases after my game I realized why - only 3 games played.
Be7 8. Bc4 c5 Computer, amazingly like 8...d5 9. cxd6 cxd6 with 10...d5. I understand the position but I think I was right to not go into a positionally damaged position against one of the better positional players.
9. c3 9. d5 is a bit premature as 9...b5! is there. For example, 10. d6 bxc4 11. dxe7 Qxe7 12. Nxc4 Ba6 with Nc6 coming. Or: 10. Bxb5 cxd5 with Bb7 and d6 coming. Bishops will get freaky...
cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc6 Rybka still likes d5...that fish lost its marbles IMO. Also, Nc6 was bad before cxd4 as 11. d5! would have given white a nice comfortable edge.
11. a3? Definitely a mistake. White had to play 11. d5 for any chance to win. 11...Na5 would have followed...
12. d6 Bg5 13. 0-0 {13. Nxg5 Qxg5 14. 0-0 f4 with complicated play} Bh6 !? with b6 and Bb7 coming. Two bishops should suffice.
12. 0-0 !? Nxc4 13. Nxc4 b5! and I felt that black was fine.
11...d5! At least equalizing. Now my knight on c6 will be attacking pawn on d4 after the exchanges and suddenly black is very active.
12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Nb3 a6 very important to kick the bishop out. In the variations without Nc6 and a3 included, a6 was never a threat because white didn't have to defend pawn on d4 with the d2 knight. Now if a4, black has Qb4+.
14. O-O b5 15. Be2 Qd5? I realized this was a mistake when I showed the game to UTD coach Rade Milovanovic. During the game I thought it pressured Nb3, allowed more coverage for c5 through Be7, defended b5 pawn if a4 was ever played and had some tricks after Bb7 on the big diagonal. Useless, useless move! Rd8 followed with Bf6 was the correct choice.
16. Rc1 Rd8 17. Re1 Bf6 I ended up doing the same...with a tempo down. That can't be right.
18. Bf1 Nxd4 I missed some things in the long run when I went for this line. But I am no longer sure if black can fight for advantage here.
19. Nbxd4 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Qxd4 21. Qf3 Rb8 22.Red1 Qf6 23. Qc6 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Qe7 25. g3!
Last accuracy. Trading bishops is vital because even the rook endgame with white rook on 7th rank is a draw it seems.
Bb7 26. Qb6 Ra8 27. Rd6 Bd5 No Kf7 as 28. Rxe6 and white is suddenly winning!
28. Bg2 Bxg2 29. Kxg2 Kf7 30. Rc6 Ra7 31. Rxe6 Qxe6 32. Qxa7+ Kg6 { Game drawn by mutual agreement} 1/2-1/2
Not too shabby. Could have definitely played better though.
(IM) Sadorra, Julio - (GM) Amanov, Mesgen
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. e4 A very interesting move that has gained
popularity.White basically gives up a pawn b2 for a very
pressuring position.5...Bb4
6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nxc3 8. bxc3 Be7 Black can't take the pawn because of the following line - 9. Rb1 0-0 10. Qd3 Ba5 11. Ng5 g6 12. Qh3 h5 13. g4! with a strong attack.
9. Qe2 O-O 10. Re1 Nc6 This move felt a bit too passive...10...c5 was definitely worth a look.
11. Qe4 Bf6 12. h4 Ne7 Black is simply too passive!
13. Bd3 g6 14. Bg5 Bxg5 15. hxg5 It sure looks like white is gaining quite a bit of initiative, don't you think?
15...Bd7 16. Ne5 Bc6 17. Qh4 Nf5 18. Qf4 Qd6 19.g4?! Risky looking but we had to win the match.
Ne7 20. c4 Be8 21. Rad1 Nc6 22. Be4 Nxd4 23.Kg2! Ba4 24. c5 Qxc5 25. Rh1! (The exclamations are for gutsiness itself.)
Ne2? Loses! Does anyone remember the game "Simpson - Sadorra" where white could have sacrificed a queen and be winning! If you don't remember, check the game out here. 19. Qxd7! is what I am talking about. Now coming back to this game...you won't believe but black is winning again! By sac'ing a queen...again! I don't know if this is Ino's effect where his opponents must sac a queen to win...but check this out. 25...Bxd1 seems to lose to 26. Nd7! but suddenly 26...f5!! and complications arise where the computer likes black. Astounding...
26. Qh2 h5 27. Rd2 Bb5 28. gxh5 gxh5 29. Bf3 Rfd8 30. Rxe2 Bxe2 31. Bxe2 Rd2?? Loses instantly. 32.Qf4!
Rf8 33. Qxd2 Qxe5 34. Bf3 b5 35. Rxh5 Qg7 Here comes the circus! Why else would black clown around? Ino's opponent's hobby perhaps? I look forward to more performances. I left the room around here for an instant.
36. Qd7 c5 37. Qxb5 Qd4 38. Qb1 Rd8 39. Qh7+ I came back and still playing. As coach Rade says, if he enjoys playing a lost position, you should enjoy winning it!
39...Kf8 40. g6 fxg6 41. Qxg6 Rd7 42. Qxe6 Rg7+ 43. Kh3 Rf7 44. Qc8+ Ke7 45. Qc7+ Oh no! White is going for a perpetual!
45...Kf8 46. Qb8+ Ke7 47. Qxa7+ Kf8 48. Qb8+ Ke7 49. Qe5+ Or not...
49...Qxe5 50. Rxe5+ Kd6 51. Rd5+ Ke6 52. Rd3 Ke5 53. Kg3 Rg7+ 54. Bg4 c4 C-pawn reaching dangerous levels...it has only three more moves until promotion!
55. Rd7 Rg6 56. f4+ Ke4 57. Rc7 Kd3 58. f5 Ra6 59. Rxc4 Oops. No more C-pawn.
59...Rxa2 60. Rf4 Ke3 61. f6 Ra8 62. f7 Rf8 ! Only move! What great defensive efforts!
63. Bh5... tick tock...
{Black forfeits on time} 1-0
Gutsy game by IM Julio Catalino Sadorra! I hope that Amanov's clowning around does not skew the greatness of this game in the GOTW voting.
Ino was definitely a bright star during this bleak season. If I remember correctly, 4.5 out of 6 for Board 2 was 2nd All-Star team so 5 out of 6 is a clear clinch for sure. Team record does not help much though.
Overall note about the league - I don't follow baseball or football trends, but I was told that in baseball is West is crowded and East is stacked up at top with weaker bottom half. I know the same is in the NBA so it makes you wonder why is USCL the same way too. Anyway, playing in the super competitive west was a blast. Thanks to manager Keaton Kiewra, ass. manager Igor "Freshmans" Schneider, our TDs Tautvydas Vedrickas and Chaitanya Vaidya for their time, and of course our loyal fans. We will see you next season. In the playoffs hopefully!
