It's hard to describe our victory last Wednesday as anything but an old-fashioned swindle. In all but one game (Stripunsky - Boskovic), we were clearly lost. Escaping with a 3-1 victory and moving to first place in the West was a welcome gift.
Here is a rundown of the games:
Board 1: GM Alexander Stripunsky (2626) vs. IM Drasko Boskovic (2532) 0-1
http://www.uschessleague.com/games/stripunskyboskovic07.htm
A great game by Drasko that was given hardly any credit by the Game of the Week judges. How could this have been ranked only the 6th best game of week 3?! I understand that Bhat - Nakamura from Monday night was an exciting game, but it was also riddled with errors from both sides. Boskovic defeated his extremely strong GM opponent (FIDE 2589) with black in a virtually flawless performance featuring an elegant concluding combination. The incredible 38...Rh1!! (the banal 38...Qxe4+ actually forces mate faster) is an extremely strong move, after which White will be mated. Leaving the queen en prise in such fashion is quite pleasing to the eye.
I think it is a real shame that the Game of the Week judges seem to favor a game's "hype" over its objective quality.
Board 2: IM Davorin Kuljasevic (2489) vs. IM Eli Vovsha (2501) 1/2-1/2
http://www.uschessleague.com/games/kuljasevicvovsha07.htm
This is one of those games that is difficult for both sides to play. The tension in the center and on the kingside was building for quite some time, and eventually it liquidated in Vovsha's favor. A position of material equality was reached, though Davorin's numerous pawn weaknessess and Vovsha's active pieces seemed to spell disaster for Dallas. Props to Kul J for some dogged defense that allowed him to eventually reach a drawn Q vs. Q+B ending.
Board 3: NM Parker Zhao (2196) vs. IM Jacek Stopa (2414) 1/2-1/2
http://www.uschessleague.com/games/zhaostopa07.htm
Given the rating disparity, this was obviously a game we were hoping to get a full point out of. Unfortunately, Jacek played a poor opening and was forced to part with a pawn early on. Zhao's position was getting better and better until he faltered with 37.Rg6?, conceding a draw by repetition. A narrow escape!
Board 4: WFM Bayaraa Zorigt (2196) vs. Michael Thaler (2058) 1-0
http://www.uschessleague.com/games/zorigtthaler07.htm
Unbelievable. That is the only word that comes to mind when you play through this one. Cliff notes: the game went from clearly better for Bayaraa, to equal, to lost, to drawn, to lost, and finally won! A real roller-coaster that saw Thaler throwing away an essentially unloseable rook ending with a 2-pawn advantage.
Our next match against the dangerous Carolina Cobras will feature a minor shakeup of the lineup. I hope to report on a victory.
-Johnny B
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I would just like to note that *I* was the one judge who did give the Stripunsky - Boskovic game the credit it did probably deserve. Also, I should mention that after I did so Greg Shahade called me a few unprintable names saying how retarded that game was and how badly I sucked for picking it. It's good to know that all the "strong" players seem to share my opinion of the game (and no, Greg doesn't count as one so don't anyone bother trying to point that out).
As for your last comment about us judges favoring a game's hype over the objective quality, I don't really think that's true on the whole. Certainly there are several factors we take into account when judging games for this purpose and though there is no exact formula as to which criteria is the most important, to me objective quality is probably the thing I take most into account followed closely by hype. For this week though the Boskovic game might have been of higher quality (from his side at least it was for sure), the hype factor of the Bhat-Nakamura game just so far eclipsed it in that department that I felt it had to get first.
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