Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Blaze Slip Past Tennessee

We beat the Tempo, just not as resoundingly as last time

Ilan Meerovich (above) made a triumphant return to the Blaze lineup. IM Jan Van De Mortel (below) beat FM Todd Andrews for the second time this year.


It was a different kind of match from the last time the two teams met, but the result that mattered was the same, as the Chicago Blaze defeated the Tennessee Tempo last night for the second time this season.

The Tempo, which had definitely retooled since the 4-0 drubbing they took at the hands of the Blaze in Week 3, this time inflicted some damage in the match, which ended 2.5-1.5 in Chicago’s favor.

Meerovich Returns
The evening saw the triumphant return to the Blaze lineup of Niles North High School chess star Ilan Meerovich, who beat FM Jerry Wheeler on Board 4, giving Ilan a 2-0 record on the season.

The other Blaze victory came from IM Jan Van De Mortel, who beat the Tempo’s FM Todd Andrews, just as he had in the first match. This time, however, Tennessee got in some licks. IM Ron Burnett avenged his earlier loss to Chicago’s GM Nikola Mitkov by beating him this time on Board 1; and FM Peter Bereolos, who lost to IM Angelo Young in the team’s previous encounter, this time managed to eke out a draw against IM-elect Mehmed Pasalic.

Playoff Picture Improves
The victory gives the Blaze a 4-3 record in seven matches and lifts the team over the .500 mark for the first time in its young history. It certainly boosts our playoff chances with three weeks left in the regular season, though just how much it helps will become clearer after the rest of the leagues plays on Wednesday night. More on this later.

Many thanks to Tom Sprandel of the Evanston Chess Club, who served as tournament director for last night’s match. Here are the games, by board number:

1. IM Ron Burnett (TEN) vs GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) 1-0
2.
IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) vs FM Todd Andrews (TEN) 1-0
3.
FM Peter Bereolos (TEN) vs Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1/2-1/2
4.
Ilan Meerovich (CHC) vs FM Jerry Wheeler (TEN) 1-0

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exciting games! I dont remember a match being up in the air as much as this one.

-Robby

Anonymous said...

Great Games, but Miami should be able to hold out for that last spot

glennpan said...

I admire the Miami fan's spirit, they have a tough and exciting team (even though we should have beaten them). But with Dallas, NJ, and SF on the schedule that is a tall order.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ano?

How would you like a fried Shark next time!

Hehehe!

Anonymous said...

the Chicago-Miami match was very interesting but chicago shouldnt have drawn imo... miami was up 2-1 until young had that nice 100 move win, and yes it is a tall order, but you also have queens and dallas and a arizona team that beat you in the start of the year

glennpan said...

Sure the score was 2-1 Miami when Young came through for us, but if Burgess plays the winning move against Rodriguez, it would have been 2-1 Chicago and we could have even lived with a draw in the Young game.

Our schedule isn't much easier going forward as you point out, and any of the 5 teams (Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Arizona, or Dallas) could wind up on the outside looking in.

Anonymous said...

You guys need to show them what is like to be in the Windy city
(unpredictable weather).


Next Target...

Queens Pioneer!

Match -up I wanna see IM Tate v.s IM Lenderman inside the arena.

Chicago Blaze - Queens pioneer

2.5-1.5 Blaze wins

glennpan said...

Anon,

The match is important to us against Queens, and I would love to watch a Tate-Lenderman game too. We have locked in Tate on second board, now it is up to Queens. Lenderman has played about half his games on 3rd board, so let's see if they are willing to accomodate everyone that wants to see that match.

Glenn