Chicago Blaze Chess

We've Moved

2010-07-31T11:42:00.003-05:00

The Chicago Blaze blog is now at:

http://www.chicagoblazechess.com/category/blog/

Please join us there for the latest news on your favoriate chess team.

Rosen Draws Robson in St. Louis

2010-07-11T07:45:00.020-05:00

Photo: Betsy Dynako

Congratulations to NM Eric Rosen of the Chicago Blaze, who drew wunderkind GM Ray Robson in the first round of the U.S. Junior Closed Championship now taking place in St. Louis, alongside the U.S. Women’s Championship. Take a look at this exciting game, with strong threats on both sides of the board.

Since I’m not competent to comment on chess at this level or any other for that matter, let’s get the annotation from the press release of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, which is hosting both the junior and women’s tournaments:

“In a match-up that featured the greatest rating differential in the tournament, Robson (2613) took on NM Eric Rosen (2209). Rosen did not let the 404-point difference faze him.

“’It was a hard pairing, playing Ray in the first round,’ Rosen said. ‘It’s always good to play the strongest player to get them out of the way.’

“Early on, Robson used more than 10 minutes on 9…Nc5. ‘I think I used way too much time in
the opening,’ he said.

“Robson said it was a complicated position in the middlegame that led him even deeper into time trouble.

“’I was doing fine up until I blundered [37…] Kh7,’ he said.

“This allowed Rosen to fork Robson’s rook and queen, winning the rook and putting pressure on the defending champion. Robson managed to advance his a-pawn down the board and, after a series of rook checks by Rosen, the two agreed to a draw.”

See Bill Brock's commentary as well.

2010 Schedule Announced

2010-07-05T21:30:00.015-05:00

The 2010 U.S. Chess League season begins next month, and the Blaze kick off this year's campaign with a match against the Seattle Sluggers, one of the top teams in the league’s Western Division. We finished last season with a draw against that team. The whole schedule appears below.

This year the Blaze will play its matches in new digs provided by the North American Chess Association. Stay tuned for details (and the Skokie address).

Fans are welcome to attend the games free of charge, so please come and cheer your team. If you can't make it to the site you can tune in to the matches live on the Internet Chess Club (membership required). You can also follow the Blaze on Twitter and Facebook.

Week 1 – August 23
Seattle Sluggers
8:00 PM

Week 2 – September 1
St. Louis Arch Bishops
7:00 PM

Week 3 – September 8
San Francisco Mechanics
7:30 PM

Week 4 - September 15
Los Angeles Vibe
8:00 PM

Week 5 – September 20
Arizona Scorpions
8:00 PM

Week 6 – September 27
Philadelphia Inventors
7:15 PM

Week 7 – October 6
St. Louis Arch Bishops
7:00 PM

Week 8 – October 11
Arizona Scorpions
8:00 PM

Week 9 – October 18
Miami Sharks
7:00 PM

Week 10 – October 27
Dallas Destiny
7:00 PM

Blaze Shines at USAT

2010-02-16T22:19:00.017-06:00

By Daniel Parmet

98 players forming 23 teams showed up for this year's edition of the US Amateur Team North held at the wonderful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee. The spacious and nouveau hotel was an excellent upgrade for the event held by Alex Betaneli and Ashish.

NM Trevor Magness

The fun filled tournament was TDed by none other than the Blaze's own Manager Glenn "all star" Panner. The strong tournament was won by a team lead by Blaze superstar player IM Angelo Young. His team, "Pinoy Chicago Chess Team," went undefeated for a 4.5/5 score to clinch first. The event featured none other than two GMs (Dmitry Gurevich and Alex Yermolinsky) and a total of 11 masters! Still the biggest news of the event had to be that the tournament would end with 12 masters.

The newest IL master was minted in the USAT North, none other than the Blaze's own: Trevor Magness! Trevor put up a tremendous 5/5 score on board 1 to score his new 2208 National Master rating! His biggest upset had to be his round 1 victory over seasoned GM Alex Yermolinsky. Here is Trevor's excellent analysis on his game with GM Alex Yermolinsky.

Also, Blaze Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet managed to put up a 5/5 score on board 3. Go Blaze!

Let Us Give Thanks: the Players

2009-12-21T06:40:00.009-06:00

We have much to be thankful for in the Chicago Blaze season recently concluded. Let’s start with the players themselves.

NM Jon Burgess
IM Florin Felecan
NM Jeremy Kane
GM Nikola Mitkov
Trevor Magness
IM Jan van de Mortel
IM Mehmed Pasalic
NM Eric Rosen
IM Angelo Young

These guys deserve a round of applause from all Illinois chess fans, for showing up every week, playing hard, often (usually) against higher-rated opponents, and giving us a team we can root for and be proud of.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Young is a First Team All Star

2009-12-17T11:49:00.015-06:00

Congratulations to IM Angelo Young of the Chicago Blaze for being named an all-star in U.S. Chess League's first team. The league has first, second, and third all-star teams, and Angelo is Board 3, behind GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Boris Gulko, on the first team. With NM Eric Rodriguez on board four, that's one heck of a team.

This comes as no surprise whatsoever, of course. Angelo was undefeated in six USCL games this year, extending his undefeated streak from the 2008 season. He's never lost a USCL game.

It's hard to find anything new to say about Angelo's extraordinary performance that hasn't been said before. He won the league Upset of the Week prize twice (a record), and won a game on Board 1 against a much higher rated player in a match where Angelo was filling in at the last minute for a sick teammate. Amazing.

Congratulations, Angelo!

Knights Win USCL Championship

2009-12-08T11:59:00.023-06:00

In “stunning reversal of fortune,” losers are heroes in tiebreaks

Congratulations to the New York Knights, who have defeated the Miami Sharks to win the 2009 U.S. Chess League Championship. Last night's regulation match ended in a draw. As the USCL site reports:

“For the fourth year in a row the USCL Finals came down to a blitz tiebreaker. Two players lost during regulation, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili and IM Alejandro Moreno Roman. In a stunning reversal of fortune, both of these players were heros in the blitz tiebreaker. Moreno Roman knocked off everyone on New York's team except for Kacheishvili. Kacheishvili then turned around and did the exact same thing to Miami, finishing things off by defeating GM Julio Becerra with the black pieces.”

We have been remiss, I must admit, here at the Chicago Blaze blog, at covering the fairly exciting post-season action in the USCL, and as it happens I don't have time to redress that neglect at the moment with a lengthy post (all the usual excuses), but go to the USCL site to see all the playoff games.

In due course we'll try to bring Blaze fans up to speed on the thrilling 2009 USCL postseason.

Quote of the Week

2009-12-01T13:48:00.009-06:00

“The Chicago Blaze did not make the U.S. Chess League playoffs, but I think they had a much better season than the Chicago Bears are having.”

Bill Brock at the new Chicago Chess Blog, where he analyzes IM Florin Felecan's victory in the final match of the season.

Check it out.

Blaze Fundraiser December 12

2009-11-29T14:10:00.018-06:00

Through the generosity of the North American Chess Association, this year's Illinois Class Championships on December 12 will be a fundraiser for the Chicago Blaze. Please come and play and help us build a team that can compete for the U.S. Chess League Championship. We can't do it without the help and support of the whole Chicago and Illinois chess community.

Details below. And here is a flyer you can print out and tack up on the fridge.

2009 Illinois Class Championships

A Chicago Blaze Fundraiser Event
Dec 12, 2009
Holiday Inn Hotel – 5300 West Touhy, Skokie, IL

$2,000 guaranteed in 6 sections:

M/X: $400‐200, Top Expert $150, $50 upset prize
Class A (U2000): $200‐100
Class B (U1800): $200‐100
Class C (U1600): $200‐100
Class D (U1400): $200‐100
Class E/F/Unrated: Book Prize to top 2

EF: $40 by 6pm 12/11, $60 onsite. Play Up 1 Class for $10. Re‐entry with 1/2pt bye in Rd 1 for $20. Only 2 byes allowed. Last round bye must commit by start of Rd 2.

Registration: 8:30am‐9:30am.
Rds: 10, 12:30, 3, 5:30.

Mail entries with registration information to:
North American Chess Association (make checks payable to)
4957 Oakton Street
Suite 113
Skokie, IL 60077.

Online registration available at: http://www.nachess.org/ilclass.
ICA and USCF membership required.
Questions via email only: info@nachess.org .
No smoking. Dec 2009 Supplement used.

All profits from this event will be donated to the Chicago Blaze, the team that represents Illinois in the US Chess League.

That's All, Folks!

2009-11-06T06:17:00.015-06:00

Blaze draw division-leading Sluggers to end a down-and-up season

IM Florin Felecan

NM Eric Rosen

The Blaze have finished their 2009 USCL season with a 2-2 draw against the division-leading Seattle Sluggers, capping off a late-season mini-surge that gives us a respectable 4-6 record on the year after a poor start in the first half of the schedule.

With the Blaze officially eliminated from playoff competition by Miami’s draw against Boston the previous week, the pressure was off the Chicago squad, and they were relaxed going into the final round against the heavily favored Sluggers. That and the good turnout of fans at the Holiday Inn Skokie created a festive atmosphere for the night that helped the team hold the Pacific Northwest powerhouse.

One of the Blazers who took full advantage of the circumstances was IM Florin Felecan, who scored his first USCL victory against FM Slava Mikhailuk in a 28-move Sicilian Rossolimo.

It took NM Eric Rosen a few more moves to prevail over NM Joshua Sinanan in a Closed Sicilian, but prevail he did, and the two wins secured the draw against Seattle.

As always, here are the games:

1. GM Gregory Serper (SEA) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0
2. IM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) 1-0
3. FM Marcel Milat (SEA) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0
4. NM Eric Rosen (CHC) vs NM Joshua Sinanan (SEA) 1-0

Thanks for the umpteenth time to our Celebrity Tournament Director for the night Betsy Dynako, who has been a godsend to the Blaze the past two years. Also attending the game was IM Angelo Young, who, though he wasn’t scheduled to play that night and wasn’t feeling well, came out to cheer his teammates.

While the season is over for the Blaze the USCL playoffs are under way, and we’ll have some more posts in the days ahead to recap the year, so ya’ll come back now, you hear?

The Comeback Kid

2009-10-29T20:52:00.017-05:00

Jan annotates his Monday-night victory

photo: Betsy Dynako

[Update, 10/31: This game has won the USCL Game of the Week! Congratulations, Jan!]

IM John Bartholomew vs. IM Jan van de Mortel
U.S. Chess League / Internet Chess Club
October 26, 2009

annotations by Jan van de Mortel

[Go here to see the game and annotations in PGN.]

1.e4 A slight surprise as Bartholomew had only opened with d4 or Nf3 lately.

1...c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.h4 Rfc8 13.h5 By now I figured my opponent had seen my game with Albert Chow from a few years back.

13...Qa5 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.a3 Rab8 16.Bd3 b5 17.Qg5 This line is supposed to be trouble for Black (White scores about 75% in my database.)

17...Rc5?! 18.Bxc5 dxc5 [18...b4? is very tempting and a variation I looked at a decade ago with the USCL Commissioner Greg Shahade. We concluded it was unsound in the line 16.Bd3, and a bit more playable in the line 16.g4. We also tried the game continuation and what I vaguely remember is that it is unplayble in the line 16.g4 (as Nd7 will be under attack by the rook), and a bit more playable in the line 16.Bd3. 19.Be3 (19.axb4? Rxb4 20.Be3 Qa3 is what Black wants, for example 21.Kc1 Rxb2 22.Kd2 Qxc3+ 23.Ke2 (23.Kxc3 Nxe4# ) 23...Bc4^ ) 19...Bf5 (19...Qxg5 20.Bxg5 bxc3 21.b3 is insufficient compensation for Black.) 20.Nb5! Chow refutes the rook-sacrifice over the board. 20...bxa3 21.exf5 axb2 (21...Ne4 22.fxe4 Qb4 23.Bc1 axb2 24.Be3 Qa5 25.c3+- ) 22.c3+- although I somehow managed to win this game on time (Chow-Van de Mortel, Chicago 2005)]

19.Qxc5 Nd7 20.Qb4 [20.Qxe7 b4 21.axb4 Rxb4 22.Qe8+ Nf8 and Black's attack is overwhelming]

20...Qc7 21.Nd5 taking the pawn on b5 is risky, but might very well be OK for White too.

21...Bxd5 22.exd5 Nc5 23.Rhe1? [23.d6!? This pawn-sac brings both the d- and e-file in play for the White rooks. 23...exd6 24.Rh4 (24.Rhe1!? a5 25.Qh4 Kf8 ) 24...a5 25.Qd2 Qe7 26.Rg4 Qf6 27.Qc1 b4 28.axb4 axb4 29.Bc4+/- Swinkels-Citak, Gibraltar 2007; Perhaps the best is 23.Rh4! a5 (23...Bf6 24.Rdh1) 24.Qf4 and Black might have to trade queens into a bad endgame to avoid getting trampled, for example 24...Be5 25.Qh6 Bg7 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Bxg6! fxg6 28.d6! exd6 29.Rf4++- ]

23...a5 24.Qh4 Bf6 25.Qh6?! [25.d6! Qxd6 26.Qh6 Bg7 (26...Qc7 27.Bxg6 fxg6 28.Qxg6+ Kf8 29.Rd5! and Black is under attack, as 29...b4 30.Qh6+ Kg8 (30...Kf7 31.Qh5+ Kf8 32.Rxc5 ) 31.Rh1 bxa3 leads to checkmate 32.Rg5+ Kf7 33.Qg6+ Ke6 34.Qf5+ Kf7 35.Rh7+ Kf8 36.Rh8+ Kf7 37.Rg7+ Kxg7 38.Qh7# ) 27.Qg5 Na4 28.c3 Bxc3 29.Bc2 Qf6 30.Qxf6 Bxf6 31.Bxa4 bxa4 32.Re2+/- and White is clearly better due to the weakness of the a-pawns.]

25...Qd6! Black is finally OK!

26.Bxg6! Since my own attack is ready to launch, White has to go for it. [26.Rh1 Qe5 27.c3 b4 28.f4 bxc3 29.fxe5 Rxb2+ 30.Kc1 Nb3# ]

26...fxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kf8 [27...Bg7 28.Qxd6 exd6 29.b3! b4 30.a4 is a safe way to play when White's queenside is under control, though Black should be able to withstand the passed pawns.]

28.Rh1 Qe5 [28...Bg7 29.Qf5+ Qf6 30.Qxf6+ Bxf6 31.d6 is bad news for Black as the White rooks will get very active.]

29.c3 b4 [29...Na4? 30.Rh7 Bg7 31.d6! exd6 (31...e6 32.f4 ) 32.Rxg7 Qxg7 33.Qxd6+ ]

30.axb4? Under time pressure White goes for an 'automatic' in-between trade, missing Black's reply. [on 30.Rde1 I was planning 30...Qxd5 (Very tempting, but not sufficient is 30...bxc3? 31.Rxe5 Rxb2+ 32.Kc1 Nb3+ 33.Kd1 c2+ (Black does not have time for 33...Bxe5 34.Qf5+! Kg8 35.Qc8+ Kf7 (35...Kg7 36.Qh8+ Kf7 37.Rh7+ Kg6 38.Qg8+ Kf5 39.Rh5+ Kf6 40.Rh6+ Kf5 41.Qg4# ) 36.Rh7+ Bg7 37.Rxg7+ Kxg7 38.Qxc3+ and White wins) 34.Qxc2 Rxc2 35.Kxc2 Nd4+ 36.Kd3 Bxe5 37.Rb1 and White is winning due to the weak a-pawn.; Even more tempting, and maybe playable is 30...bxa3!? 31.Rxe5 Rxb2+ 32.Kc1 Nb3+ 33.Kd1 a2 (33...Rd2+ first is also possible 34.Ke1 a2 35.Qh6+ (35.Rh8+ Bxh8 36.Rf5+ Bf6 37.Rxf6+ exf6 38.Qxf6+ Kg8= ) 35...Ke8 36.Rxe7+ Kxe7 37.Qe3+ Kf8 (37...Kd8 38.Qb6+ Kc8 39.Qc6+ Kb8 40.Qe8+ Kc7 41.Rh7+ and White checkmates) 38.Qh6+ Ke7= ) 34.Qh6+ Ke8 35.Rxe7+ Kxe7 36.Re1+ Kf7 37.Qh5+ Kg7 38.Qg4+ Kf8 39.Qc8+ Kg7 40.Qd7+ Kg6 41.Qe8+ Kg7 and somehow White has nothing better than perpetual check! 42.Re7+ Bxe7 43.Qxe7+ Kg8= ) 31.Qh6+ Kf7 32.Qh7+ Ke8!? (32...Kf8 33.Qh6+= ) 33.Rd1 Qf7 (33...Qb3 34.Qh5+ Kf8= ) 34.Qxf7+ Kxf7 35.axb4 axb4 36.c4 and Black might be a hair better.; White's best way to safety is 30.Rh7 Bg7 31.d6! (31.Rh5? bxc3! 32.Rf5+ (32.Rxe5 Rxb2+ 33.Ka1 Nb3# ) 32...Bf6 33.Rxf6+ (33.b4 c2+ 34.Kxc2 Qb2# ) 33...exf6-+ ) 31...bxc3 (31...exd6 32.Rxg7 Qxg7 33.Qxd6++- ) 32.dxe7+ Qxe7 33.Qf5+ Kg8 34.Rxg7+! Qxg7 35.Qd5+ Qf7 36.Qg5+ Qg7 37.Qd5+= ]

30...Rxb4! Threatening Rxb2 with checkmate.

31.Rd4 [Nothing else helps, for example 31.Rc1 Na4 32.Ka1 Qe2 33.Rc2 Nxc3! 34.Qh6+ Ke8 35.Qg6+ Kd7 36.Qf5+ Kd8 37.b3 Qe3 and it's all over.]

31...Rxd4 32.cxd4 Qxd4 33.Qc2 Qxd5 34.Rd1 Qb7 35.Rd2 Qb4?! Even though I saw the best reply, I took a little gamble as White was struggling to stay alive on the clock as well. [objectively better is 35...Ne6 36.Qg6 a4]

36.Re2? [White could have put up a lot of resistance with 36.Rd8+ Kg7 37.Qf2 Be5 (37...Ne6 38.Qg3+ Ng5 39.Rb8 and White's pieces are coordinating nicely) 38.Qe2 Qf4 39.Rd5 Bd6 and the pressure on pawn b2 is gone.]

36...Na4! 37.Qc8+ Kg7 38.Qg4+ Qxg4 39.fxg4 Kg6! [39...Nxb2 40.g5 ]

40.Rf2 Nxb2 41.Rf5 a4 42.Ra5 Bd4 with the plan e7-e5 to cut off the rook from the fifth rank.

43.Ra6+ Kg5 44.Re6 Bf6 45.Re4 Nd1 46.Kc2 Nc3 47.Rc4 a3 48.Rc5+ [48.Kb3 a2 49.Kb2 e5! ]

48...Kxg4 49.Ra5 a2 50.Kb2 Kg3 51.Ra8 Kxg2 52.Ra5 White is hoping for stalemate or a chance to test my KBN vs K skills.

52...Kf2 53.Ra8 Ke2 54.Ra5 Kd3 55.Ra8 Bd4 56.Re8 e5 57.Rxe5 Bxe5 58.Ka1 Bd6 59.Kb2 Ne2 60.Kxa2 Kc2 61.Ka1 Bf8 The Dragon bishop returns home! 0-1

Go here to see the game and annotations in PGN.]

Oh, yes, and please leave some comments below. Thanks.

It’s Over

2009-10-29T09:30:00.030-05:00

We have one more match to go this season, but our playoff hopes have been dashed

Note to those perennial optimists among you who were sure the Chicago Blaze would come from behind in the Western Division playoff race to clinch a postseason berth at the last minute, then go on a three-match November winning streak against the best teams in the league and emerge as the 2009 USCL champions: wake up and watch the flag fall. It’s not gonna happen.

Last night the Miami Sharks played to a draw against Boston, clinching the division’s fourth playoff spot and mathematically eliminating the Blaze. And as you know, math rules. This morning Blaze assistant manager Brad Rosen spoke for all Blaze fans—nay, for all residents of Chicago and citizens of the great state of Illinois—when he said, as we so often do here in the Windy City, “Wait till next year.”

In other news, the seemingly invincible Seattle Sluggers, whom we play next week, lost their first match of the season last night to the Arizona Scorpions. What effect if any this will have on Seattle’s attitude, state of preparedness, or lineup for next week I leave it to you to speculate. (Hint: That’s why blogs have comment threads—so I don’t be talking to myself all the time out here.)

In yet other news, here’s how the New Jersey Knockouts lorded it over the Inventors in the run up to their second victory against Philadelphia this year. (The first time, you’ll recall, the KOs infringed on their opponents’ patents, or something like that, after, of course, kicking the Carolina Cobras’ asp.)

What do you think of this? I can’t decide. Please vote in our poll to the right.

Stayin’ Alive

2009-10-27T13:46:00.023-05:00

The Blaze keep their playoff chances on life support and pull the plug on the defending champs

They may not be the team they were last year, but the Dallas Destiny are still the defending champions of the U.S. Chess League, and last night the Blaze beat them—convincingly.

The 3.5/4 score for the evening was the most resounding victory of the season for Chicago. It eliminated Dallas from playoff contention and kept our own long-shot hopes for postseason play alive, at least until Miami plays this week and possibly into the final week of the season. We had to win last night’s match, and we did, with three victories, a draw, and no losses.

Highlights? Where do I start?

Most likely with IM Jan van de Mortel, who has been settling splendidly into Board 1 of late. Two weeks after beating GM Jaan Ehlvest, Jan played a thrilling game against IM John Bartholomew, coming back from a significant material disadvantage to win.

Look like mate in 2? The final position, with White to move, in IM Jan van de Mortel's exciting victory over IM John Bartholomew.

NM Jeremy Kane, captain of the University of Chicago chess team and Wisconsin state co-champion, made his USCL debut with a solid victory over Gerald Roberts.

Us patzers watching in the peanut gallery wondered why IM Mehmed Pasalic didn’t take a draw offer from IM Keaton Kiewra on Board 3, which came after the Blaze had secured victory in the match. He must have foreseen something we didn’t — namely 51. Qh4 Ng6, forking the White queen and rook. His opponent resigned after the move.

Illinois state co-champion IM Florin Felecan, who seems always to be playing up and doing so without complaint, did so again last night against IM Daniel Ludwig, whose rating is 113 points higher. Florin held on for a draw in a tough game on Board 2 to keep the Blaze undefeated for the night.

It wasn't a big night for pictures, but NM Jeremy Kane, who won his first game as a Blazer, said hi to the camera while his fellow Hyde Parker, IM Jan van de Mortel, looked over one of the games.

End of the Line?
We always thank our Celebrity Tournament Director for the match, but this week we have to heap extra-special praise on Leo Vilker of Highland Park, who had no previous contact with the Blaze until he got a call from us late yesterday morning, explaining that our scheduled TD for the night had to cancel and could he step in. With a few hours’ notice Leo rearranged his schedule and showed up in plenty of time at the Holiday Inn Skokie. We’re extremely grateful to him and to ICA President Tom Sprandel for putting us in touch with Leo.

Unless we make the playoffs, next week's match is the last of the season, and it’s against the Seattle Sluggers, who are tied for the best record in the league this year. It will be a very tough match. If we win, however, and Miami loses this week and next, we'll be tied with them in the standings, and, if I’m not mistaken, game points will be the tiebreaker. However, a Miami draw either this Wednesday night or next week eliminates the Blaze and clinches a playoff spot for them. Stay tuned. Hope springs eternal for the Blaze.

Young Wins “Upset of the Week”—Again

2009-10-22T23:25:00.015-05:00

For his astonishing victory Monday night against GM-elect Rogelio Barcenilla, IM Angelo Young has won the USCL’s “Upset of the Week” award for the second time this year. Angelo is the first repeat winner of the award, which was introduced this season. And since his teammate IM Jan van de Mortel won the prize last week for his victory against GM Jaan Ehlvest, the Blaze have now won it more than any other team and are the only squad so far to win two weeks in a row.

It’s a good thing Endgame Clothing, which sponsors the prize by awarding one of its cool t-shirts to the winner, is expanding its line. At the rate Angelo is going he may soon have every shirt they make. Congratulations again, Angelo.

Here’s the game.

Iron Man

2009-10-20T13:02:00.039-05:00

In a loss to Arizona, we learn that Angelo Young is even more amazing than we thought.

Okay, sure, we lost. To Arizona. For the fourth time in a row. And we’ve never beaten or even drawn them, it’s true. And yes, the loss puts our fading playoff hopes on life support.

All duly noted.

If you’re predisposed to negativity, those might be your impressions from last night’s Blaze match against the Scorpions.

But the real news of the night was this:

IM Angelo Young, who we knew was amazing, is even more amazing than we imagined.

He wasn’t even scheduled to play last night, but when a teammate took sick Monday morning he rearranged his schedule and obligingly stepped in to play Board 1, with a huge time penalty (because of the last-minute substitution) against freshly qualified GM-elect Rogelio Barcenilla, whose rating exceeds Angelo's by 258 points.

It didn’t seem to bother Angelo, either, that he was putting his undefeated USCL record on the line under extremely difficult circumstances. And I think I know why: because somehow he must have known that he was going to win.

With no time for dinner, much less to prepare for the game, Angelo played fast, played great, double fianchettoed, won material, and won the game, all while wolfing down appetizers from Tandoor India to keep his blood sugar from crashing.

It was a great game and a superb achievement. It not only extends Angelo’s undefeated streak from the time the Blaze joined the league last year, but it gives him a shot at his second Upset of the Week prize of the season. He has now played every board for the Blaze at least once, and he’s never lost. Congratulations, Angelo, and thanks so much for pinch hitting on such short notice.

True, the rest of the night didn’t go so well for the Blaze. Here are the games:

1. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs IM Rogelio Barcenilla (ARZ) 1-0
2. IM Dionisio Aldama (ARZ) vs IM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1-0
3. IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) vs IM Danny Rensch (ARZ) 1/2-1/2
4. David Adelberg (ARZ) vs NM Eric Rosen (CHC) 1-0

As always, we must give special thanks to our Celebrity Tournament Director for the night, a role played ably and diligently for the second time this season by Mike Cardinale of the Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago.

Next week is Week 9, and we play the reigning champion Dallas Destiny on Monday night. We will have to win (not draw) to have any remaining playoff chances at all. Watch this space for more.

P.S. Though it has been expected for some time, a note of congratulations is in order for our very own Florin Felecan (the 2009 Illinois state co-champion, by the way), who has had his international master title formally approved by the the World Chess Federation. Henceforth, he is IM Felecan. Congratulations, Florin.

The Game

2009-10-17T10:25:00.016-05:00

When IM Jan van de Mortel of the Chicago Blaze decided to play the Leningrad Dutch this week against GM Jaan Ehlvest of the Tennessee Tempo, he was “blissfully ignorant,” he confesses, of the fact that his opponent had published a book on the opening and had played it to winning ends in recent games.

That’s just one of the pithy observations Jan makes in his analysis of the game, which is now posted on the Blaze site.

Would he have chosen a different opening had he known about GM Ehlvest’s 1994 treatise, The Leningrad Dutch? I don’t know, but all’s well that ends well in the words of the immortal Bard, because Jan beat the higher-rated grandmaster to win the USCL’s Upset of the Week prize. It was GM Ehlvest's first loss in the U.S. Chess League.

The Jan-Jaan contest also finished second for the league’s overall Game of the Week Award, and, incidentally, just two notches ahead of IM Angelo Young’s victory over FM John Bick, which came in fourth in the judges’ voting.

It was a good week for the Blaze.

See Jan’s annotations here.

Winning is Grand

2009-10-15T12:55:00.018-05:00

Blaze beat a GM-laden Tennessee lineup

Earlier in the week we asked the following about this week’s match between Chicago and Tennessee:

“Can the Tempo do it? Can they finally beat the Blaze with two top grandmasters?”

The answer, we can now tell you, is no.

Last night the Tennessee Tempo threw everything they had at the Chicago Blaze in an attempt to reverse a three-match losing streak against the Windy City, and it wasn’t enough. Despite Tennessee’s having two of the strongest players in the United States on Boards 1 and 2, the Blaze prevailed, winning the match 2.5-1.5.

The big news of the night was that that IM Jan van de Mortel of the Blaze overcame a 241-ratings-point deficit to beat GM Jaan Ehlvest. In a wild unbalanced game that is bound to be in the running for the league’s Upset of the Week prize, Jan emerged from an intense series of captures up three pawns on Move 30. GM Ehlvest resigned ten moves later.

The still-undefeated IM Angelo Young beat off a tough comeback attempt by FM John Bick to give the Blaze their second victory on Board 3, and Trevor Magness drew Gerald Larson on Board 4 to give us the margin of victory. But since anything I say about a chess game is suspect, you should look at them for yourself, board by board:

1. IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) vs GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) 1-0
2. GM Alex Shabalov (TEN) vs FM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1-0
3. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs FM John Bick (TEN) 1-0
4. Gerald Larson (TEN) vs Trevor Magness (CHC) 1/2-1/2

Mad props, as they say, to Professor Gary Alan Fine, who kindly pinch hit at the last minute as our Celebrity Tournament Director last night. Gary is researching a book about the sociology of chess and had to conduct last night’s field work while officiating, and we’re grateful for his willingness to do so.

It’s a short week, because on Monday night we take on the Arizona Scorpions, to whom we are the Tennessee Tempo because we’ve never beaten them. The Blaze, with a record of 2.5-4.0, are now on a two-match non-losing streak, having drawn Philadelphia last week. Not long ago our odds of making the playoffs seemed nil, but we’re still alive if we can win our remaining matches. Stay tuned.

Tennessee’s WMDs

2009-10-12T16:56:00.017-05:00

It’s not often you see a 2600+ super GM and a recent U.S. chess champion on Board 2 of a USCL match, but that’s what it’ll look like this Wednesday night when the Tennessee Tempo throw everything they’ve got at the Chicago Blaze in an attempt to break their three-match losing streak against our Windy City squad.

It’ll be Jan vs. Jaan on Board 1, IM Jan van de Mortel of the Blaze against one of the nation’s strongest players, GM Jaan Ehlvest of Tennessee. On Board 2, Chicago’s IM-elect Florin Felecan won’t have it any easier, facing another of the nation’s strongest players, former U.S. Champion GM Alexander Shabalov, whom the Blaze have never faced before. Florin will have the Black pieces.

Here are the pairings. The Blaze players are in bold. We’ll have White on Boards 1 and 3 and Black on Boards 2 and 4.

Board 1
IM Jan van de Mortel (2456) vs. GM Jaan Ehlvest (2697)

Board 2
FM Florin Felecan (2430) vs. GM Alex Shabalov (2624)

Board 3
IM Angelo Young (2325) vs. FM John Bick (2260)

Board 4
Trevor Magness (2138) vs. Gerald Larson (2140)

Blaze Avg Rating: 2337 / Tempo Avg Rating:2430

Can the Tempo do it? Can they finally beat the Blaze with two top grandmasters? Do we stand a chance against such firepower? To find out, tune in Wednesday night at 7:00 Chicago time, on the Internet Chess Club, Chicago’s Midway Chess Club, and Twitter. Or better yet, come and cheer the team in person at the Skokie Holiday Inn. All fans are welcome. Go Blaze!

Cool and Quiet

2009-10-11T16:01:00.045-05:00

It’s the Blaze Game of the Week—just not this week

IM Angelo Young sent me these annotations to his September 16 victory against FM Todd Andrews of the Tennessee Tempo some time ago, and now, in keeping with my well-deserved reputation for promptness, I present them to you. I’ll spare you my excuses for the unseemly delay because Blaze fans don’t deserve excuses. Besides, we’re playing Tennessee again this week, so it's fitting to show you a game from our last match against them. Let’s get to the game, shall we?

Click here to punch through the game in PGN format.

IM YOUNG, A - FM ANDREWS,T [A49]
U.S. CHESS LEAGUE, 2009
Annotations by Angelo Young

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3. King's indian g3 system. one of my fav. against King's Indian Defense.

3...Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.Re1!? Interesting! First to deviate from normal... [ 6.c4 c6 7.Nc3 Qa5 8.e4 Qh5 9.Ng5 Qxd1 10.Rxd1 IM Young - GM Zapata, Miami 1/2-1/2]

6...Nc6 7.d5

7...Na5 8.Nd4. Took me 15 minutes for this move, looking at possible ... [8.b4 Nc4 9.Nd4 e5 10.Nb3 e4-/+]

8...e5 9.Nb3 Nxb3 10.axb3. I'm hoping for (c4, b4, Nc3, c5, e4, h3, Be3) to be played.

10...Nh5. As I expected Todd will not sit around and wait.

11.e4. Gaining space and stopping f5 for the meantime.

11...Qe8 12.Bf3 f5. I thought its not possible, but I missed:

13.Nc3. [13.exf5 Bxf5 14.g4 Bxc2-+]

13...f4. Now I'm beginning to look for some counter play.

14.Bg4. And to my suprise my opponent played:

14...f3?? [14...Bxg4 15.Qxg4 Qf7 Not bad for Black.]

15.Bxf3 Qf7 16.Kg2! [16.Re3 Bh3 17.Rd3 Nf6 still good for White, I dont know what black was
thinking when he sac'ed a pawn.]

16...Qd7 17.Be3 Nf6 18.Kg1. As the saying goes "One pawn is enough to win"

18...h5 19.Bg2. Cool and quiet!!

19...Ng4 20.h3 Nxe3 21.Rxe3 Bh6 22.Rf3. Keeping the game simple

22...Rxf3 23.Qxf3 Qe7 24.Nb5 c6 25.Rxa7! Gaining another pawn.

25...Rxa7 26.Nxa7 Bd7 27.dxc6 bxc6 28.Qc3 Qe8 29.Qb4 Qa8 30.Qb6 Kf7 31.Qc7 Ke7 32.h4 Ke8 33.Bf1.

I was tempted to play but with a little low on time I stay away from any complication. [33.Qxd6 Qxa7 (33...Bg7 34.Qxg6+ Kf8 35.Qd6+ Ke8) 34.Qxg6+ Kd8 35.Qxh6]

33...Bf8 34.Ba6 Qd8 35.Qb7 Qa5. A little scary Qe1+ and Bh3

36.Qb8+ Kf7 37.Bc4+ d5 38.Qb7 Ke8 39.Nxc6 Qe1+ 40.Bf1 Bd6. [40...Bh3 41.Qa8+ Kf7 42.Nxe5+ Kg7 43.Qb7+ Kh8 44.Nxg6+ Kg8 45.Qb5]

41.Qa8+ Kf7 42.Nd8+ Ke7 43.Qxd5 Bh3 44.Nc6+ Ke8 45.Qb5 Bd7 46.Qc4 Kf8 47.Qd5 Black can't avoid losing a piece so he resigned 1-0.

Click here to punch through the game in PGN format.

Inventive Play

2009-10-06T12:26:00.005-05:00

By hook or crook the Blaze find a way not to lose

The winner: IM Jan van de Mortel

Confounding the league prognosticators who had picked us to go down, the Chicago Blaze fought to the very end last night and found a way not to lose to the favored Philadelphia Inventors. With a victory on Board 2 and draws on Boards 3 and 4, the Blaze played the Brotherly Love contingent to a 2-2 draw.

It was IM Jan van de Mortel who supplied the key win, playing Black against the higher-rated IM Bryan Smith. In a cool endgame, Jan sacrificed the exchange on Move 39, freeing himself to create a passed pawn that tied up White’s remaining rook while Jan’s unmolested king went to work picking off White’s kingside pawns. Meanwhile, the out-of-position White king, powerless to stop the carnage, looked on in horror from the back rank. Smith resigned on Move 47.

Jan’s win was abetted by FM Florin Felecan and NM Eric Rosen, who held on to draw their opponents.

Here are the games:

1. GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) vs IM Alex Lenderman (PHI) 0-1
2. IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 0-1
3. FM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs IM Richard Costigan (PHI) 1/2-1/2
4. Kavinayan Sivakumar (PHI) vs NM Eric Rosen (CHC) 1/2-1/2

Special thanks to William Shehan, majordomo of the Midway Chess Club, who served as our Celebrity Tournament Director for the evening.

Our record now stands at 1.5-4 with four games left in the regular season. A victory last night would have done a great deal more for our playoff hopes, though if we can put together a string of wins in the weeks ahead we’ll keep our chances alive.

Our next match is a week from tomorrow against the Tennessee Tempo, a much-improved team this year that will be looking for revenge for three previous Blaze victories over them, including one this season. They have the ability to put a super-GM on Board 1, so they’ll be tough. Please tune in and watch the game on the Internet Chess Club or the play-by-play with commentary provided by Midway.

top photo: Betsy Dynako
slide show photos: Daniel Parmet

Blaze Game of the Week

2009-10-04T21:55:00.009-05:00

NM Eric Rosen annotates his victory over NM Andrew Ng

Eric’s outstanding chess summer is turning into a great fall, beginning with his thrilling victory with the Closed Sicilian in his first USCL game last Wednesday night.

Go here to see the game with Eric’s annotations.

This Match Promises to be a Scorcher

2009-10-03T22:26:00.021-05:00

By Blaze Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet

The Blaze is an eternal fire that will forever burn strong.... we start off slow with a 1-4 record, but now the heat is reaching as a fiery phoenix out of the crowd. Victory is coming to the fire brazen soldiers of the Chicago Blaze! This fire is ready to consume all who would dare stand in its way! Out of the ashes rises our stars: GM Nikola Mitkov, IM Jan van de Mortel, IM-elect Florin Felecan and NM Eric Rosen. Our fire-breathing dragon warriors are ready to meet the Philadelphia Inventors head on in the center of a volcano! Who can stand the heat?! This match promises to be a scorcher!! Here are the match-ups:

Chicago Blaze (White on 1&3, Team average: 2422) vs Philadelphia Inventors (Team average:2401)

(This is the first time the Chicago Blaze has ever had an average rating advantage!)

Fire on board. GM Nikola Mitkov (2547) will face off with White against GM-elect Alex Lenderman (2579) .

Burning sensation. IM Jan van de Mortel (2456) will bring home the bacon with the Black pieces against IM Bryan Smith (2511).

Flaming. IM-elect Florin Felecan (2452) sends on his White warriors to the fiery field against FM Tom Bartell (2434).

The Phoenix himself to lead the victorious charge after his smashing debut last week (a victory over NJ's NM Andrew Ng) will see NM Eric Rosen (2233) with Black against Expert Kavinayan Sivakumar (2079). Does anyone need to be reminded of what Eric did to GM John Fedorowicz a few short months ago with Black at the U.S. Open?

The Chicago Blaze is bringing on the eternal heat. This flame is eternal! The fiery Norse Gods are using the Fehu rune to determine a 3-1 scorching victory over Philadelphia (we just hope we leave the city still standing afterwards).

* * *

[Here are some more picture Daniel took at last week's match against the Knockouts.]

IM Mehmed Pasalic in a deep think

From l. to r., IMs Young and Pasalic and NM Rosen gaze at their screens in Patio A/B

Pummeled by the Pugilists

2009-10-01T23:17:00.044-05:00

Knockouts squeak past Blaze 2.5-1.5

Photos: Andi Rosen

In another close contest against a league leader that looked like it could end in a draw, the Blaze ultimately came up short Wednesday night, losing 2.5-1.5 to the New Jersey Knockouts, the only USCL team with a perfect record, which now improves to 5-0.

The Blaze, by contrast, fall to 1-4 at midseason and are in serious need of victories in the coming weeks if we are to keep our playoff hopes alive.

There are always bright spots, even in defeats, and this week’s was the victory by newly minted NM Eric Rosen over Jersey’s NM Andrew Ng in Eric’s first game as a Blazer. The game marks another milestone in the annus mirabilis that has been 2009 for the Niles North High School sophomore, who this year has earned the national master title, won the U.S. Junior Open, beaten one grandmaster, and drawn another. In the latest USCF rankings, Eric is number five nationally in his age group, his highest ever.

Though it certainly would have been a better match if we’d won or drawn, it was a good one nevertheless. The toughest assignment of the night went to Chicago's IM Jan van de Mortel, who had to face the former U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin with the Black pieces. Jan played a strong game that looked drawish in the middle game to some onlookers, but Benjamin was able to take control and win. FM Mehmed Pasalic fell behind in time to his higher-rated opponent, IM Albert Kapengut, and Jersey was able to put that one in the W column as well. In the final game of the night to end, IM Angelo Young struggled mightily for a victory that would have drawn the match, but before his kingside attack could get underway, his opponent, SM Mackenzie Molner, found strong counterplay and hung Angelo up on the queenside. The game ended in a draw. Remarkably, however, Angelo remains undefeated in USCL competition.

Panner: "I'm not Joel Benjamin"

Here are the games by board:

1. GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0
2. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs SM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) 1/2-1/2
3. IM Albert Kapengut (NJ) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0
4. NM Eric Rosen (CHC) vs NM Andrew Ng (NJ) 1-0

Special thanks to Maret Thorpe, who served as our Celebrity Tournament Director for the night. It’s a short week. Monday night we play another Eastern Division team, the Philadelphia Inventors, arguably the chessical descendents of Ben Franklin. See you then.

In other developments, Blaze Manager Glenn Panner confirmed that, contrary to popular belief, he and Joel Benjamin are not one and the same person.

Here's a report on the match from the Knockouts blog and from the ever-excellent Michael Goeller.

Panner photo: Betsy Dynako

Next Up: Jersey

2009-09-28T10:14:00.042-05:00

Can the Garden State powerhouse keep it up, and is the Blaze manager their Board One?

This week, at long last, the Chicago Blaze come up against the New Jersey Knockouts, the Eastern Division leaders and the only 4-0 team in the league. The pressure the Knockouts must feel at having to risk their perfect record against a 1-3 team recently described on the USCL Web site as “struggling” has got to be enormous, but they’re pros, and on game night no doubt they’ll be ready to give it their all.

They’d better be. Because like so many teams that have faced the Blaze this season and last, the Knockouts are burdened with a large overall ratings advantage. This week, in fact, they outrank their Chicago opponents on every board. Here’s what they’re up against (the Blaze players are in bold. We have White on Boards 2 and 4):

Board 1
GM Joel Benjamin (2641) vs. IM Jan van de Mortel (2456)

Board 2
SM Mackenzie Molner (2446) vs. IM Angelo Young (2325)

Board 3
IM Albert Kapengut (2379) vs. IM Mehmed Pasalic (2346)

Board 4
NM Andrew Ng (2182) vs. NM Eric Rosen (2164)

New Jersey Average Rating: 2412
Chicago Average Rating: 2323

Has anyone ever seen Glenn Panner and Joel Benjamin in the same place at the same time?

This could be a great match, though inevitably talk of what happens on the boards will be eclipsed by the perennially vexing question of whether Blaze Manager Glenn Panner and Jersey’s GM Joel Benjamin are one and the same person. Does anyone know for sure? Like the many purported Elvis sightings by people claiming to have seen the King of rock and roll alive, rumors of Glenn and Joel being spotted together have never been confirmed.

To add to the mystery, Glenn says he will miss this week’s match and will hand the reins for the evening over to Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet, who ably steered the Blaze to victory two weeks ago against Tennessee. The reason for Glenn’s absence? I don’t know, but GM Joel is playing Board 1 for Jersey. . . .

What do you think? Please vote in the poll in the right-hand column.

Young Scores USCL “Upset of the Week”

2009-09-24T17:14:00.021-05:00

As adumbrated on this very site earlier in the week, IM Angelo Young of the Chicago Blaze has won the U.S. Chess League's Upset of the Week prize for his victory last Monday night over IM Sam Shankland.

The prize goes to the USCL player who defeats an opponent with a higher rating advantage than in any other pairing in the league for that week. Shankland is rated 235 points higher than Angelo, yet his Slav Defense was not adequate to IM Young's attack the other night. For his achievement, Angelo gets a t-shirt from the stunning array of chesswear by Endgame clothing. (Delicious irony: IM Shankland appears on the Endgame site modeling one of their shirts.)

Congratulations, Angelo! It's great to see our star player, who is still undefeated in league play, get some of the recognition he so richly deserves. Here's the game:

Frisco Holds Blaze at Bay

2009-09-22T07:09:00.036-05:00

Chicago bows to Mechanics 2.5-1.5

It was a seesaw match that seemed at first to be going our way, but the storybook ending was not to be, as the San Francisco Mechanics held on, as widely predicted, to beat Chicago Blaze last night 2.5-1.5.

The match, which went well past 11:00 PM Chicago time, ended when San Francisco’s GM Jesse Kraai succeeded in pushing an imminently promotable pawn down the g-file, against the valiant endgame efforts of Chicago’s FM Florin Felecan to prevent it, giving Kraai the game and San Francisco the edge in the match. The Blaze now fall to 1-3 after four weeks, with six matches left in the season.

As usual, there were bright spots for the Blaze. In a game that should be in the running for the league’s new Upset of the Week prize, IM Angelo Young defeated IM Sam Shankland and maintained his undefeated record in USCL play. On Board 1, where Blaze players have often struggled, IM Jan van De Mortel held the much higher rated GM Josh Friedel to a draw.

Here are the games, by board number:

1. IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC)vs GM Josh Friedel (SF) 1/2-1/2

2. GM Jesse Kraai (SF) vs FM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1-0

3. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs IMSam Shankland (SF) 1-0

4. NM Yian Liou (SF) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0

Special thanks to NM Len Weber, who served as our Celebrity Tournament Director for the evening. Thanks also to GM Nikola Mitkov and Betsy Dynako, neither of whom had official duties with the team last night, for showing up and cheering the Blaze all the same. As always, we were honored to host Professor Gary Alan Fine of Northwestern University, who is following the Blaze and the USCL as part of a larger study on the sociology of chess. Finally, personal thanks to Chessdad64 (Brad Rosen), for a tough and interesting G/40 game.

Our next match is a week from Wednesday against the New Jersey Knockouts, who are jabbing their way through the league this year with a one-two combination of superb chess and bad puns. They’ll be tough, but we’ll be ready. Please join us next week and lend your voice to the cheering section. Go Blaze!

Behind Enemy Lines

2009-09-20T12:32:00.010-05:00

Tomorrow the Blaze go up against the formidable San Francisco Mechanics. Earlier this summer, I paid a visit to the Mechanics Institute Library and Chess Room, where the Mechanics play their games. It's a classy joint if ever there was one. It's nice, old, opulent, and about as different from Patio A/B at the Skokie Holiday Inn as a place could be. Wood and brass appointments abound. Did I forget to mention that it's refined and cultured? The chess tables with embedded boards have pockets for the captured pieces. Very classy. You can tell chess and other intellectual pursuits have been going on there for a long time. Here's more:

“The Institute has a rich and colorful history. Founded just after the Gold Rush to provide technical education and training for mechanics and to promote local and California industry, the Institute today is a vibrant intellectual and cultural center serving the entire Bay Area.

“Housed in its one hundred year-old landmark building on Post Street, the Institute serves its members with a large general-interest circulating and research library, offering book discussion groups, writers’ groups, and Internet research classes; the oldest chess club in the United States with activities for players of all abilities from beginners to grand masters; and an active program of literary and cultural events, including author programs, film series, salons, special events and art exhibitions.”

I offer this in the hope that visualizing where the Mechanics are playing will help the Blaze beat them.

It’s Dark and We’re Wearing Sunglasses

2009-09-19T08:20:00.039-05:00

So what if the Blaze are underdogs in Monday night’s match? We’re on a mission from Caissa.

The Chicago Blaze find themselves in familiar territory as they prepare to face the undefeated San Francisco Mechanics Monday night in Week 4 of the U.S. Chess League season. The Blaze are again clear underdogs, as they have been so many times before.

The redoubtable might of the Mechanics squad is clear in the board-by-board matchups below. The Blaze players are in bold.

IM Jan van de Mortel (2456) - GM Josh Friedel (2612)
FM Florin Felecan (2430) - GM Jesse Kraai (2552)
IM Angelo Young (2325) - IM Sam Shankland (2564)
IM Mehmed Pasalic (2346) - NM Yian Liou (2149)

Chicago Blaze average rating: 2389
San Francisco Mechanics average rating: 2469

Note:

The Mechanics have grandmasters on the top two boards.
Three of their four players are rated over 2500.
The average rating of their lineup is 80 points above that of the Blaze.
They enjoy an advantage of more than 120 points on each of the top three boards.

So what? For inspiration, we channel the greatest of Chicago epic heroes:

Tune in Monday night:
Week 4: Monday September 21st
Chicago Blaze vs San Francisco Mechanics
8:30 PM ET (7:30 Central)

Live broadcast on the Internet Chess Club; play-by-play coverage Chicago's Midway Chess Club; and with any luck some running commentary on Twitter.

The Blaze Ignite

2009-09-17T10:04:00.037-05:00

Chicago finally gets on the board with a 2.5-1.5 victory over Tennessee

Photos: Daniel Parmet

It’s good to win. That was the sentiment at the Holiday Inn Skokie last night as the Chicago Blaze finally posted their first victory of the 2009 season, beating the Tennessee Tempo 2.5-1.5 and breaking a five-match losing streak that extended to the end of last season.

As might be expected, it was the ever-reliable IM Angelo Young, still undefeated in USCL play, who hit the Volunteer State crew first, with a victory over FM Todd Andrews to spur his teammates and even the score, after FM Florin Felecan, with the Black pieces and a near-impossible match-up against Jaan Ehlvest on Board 1, had fallen to his super-GM opponent.

That left IM Mehmed Pasalic on Board 3, and NM Jon Burgess, Board 4, with the burden of determining the outcome of the match. Both games looked iffy, and a somber mood momentarily descended on the venue until both players rallied, Mehmed to victory over FM Peter Bereolos and Jon to hold FM John Bick to a draw.

Here are the games:

1. GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) vs FM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1-0

2. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs FM Todd Andrews (TEN) 1-0

3. FM Peter Bereolos (TEN) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 0-1

4. NM Jon Burgess (CHC) vs FM John Bick (TEN) 1/2-1/2

Tennessee was one of the weaker teams in the league last year, but with Ehlvest and former U.S. Champion GM Alexander Shabalov now playing for the Nashville cats, they started this season strong and, as the USCL site put it, look like “a different team” this year. Last night’s match was their first defeat of the season. It came harder, and is in some ways more satisfying, than the two Blaze victories over the Tempo last year.

Special thanks to Larry Cohen, who served as our Celebrity Tournament Director for the evening’s match. Kudos also to Blaze Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet, who ran the match superbly in the absence of Manager Glenn Panner.

It’s a short week, and there won’t be much time to celebrate. We come back and play the mighty San Francisco Mechanics on Monday. Tune in to the Internet Chess Club, or watch the live coverage by Chicago’s Midway Chess Club.

Big Man on Campus

2009-09-15T15:22:00.014-05:00

Newly minted National Master Eric Rosen, a member of the Blaze, has gotten a lot of national attention in the chess world for his recent victory over one grandmaster and draw with another. Finally, his classmates at Niles North High School in Skokie are hearing about Eric's achievements, thanks to this article in the local school district's house organ.

Excerpt:

‘Rosen’s win against a player in the top echelon was no fluke. In July 2009 he won the U.S. Junior Open in Milwaukee, which qualified him for the 2010 Junior Invitational, in which the top junior players in the country compete. He is coached by Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich and he practices one to two hours a day. He also reads books on the game to stay sharp and prepares for matches by doing puzzles and reviewing past games. He is a member of the Niles North Chess Team and also plays for the Chicago Blaze, part of the U.S. Chess League andcomposed of the best chess players in Chicago. He is the number two-ranked highschool chess player in the state, with a rating of 2,230, which is considered a National Master (ranking of 2,200). “My goal,” he said, “is to break 2,300 and that’s called a FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs or World ChessFederation) Master and it’s one of the highest titles you can receive inchess.”’

Congratulations, Eric. Read the whole thing here.

Blaze Game of the Week

2009-09-13T22:56:00.025-05:00

IM Angelo Young annotates his victory over NM Eric Rodriguez in last week's match between the Blaze and the Miami Sharks.

1. Nf3 {I called this game "The lone Survivor"}

1... Nf6 2. g3 {Always the safest play for your team.} 2... c5 3. Bg2 g6 4. c3 d5 5. O-O Bg7 6. d4 O-O 7. Ne5 (7. dxc5 a5 8. c4 Na6 9. Nc3 dxc4 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Ne5 Nxc5 12.
Be3 Nfe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxc4 Nd6 15. Rfd1 Be6 16. Nxd6 Rxd6 17. Rxd6 exd6 {Zisman-Mikhalevski 1/2-1/2})

7... Qb6 8. a4 cxd4 9. a5 Qa6 {Not a very good choice for the queen.} 10. cxd4 Ne4 11. f3 Nd6 12. Nc3 {I was thinking of (12. Bf4 g5 13. Be3 Nf5 14. Bf2 Qd6 15. Qd2 f6 16. Nd3 with a slight plus for white.}) 12... e6 13. e3 Rd8 14. f4 {Safe and sound! another try} (14. Rf2 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Nc4 16. Bf1 Qc6 17. f4 $18)

14... f6 15. Nd3 Qc6 16. Rf2 Qe8 17. Rc2 Na6 18. b3 Bd7 {Black is close to equalizing.}

19. Ba3 Nb5 20. Bc5 Bc6 21. Nxb5 Bxb5 22. Rac1 Bxd3 23. Qxd3 Bf8 24. Qd2 $1 {So i can advance the b pawn and will also stop Nb4.}

24... Bxc5 25. dxc5 Nb8 {Black is trying to make a fortress with a6-Nc6 then will start advancing his center. but I seem futher from this position.}

26. Qd4 Qe7 27. a6 $3

27... Nxa6 {If} (27... Nc6 28. Qa4 Rac8 29. Bf1 bxa6 30. Bxa6 Rc7)

31. b4 Nb8 32. Bd3 {I like my passer on the queenside.})

28. c6 Nb4 29. cxb7
Nxc2 (29... Qxb7 30. Rc7 Qb6 31. Qxf6)

30. bxa8=Q Nxd4 31. Rc8 $1 {This is the plan I saw beginning with Qd4.}

31... Rxc8 32. Qxc8+ Kg7 33. exd4 {The rest is simple just watch for any perpetual checks.}

33... Qb4 34. Qc7+ Kh6 35. Qc5 a5 36. Qxb4 axb4 37. Kf2 f5 38. h3 Kg7 39. g4 Kf6 40. Kg3 h6 41. Bf1 g5 42. Bd3 Kg6 43. gxf5+ exf5 44. Ba6 Kf6 45. Bc8 h5 46. fxg5+ Kxg5 47. h4+ Kg6 48. Kf4 Kf6 49. Bxf5 1-0

Miami Puts the Shark Bite on the Blaze

2009-09-10T06:44:00.030-05:00

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

Felecan Shares State Championship

2009-09-08T16:22:00.021-05:00

Congratulations to FM Florin Felecan of the Chicago Blaze, who finished in a tie for first place with IM GM 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

Your Moment of Zen

2009-09-04T14:40:00.012-05:00

Do we keep the Scorpions up late at night?

The Arizona Scorpions may have clobbered us this week, but we're certainly on their minds. In fact, “Chicago” is one of the biggest items on the Scorpion blog tag cloud. Do they write about us because despite their good fortune in beating us three times this year and last, they secretly fear we’re a smoldering fire ready to ignite and that their string against us is about to end?

Yes, that must be it.

Anyway, their bloggers have done an interesting job of analyzing the games from this week's match, so have a look, here and here.

Deja Vu

2009-09-03T06:12:00.045-05:00

Blaze Stung by Scorpions in Season Opener Again

In the short rivalry between the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions, there really hasn’t been much of a rivalry at all. In fact, the “rivalry” can be summed up easily: they own us.

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 Spots
There weren’t many bright spots in last night’s match, but there were a few. FM Florin Felecan managed to hold IM Levon Altounian for a draw. And as Blaze Manager Glenn Panner sees it, the remaining three games, which the Blaze lost, could have gone either way for most of the night.

There was no shortage of excitement. Trevor Magness, this year’s Illinois Denker champion, playing in his first game for the Blaze, gave a sharp and aggressive response to David Adelberg’s Sicilian. IM Mehmed Pasalic of the Blaze blitzed valiantly against FM Robby Adamson, as both of them drew short on time for about the last twenty moves of their game. GM Nikola Mitkov of the Blaze made GM Alejandro Ramirez work and sweat to grind out a victory in the last game of the night to end.

“I think we can be about as happy as you can be after a 3.5-.5 defeat,” said Glenn optimistically at the end of the night. Here are the games:

Board 1. GM Alejandro Ramirez (ARZ) vs GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) 1-0

Board 2. FM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) 1/2-1/2

Board 3. FM Robby Adamson (ARZ) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0

Board 4. Trevor Magness (CHC) vs David Adelberg (ARZ) 0-1

The Blaze as the Object of Scholarship
Off the board, we had a distinguished guest at the Holiday Inn Skokie, where the Blaze play their games. Professor Gary Alan Fine of Northwestern University, a leading expert on the sociology of leisure and popular culture, was on hand in his capacity as a researcher studying chess. That’s right: the Blaze have attracted the attention of scholars, so have a little respect. Happily, Gary will be with us a good part of the season.

Of course we were delighted to have our celebrity tournament director Betsy Dynako on hand. Betsy not only officiated during a mouse-slip in one game but as always took great pictures, this time doing it with my ancient point-and-shoot camera and despite technical difficulties with her own. We were also joined by the new Blaze assistant manager, Daniel Parmet, about which you'll be hearing more. He knows alot about chess, Indian food, and apparently many other things.

Props also to William Shehan of the Midway Chess Club, which did a webcast from their perch on the Southwest Side to which several people tuned in and NM Len Weber provided excellent play-by-play. I'd also like to thank the Internet Chess Club for providing me with access to the lives games, which enabled me to give real-time commentary on Twitter, such as it was.

It’s good to have our ignominious defeat for the season out of the way. Now the Blaze can concentrate on winning, which we’ll do beginning next week when we take on the Miami Sharks. And we get another shot at the Scorpions later in the year. So things are looking up. Stay tuned: the Blaze have not yet caught fire.

Photos: Betsy Dynako

Season Kicks Off with Scholastic Fundraiser, Season Opener

2009-09-01T22:54:00.022-05:00

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, go to our main Web site to find out more about the team. In particular, take a look at the season schedule. The regular season runs through early November, and since we hope to make the playoffs this year, we expect to be playing beyond that. (Please bear with us if portions of the site aren’t entirely up to date; the Blaze is a volunteer effort, and we’re doing our best.)
Come back regularly to this blog as we post news.
Follow us on Twitter. We’ll be posting news about the team and the league, and if we can manage it we’ll be doing some live tweeting during the matches.
Become a fan of the Blaze on Facebook.
Attend the matches at the Holiday Inn Skokie, 5300 West Touhy. Fans are welcome to attend the games at no charge.
If you can’t make it to the games, follow them live on the Internet Chess Club.

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.

Blaze on Familiar Ground for Season Opener

2009-08-31T12:06:00.019-05:00

Underdogs vs. Arizona, not for the first time

The pairings for this season’s first match, between the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions, have been posted on the U.S. Chess League site, and as the teams get ready for the opening salvos of their 2009 title quests, the Windy City squad finds itself on familiar territory: as underdogs.

Here’s the lineup, in which Arizona has a ratings advantage on every board:

Board 1
GM Alejandro Ramirez vs. GM Nikola Mitkov (Chicago)

Board 2
FM Florin Felecan (Chicago) vs IM Levon Altounian

Board 3
FM Robby Adamson vs. IM Mehmed Pasalic (Chicago)

Board 4
Trevor Magness (Chicago) vs. David Adelberg

This is not a new situation for Chicago. The Blaze were underdogs in many if not most of their maiden-season matches last year, yet they managed to draw or win several of those contests. As a result, the team came that close to earning a playoff berth in its expansion-team season, staying in contention until the final game of the final match. Being down is nothing new for the Blaze, yet they've managed to carve out an impressive record of success despite the odds.

It’s a good thing, too because in the Scorpions, we face a formidable opponent. The Blaze faced Arizona twice last year and lost both times. This year they may be stronger, having added GM Ramirez to their roster. The Scorpions have a lot of resources, too, having just added the popular Chess.com site to its prodigious list of corporate sponsors. No wonder the team's manager, FM Robby Adamson, predicts victory for the Scorpions over the Blaze.

But to paraphrase the late Bobby Fischer, sponsorships don’t win chess games; strong moves do. The Blaze will be ready Wednesday night. The action begins at 8:00 Central time at the Holiday Inn Skokie (5300 West Touhy). Fans are welcome, so please come and cheer the team or follow them on the Internet Chess Club. We’ll also try to post reports on Twitter.

Hope to see you one way or another, either virtually or in person, as the 2009 Chicago Blaze season gets under way.

We're on Facebook

2009-08-23T08:40:00.003-05:00

The Blaze now has its own Facebook page. Go here to become a fan, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter, too. Thanks.

Being Eric Rosen

2009-08-09T23:20:00.022-05:00

Chicago-area junior beats GM, earns master title at U.S. Open

Several years ago some creative, young chess players of the kind New York City has in abundance put on an act at the Marshall Chess Club entitled "Being John Fedorowicz," an allusion to a popular movie of the day about experiencing the bizarre thrill of actually "being" the actor John Malkovich, even if only for a few minutes.

The exact context all that may be fuzzy to us a decade later, but it remains nevertheless clear that John Fedorowicz, the well-known East Coast grandmaster is, like the John Lennon's working-class hero of lore, someone to be.

On this particular Monday, however, an equally cool person to be is Niles North High School sophomore, Blaze player, and newly minted chess master Eric Rosen, who beat GM Fedorowicz in a miniature yesterday at the U.S. Open.

Young Eric, with the Black pieces, kept his powder dry while the grandmaster's early kingside pawn push created an open diagonal for Eric's queen, which he thrust with alacrity onto White's sixth rank, there to wreak havoc. The senior player resigned on move 16.

It was the first victory against a grandmaster for the rapidly advancing young chess star and came just days after Eric achieved a draw against GM Jesse Kraai at the same tournament.

Oh, yes, and by the way: The game capped off an impressive 6.5/9 performance for Eric at the Open, which will put his rating over the 2200 mark. He is now a national master. Congratulations, Eric.

See the Fedorowicz game below.

Eric Rosen Draws GM Kraai at U.S. Open

2009-08-06T12:12:00.017-05:00

Congratulations to one of the newest members of the Chicago Blaze, Niles North High School sophomore Eric Rosen, of Skokie, who played GM Jesse Kraai to a draw at the U.S. Open in Indianapolis yesterday. Eric, a strong expert playing at a deficit of several hundred rating points vis-a-vis the New Mexico grandmaster, hung on to force a stalemate.

Though down a pawn in the endgame, Eric, with the Black pieces, managed the exchange of rooks in a way that prevented GM Kraai from promoting his last remaining pikeman. Congratulations, Eric.

See the game below.

Blaze Schedule 2009

2009-08-04T09:54:00.014-05:00

The 2009 U.S. Chess League season begins in less than a month, and the Blaze kick off this year's campaign, same as last year, with a match against the Arizona Scorpions. The whole schedule appears below.

The Blaze play their matches at the Holiday Inn Skokie, 5300 West Touhy Avenue, Skokie, Illinois. Fans are welcome to attend the games free of charge, so please come and cheer your team. If you can't make it to the Holiday Inn you can tune in to the matches live on the Internet Chess Club (membership required). You can also follow us on Twitter.

Week 1 - Wednesday, September 2nd
Arizona Scorpions vs Chicago Blaze
9:00 PM ET (8:00 Central)

Week 2 - Wednesday, September 9th
Chicago Blaze vs Miami Sharks
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 3: Wednesday, September 16th
Tennessee Tempo vs Chicago Blaze
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 4: Monday September 21st
Chicago Blaze vs San Francisco Mechanics
8:30 PM ET (7:30 Central)

Week 5: Wednesday, September 30th
New Jersey Knockouts vs Chicago Blaze
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 6: Monday, October 5th
Chicago Blaze vs Philadelphia Inventors
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 7: Wednesday, October 14th
Chicago Blaze vs Tennessee Tempo
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 8: Monday, October 19th
Chicago Blaze vs Arizona Scorpions
9:00 PM ET (8:00 Central)

Week 9: Monday, October 26th
Dallas Destiny vs Chicago Blaze
8:00 PM ET (7:00 Central)

Week 10: Wednesday, November 4th
Seattle Sluggers vs Chicago Blaze
9:00 PM ET (8:00 Central)

Chess in the Park, the Threepeat

2009-07-03T18:04:00.001-05:00

For the third year in a row, chess will be a part of the Hyde Park 4th of July festivities in Nichols Park. After crashing the picnic in 2007 and 2008 by simply showing up uninvited (though not unwelcomed) with chess equipment, this year we'll be there officially.

The neighborhood 4th of July parade down 53rd Street ends at the park, and the celebration there starts when the parade ends. If you're there, please stop by for a game of chess. We'll be in the middle of the park, around the two concrete chess tables by the big-kids playground.

We'll be playing chess and plugging the Ray School Club, the Chicago Blaze, and some ill-defined fledging neighborhood chess initiative I hope to launch. See you then.

We're on Twitter

2009-06-30T15:48:00.001-05:00

Please come and follow the Blaze.

USCL to Get $80 Billion from Obama Stimulus

2009-04-01T12:53:00.011-05:00

The United States Chess League will get $80 billion, more than ten percent of the $787 billion chess stimulus package unveiled today by the White House.

The massive chess stimulus package, designed to jump-start the economy by injecting an infusion of purchasing power into chess in the United States, will bring about a large-scale chess renaissance in America by providing major resources for the cash-strapped game.

An artist's rendition of the proposed Blaze Arena, as it will look during Wednesday night matches

As part of the plan, the USCL will receive tens of billions of dollars that will allow the league to expand across the country, pay players huge salaries, and move into cushy and cavernous playing venues.

“The U.S. Chess League is a beacon of principled, sportsmanlike competition in a world of professional sports plagued by spoiled athletes and steroid scandals,” said President Barack Obama. “It’s time we recognized that and helped the league get to the next level.”

“I’m not even sure what we’re going to do with all the money,” said USCL Commissioner IM Greg Shahade from his new corner office on the 60th floor of One USCL Plaza on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Some of the money has been allotted, however. Each current team in the league will receive several billion dollars for player salaries and to erect suitable new facilities. The Chicago Blaze, which was tipped off about the coming windfall by its Chicago contacts in the administration, sent out a request for proposals earlier to the city’s leading architecture firms and has accepted one from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP for a massive indoor-outdoor stadium to be built just west of the Loop.

In order to fill the stadium during Blaze matches, the team will pay fans $100 each to attend. Top kibitzers will get an additional bonus.

The Blaze will also pay players $100,000 for each game they play—$150,000 for draws and $200,000 for victories.

Finally, the league’s Blogger of the Year award, previously $100, will now be increased to one million dollars.

Blaze Stung By Scorpions Again

2008-10-24T17:17:00.015-05:00

Photos: (c) Betsy Dynako

As Charles Dickens once said, there are the best of times, and then there’s last Wednesday night. Yuck. That evening, the Chicago Blaze lost to our fellow expansion team the Arizona Scorpions for the second time this year, leaving us with only the slimmest chance to make the U.S. Chess League playoffs. The score was 3-1.

And after last week’s loss to the Queens Pioneers, the Blaze are now in the first losing streak in our history; until now we haven’t lost two matches in a row.

Of course, Wednesday wasn’t a total waste. IM Emory Tate won an exciting game against FM Danny Rensch. More on that later, maybe, if we can get someone who knows about chess to annotate the game.

One of the big highlights of the evening was a visit from Ilan Meerovich’s teammates at Niles North High School. Coach Harry Kyriazes pushed the ceremonial first pawn to start the match.

Another bright spot was having Betsy Dynako serve as tournament director, which meant we also got the great pictures above. Oh, yeah, and we got to hang around with IM Ben Finegold, who was on hand for one of Sevan Muradian’s FIDE tournaments, which was contemporaneous with the Blaze match. (For you Joe & Sarah Sixpacks who shun elitist erudition, that means it was happening at the same time.) Anyway, besides being an insanely great chess player, Ben is one of the funniest and most entertaining people you’re likely to meet—if you meet him, that is, which I recommend.

Our playoff hopes ride on the final match against the reigning champion Dallas Destiny next week, and on the outcome of the Arizona vs. Seattle contest. We must win.

Elsewhere, the Scorpions’ blog reviews the games in the match, and FM Joel Johnson annotates his game with Ilan at Elizabeth’s blog.

Finally, if you haven’t gotten the word yet, the Illinois Chess Association’s Web site has moved to http://www.il-chess.org/. Glenn explains.

Blaze Bow to Queens Machine

2008-10-16T15:13:00.015-05:00

The Chicago Blaze became the latest victims of the Queens Pioneers’ rolling juggernaut last night, falling to the formidable Forest Hills squad in their USCL match by a score of 3-1.

It was the worst defeat yet for Chicago and the first match in which no member of the Blaze won a game. The going was roughest on the top two boards, where FM Florin Felecan lost to strong GM Alex Stripunsky and IM Emory Tate became the latest notch in the belt of IM Alex Lenderman (pictured at left), the 19-year-old pheenom who has won all of seven of his games this season. Stripunsky and Lenderman are two of the reasons the Pioneers (6.5-1.5) are tied for the best record in the league. (See Elizabeth Vicary's interview with IM Lenderman here.)

For the Blaze, the only bright spots were boards three and four, where IM-elect Mehmed Pasalic and IM Angelo Young, both undefeated this year, drew their opponents.

You can’t win ‘em all, of course, and the defeat followed a few weeks of mostly solid performances for the new Blaze team, which had raised its record to 4-3 after last week. That record now falls back to an even .500, and we hang on dearly to our playoff hopes. The last two matches of the regular season, against Arizona and Dallas, will be decisive.

The Pioneers are an impressive team and deserve their success. To get where they are they have had to overcome obstacles, such as an undistinguished record last year, their first, and what has to be the most ill-conceived name and logo in the league. (Trust me, I was born and raised in New York City’s largest borough. Nothing about Queens even remotely suggests cowboys or pioneers or sunsets. None of it resonates. But when you’re winning, who cares?)

On the bright side, Blaze Manager Glenn Panner gave the team’s non-player personnel—all of whom very much need chess improvement—an enjoyable lesson in the Scotch Game using Charousek vs Von Popiel (Budapest, 1896) and Bruce Pandolfini’s Chess Life column on the game from August 2006 (USCF membership required).

Many thanks to Maret Thorpe for serving as tournament director last night for the second time this year. Here are the games:

FM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 0-1

2. IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 1-0

3. IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) vs NM Parker Zhao (QNS) 1/2-1/2

4. NM Michael Thaler (QNS) vs IM Angelo Young (CHC) 1/2-1/2

Game of the Week Returns

2008-10-10T21:28:00.012-05:00

After falling down on the job for the past few rounds, we bring back the Blaze Game of the Week. This time it's Ilan Meerovich's victory over National Master Jerry Wheeler in a King's Indian game from this week's match between the Blaze and the Tennessee Tempo. The Blaze won the match 2.5-1.5, and Ilan's win was crucial to the effort.

Thanks to Ilan for annotating the game himself. The final position appears below. Go here to see the whole game.

Position after 36. Rb7. Black resigns.

photo: (c) Betsy Dynako

Blaze Slip Past Tennessee

2008-10-07T10:55:00.016-05:00

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

Blaze Keep the Heat on Miami

2008-10-02T13:03:00.022-05:00

Chicagoans Pull Out a Draw in Tough Match

IMs Emory Tate and Angelo Young put the shark bite on Miami last night to salvage a draw for the Blaze.

Some but not all of the Blazers on hand last night: Manager Glenn Panner, IM-elect Mehmed Pasalic, GM Nikola Mitkov, IM Emory Tate, IM Angelo Young.

On yet another night when the new Chicago Blaze could easily have gone down to defeat, the team hung tough to salvage their match yesterday evening with a 2-2 draw against the Miami Sharks, a team that was considered one of the league’s strongest as the season began.

Once again it was the middle of the lineup, IMs Emory Tate on Board 2 and IM Angelo Young on Board 3, that provided the victories. Both players are grinding it out in style these days. Emory has now won his last three games. Angelo is undefeated in USCL competition and is currently among the league’s top ten players in ~~game~~ MVP points.

Playing Black, Emory beat off an early but premature mating attack by IM Blas Lugo in their Caro-Kann, Two Knights game, going on methodically to squeeze his opponent’s kingside and enter the endgame up a knight to a pawn. White resigned after Move 60.

Angelo’s game against FM Charles Galofre went late into the night, generally looking drawish to most of the observers on the scene at the Holiday Inn Skokie. In an endgame that went on for about 60 moves, however, Angelo managed to capture his opponent’s last pawns while retaining one of his own. Charles resigned after Move 111, as Angelo was about to promote. (Warning: Game not for those with short attention spans.)

The draw keeps the Blaze at .500—three points in six meets—and maintains our playoff hopes without actually advancing them. Every week is different, interesting and fun. Next up: the Blaze play the Tennessee Tempo again on Monday.

Thanks to Chris Baumgartner for providing first-rate tournament direction last night. Here are the games by board number.

1. GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1

2. IM Blas Lugo (MIA) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 0-1

3. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs FM Charles Galofre (MIA) 1-0

4. NM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) vs NM Jon Burgess (CHC) 1-0

The Blaze at Mid-Season

2008-09-27T11:34:00.044-05:00

Staking Out the Middle Ground

IMs Emory Tate and Angelo Young have been crucial to the team's success.

It’s hard to believe, but after five matches in as many weeks, half of the USCL regular season is already over. So, as Ed Koch famously asked, how are we doing?

Pretty well, I’d say. Halfway through the season the Blaze are solidly in the middle of the league, quite an accomplishment for a first-year expansion team. Our won-lost record is at .500. In the latest “power ratings” by prominent blogger Bionic Lime, those being a composite measure based on team performance and the strength of the opponents it has faced, we are seventh in the league right now, smack in the middle. (League blogger-in-residence Arun Sharma ranks us eighth.) We started out in tenth place earlier in the year and rose briefly to 6th a few weeks ago.

We have lost two close matches, won one close one, romped to victory in another, and played one of the top teams in the league to a draw.

We’re in a four-way tie for third place in the Western Division, but because of our strong tiebreaks—game points and the average strength of our opponents—we’re technically in fourth place overall, second among the four teams with a 2.5/5 record. It’s my understanding that the top four teams in each division make the playoffs, and if I’m interpreting all of this correctly it means that if the season ended today, we’d qualify for postseason play. Just barely, of course, but we would make the cut.

Of course, the season doesn’t end today, so we’ll have to keep winning if we want to make the playoffs, and our remaining matches won’t be easy. We’ll face the best team in the league this year, the undefeated Queens Pioneers; the reigning champion Dallas Destiny; the very strong Miami Sharks; Arizona, a team that has beaten us already; and Tennessee, a team we beat so solidly on our first meeting that they will surely be focused on revenge. We’ll take it a week at a time.

As for expectations from the rest of the league, I think by and large we’ve surpassed them. The early tumult with our roster—in which two GMs we thought would be with us weren’t able to be—led some of the USCL wags to give up on the Blaze and assume we would flame out. We haven’t. On the contrary, we’ve done better in most of our matches than the forecasters predicted, and we now seem to have gained some respect. By the end of the year, I think we’ll have even more.

photo: (c) Betsy Dynako

Your Moment of Zen

2008-09-27T11:14:00.013-05:00

Tournament directors collect players’ cell phones before USCL matches and hold them till the games are over. They're just phones, but this week’s Blaze TD, ace photographer Betsy Dynako, sees artistic possibilities in just about everything. Chess Life Online asks: Who belongs to the pink one?

Skokie Leaders Attend Blaze Match

2008-09-26T07:03:00.024-05:00

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen, Blaze Manager Glenn Panner, North American Chess Association President Sevan Muradian, Brad Rosen, and Skokie Village Trustee Randall Roberts.

The Chicago Blaze got some high-level fan support during their Wednesday-night match against the Baltimore Kingfishers, when the mayor of Skokie, Ill., and a town trustee showed up to kick off the meet.

Mayor George Van Dusen was on hand at Skokie’s Holiday Inn, where the Blaze play their matches, to thank them for their presence in his town, a northern suburb of Chicago, and to make the ceremonial first move in the evening’s match. He was accompanied by his grandson Anthony, a third grader who plays chess, and Skokie Trustee Randy Roberts.

Skokie has lately become a major chess Mecca in the Chicago area. In addition to the Blaze games, Sevan Muradian’s North American Chess Association has held a series of FIDE-rated tournaments there, to which players come from all over the country to earn IM norms. One of those tournaments is in progress now, in fact, and was under way Wednesday night when the mayor was there.

Exclusive video footage:

Kudos to Brad Rosen ("Chessdad64") for interfacing with the mayor to arrange his visit.

More at Chess Life Online.

photo: (c) Betsy Dynako

Blaze Beat Baltimore in Nail Biter

2008-09-25T10:18:00.015-05:00

Blaze Manager Glenn Panner watches nervously in the early going as IMs Mehmed Pasalic and Emory Tate play their Baltimore opponents. All turned out well, however, as the team gave Glenn an excellent birthday present by beating the Kingfishers. photo: (c) Betsy Dynako

For the second week in a row IM Emory Tate posted the only game victory for the Chicago Blaze, but this time, thanks to draws on the other three boards, it was enough to secure the margin of victory, as the team won its match last night against the Baltimore Kingfishers 2.5-1.5.

On a night when Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen and Trustee Randy Roberts attended the games to show the town’s support for the Blaze, which plays at Skokie’s Holiday Inn, the four masters in the night's lineup took advantage of the political encouragement to finish the night without a loss.

One of the most exciting moments of the evening came at the very end, when all the other games were finished and IM Mehmed Pasalic of the Blaze, down a piece, executed an exciting and skillful endgame against FM Ray Kaufman to secure a draw in the game and seal the match victory for the Blaze. There was a lot on the line. A loss for Mehmed would have meant a drawn match, depriving the Blaze of the victory that now puts them in a four-way tie for third place in the U.S. Chess League’s Western Division and keeps our playoff hopes alive.

Here are the games by board number:

1. FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL) vs FM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1/2-1/2

2. IM Emory Tate (CHC) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0

3. FM Ray Kaufman (BAL) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1/2-1/2

4. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs NM Aaron Kahn (BAL) 1/2-1/2

More later. For now, here’s what Mehmed’s endgame looked like.

Position after 54. ... Rf7

55.Bf4 Kc5 56.Kf3 b4 57.Ke4 Kc4 58.Be5 Re7 59.Rc1+ Kb3 60.Rc8 Ka2 61.Ra8+ Kb3 62.Kd5 Kc2 63.Ra2+ Kd3 64.Rb2 Rxe5+ 65.Kxe5 Kc3 66.Rh2 b3 67.Rh3+ Kc2 68.Kd4 b2 69.Rh2+ Kb3 70.Rxb2+ Kxb2 Game drawn because neither player has mating material 1/2-1/2

Once again, thanks to Betsy Dynako for serving as tournament director for the match.

English Novel

2008-09-24T13:02:00.019-05:00

Why not 3. ... f5?

IM Emory Tate has annotated the opening of the game in which he beat FM Michael Lee of the Seattle Sluggers last week. I guess 3. ... f5 is something of a novelty in this position, though I gather it has been played before in master competition. In any case, it worked for Emory.

Go here to see the game, and feel free to add your own comments, kibitzing, and additional annotation.

Position after 3. ... f5!?

Where We Stand

2008-09-18T10:01:00.013-05:00

With four weeks and 40 percent of the USCL season behind us, the Chicago Blaze are in second to last place in the Western Division, yet only a half point separates us from the three teams above us.

We lost to two of those teams--Arizona and Seattle--both in close matches, and beat the team that trails us in the standings, Tennessee.

It may not look very impressive, but I think we're stronger than our place in the standings suggests. Both of our losses, as I say, were very close, and consider the fact that we have won more games than two of the three teams that lead us by a half point.

Finally, take a look at the division leader, San Francisco. The only imperfection in their record, the only thing that has kept them from being undefeated, was a draw in the Week 2 to the Chicago Blaze. They have vanquished all other opponents.

Next week we play the Baltimore Kingfishers, for our first foray into inter-divisional competition. It's a big match: it comes at an important point in the season and gives the Blaze a chance to get back on the winning track.

What do you think? Do the Blaze have a reasonable shot at making the USCL playoffs? Take our poll in the right-hand column.

How to Play the Dragon

2008-09-17T17:01:00.003-05:00

Today, in an effort to put this week's defeat behind us, we turn back the clock, once again to flog our glorious victory against the Tennessee Tempo in Week 3.

But seriously, folks, you’re in for a treat, because IM Jan Van De Mortel has annotated his victory over FM Todd Andrews and done so in delightful and extensive form. It was one very exciting game and got some votes for USCL Game of the Week. Jan has known Todd for a long time and obviously has great respect for him. He writes:

“I first met Todd in Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1999, where he was part of a group of American youngsters (including USCL President Greg Shahade) trying their luck on the European chess scene. Most of my time during this two-week tournament was spend with the American squad, as I was rooming with Aviv Friedman (who will soon lead the US World Youth Team as coach in Vietnam). I vividly remember that after one of my opponents (who later went on to claim the FIDE World Championship) showed a mean streak in time trouble, surviving a lost position, Todd offered to 'educate' the grandmaster on ethics. I declined his gracious offer, and politely took care of that job myself.”

Click here to see the game and Jan’s analysis.

photo: (c) Betsy Dynako

Ehlvest is in the Building

2008-09-17T13:35:00.009-05:00

Though I will be shunned by other Blazers for saying so, I think we dodged a bullet at not having to face GM Jaan Ehlvest when we played the Tennessee Tempo last week. One of the top-rated players in the country, his joining the Tempo was announced some time ago, but until now he hasn't played for them. That all ends tonight, when Ehlvest sits at the first board in Tennessee's USCL match against the Scorpions.

Says the USCL site:

“Tennessee Tempo fans are very excited to see how their team fares with a strong Grandmaster on the top board. This pushes IM Ron Burnett and FM Todd Andrews down to boards 2 and 3 for the first time in their three year history. The Tempo will be facing a snakebitten Arizona squad, who at 1-2, need this match badly to stay afloat in the playoff race.”

Seattle Power Lineup Nips Blaze

2008-09-16T11:03:00.026-05:00

Well, you can’t win ‘em all. Last night, the Chicago Blaze went up against one of the strongest lineups a USCL team has brought to the boards this year and came up short, losing to the Seattle Sluggers 2.5-1.5.

The Sluggers, who had struggled in the early weeks of the season, put a lot on the line, with a lineup that included two grandmasters, including super-GM Hikaru Nakamura, the former U.S. chess champion. In one of the most anticipated games of the season, Nakamura, with the White pieces, outlasted Chicago’s GM Nikola Mitkov in the 70-move marathon.

IM Emory Tate (photo: Betsy Dynako)

Seattle’s other grandmaster, Gregory Serper, didn’t fare quite as well on the second board: he had to settle for a draw against IM Jan Van De Mortel of the Blaze, who played a tough and aggressive game against the higher-rated player. The game ended when both players ran out of mating material. (Actually, it went on for a bit even after that.)

The bright spot of the evening was IM Emory Tate, playing in his second match for the Blaze, who hung on to beat a tenacious NM Michael Lee. Emory thought he had a better position early in the game and said he was impressed with how long the youngster hung in there.

Emory does a postmortem with Adam Strunk

I only have eyes for chess. Eminent local chess personages Brad "Chessdad64" Rosen (left) and Larry Cohen cut up a bit during the match. The Blaze have fun even when they lose. Come and see sometime.

On Board 4, Adam Strunk of the Blaze lost two pawns to Seattle’s Andy May and wasn’t able to recover.

Here are the games.

1. GM Hikaru Nakamura (SEA) vs GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) 1-0

2. IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1/2-1/2

3. NM Michael Lee (SEA) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 0-1

4. Adam Strunk (CHC) vs Andy May (SEA) 0-1

Click here for Seattle’s take on the match. Thanks to NM Len Weber for flawless tournament direction last night.

Next up: the Blaze play the Baltimore Kingfishers a week from Wednesday.

Nakamura to Lead Seattle Against Blaze

2008-09-14T22:43:00.011-05:00

Monday night, for the third time in four weeks, the Blaze go up against a team with a significantly higher average rating, when we take on the Seattle Sluggers at 8:00 Central time. Leading the Sluggers will be former U.S. champion GM Hikaru Nakamura. It's another big challenge for the new Blaze crew, so please tune in and root hard for the team.

Board 1: GM Hikaru Nakamura (2742) vs. GM Nikola Mitkov (2601)
Board 2: IM Jan van de Mortel (2460) vs. GM Gregory Serper (2592)
Board 3: NM Michael Lee (2314) vs. IM Emory Tate (2392)
Board 4: Adam Strunk (2113) vs. Andy May (2134)

Seattle Average Rating: 2446
Chicago Average Rating: 2392

The Blaze have White on Boards 2 and 4.

The Snake, Coiled and Waiting

2008-09-14T16:26:00.022-05:00

For the first time in the illustrious three-week history of the Chicago Blaze, we have a tie for the honor of the Blaze Game of the Week. Our distinguished panel of judges agrees that IM Jan Van De Mortel’s victory over FM Todd Andrews with the Sicilian Dragon should share honors with this game by IM Angelo Young.

I had the privilege of being in the car last Wednesday night after the game, when IM Emory Tate, who wasn’t playing that night but had come to cheer his team, characterized IM Angelo’s style of play. As Angelo mentions here, Emory said Angelo is like a snake: he sits lying in wait, camouflaged, as it were. By the time his opponent realizes he’s a snake, it’s too late: he’s set his trap and is ready to strike.

Here’s Angelo’s game, annotated by him personally. He dedicates the game to all Chicago Blaze Fans.

M Young, A. - FM Bereolos, P [E67]USCL CHI- TEN Chicago USA, 2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3
King's Indian (g3 System)

3...Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0 5. c4 d6 6. 0-0 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5
All book.

8.e3
This is not the first time I used this line. Solid and good for the team play.

8...c6 9.Qc2 Qe7 10.b3 Ne8? 11.Ba3 f5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nd4!

Quiet and effective.

13...Bd7 14.Rad1 Rd8 15.Rfe1
After the game IM Tate mentioned comparing my play to a snake, waiting to strike anytime, and when the venom is injected it will paralyze the victim.

15...Bc8 16.f4
The first strike!

16...Nf7
Noticed black pieces.

17.e4 fxe4 18.Nxe4 Qc7 19.Kh1 Qa5 20.Bb2 Nc7 21.Bc3 Qh5 22.Nxc6!!
A very deep move considering I don't have much time to think as I have to see the end when I played this move.

22...bxc6 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Qc3+ Kh6
Only move! bad was [24...Kg8 25.Nf6+]

25.Nf6
The root of the combination.

25...Qc5 26.g4 g5 27.Ne4!

Brutal! After the game IM Tate said people watching from all over the world and there is no need to play this fancy but brilliant move although the move stops Bg4 when Ne4 is already enough to win. Maybe with Nd7!! it can be considered a brilliant game.

27...Bxg4 28.Qf6+ Kh5 29.Nxc5 Bxd1 30.Rxd1 Nd5 31.Bxd5
Black resigned, not waiting for Ne6, Bf3+, Bf7+. 1-0

Play through the whole game:

photo: Sevan Muradian

The Blaze Sweep Tennessee

2008-09-11T11:10:00.044-05:00

Windy City woodpushers get on the board with blowout against the Tempo

When Ron Burnett’s flag fell at about 11:00 last night, the din that went up in Patios A/B at the Holiday Inn Skokie was deafening. Despite the hurt it put on my ears, however, I was neither surprised nor irritated by the applause—from players, fans, managers, even the players’ parents—because it signaled that GM Nikola Mitkov, playing in his first game for the Chicago Blaze, had beaten IM Burnett of the Tennessee Tempo on the first board of this week’s U.S. Chess League match.

Of course, it meant much more than that. As the last game of the night to end, it meant not only that the Blaze had won the first match in the team’s brief history, but that they had done it in stunning fashion, sweeping all games against the Tempo to finish 4-0 on the night. It was the first sweep in the league this season.

Look at all those ones in the Blaze colunm

Moments before Nikola’s game ended, the Tempo’s John Bick resigned his game against Adam Strunk of the Blaze, in a hard-fought game that represented the most challenging matchup of the night for a Chicago player as measured by ratings difference. Earlier, the old pros, IMs Jan Van De Mortel and Angelo Young, disposed of their opponents, both in very exciting games. Here are the games. The Blaze players are in bold:

GM Nikola Mitkov vs. IM Ron Burnett 1-0

FM Todd Andrews vs. IM Jan Van De Mortel 0-1

IM Angelo Young vs. FM Peter Bereolos 1-0

FM John Bick vs. Adam Strunk 0-1

Which game to choose as Blaze Game of the Week? Tough call. What do you think?

It was an exciting night, and it means that the Blaze have arrived and demonstrated that they belong in the USCL. We’ll try to have details and analysis in the next couple of days, but there’s not much time to celebrate: the Blaze have a short week and face the Seattle Sluggers on Monday night.

Once again: thanks to Betsy Dynako for first-rate tournament direction.

Tennesee Matchups

2008-09-10T03:23:00.004-05:00

Here are the board-by-board matchups in tonight's meet between the Blaze and the Tennessee Tempo. The Blaze players are in bold. We have White on boards 1 and 3.

Board 1
GM Nikola Mitkov (2601) vs. IM Ron Burnett (2412),

Board 2

FM Todd Andrews (2350) vs. IM Jan Van De Mortel (2460),

Board 3

IM Angelo Young (2356) vs. FM Peter Bereolos (2304)

Board 4

FM John Bick (2249) vs. Adam Strunk (2113)

The games begin early this week – 7:00 Chicago time. Come to the Holiday Inn Skokie to cheer the team in person or tune in live to the Internet Chess Club.

Naroditsky-Young Analyzed

2008-09-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

Chicago Blaze Manager Glenn Panner has annotated the team’s Game of the Week.

FM Daniel Naroditsky vs. IM Angelo Young
09/03/08

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Qa5 5. Bd2 Qc7 6. Bc4 b5 7. Bd3 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. a4 b4 10. Ne2 a5 11. Ng3 Nbd7 12. Qe2 g6

13. O-O
I liked Bc4 here better activating the bishop and leaving the option open to castle on either wing.

13. ... h5 14. Bg5?
Losing a tempo and allowing Black to get the h4 push in. Rfd1 (or e1 even) would have been better.

14. ... Nh7 15. Be3 Be7 16. Nd2 h4 17. Nh1
Entombing the knight on h1, White will now essentially have to play a piece down.

17. ... Nhf6 18. Nc4 Nh5 19. g4 Nf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. e5?!
Here White has an interesting choice to make, either play f3 helping his knight escape the corner to f2, or to try to punish Angelo for keeping his king in the center. Daniel opts for the counterplay.

21. ... Nc5
controlling key center squares and giving the bishop access to e6 to slow White's push.

22. Nd6+ Kf8
Playing Bxd6?? would have dropped the queen after exd6+ with the discovery.

23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Bc4 Re8
White had to get the knight loose. Now Black can target the weak pawn on e5 that can't be held.

25. Qf3 Bg5 26. Rfe1 Kg7 27. Rad1 Rxe5 28. Rxe5 Qxe5 29. Qxc6 Rd8 30. Rxd8 Bxd8 31. Kf1 Qd4!
Such a strong active positional move putting the queen in control of the board on offense and defense.

32. Be2 h3
Preventing any chance of the king escaping to g2 and preparing for Bh4.

33. Ke1 Be7 34. Qc7 Bh4
Now White is very vulnerable on f2 and the knight can come to e4 to put even more pressure there.

35. Bf3 Qe3+!
cute and forcing.

36. Be2 Ne4 37. Qe5+ Kh7 38. Qd5 Bxf2+ 39. Kd1 Kg8 40. Qd8+ Kg7
just desparate checks going on now for White.

41. Qd5 Bh4
clearing the way for the finishing Qg1+.

42. c3 bxc3
White resigns.

Play through the game move by move here.

The Other Game of the Week

2008-09-06T10:32:00.000-05:00

While we prefer to tout games that the Blaze win, the USCL, for understandable reasons, has chosen as its Game of the Week this game in which San Francisco's IM Vinay Bhat beat IM Emory Tate of the Blaze. It was a truly wild game:

More at the USCL blog.

The Big Squeeze

2008-09-05T14:03:00.001-05:00

Blaze Game of the Week: Naroditsky vs. Young

“A knight on the rim is grim,” as chess players always say. But if you can force your opponent’s knight into the corner, where two “rims” meet, well, as Chessdad64 says, “A knight in the corner will make you a mourner.” Or maybe Sevan Muradian said it first.

No matter. What matters is that IM Angelo Young did indeed force a knight of San Francisco's FM Daniel Naroditsky into the h1 square during their game this week, rendering it ineffective. With strong pawn pushes, first on the queenside and then the kingside, Angelo squeezed his opponent and won the game.

Here it is. There’s no annotation, but I figure in this age of “user-generated content” we can count on you to supply that in the comments section. Those of you who know something about chess: please have at it.

Update (09/08): The game is now annotated here.

Blaze Hold on for Draw Vs. Frisco Powerhouse

2008-09-04T06:57:00.000-05:00

Blaze chief technology officer Sevan Muradian served as the official team glad-hander last night, congratulating the winning players: Mehmed Pasalic (top) and Angelo Young.

After beating the Dallas Destiny last week, the San Francisco Mechanics may have thought they’d make short work of the Chicago Blaze. But the Bay Area powerhouse, which some say is the strongest team in the U.S. Chess League after their defeat of the defending champions from Texas, were thwarted in their march to glory as the new team from the Windy City posted two victories last night to come away with a draw for the match.

Though the Mechanics’ blog spoke of compounding the Blaze’s misery after our opening-week loss to the Arizona Scorpions, the Blaze gave as good as they got from the Holiday Inn Skokie, as FM (IM-elect) Mehmed Pasalic beat FM Sam Shankland and FM Daniel Naroditsky fell to IM Angelo Young of the Blaze.

Mehmed, who is undefeated in the first two weeks of play, posted the first victory of the night. At that point it looked like it could be a big evening for the Blaze, but then FM Florin Felecan lost a hard-fought game to GM-elect Josh Friedel, and IM Emory Tate’s characteristically wild and wooly game with IM Vinay Bhat dropped into the San Francisco W column. It fell to Angelo to pull it out for the Blaze, and he did so masterfully, going up on time against Daniel Naroditsky and squeezing the California FIDE Master’s position. Naroditsky resigned at about 10:45 PM Chicago time.

Don’t get me wrong: the Blaze would have been thrilled with a victory for the night, but considering this was only our second match and we were again facing an opponent with an overall ratings advantage, most of the team was satisfied with the result.

Here are the games, in order of board number:

1. FM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs IM Josh Friedel (SF) 0-1
2. IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 1-0
3. FM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) vs FM Sam Shankland (SF) 1-0
4. FM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) vs IM Angelo Young (CHC) 0-1

We hope to have more later on—maybe some analysis later in the week. Please look at the games, leave your comments, and stay tuned. The Blaze are starting to set the league on fire.

P.S. Many thanks to Maret Thorpe for first-rate tournament direction last night.

photos by Chessdad64

Update (09/06): See a commentary on the match by IM Vinay Bhat of the Mechanics.

This Week's Opponent: San Francisco

2008-08-31T21:38:00.000-05:00

Here are the matchups for this week's meet between the Chicago Blaze and the San Francisco Mechanics. The Mechanics beat the defending champion Dallas Destiny in their first meet last week, and they have significant ratings advantages against Chicago on two of the fours boards. "Really tough match this week, but there should be some interesting games," Manager Glenn Panner told the players tonight.

Please tune in at 7:30 Wednesday night on the Internet Chess Club, or better yet come to the Holiday Inn Skokie and cheer the team in person.

Here's the lineup. The Blaze players are in bold.

Chicago Blaze (0.0-1.0) vs San Francisco Mechanics (1.0-0.0)
Starts at 7:30 PM Central time

Wednesday, September 3
Time Control - Game 75 with 30 second increment

FM Florin Felecan (2449) vs. IM Josh Friedel(2595)

IM Vinay Bhat (2481) vs. IM Emory Tate (2392)

FM Mehmed Pasalic (2375) vs. FM Sam Shankland (2364)

FM Daniel Naroditsky (2321) vs. IM Angelo Young (2356)

Blaze Avg Rating: 2393

Mechanics Avg Rating: 2440

Blaze Game of the Week

2008-08-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

Ilan Meerovich vs Warren Harper
Board 4, Chicago vs Arizona, 08/25/08
Annotation by Chicago Blaze Manager Glenn Panner

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3
Here Ilan surprises the Arizona preparation, which was looking for 4. e3.

4. ... Bxc3 5. bxc3 c5 6. f3 d5
The Saemisch variation, from a different move order. Normally White will play f3 on move 4, with the idea of pushing e4 and getting a rolling pawn mass in the center. Black's plan would be to play b6 and Ba6 to pile up on the weak doubled c pawn.

7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qd3
Protecting c3 and reinforcing the e3 push. The Q also is now in a better spot to get to black's kingside if needed.

8. ... f5?
While this move can be played in e3 Nimzo-Indians, here it does not prevent the e4 push and weakens the e6 pawn, and can even create a super-highway to the kingside.

9. e4 fxe4 10. fxe4 Ne7 11. Nf3 0-0
White is free to develop here naturally without much pressure and a choice of plans, either to roll his pawns down the center or to attack kingside. Black does not have a clear plan here, and is cramped.

12. Be2 Nec6 13. O-O Nd7
I believe the Black plan here is to try to force e5 to get some counterplay. Blockade the d6 square, allow the B to activate, and perhaps find some holes for the Ns to park in.

14. Be3 Qe7 15. e5!
Ilan has decided here that the e5 push seals off several black pieces from getting to the kingside to defend, cements the e6 pawn as a permanent weakness, and takes clear advantage of the more mobile white pieces. This is a great example of when to lock up the center for White.

15. ... h6
Harper had to stop White from playing Ng5 not only with the idea of the Qxh7 mate threat but the nearly as threatening N tour from g5 to e4 to land on d6 crippling Black. The problem now for Black is the weakening of the light squares.

16. Qg6! Qf7 17. Qg3! Qh5
Two very accurate moves preparing for the lightning and thunder.

18. Nh4!
I would call this a sacrifice, but Ilan gets the material back so quickly I don't know that I can. This pretty move deflects the lone black defender from the king.

18. ... Qxe2 19. Bxh6 Rf7 20. Rxf7 Kxf7
Removing the defender.

21. Qxg7+ Ke8
Meerovich puts Harper out of his misery very efficiently here.

22. Qg8 Nf8 23. Qxf8 Kd7 24. Qd6+ Ke8 25. Rf1
Black resigns. 1-0

chess viewer by ChessVideos.tv

Greg Pulls Back the Curtain

2008-08-28T09:21:00.000-05:00

A producer of chess videos named “curtains,” who is generally understood to be U.S. Chess League Commissioner Greg Shahade, has annotated the games in last Monday's match between the Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions at ChessVideos.tv.

Good stuff and well worth watching. Notice how Greg describes the key move in Ilan Meerovich’s victory over NM Warren Harper: 18. Nh4.

Hat tip: Brad and Sevan.

More Pictures

2008-08-27T01:22:00.000-05:00

The Blaze may not have won our first match, but we did have the good fortune to have Betsy Dynako as our tournament director last night. In addition to being a certified TD, Betsy is also the best chess photographer in the country. If you read Chess Life or Chess Life Online, you've seen plenty of her photos. Here are some she took during last nights' match with the Arizona Scorpions. More photos here.

Ilan Meerovich is nonchalant about his victory, but Sevan Muradian is pretty psyched about it.

Jan does a long think

IM Mehmed Pasalic battled IM Mark Ginsburg to a draw.

Blaze Fall to Arizona in Season Opener

2008-08-26T07:04:00.000-05:00

The Blaze lineup for its first match, from left: IM Jan Van De Mortel, IM Mehmed Pasalic, Ilan Meerovich, NM Jon Burgess

Jon Burgess and Tournament Director Betsy Dynako joke as Betsy collects the players' cell phones before the game.

Niles North High School star Ilan Meerovich overcame a 170-point ratings deficit against National Master Warren Harper last night to post the sole victory for the Chicago Blaze, as the Windy City's new chess team lost its first match, the U.S. Chess League season opener, to the Arizona Scorpions.

The score was 2.5-1.5, a perfectly respectable showing for the Blaze considering that Arizona enjoyed a ratings advantage on all fours boards. IM Mehmed Pasalic was the other Blaze player to get on the scoreboard, with a 70-move draw against Arizona IM Mark Ginsburg that went late into the night.

The key to victory for Ilan was a ferocious kingside attack that deconstructed Harper's Nimzo-Indian Defense, prompting the Arizona master to resign on move 25. See all the games here:

1. IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0

2. FM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) vs IM Mark Ginsburg (ARZ) 1/2-1/2

3. FM Robby Adamson (ARZ) vs NM Jon Burgess (CHC) 1-0

4. Ilan Meerovich (CHC) vs NM Warren Harper (ARZ) 1-0

Thanks to the four Blaze players and also to Betsy Dynako for serving as tournament director. Next up: the Blaze face the San Franciso Mechanics on Wednesday, September 3, at 7:30 Central Time.

Update (8/27): Blaze Manager Glenn Panner, who unfortunately had to be out of town for the first match, has this to say on his blog.

USCL Season Kicks Off with Blaze-Scorpions Match

2008-08-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions, both new expansion teams in the United States Chess League, will go head to head Monday night in a match that will lead off the league's 2008 season, and the chess world is all abuzz about it.

According to an article just posted on the U.S. Chess Federation's Web site:

"The United States Chess League kicks off its 4th Season starting this Monday, August 25, 2008, with a match between the two newest teams in the league, the Arizona Scorpions and the Chicago Blaze. Both of these expansion teams are excited to participate in such a prestigious league. The remaining matches for Week 1 (see below) will be played on Wednesday, August 27,
2008."

The Blaze will gather for its historic first match at the Holiday Inn in Skokie, the new mecca for chess on the North Shore, where they will play against the Scorpions via the Internet Chess Club. The matchups for Monday night's meet are:

Board 1 IM Levon Altounian v IM Jan Van De Mortel
Board 2 IM Mehmed Pasalic v IM Mark Ginsburg
Board 3 FM Robby Adamson v NM Jon Burgess
Board 4 CM Ilan Meerovich v NM Warren Harper

The Blaze players are in bold. They all live in Chicago or the surrounding suburbs.

Tune in Monday night to ICC at 8:30 Central time Monday night, or come to the Holiday Inn to cheer the team in person. The Blaze are here to set the league on fire!

The Leader of the Pack

2008-08-09T19:52:00.000-05:00

The fortunes of America's top chess players in this year's championship tournament are chronicled in the current issue of Chess Life magazine, and top billing goes to Barrington, Ill.-based GM Yury Shuman, who led the pack and brought the championship home to the Prairie State.

Yury, a member of the Chicago Blaze, had finished a close second at the championship meet two years ago. This year he arrived at the event in Tulsa knowing he had a good chance to win. He also knew he'd have to outplay reigning champion Alex Shabalov as well as former champs GMs Boris Gulko and Alexander Onischuk and other hungry competitors, like GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Varuzhan Akobian, IM Josh Friedel (who earned his final grandmaster norm in Tulsa), and Blaze teammate GM Dmitry Gurevich.

Here are two of Yury's most exciting games from the eight-round event. Check out the tripled-pawn situation he overcame in the endgame against IM David Preuss. And see why Chess Life Online used the word "carnage" to characterize Yury's seventh-round confrontation with GM Julio Becerra-Rivero.

Chicago Blaze Announced

2008-07-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

The Illinois Chess Association and the Chicago Blaze have issued this press release today:

For Immediate Release

Big League Chess Comes to Chicago

Illinois Chess Association Forms Chicago Blaze for U.S. Chess League

CHICAGO, July 10, 2008—Big league chess will finally come to Chicago this summer, when the Chicago Blaze (http://www.chicagoblazechess.com/), a new team with several of the area’s top chess players, joins the United States Chess League (USCL) and competes against teams across the country.

The Blaze is an initiative of the Illinois Chess Association, which made the announcement today.

The Blaze boasts several of America’s strongest chess players, all of whom live and play in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. The initial roster includes Grandmaster Yury Shulman, the 2008 United States Chess Champion; Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich; International Masters Angelo Young and Jan Van De Mortel; FIDE Master Mehmed Pasalic, and experts Adam Strunk and Ilan Meerovich. Pasalic recently completed the requirements for the international master title and is expected to receive it shortly from the World Chess Federation.

The team will be managed by Glenn Panner, a chess expert and national tournament director based in Frankfort, Ill. Chicago-based Sevan Muradian, the U.S. Chess Federation’s organizer of the year for 2007, will serve as assistant manager.

“It’s great to have a team from Chicago in the league,” said International Master Greg Shahade, commissioner of the USCL. “It’s a town with a great chess tradition, and with all their talent, the Blaze could be a contender from day one.”

The USCL is a organization of professional chess teams from across the country that play matches during a ten-week season that runs from late August through late October and is then followed by playoffs and a championship. Last year the league had twelve teams, from New York and Boston to Seattle and San Francisco, but until now none from Chicago. Two expansion teams will be admitted for the 2008 regular season, the Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions. USCL matches are played online, via the Internet Chess Club.

The schedule is available at http://blazechess.blogspot.com/2008/06/blaze-schedule-announced.html.

“The Blaze will be an integral part of the Chicago and Illinois chess communities,” said Panner. “We want everyone who enjoys chess to be part of the fan base. It will be good for the city, good for the state, and good for the game.”

About the Illinois Chess Association
The Illinois Chess Association is the official U.S. Chess Federation affiliate for the Prairie State. The ICA organizes major tournaments such as the Illinois Open and the Illinois Class Championships and helps bring national tournaments to the state. Members receive the award-winning Illinois Chess Bulletin. The Illinois Chess Association is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, and donations to the group are tax-deductible.

About Chess Titles
Superior chess players can earn a variety of titles from the World Chess Federation (French acronym: FIDE) and the U.S. Chess Federation based on their tournament performances.

FIDE titles are the highest and include, in descending order of strength, grandmaster, international master, and FIDE master. American players can earn titles such as national master and expert from the U.S. Chess Federation.

# # #

Contact

Blaze Schedule Announced

2008-06-25T06:31:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Chess League has announced the schedule for the 2008 season, and here's the lineup of matches for the Chicago Blaze:

WEEK 1
Monday, August 25
Arizona Scorpions vs Chicago Blaze
8:30 PM CT

WEEK 2
Wednesday, September 3
Chicago Blaze vs San Francisco Mechanics
7:30 PM CT

WEEK 3
Wednesday, September 10
Chicago Blaze vs Tennessee Tempo
7:00 PM CT

WEEK 4
Monday, September 15
Seattle Sluggers vs Chicago Blaze
8:00 PM CT

WEEK 5
Wednesday, September 24
Baltimore Kingfishers vs Chicago Blaze
6:15 PM CT

WEEK 6
Wednesday, October 1
Chicago Blaze vs Miami Sharks
7:00 PM CT

WEEK 7
Wednesday, October 8th
Tennessee Tempo vs Chicago Blaze
7:15 PM CT

WEEK 8
Wednesday, October 15
Chicago Blaze vs Queens Pioneers
7:00 PM CT

WEEK 9
Wednesday, October 22
Chicago Blaze vs Arizona Scorpions
8:30 PM CT

WEEK 10
Wednesday, October 29
Dallas Destiny vs Chicago Blaze
7:15 PM CT

All USCL games are played online, on the Internet Chess Club. The Blaze will play their games at IM Angelo Young's Touch Move Chess Center, 5639 North Ashland Avenue, in Chicago.

Please mark you calendar and plan to follow the games. Fans are welcome to attend each match in person, or they can follow them on ICC.

Pasalic Earns Third IM Norm

2008-05-23T23:26:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Chicago FM Mehmed Pasalic, who has just earned his third norm for the International Master title during the 11th North American FIDE Invitational, at the Touch Move Chess Center in Chicago.

“Last night after a draw with Robert Loncarevic, Mehmed played Aleksander Stamnov and won, securing his final IM norm,” said tournament organizer Sevan Muradian of the North American Chess Association.

Mehmed is a member of the Chicago Blaze and will become the team's third IM, joining Angelo Young and Jan van Der Mortel.

The tournament action concludes tonight. Go up to Touch Move to see it in person, or follow it on MonRoi.

In other news, congratulations to the Niles North High School chess team, which got a nice write-up in a North Suburban newspaper this week. The team's star, Ilan Meerovich is, you guessed it, a member of the Chicago Blaze.

Shulman is U.S. Champion!

2008-05-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

The new United States Chess Champion is Chicago-area Grandmaster Yury Shulman, a member of the new Chicago Blaze chess team. Details at USCF. Anna Zatonskih won the women's title (her second time, I think) beating incumbent Irina Krush and others in a tough tournament.

In other news, Chicago chess will be "blazing" this summer, according to USCF. Next on tap: the Chicago Open, where Ray School Chess Club members Sonam Ford and Phillip Parker-Turner will be playing this weekend. (Note to Hyde Parkers: members of the University of Chicago Chess Team will be there, too.)

More as I have the time.

Congratulations to Yury and everyone else.

Dateline: Skokie

2008-03-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

Adam Strunk (left) of the Chicago Blaze with tournament organizer Sevan Muradian

The Holiday Inn in Skokie was the center of local chess action this weekend, combing tournaments for the Illinois Girls’ State Championship, the Susan Polgar girls qualifier, and the Arnold Denker meet to determine the top high school chess player in Illinois.

Your humble blogger was there, and so was that national chess power couple IM Irina Krush and GM Pascal Charbonneau. Pascal reviewed games with the Denker guys as Irina helped preside over the Polgar tournament while preparing to face Armenian women’s champion IM Lilit Mkrtchian this week.

Members of the Chicago Blaze were on hand, including Adam Strunk and Ilan Meerovich, who competed in the Denker tournament. IM Jan van de Mortel stopped in as well, and it was all copasetic, despite the fact that Irina and Pascal are part of the Blaze’s U.S. Chess League rivals, the New York Knights (she as the team’s manager; he as Board One).

It wasn’t all sweetness and light, however. I lost a game to Chessdad64 that I probably could have won, since I was up a piece at one point. Once again my weakness in middle-game tactics (and his tactical strength) got the better of me, and I blew my advantage. Worst of all, since I botched the recording of the game, I’ll never figure out where I went wrong. Hence don’t look for that game on Wacky Wednesday.

U.S. Women's Champion IM Irina Krush (center) presents trophies to Polgar competition winners Sonya Vohra and Victoria Bian. (Hat tip: Glenn)

GM Pascal Charbonneau (right) reviews a game with two Denker players. That's Kevin Velazquez in the foreground.

Local chess leaders Maret Thorpe and Chris Christmas explore the Exchange Variantion of the Ruy Lopez.

Blaze Logo Unveiled

2008-03-05T23:19:00.000-06:00

In one of the first steps toward making the Chicago Blaze a full part of the U.S. Chess League, Commissioner Greg Shahade today unveiled the team’s new logo on the league’s Web site. I think it’s gorgeous. The logo was created by Michael LeGrand and Dan Halka under Greg’s direction and with a lot of input from Blaze people here in Chicago. Many thanks for a great job. As the USCL site explains, the emblem represents the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the surviving Water Tower on North Michigan Ave., whose structure conveniently happens to suggest a bunch of chess rooks.

The Chicago Blaze will be a new expansion team in the USCL, a league of professional chess teams from around the country. Until now the league has had no Chicago team, but the area’s top players have rallied around the Blaze and should make it a contender from day one. Details here and here, and stay tuned for more Blaze developments in the weeks and months ahead.

By the way, in case you hadn’t heard, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow has been all but totally exonerated and cleared of any culpability in starting the fire. Alas, however: justice delayed is justice denied, and the poor bovine is no longer here to enjoy the sweet satisfaction of getting her good name back.

More Top Players Join Blaze

2008-01-19T23:14:00.000-06:00

The Chicago Blaze got good news last week when two more of Illinois’ top players agreed to join the team. Grandmaster Yury Shulman and International Master Jan Van De Mortel will be members of the Blaze when it represents the Windy City in the U.S. Chess League next season.

Yury and Jan are both well known in Chicago-area chess circles. Yury, who came that close to winning the U.S. Championship in 2006, runs his chess school out of Barrington, and Jan is a mainstay of Chess Education Partners. He also lives in Hyde Park and teaches chess at the Neighborhood Club.

The guys will join the previously announced players, which include GM Dmitry Gurevitch, IM Angelo Young, FM Mehmed Pasalic, and experts Adam Strunk and Ilan Meerovich. These new roster additions boost the Blaze’s chances of being a top contender in the league from day one. More here from team manager Glenn Panner, who has the enviable task of juggling all this local fire power.

Get it? Fire power? Blaze? Go ahead and groan if you like, but get use to it. You’ll be hearing a lot more bad puns when the team sets the town on fire. (Oops.)

Big League Chess Comes to Chicago

2007-12-27T13:12:00.000-06:00

USCL picks Windy City for expansion

It’s a great day for Chicago. IM Greg Shahade, commissioner of the United States Chess League (USCL), has announced today on the league’s Web site that the Chicago Blaze will be one of two new expansion teams to join the league next season. Big league chess has come to Chicago at last.

The USCL is a organization of competitive professional chess teams from across the country that play matches during a ten-week season that runs from late August to late October and is then followed by playoffs and a championship. The league currently has twelve teams from New York and Boston to Seattle and San Francisco but until now no team from Chicago. It’s the equivalent of Major League Baseball for chess, a fact that the league’s logo makes no attempt to disguise.

The difference, of course, is that USCL players aren’t pampered and over-paid celebrities; they’re just strong chess players who represent their cities for a little bit of money and a lot of civic pride. Their accessibility will make the Blaze a great opportunity to promote chess generally in Chicago.

The team roster includes GM Dmitry Gurevich, IM Angelo Young, FM Mehmed Pasalic, and young experts Adam Strunk and Ilan Meerovich. Glenn Panner, chess expert, tournament director, and organizer extraordinaire will be the team’s manager. The Blaze will play their matches on the Internet Chess Club from Angelo’s Touch Move Chess Center.

The Blaze is an initiative of the Illinois Chess Association, and thanks must go to ICA President Chris Merli for supporting the project, to ace blogger and chess dad Brad Rosen for proposing the arrangement, and to über-organizer Sevan Muradian for recruiting players and spearheading the discussions with the USCL that led to today’s announcement. There would be no Blaze without Sevan. Nor without Evanston chess mom and ICA activist Maret Thorpe, who came up with the team name, and chess mom Andi Rosen, whose ideas and outreach to players at crucial stages were, well . . . crucial.

I’m also proud and honored to be a part of the Blaze supporting cast (no, not as a player, heaven forbid), and I’m looking forward to working with all of these fine people to bring big-league chess to Chicago.

There’s more on Glenn’s blog, and Brad’s site will probably have something on it soon. There will be more in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.