The Game

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

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

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

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.

The Blaze Ignite

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.

Game of the Week Returns

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

Ehlvest is in the Building

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.”

The Blaze Sweep Tennessee

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

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.