Blaze Shines at USAT

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!

This Match Promises to be a Scorcher

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

Next Up: Jersey

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.

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.

Deja Vu

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