Rosen Draws Robson in St. Louis

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.

That's All, Folks!

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?

Inventive Play

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

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

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

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

Big Man on Campus

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.

Felecan Shares State Championship

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

Being Eric Rosen

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

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.