10:54pm
An interesting endgame in the Ippolito Costigan game. Who will queen first?
10:38pm
Dean is slowing pushing his advantage. If he wins, it will be a huge win for Knockouts. As it is, though, a win is a win!
10:27pm
Andrew Ng has gone home, probably to do his homework. Joel Benjamin is talking with Michael Khodarkovsky, manager and assistant manager planning strategy for the next match, as they await the conclusion of Dean Ippolito's game.
10:18pm
And Andrew has won! The Knockouts win the match 2.5 - 1.5! Only Dean Ippolito's game to finish up!
10:17pm
Andrew is now way ahead.
10:09pm
Andrew looks like he's trying to finish off the game, but he's standing up, pacing around in his t-shirt, since it is so cold in this room.
Now he's coughing. Poor kid is going to get pneumonia!
10:03pm
Ah! Kudrin and Benjamin saw the draw offer, finally, and Board 1 is drawn. The Knockouts lead 1.5 - 0.5
10:02pm
Kudrin and Benjamin just offered a draw to each other. And Joel missed seeing it.
10:00pm
Andrew Ng has emerged from downtown Tactics City up an exchange, but way low on time. He will just need to solidly tiptoe through any potential conterplay and finish off his opponent.
9:53pm
Nice illustration of basic endgame principles on Board 1. In a Bishop endgame, put all your pawns on squares of the opposite color on which the bishop travels. Each side has a dark squared bishop, each side has all their pawns on light squares.
9:51pm
Joel Benjamin just got up, walked over and checked out Dean Ippolito's game. It looks pretty equal, but what do I know? Since the game is wide open, it will probably be decided by a flurry of tactics in time trouble.
Just a guess, though.
9:49pm
Ker-SMASH! Andrew Ng blew apart Black's pawns with the anvil-splitting 24.Nxe6!
9:44pm
On Board 4, Andrew Ng had a nice long think, before uncorking the powerful move 23.Bh5. The threats to f7 are mounting, and his opponent, Elvin Wilson, must do some serious de-stickying to get out of this jam.
9:42pm
On Board 1, Joel Benjamin's game is looking pretty drawish. Same colored square bishops, pawns equal on each side of the board. White's king is still centralized, but it would be difficult to work it.
9:34pm
The team is deep in thought. Joel is staring intently at the computer monitor, but both Andrew and Dean are overlooking their physical boards.
Boris Gulko is in the hallway, chatting!
9:25pm
Andrew Ng is walking quickly around the room. He may be confident about his attack along the h-file, but my bet is that he's also freezing. It is about 58 degrees in here again, and he's only wearing a t-shirt!
9:23pm
Bryan Smith made a blunder, and Gulko played c7, which ended the game immediately. Gulko wins! The Knockouts are ahead 1-0.
9:18pm
Gulko is striding confidently around the room, observing the other games.
9:15pm
On Board 3, ultra solid Dean Ippolito is having no problems with IM Richard Costigan. Costigan has had some good results in the league, but probably hasn't had the luxury of playing too many 2500s on board 3.
9:12pm
To my eye, Board 1, between Joel Benjamin and Sergey Kudrin, looks relatively even. Kudrin's kng is centralized, and he only has two pawn groups (as compared with Benjamin's three), but material is even, and it looks like Joel should not have a problem holding the position.
9:09pm
Gulko just played the exchange sac 23.Rc6, which the chatter seems to believe is a winning or a nearly-winning move. The spectators in the room are getting excited by this. Gulko's victi... opponent, IM Bryan Smith, will have to do some serious tap dancing to defend.
9:05pm
I just got to the site a few minutes ago, so I thought I would give a few match updates. It is a big week in Knockout history. The Knockouts have the strongest average line up in the history of the USCL. Board 1 and 2 are GMs Joel Benjamin and Boris Gulko. Board 3 is IM Dean Ippolito. Board 4 is Knockout alternate, and underrated junior Andrew Ng.
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