Week 4: Real Time Blogging Returns

11:11pm

And Mac has won! And the Knockouts crush the Blitz 3-1!! Until next week.

10:48pm

An exciting finish on Board 3 -- both players under a minute. Boston has to win in order to draw the match.

10:46pm

Joel just came over to me and gave me the double thumbs up. He's pretty psyched that the KOs have at least drawn.

10:45pm

And Dean Ippolito pulls it out! A big win for NJ on Board 2. The Knockouts have at least drawn the match!

10:40pm

A nice maneuver by Dean Ippolito on Board 2 (34...Nc6), has brought Board 2 back into New Jersey's favor. With a wild melee on Board 3, it is still anybody's ballgame.


10:28pm

When "El Capitan" says "Take a picture of the donuts, blogger!", you do not question. You obey. Thus, here are the Boston Cremes!

10:21pm

Captain Joel Benjamin is carefully studying the demonstration boards, seeing where the next New Jersey point will come from. On Board 2, the situation is still tight, with Dean having five minutes remaining, and Shmelov eight.

10:12pm

And Larry Christensen, lost from move 8, has resigned. Boston and New Jersey now tied 1-1!

10:08pm

Yes, Jayson resigned. Boston up 1-0.

10:05pm

Doesn't look good for the Knockouts on Board 4. Jayson made an error in an endgame in which he was already down, and a few tactics later, he should be down some serious material.

9:47pm

Once again, the room is cold tonight. Jayson Lian has his arms completely tucked inside his t-shirt. Joel Benjamin and Dean Ippolito are folding their arms and covering up. Mac Moldner has half his face inside the front of his shirt.

Clearly no one is going to fall asleep for fear of hypothermia!

9:40pm

Number of people watching the games:
Benjamin: 194
Ippolito: 67
Molner: 54
Lian: 56

9:35pm

Denys Shmelov has bravely declined to take Dean Ippolito's rook on board 2, so the draw is not actually forced. Dean will now have to slug it out with the Blitz player.

9:30pm

Jayson Lian is in tough shape, but he's concentrating very hard at his terminal. Wearing a green t-shirt and jeans, he's been exceedingly still for the half-hour I've been on site.

9:24pm

Dean has just taken 16...Rxe4, probably now forcing the draw on Board 2.

9:22pm

IM Dean Ippolito has been on move for about 15 minutes. He keeps getting up to survey the other boards, deciding whether to force the draw or not.

9:07pm

Now that we've passed the two hour mark, let's recap all the boards.

On Board 1, after a huge blunder in the opening, GM Larry Christensen finds himself down a queen for two bishops against New Jersey Knockout captain GM Joel Benjamin. GM Joel, as usual, is way down on time, with about 20 minutes left to LarryC's 52 minutes. They are on move 18.

On Board 2, IM Dean Ippolito's Nimzo-Indian has brought him to a position where he can practically force a draw if he wants. With 16...Rxe4 17.fxe4 Qh3+, a perpetual could ensue. This might be just the result the Knockouts want on Board 2, with Joel winning on Board 1.

On Board 3, material is virtually equal in Mac Molner's game against Riordan. Mac's slightly better pawn structure may balance out Riordan's development, but it looks like this will be a tough fight.

On Board 4, the Knockout's Jayson Lian is down a pawn against clearly underrated Marc Esserman -- both have a queen, rook, and dark-squared bishop, The game is wide open, with potentially a lot of tactics.

9:03pm

Realtime blogging is back, now from Lincoln Park, NJ, the Chapel Hill Academy. The players have been moving up and about for the past few minutes. Mac Molner took a stroll, Dean ippolito walked around the room and inspected all the boards. Joel Benjamin rushed out of the room with a grimace on his face.

7:54pm

Well, it is time to sign off for about an hour. We'll be back with more live coverage from the New Jersey site at 9:00pm!

7:51pm

The word is that after Joel made the 8.Be3 move, he got up, got a Boston Creme donut, and devoured it. Take that, Blitzpatzers!

7:49pm

Word from the front... Boston Creme Donuts at the site!!!

7:47pm

He played it! The crowd is amped up now for an epic struggle of Man versus Blitz.

7:45pm

On Board 1, GM Joel could play a very cute and exciting move, 8.Be3. The fans are cheering for that move! Play it Joel! Make the fans go WILD!!

7:38pm

Dean Ippolito really impresses me as a solid tournament player. He tries to win as white and will play solidly and draw with black. He doesn't take too many unnecessary risks. He plays in tournaments frequently, and runs his own chess school located in Branchburg, NJ, (see deanofchess.com).

Check out the results from last week's Miami Open... While he didn't have a spectacular tournament, he never lost, and drew several GMs. Very very solid.

He's also a super-friendly, nice, normal guy.

7:30pm

Ok, this really is a "break the opening principle" night.

• Benjamin has a knight developed to a3
• Christensen pulled his queen out on move 4
• Shmelov pushed four pawns, and developed a knight to h3
• Ippolito moved five pawns, the same knight twice, and it ended up on h5
• Molner pushed his rook pawn
  

Only Riordan on board 3, and both players on board 4 have read their Reinfeld recently.

7:25pm

Kerpow! Something really got into Esserman -- Smith Morra on board 4!

7:21pm

Both sides clearly needs to brush up on their opening principles. Riordan's got his knight on a5, and Ippolito's got his on a5.

Tsk tsk tsk...

7:19pm

Esserman decided to show up. My challenge clearly emboldened him.

7:15pm

Esserman has decided not to show up for his game against fourth board Jayson Lian. Clearly afraid...

7:13pm

On Board 3, Mac Molner has tossed out the Guioco Piano against Riordan, and Riordan has played a Two Knights Defense. As most of the Knockouts' fans, groupies, and entourages know, Big Mac's rarely has a "Quiet Game" and this is likely to be a Guioco Forte instead.

7:11pm

On Board 1, Larry has thrown out a Sicilian with the hyper-accelerated 2...g6. Joel is pondering the brashness of Larry's foolish play.

7:09pm

IM Dean Ippolito on Board 2 has thrown out a Nimzo-Indian against Denys Shmelov. The commentary points out that he didn't lose a game last weekend in Miami. He drew several GMs and ended with a solid result.

7:07pm

And they're off! The games have started.

On Board 1, GM Joel Benjamin has essayed his king pawn a double square foray toward GM Larry Christensen's evil Blitz territory.

7:03pm

The natives are restless... The games have not started yet.... We wanna game! We wanna game!

6:58pm

I am watching the games from here, and will transfer to the New Jersey playing site around 9pm. From there, I can make insidious and flippant comments, like I usually do. But for right now, it looks like I'll have to concentrate on the games.

6:44pm

Live from Wizards of the Mind chess club, here in Springfield, New Jersey.... its real-time blogging of the New Jersey - Boston match in the USCL! How can I blog from here, you ask? Stay tuned!

3:13pm

Real time blogging of the New Jersey Knockouts' match against the Boston Blitz returns tonight! Watch theKnockouts make the pizza-crazed Boston players wish they were stuck on the Garden State Parkway on a beach-travel morning, rather than being demolished by the talents of Benjamin, Ippolito, Molner, and Lian.

The match starts at 7pm, and the blogging will start late, around 9pm or so, as the match is in full swing! So stay tuned to this post, as it will be updated through the evening!