Cobras, Real time blog week 8 and webcam

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10:58pm

Next week, New Jersey takes on Miami and tries to lock up a playoff berth.

10:54pm

In the span of a few minutes, several things happened -- and the match ended.

Ju resigned his game, after his attack fizzled.

Molner lost the thread, lost a piece, and lost the game.

Milman resigned and Joel won.

Shen and Jones agreed to a draw.

Carolina wins a squeaker, 2.5 - 1.5.

10:38pm

On Board 2, Mac Molner is up a piece for some pawns, in a very entertaining position. Will he be able to pull it off? He seems to excel in unbalanced positions.

10:31pm

On Board 4, Victor Shen is down to 50 seconds or so. It is going to be tight there too!

10:29pm

On Board 3, Evan Ju is down to 38 seconds in a crazy position. His opponent must play carefully to counter Evan's speculative attack.

10:19pm

I always wondered. A sacrifice is called a "sac". But which is correct, "saccing" or "sacking"?

10:17pm

Joel is walking from game to game, checking out all the other players' action. His serpentine movements are ironic.

10:05pm

The room is quiet as the tension in palpable.

On Board 1, Joel Benjamin has a menacing position, with his knight squarely in the center of Milman's esophagus.

On Board 2, Mac Molner has some space, and a decent time advantage, but it is not clear whether it is enough for the pawn.

On Board 3, Evan Ju forayed a rook onto f5, sacking a pawn in the process. A risky move by the young man, but his play is inspired.

On Board 4, Victor Shen, down on the clock but with an even position, looks like it will be down to the wire.

9:45pm

Joel Benjamin's pieces are slowing making their way toward Milman's king. With a few more exchanges, Joel could see a solid plus.

9:40pm

On Board 1, a third mate-in-one threat from Joel Benjamin. Trying to see if his opponent will fall for it. (wink, wink)

9:38pm

On Board 3, Simpson is trying to open the position against Evan Ju. Ju's next move will be to bludgeon Simpson's thorax with his mighty pieces of doom.

9:35pm

On Board 2, Mac Molner is trying to figure out how to hold his initiative for his sacked pawn. White looks pretty solid, though, so it might be time for Mac to rip the intestines out of his opponent's position.

9:25pm

Back on Board 1, Joel has thrust his bishop into the love handles of Milman's position with the pointy Bh6!

9:19pm

Evan Ju is having a long think about his fifteenth move. It seems like this is the critical position on how he is going to break the game open.

9:15pm

After a couple of munchkins, its back to blogging. Victor Shen has loosened up his position, with an exchange of rooks along the a-file.

8:54pm

Victor Shen is down on time by a big margin on board four. White also has the bishop pair and more space. Looks like Victor will have to do something drastic to get back in the game.

8:50pm

On Board 2, Mac has his big wood ready to smash White's queenside pawns, which theink they're going somewhere.

8:44pm

GM Alex Yermolinsky is commenting on Joel's game on board 1. He said that Milman's parrying of Joel's mate-in-one threats was "no fun". We agree!

8:43pm

The games all seem to be tight. For a change, it appears like New Jersey has time advantage on three of the four boards, which is unusual

8:39pm

Joel Benjamin is throwing around another mate-in-one threat.

8:38pm

The ubiquitous back up alarm is going off again! Ah, it stopped.

8:36pm

On Board 2, Carolina's Zaikov is trying to emulate a Fischer Random setup, but putting all his pieces on the first rank.

8:34pm

Joel's Ng5 throws out the mate in one threat. Maybe Milman will do a Kramnik and not see it?

8:20pm

Joel Benjamin will be commentating on the Internet Chess Club on the World Chess Championship, which starts tomorrow. The game tonight serves as a good warmup for it!

8:14pm

On Board 2, Mac Molner has some wide open a- and b-files. I expect that's where his attack will begin on the defenseless Cobra.

8:07pm

Joel is pacing the room like an expectant father, or so he said earlier. Indeed, both Evan Ju and Victor Shen are Joel's students.

8:03pm

On Board 1, Joel is trying his best to get in time trouble again. A fifteen minute think on move 13 for the little pawn push a2-a3. Certainly, there is deep meaning in the pawn push -- don't get me wrong -- but the pawn taking 15 minutes to go 2.25" means it was moving at 0.000142 miles per hour.

8:02pm

The room, once again, is cold, but not as bad as it has been before. The air conditioner is actually on today, because of the near 80 degree temperatures today in New Jersey.

7:59pm

We've not been known to have a plethora of fans show up to the site, but today we have a local Expert who's walking around the room taking in the games. All NJ fans are welcome to join the action here at the Chapel Hill Academy.

7:50pm

The webcam is a big hit among the fans, but it seems that Boston is dispensing with their webcam because it makes the players too uncomfortable. I find that really interesting, as players are used to being watched all the time at tournaments, and the webcam subscriptions (number of watchers) is usually so low.

7:47pm

On Board 4, Craig Jones of Carolina has pulled out a pure English against fourth board and second year Knockout Victor Shen. Both have spent about 10 minutes and are on the 9th move.

7:42pm

On Board 3, 2007 US Cadet Champion Evan Ju has pulled out a Ruy Lopez against FM Ron Simpson. On move 8, Evan is down on the clock nine minutes or so, and has just played Be3.

7:37pm

On Board 2, Mac Molner, true to his reputation, has essayed a Benko Gambit against FM Zaikov. Playing quickly and confidently, Mac has gained a minutes and a half on the clock already on move 12.

7:34pm

Joel Benjamin, first board and captain of of the NJ Knockouts, has an interesting Closed Sicilian against IM Lev Milman. Milman has played all seven games for the Cobras and has done well.

7:32pm

Hard to get the webcam aligned just right. Evan Ju is being cut out a bit from it.

7:24pm

Welcome to week 8 of the Knockouts' (presumably) championship season! We're live at the Chapel Hill Academy in Lincoln Park, NJ, to watch the Knockouts take on the second place Carolina Cobras!