GM Joel's Clinic for the Knockouts

BREAKING NEWS from the Dean of Chess Academy and NJ Knockout Dean Ippolito...

We here at Dean of Chess Academy have an exciting event planned! On Saturday September 24th from 5pm until 8pm, Grandmaster Joel Benjamin will be offering a three-hour clinic, where he will analyze games submitted by participants. GM Joel has won the US Championship three times, and he hosts a weekly chess radio show, "Game of the Week" on the Internet Chess Club.

This event will be a fundraiser for the New Jersey Knockouts, New Jersey's only professional chess team. Both Dean Ippolito and Joel Benjamin have been members of the Knockouts since its inception. DOCA is proud to host this unique instructional seminar, given by one of the leading chess teachers in the USA.

There will be a maximum of only 10 participants in the clinic, so Joel will have time to analyze each game thoroughly. Anyone age 14 and older is eligible to participate. If you are between 11 and 13 years old, you must be an experienced tournament player and must contact Dean directly for special permission to take part in this event.

The cost of GM Joel's clinic is only $75 (in advance) for the three hour session, and $100 space permitting at the door; all funds will go to the Knockouts -- please sign up at DOCA.

The Dean of Chess Academy is located at 3150 Rt. 22W, Branchburg NJ 08876.

Additionally, we will have a G/5 tournament immediately after the clinic. The G/5 will be a 6 round swiss and is open to everyone. The entry fee is $20 to members and $30 to non-members. The prizes are 40% of the total entry fees collected minus the TD fee for first place. 20% minus the TD fee will go to second, 10% minus the TD fee will go to 3rd. 5% minus TD fee will go to top Under 1600 (quick ratings used) and 5% to the top Under 1300. The remaining 20% will go to help fund the NJ Knockouts.

Benjamin Frankly: GM Joel Previews New Jersey's Playoffs

by GM Joel Benjamin

The New Jersey Knockouts find itself in an unaccustomed position. We weren’t quite prepared to clinch a playoff spot midway through the season, not after the brutal finishes to our first two seasons. And clinching the Eastern Division title with a round to spare…we kind of had to pinch ourselves after that. So we go into the playoffs with the top seed, giving us draw odds and choice of colors in the opening round. Our opponents, the Baltimore Kingfishers, are a formidable squad with a strong first board and good balance in their lineup. You can throw out the regular season records when you get to the playoffs, a point driven home to me by the Sunday Sports section of the New York Times. They assessed the strength of all 27 World Series Champion Yankee teams, rating the 2000 team as the worst, one of the worst World Series winners in history. That team, which won only 87 games, defeated my beloved Mets in five games. So while we remain confident, we temper our optimism with caution.

Lineups are affected by player availability. Probably every team will be kept from its ideal lineup at some point in the playoffs by logistical concerns. Both teams will have one of the two grandmasters on the roster in the match. Sergey Erenburg beat me twice last season, so I will be particularly determined to make a good showing on Monday night. We are going with Dean Ippolito and Mac Molner, two of our core players from the beginning, on two and three. Both of them played a bit less than in the past this year, but will be primed for the playoffs. Our fourth board, Sean Finn, was added to the roster late in the season as insurance for the playoffs. He looked good in two games for us—a draw with David Adelberg of Arizona, and a win over Jennifer Shahade of Philadelphia—so we think he’ll do a good job as well.

As the top seed, we got choice of colors. We had to choose before we knew their lineup, though they are fielding pretty much what we expected. With some teams, in may be clear on which boards you want the White pieces, but not always. I think the conventional wisdom is to choose White on one and three, on the theory that color makes a bigger difference for higher rated players than lower rated players. That seemed as good a reason as any to choose white on the odd boards. Indeed, New York and Arizona made the same call, with only Seattle choosing Black. I’m not surprised by the Sluggers’ decision, as Nakamura feels he can beat anybody with either color. If I were that good, maybe I would feel the same way. (If we make it through to the final against Seattle, we will have choice of color.)

The Kingfisher trio of Enkhbat, Uesugi, and Battsetseg are not particularly well versed in opening theory, but they are scrappy players who can be strong if they get the right type of position. On paper the teams are pretty even, but only needing to score two points to advance should make us a slight favorite. Hopefully we will be able to “reel in” their kings (or any other Baltimore-themed phrase in Bioniclime style) and advance to the Division finals.

Joel Benjamin's Top Five Reasons

by Joel Benjamin

I guess we aren’t really invincible. Arizona played a good match and certainly deserved to win. Ramirez played a good game, finishing with a combination that was even better than I thought after the game. I went home thinking that I missed a draw on the 37th move.

Here I played 37…Nc5 and lost. Who stops an h-pawn with a knight instead of a king? It’s certainly not instinctive. I moved some pieces around on the board after the end, and found the following draw:

37...Ke6 38.Bd4! [38.h6 Kf7] 38...Kf7 39.b4 Kg8 40.Kg3 Kh7 41.Kh4 [41.Kf4 Kh6 42.Kxf5 Kxh5 43.Ke5 c5 44.Bxc5 Nc3] 41...Kh6 and Black draws by a tempo; 42.Be3+ Kh7 43.Kg5 Nc3 44.Kxf5 Nd5 45.Bd2 Kg7 and whenever White’s king runs to the queenside, I snap the b4-pawn and play Kh6.

Of course this is complete nonsense because White play 38.b3! and wins easily. 38…c5 39.bxa4 bxa4 40.Bb2! and the bishop easily copes with Black’s pawns.

But everything happens for a reason, so I present...

The Top Five Reasons Why the Knockouts Lost

5) Joel’s kindergarten students gave bad advice

4) Arizona did not play Adamson, meaning disappointed fans had no opportunity for their “Larry, Larry” serenade. [At least Mets fans will get that one]

3) Dean overdosed on Red Bull and Five Hour Energy

2) They played better than us

1) NO DONUTS!!

Joel Benjamin's Midseason Report

Midseason Report
by Joel Benjamin

After five rounds, The New Jersey Knockouts are on top at 5-0 and all is well with the world. I thought I might share a few observations on the action so far...

The New York Knights

New York’s 2.5-2,5 record is misleading. The Knights have faced a brutal schedule, including the two strongest teams in the West (Seattle and San Francisco) and the invincible Knockouts. They’re strong at the corners with Kacheishvili and Norowitz, and improved production on board two could really turn things around. But will they give HOF GM Johnny a shot? The Knights will easily make the playoffs and have as good a chance as anyone to get through to the finals.

Inventors' Team Blueprint

Philadelphia had high hopes this season with the acquisition of Alex Lenderman, but Sergey Kudrin’s stunning 0-5 has killed them. The Inventors will have to win some games on board one if they have any hopes of making a miracle comeback for the playoffs.

Cinder-lina No More

Last year Carolina was a heart-warming Cinderella story, a balanced team with a competitive first board. Losing Lev Milman, who graduated from Duke and came home to play for Queens, was a big blow. Jon Schroer is playing out of position on board one, but the real reason for their 0-5 start is lack of production on bottom. Last year Ron Simpson notched 7 ½ out of 10 on board three. This year, against much stronger opposition, he is 0-4. Mojo apparently does not transfer from one season to the next.

New Jersey's Timing

New Jersey is a consistent 4-1 on boards one, two, and three. Our kids have not scored as well so far on board four. Does this mean we are vulnerable if our higher boards are held to a standoff, or unstoppable if we win board four? In the timing is everything department: The one time we lost board three, Anna Matlin won on board four to defeat the Inventors.

San Fran Panda

Every year I think San Francisco is the best team, but they don’t seem to be that in the end. Obviously Shankland is extremely tough on three and Yian Liou has been a find for them on board four, but they need for Josh “the Panda” Friedel to scarf down some magic bamboo and get going on board one.

Dallas's Destiny

The fans were all shocked to see Dallas start so poorly after winning the league title two years running. They still have a shot at the playoffs, especially if they do not resign prematurely for the rest of the season. You certainly don’t want to count out a team that can beat a powerful Boston squad 4-0! The Destiny will battle it out with Arizona and Tennessee for the last playoff spot in the West, and I don’t know who should be the favorite to get it.

Arizona's Bloggers

The Arizona Scorpions are winning the blogging race hands down, led by Mark Ginsburg’s consistently entertaining and insightful Opening of the Week column.

Coffee

It is said that Queens’ Andrei Zaremba’s large DD iced coffee is a potent cocktail, but New Jersey’s DD Box of Joe is leading the way so far.

Game of the Week

The judging for Game of the Week has been very uneven. I think Greg Shahade and Michael Aigner are doing very good jobs, and Arun Sharma is okay as well, but Jeff Ashton and Jim Dean seems to have no clue. In week five, I couldn’t understand how Dean saw fit to give Kacheishvili no points for his stellar win over Friedel. Dean and Ashton both got it all wrong on Herman-Naroditsky (though Dean at least acknowledged that it was a good game). That was a terrific game, whether it was totally sound or not. Herman is an all out attacking player, and he’s quite right to play in that style. As to Ashton’s comments that Herman should be fined $50 for this game, I’ll say that it took me a few years to realize how good a player Shabalov is, but once I did, I lost my dogmatism.

The Adelberg win, on the other hand, was overrated. I think that was mostly because he is a young, talented, and likeable kid, but the game was completely stock. If Kasparov saw the game he would not fine Adelberg, but he would fine Zorigt.

You would think I should go easy on Ashton because he praised my games effusively, but that was actually the worst part! Only the Schroer game was worthy of points; if he had found the draw at the end it actually would have been a much better game. But giving points to my win over van de Mortel is ridiculous. In a standard position from the opening, my opponent suicided with 16…Bxc3??, forcing me into a completely winning endgame. My moves were pretty good from there, but the game was really easy. I didn’t have a single difficult decision; I could have won in several different ways. It’s not good enough for technical chess to be correct. Going from even to +- in one move means the game was not hard enough.

So let me propose judges consider “degree of difficulty.” If the loser of the game missed some opportunities, that may make the game better, not worse. If it’s a wild, insane position where the winner takes risk, credit him, don’t penalize him. If you can’t see the mistakes without a computer, it might be unfair to expect the winner to do so as well.

On the other hand, I thought Esserman-Bartell was not a very worthy winner. True, it was a weak round (probably Gulko should have won again for his game with Charbonneau, which was a hard-fought tense encounter). I didn’t think Esserman had to work at all for that win.

By the way, how about some love for Kapengut-Pasalic? That game was pretty cool. I hope I can throw patties like that when I’m Albert’s age.

The Knockouts are sponsored by the New Jersey State Chess Federation.

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A Geld Medal Performance (by Joel Benjamin)

by Joel Benjamin

Payback is sweet.

To paraphrase my good friend HOF GM Johnny (who the NY Knights have not let out of the stable yet), I have nothing against the Knights; I just hate them. It has already been pointed out that Giorgi Kacheishvili is a gentleman of the highest order, and the same is certainly true about Pascal Charbonneau. [Perhaps not true about Fed, but I like him anyway.] But really, after they quashed our playoff plans two years in a row, it is intensely satisfying to sweep them this year. [Good thing we got them early this season. Apparently the Gothamites don’t wake up until about round six.]

With limited time for blogging due to all my teaching, writing and daddying responsibilities, I usually focus on my own game of the match. But I don’t really want to say too much about my game with Kacheishvili.

It seems Giorgi didn’t pay much attention to the thrashing his countryman Mchedlishvili (I’m glad I just have to write that and not pronounce it) suffered at the hands of Nigel Short and didn’t prepare for 2.Ne2 in the Caro-Kann. I was handed a winning position on a silver platter, a pawn up for absolutely nothing. The only problem was choosing between a vast array of delicacies, which for some reason is difficult for me.

I think I did okay until move 18, when Bxf7+ would have led to an easily winning position, or even better, 18.Rxf7!. I was actually quite proud of 18.Bc2, thinking that Black had no chance to survive my kingside attack, but I overlooked some nuances (21…Bxc3 for starters) and soon I wasn’t winning anymore. I probably had some way to at least maintain an edge, but when you get in bad time pressure (for no particular reason) you can’t expect to find subtleties. Shortly before the end Giorgi tendered a pretty reasonable draw offer which I didn’t even notice until after I moved. We headed into that direction anyway, with an unusual perpetual check.

[I think Giorgi and I had only played once despite competing in several tournaments together for many years. Now we’ve played three times in one month!]

This is what I really want to talk about. Boris...Gulko. I want to put an adjective in the middle of his name, one with a few asterisks followed by a gerund. Anybody read the King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman? Remember the nickname he mentioned for Rustam Kasimdzhanov? Well, that’s what I want to call Boris. After beating Pascal in an awesome game, Bo is now 5-0 for the Knockouts. It’s true that four of those games were whites, and he hasn’t had to play on board one, but his opposition hasn’t been too shabby and he’s won most of those games easily. This one certainly wasn’t easy. Pascal missed a kibitzer-pleasing miracle draw late in the game...

Instead of 55.Nf5, 55.Nd5!! forces Black to acquiesce to a stalemate.

But still, Boris was winning a move earlier with 54…Nf2 (instead of 54…Ke6). And the way Boris constructed a mating attack with so few pieces was impressive.

When Boris and I did a photo shoot for a local magazine last summer, I decided to ask him to join the Knockouts. I didn’t know what to expect; would he feel invested in the team, would he thrive in the Internet milieu? I figured we had nothing to lose with a player of his caliber, but I have to admit, I did not expect total domination.

Boris is so awesome, he’s really awe-a lot. I think he deserves a cool nickname. As the one who dubbed Alex Yermolinsky “the Yerminator,” I think I’m the right man for the job. Boris arrives for each game wearing the traditional head covering for Orthodox Jewish males. Therefore, he is “the Yarminator.” All bow before his awesome power.

Anna Matlin played a nice game against Norowitz, but like our first board, took way too much time on her moves. Matt Herman seems to be a player that thrives in wild, complicated positions, but he played a stronger version of himself. You just don’t get into a street fight with Molner, or you wind up the victim of a Big Mac Attack.

Next week we try for 5-0, staying up late for the Chicago Blaze. I’m not much for trash talking, but I believe we will get the job done, even if we have to face a lineup of four Ditkas.

Inventing a Path To Victory

by Joel Benjamin

The Knockouts win again! It sure didn’t look that way for a long time. Dean, after getting a very good opening, found himself in a potentially desperate situation before holding the balance with some nimble bishop maneuvers. Aviv had a terrific opening as well, but hallucinated once to lose a pawn, and a second time in what looked to be a drawn rook ending. Anna actually had the best winning chances for a good while, but her position looked only even until she took control of the d-file and the game. And finally, there was a bit of thievery off Route 23.

Joel Benjamin -Sergey Kudrin [B52]

USCL (2), 08.09.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0–0 e6

Until this game I wondered why Sergey always did this in

stead of the more obvious 5…Ngf6.

6.c4 Be7 7.Nc3 a6 8.d3 Rc8

He’s trying to deter the typical kingside attacking plan after 8…Ngf6 9. Ng5 h6 10.Nh3 0-0 11.f4. To that end, the best way to wait might be 9.Be3.

9.b3 Bf6 10.Bb2

Originally I planned 10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4, intending to meet 11…b5 with 12.Ndxb5!? axb5 13.Nxb5. Alas, after 13…Rc6 DIAGRAM, I just didn’t see enough compensation for the piece.

It can be a bit embarrassing to sack all your pieces and resign in a team event. Unfortunately, the bishop doesn’t really belong on b2, where it can create pin opportunities for Black.

10...Ne7 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 0–0 13.Qd2 Nc5 14.Rad1

I didn’t agonize over whether I should prevent d6-d5, because I didn’t notice the possibility until after I made this quick move.

14…d5

Grrr. Now I have to start calculating already.

15.exd5 exd5 16.Qe2

I thought 16.b4 Ne6 (16...Ne4 is playable, but perhaps weaker) 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.cxd5 exd5 would be about equal, and I wanted more.

16...Qd7

I didn’t see this move at all. I calculated 16...dxc4 17.Ne6 Nxe6 18.Rxd8 Rfxd8 19.bxc4 Nd4 and then I move my queen somewhere and play 20.Ne4—I can only be better in that position. Also 16...Re8 17.Qf3 dxc4 18.Nf5 Qc7 (18...Nd3 19.bxc4) 19.Nd6 is better for me.

17.Nc2?!

17.Nf3 was a safer choice, as after Qe6 18.Qxe6 Nxe6 I can simply play 19.cxd5. I had visions of this knight coming to e3 and doing damage, but… 17...Qe6!

Ouch. For some reason, I can never predict what Sergey is going to do. If 18.Qxe6 Nxe6 I’m a pin cushion. And 18.Ne3 d4 19.Ncd5 dxe3 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.fxe3 Ne4 just loses a piece for nothing. 18.Qf3 dxc4 19.Rfe1 Qf5 is also bad. I think I found the best move.

18.Rfe1 Qxe2 19.Rxe2 dxc4 20.bxc4 Rfd8 21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.g3

Black has an optical advantage because my pawns are split, but b7 can be attacked, too. Still, it’s hard to see at this point how Black can lose.

22…Nc6 23.Ba3 Bxc3 24.Bxc5 f6 25.Ne3

25…Rd2?!

It doesn’t appear that Black has done anything wrong until this move, but there are a lot of better moves. 25…Nd4 26.Bxd4 Rxd4 27.Nd5 is dead equal. Black can probably still press a bit with 25…Ne5. Kudrin may have been simplifying in view of the match situation, which probably looked good for them at that moment. But it only makes White’s position easier.

26.Rxd2 Bxd2 27.Nf5

Now 1-0 at least becomes a realistic possibility. Still something like 27…Bb4 looked like a sure draw to me.

27…b5??

Within a minute or so I realized that this move is so bad White may already be winning. I don’t think the endgame is Sergey’s specialty, but I feel his pain. A few days earlier I took a superior bishop v. knight endgame against Jay Bonin and butchered in so badly on the way to making the time control that I was immediately lost. I resolved to learn from my mistakes and channel my inner Bonin.

28.cxb5 axb5 29.Nd6 b4

29...Bb4 30.Bxb4 Nxb4 31.a3 simply costs Black a pawn, so now I have a juicy target to go for.

30.Kf1 Bc3 31.Nb5 Ba1 32.Ke2

I considered 32.f4 Kf7 33.Ke2 ( 33.f5!?) Ke6 34.Kd3 Kd5? 35.Bf8 g5 36.Nc7 and checkmate, grandmaster! But 34…Kf5 didn’t seem so easy, so I decided to Keep It Simple, Stupid.

32...Kf7 33.Kd3 Ke6 34.Kc4 Ne5+ 35.Kxb4 Kd5 36.Be3 Ng4 37.h3

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I guess 37.a4 is even simpler, because the a-pawn should queen if he grabs my a-pawn.

37...Nxe3 38.fxe3 Be5

There’s no time to penetrate: 38...Ke4 39.a4 Be5 40.a5 Bxg3 41.a6 Bb8 42.Kc5 and a new girl is on her way.

39.Nc3+

Get back!

39…Kc6 40.g4 g6 41.e4

No pawn trades, please.

41…Bd4 42.Kc4 Be5 43.Nb5 Bg3 44.a3!?

I wanted to see where he would put his bishop. Black has a good plan to draw this game: Run the king over to grab/trade pawns and sac the bishop for my a-pawn. The problem is, I’ll never let him give up the bishop for the pawn!

44…Bf2 45.Nd4+ Kd6 46.Nf3 Kc6 47.a4 Bb6 48.Ne1

I’m starting to see why Bonin likes those knights so much.

48…Bc7 49.Nd3 Bd8 50.Nc5 Bb6 51.Ne6 h5 52.gxh5 gxh5 53.Ng7 Kd6 53...h4 54.Nf5 Bf2 55.a5 Black has to let my king come to b5 due to Zugswang.

54.Kb5! Bf2 55.Nxh5 Ke5 56.a5 Bd4 57.a6 f5

Or 57...Kxe4 58.Nxf6+!

58.exf5 Kxf5 59.Ng3+ Ke6 60.Kc6 1–0

I have just one request for all the prognosticators. Please pick Carolina to win 3-1! So far that has been our good luck charm. Don’t anybody say we’re going to win next week. We like being the underdogs.

Joel Benjamin on Week 1's Victory

Captain of the Knockouts, GM Joel Benjamin has published an article in Chess Life Online about the Knockouts' stunning come-from-behind victory over the hapless New York "3-1" Knights.

You can read GM Joel's article here.

Perhaps the Knights would have better luck playing a different game on the USCL's generous sponsor PokerStars.net?

Joel Writes About Midseason

Click here for a great, detailed article about the New Jersey Knockouts at midseason. Don't miss it!

Joel Benjamin on his game of Week 1

Join the NJ Knockouts group on Facebook!

After the resounding victory, the Knockouts are all smiles. From left to right, Victor Shen [board 4], Dean Ippolito [board 2], Michael Khodarkovsky [assistant manager], Mac Molner [board 3], Joel Benjamin [captain and board 1].

Joel Benjamin asked me to post the following note. Its great to have our esteemed captain add to the blog!

How 'bout those Kayos? My teammates did a great job in the first round. I think a lot of our players are under-rated and will score big this season.

I wasn't so happy though about my game, and I think the USCL fans should know why I lost the game.

The obvious excuses are:

1. My young opponent has been touring the country winning tournaments while I've been touring Bergen County maternity wards.
2. I didn't study 12.d5 sufficiently and couldn't remember anything about the games I looked at.
3. The last time I sacrificed that many pieces I was playing bughouse.

But I'm going to opt for a darkhorse excuse for losing. I'm going to blame it on the METS. That's right, my favorite baseball team is driving me crazy! On Tuesday night they managed to blow a 7-0 lead. Seven nothing!!! And they took an agonizing five+ hours to do it, finally capitulating in the 13th inning, sometime after midnight. There was no way I could sleep after such a debacle. After tossing and turning all night, I lacked the energy to combat such a strong young player. [I have scoresheets older than this guy. A lot of them]

Hopefully the bullpen will get its act together and give me some peace. I don't think it's fair to ask my boys to bail me out every week.

Joel

Player Profile: GM Joel Benjamin

Grandmaster Joel Benjamin, 43, is the captain and manager of the New Jersey Knockouts. While growing up in Brooklyn, he learned the game of chess from his brother, when he was eight years old. Only seven years later, he played his personal favorite game against Yasser Seirawan, at the US Junior Championship in 1979, which you can replay here.

He's looking forward to the excellent competition that the USCL provides, and the camaraderie of being on a team. Indeed team play certainly has been special to him, as one of his favorite chess moments was in 1993 at the World Team Championship, where he won two gold medals.

In his spare time, GM Joel will catch a Mets game (and especially revels in the Mets thrashing the Yankees in interleague play), work on a crossword puzzle, play some Scrabble, or read the latest "Reacher" novel by Lee Child.

And, who does GM Joel consider his favorite chess player? It is someone he confesses wracks his nerves to watch play. Kasparov? Anand? Kramnik? No, it is none other than his wife, Deborah Quinn Benjamin!

(Picture courtesy of the United States Chess League)

US Chess League Starts Monday!

The New Jersey Knockouts and the Queens Pioneers will duke it out this Monday night at 7pm, in the opening match of the third season of the US Chess League. Lineups for the matches will be announced soon.

The NJKOs will be playing their matches at the Chapel Hill Academy in Lincoln Park, NJ.

Watch for player profiles coming soon to this site, starting with team captain and manager GM Joel Benjamin in the next day or so.