Primates crash out the first round of the playoffs, lose to “the Lucky Ones” 2.5 – 1.5

As I told the team after the match, we were so close --- and that went especially for me. Tom and Bob were the first to play and while Tom drew in a Rook and Pawn endgame, Bob did not fare as well; so it was up to Curt to draw us level. To his credit, he played his best game of the tournament and perhaps one of his best games I have seen him play in the 45 45 league. I immediately nominated it for Game of the Week; frankly if Curt doesn’t win it, I would be surprised.

Thus, it was up to me – and we had drawing odds, having the better tiebreaks. My opponent, an FM from Canada who had White, would have to win the game for the Lucky Ones to advance.
The early portion of the game went very well for me, but it was not to be as I completely fell apart in time pressure (again). And while I was slightly upset for not being able to win the won game (unquestionably one of my weaknesses), I had a great tournament overall and am already looking forward to Tournament 44. As it stands now, the entire team is returning, so we should be competitive to do well.
Again thanks to Tom, Trond, Curt & Bob for being great teammates and making my job as Captain very easy.

Again we had no forfeits, we made the playoffs and most importantly we enjoyed the royal game.

One final note: The OTB version of the Primates will be heading to Parsippany, New Jersey, to play in the US Amateur Team East in February. Don is taking the year off, so Tom and I will be pairing up with a couple of old friends. For those unfamiliar with “USATE”, this tournament is not one to play in if you wish gain massive points (I think on average I tend to play incredibly underrated kids in 4 of the 6 rounds), but it is tournament where you play for the enjoyment vice the money purse. In fact I am looking to play a bigger tournament sometime this winter as I feel I have made significant improvement and want to “cut my teeth”. Not sure where yet, but stay tuned!

Late Breaking News: Trond wins Round 5 GOTW!

I completely forgot to mention in the last installment, but Trond won Game of the Week honors for his critical win in Round 5, despite the fact that:
a) he had black
b) he was a 200+ point underdog
c) he was shaking off rust faster than a 1957 Chevy Nova at the beach after taking the summer off

For those interested in the game, here is the link:
http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33294

Of note is that Curt’s aggressive victory in Round 6 is also up for GOTW. If you want to see how aggression can pay off, here the link to that game:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33308

Round 6: Primates win 3.5 – 0.5, qualify for playoffs on tiebreaks

I never thought the division would end up as close it would; nor did I expect that we would qualify for the playoffs on tiebreaks. Truthfully I figured that if we won, we would qualify – and that was my only goal. However (to our benefit), things are never as simple as it would first appear, especially when it comes to the great game of chess. First we came out smoking, winning our first three games, while the division-leading Team Zwishenzugs struggled, trailing 1 – 2 with a game to go. They had to win in order to win the division outright, while we had to await to see how other teams did in their games in the case that we didn’t win the division. As games for Round 6 continued to wrap up and make the playoff picture clearer, I figured that all Tom would have to draw his last game to ensure we made it – which is what Tom did with ease. Thus we captured the last playoff spot with 4.5 match points.
We now face the #1 seed, Team “The Lucky Ones”, in Round 8 (Playoff Round 1). I actually think we have a reasonable shot at advancing.

On a completely different note, my old man soccer team crashed out of the playoffs on Penalty Kicks after dominating the entire 90 minutes. Grrrrrr. We even had 2 goals disallowed on rebounds for (incredibly) offsides. I also had my header blocked on the goal line on a corner kick by a defender with his hands (ala Terry Henry). We had more shots skitter away or hit the post, while the opposing team never even got a shot on goal. Unbelievable.

Round 5: Primates triumph over Division-leading Zwishenzugs 2.5 – 1.5

In the final game of the match with the match tied at 1.5, Trond produces a clutch win over Superpeon. Trond had Black against an opponent rated 200 points higher, and this represented his first of Tournament 43. With my "Grandmaster Draw" versus SuperJEM and Curt's odd forfeit win (his opponent just "defaulted"), we earned a critical match win in our pursuit to make it to the playoffs. If my math is correct, we are still in the hunt for one of the two playoff Wildcard spots. Round 6 against Team Capablanca will prove to be the deciding round – win and we are in! This match win inched us closer to team Zwishenzugs; now we trail them by only half a match point with one round to go.

Tom’s win in Round 2 earned Game of the Week (GOTW) honors. Additionally, his exciting win in Round 4 earned Runner-up honors for GOTW. Well done, Tom! Here is a link to the game:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33266

I nominated Trond’s win over Superpeon for Round 5 GOTW. Here is the link to the game and decide for yourself.

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33294

Round 4: Primates triumph over Team “4HoursLife” 3 - 1

We had a very nice, solid performance in Round 4. Bob earned a really nice win as Black when his opponent rashly sacrificed a bishop for a truly speculative attack. To Bob’s credit, he calmly accepted the piece, then proceeded to negate White’s counterplay and converted the full-point. On the complete opposite side of the chess spectrum, Tom’s game was a truly scary affair, with Tom as Black defending v the English attack in a Schevenigen-type position. It boiled down a race to mate the other guy, and Tom was just one move quicker than his opponent. I gotta tell you, Tom has had some fantastic results lately – even the game he lost to a much higher rated opponent in Round 3 was very interesting. Trond had the unfortunate luck to face an opponent 200 point higher rated than him. I haven’t looked closely at the game yet, but watched the tail end of it. So going into my game, we were up 2-1 and only needed to draw to win the match – and I used that fact to great advantage. We went into an interesting Tarrasch --and I don’t play 1.d4, but I am getting more and more Queen Pawn’s Openings -- then got into what I thought was a pretty even position where I offered my opponent the opportunity for draw by repetition or possibly go astray. He of course could not accept the draw as his team would lose, so he bravely opted to try and mix it up. Unfortunately for him, it left him dangerously unguarded on the kingside and I managed to convert with an interesting attack. So we won 3 – 1.

So now we have played four of the six rounds and it cannot be said that our division in Tournament 43 even remotely resembles our division in T42. Not even close. In the last tournament, all four teams were tightly packed; any team theoretically would or could capture the #1 slot and advance to the playoffs. You could never predict how each round would end up, we were that closely matched. In fact the division winner was not determined until the last 2 games of the division were played. Tournament 43 is just the opposite. Team “Zwishenzugs” remain undefeated at 4 – 0 heading into the penultimate round. We trail them by a full point and half but are solidly in second place. For us to capture the division, we must beat them this round, then beat our last round opponents AND have Team “Zwishenzugs” lose or draw. A tall order, if you ask me. I think our best chance rests with capturing one of the wildcard slots.

One note: The Game of the Week for Round 2 has not been determined (yet). We patiently await whether Tom’s game is selected. Also, someone (not from our team either) nominated Tom’s win from this round for GOTW. Very nice!

Primates lose 1 – 3 to “Team Zwishenzugs”

Out top three boards all went down in flames as we faced the #1 team in our division, “Team Zwishenzugs”, with Bob earning the sole victory on Board 4. I felt especially badly for Trond, who had a fantastic game and looked like he was on course to win his first game after an extended layoff, when he went astray. Tom also had a great game early on, only to succumb to the greatest of endgame dangers – connected passed pawns. The game is worth looking at as it provides an interesting study of unbalanced material (in this case Tom had 2 rooks + 3 minor pieces v Queen + Rook + minor piece). The computer loved Tom’s position for a long time, but I felt it was one of those positions where it would coordination of his pieces could prove to be problematic.

Couple notes:
- Curt rightly nominated Tom’s smashing win in Round 2 for Game of the Week. We are still awaiting final determination, but I truthfully cannot see any other game earning the accolades (biased or not).

- I was cruising through various stuff on ICC Sunday night and noticed that Darren still has not logged in since September. Nor has he responded to previous emails. I hope all is well. If anyone has any info, please feel free to drop me a note or comment. Thanks.

Round 2 Wrap up: Primates tie with Team “4hourlifes”

I would argue that Tom’s spectacular win which earned us the 2 – 2 tie made up for the other three rather less than spectacular results from myself, Trond and Curt. Curt and I both had great positions, almost crushing positions, and we both were unable to translate to a win due to overlooking ONE MOVE. In fact, my game went from crushing to me having to hang on and draw a pawn down Rook+Pawn endgame. Meanwhile Curt made his poor opponent suffer for as long as he could, but could not crack the position open and convert. Trond, though, suffered from a tactical blindspot in a completely even game and suffered the loss for it.

So going into Tom’s game, we were trailing by half a point and needed him to win just to draw. Unlucky for his opponent, Tom was in top form and completely dominated the game. Here it is:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?ID=33266

After 2 rounds we are securely in 2nd place, just half a point off the lead. We square off against the #1 team, team “Zwishenzugs” in our division in Round 3. I am taking the week off, so good luck to all!