Week 6: Game of the Week

When I went about locating potential choices for this Game of the Week, this game was not initially one of my strong candidates. Unfortunately, with it being from the latest match to start and on board four, it naturally garnered less discussion/analysis than most of the other games which of course provides less information about how well played the game was and how exciting the spectators found it. During my somewhat brief inspection of the game from time to time, it seemed that Cabrera had a decent advantage in the early middlegame with his more active bishops and Lee's weak c-pawn, but then Lee generated counterplay on the Kingside followed by a dubious looking piece sacrifice 25.. Nxg4 (again this was my initial impression). After Lee won the piece back, we still had a somewhat messy position where both players were low on time (especially Lee who went under one minute on more than one occasion). However, as is often the case in these situations, the younger player was able to better sift through the complications in the short time allotted and came out with a nice victory. Once I gave this game a more thorough inspection, I definitely think it was a much better played game (from both sides) than I initially gave it credit for, with both sides finding some very good moves (Cabrera for example the 29. c5+ and 30. Rb4 idea and Lee 26... h3+! which made his sacrifice far from dubious as I'd originally judged it along with 36... Rf8! which really clinched the win for Black). An impressive win from Lee who now sits in the thick of the MVP race (especially impressive for a fourth board given the way the scoring works) and the Seattle team who have all but guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs, but their biggest task of the regular season remains as they still face the San Francisco Mechanics twice and if they wish to win the division really can't afford to lose next week's big showdown.

For the first time in USCL history, the Philadelphia Masterminds were considered big favorites (by the oddsmakers anyway) to win a match; Carolina fans probably at least felt a fair amount of confidence for this board given FM Zaikov's impressive 4-0 record up to this point in the season, but IM Costigan had other ideas. One of the things I liked most about this game was despite the rather cautious play (mostly on the Queenside) during most of the middlegame it suddenly turned into a tactical melee accompanied by a huge Kingside attack. 26... Nxg3! was the critical point, breaking the game wide open. Despite the raging attack, FM Zaikov did put up a very stubborn defense, but IM Costigan never allowed him to breathe eventually gaining a winning material advantage. A good win from IM Costigan, but I'm sure he was hoping that a win from him would seal the match for Philadelphia. Unfortunately for the Masterminds, they were only able to draw the match. With the Baltimore Kingfishers knocking off the Boston Blitz, the Masterminds and the Cobras now find themselves one and a half points out of a playoff spot with only four matches remanining, and Philadelphia really must win next week's rematch against the Kingfishers if they want to maintain any realisitic hope of being in the playoffs.

Zaikov - R.Costigan: After 26. Bb4
The time was ripe for Costigan to break through on
the kingside, and he played 26...Nxg3! 27. fxg3 Rxe3.
The attack didn't look so great, even to Fritz who initially
felt that it was good for white. However when you run
the program a little deeper, it begins to like Black's position.
A fine game by Costigan to defeat the 4-0 Zaikov.

As are most of the GM games that I choose for being Game of the Week, this one is very difficult for me to properly analyze. One definite interesting moment in the game was after 19. f5 where the general consensus (and analyzed by GM Akobian on chess.fm) was that Black would try the line 19.. Nxa3+ 20. bxa3 Bxb3 21. cxb3 Qxc3 22. Qxc3 Rxc3 23. Kb2 where will likely follow Be3 and perhaps Rc1 where despite the extra pawn, Black seems to have a difficult position, but GM Blehm shocked the audience with 19... Bd7 which most had dismissed completely feeling that White would then be much better (and once again I'm a bit too chicken to really guess whether or not that's a correct assessment). 30.. Bc3! was a very good move as it basically shunted out all of White's counterplay after which with the extra piece, Black's win was inevitable. This was GM Blehm's first win in the USCL, and it really could not have come at a more important time for the Baltimore team as with their 2-3 record, losing this match would have put their playoff run in serious question. This should also be a big confidence booster to the Kingfishers and serve notice to the Boston Blitz that the defending champs do not plan on going out quietly and are certainly capable of taking down the Blitz even if Boston receives draw odds during the playoffs.