09/29/2005

  Philadelphia and Miami tie after 109 move game.
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by IM Greg Shahade                       
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Philadelphia vs Miami

1. FM Norman Rogers (PHI) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA)  0-1
2. IM Blas Lugo (MIA) vs IM Richard Costigan (PHI) 1/2-1/2
3. NM Matthew Bengtson (PHI) vs NM Miguel Espino (MIA)  1/2-1/2
4. FM Javier Torres (MIA) vs NM Elvin Wilson (PHI)  0-1

 Coming into this week the Miami Sharks were in first place in the West with 2.5/4, whereas the Philadelphia Masterminds were in last place in the East with 1.5/4. Philadelphia didn't play like a last place team this week however, as they fought Miami to a 2-2 standstill.

 Miami jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as their superstrong first board, GM Julio Becerra, won against Philadelphia FM Norman Rogers. With a score of 3.5/5 for the season on board 1, Julio is in 3rd place in the league MVP rankings. Philadelphia struck right back, as NM Elvin Wilson continued his outstanding performance by beating Miami's FM Javier Torres. Elvin has now played four league games and won them all. With his 4/4 result, Elvin is in 2nd place in the USCL MVP rankings. What's really exceptional about this result is that he's had the black pieces in all four games! Hopefully Philadelphia will give their star performer better treatment in the upcoming week's and find a way to give him the white pieces.
 
 NM Matthew Bengtson and NM Miguel Espino had a long and hard fought draw, which led to the climactic finale between IM Blas Lugo and IM Richard Costigan. I felt as though I was reading a book on endgame studies when with the match knotted at 1.5-1.5, the following position arose with black to move:



It looks as if black (Costigan) is unable to stop the b-pawn, so Costigan hoped that his passed g+h pawns would be able to cause some trouble. After 47...h3! 48.b8=Q Rxb8 49. Bxb8 h2, it seems as if white can simply stop the pawns with 50. Rh7



 Now Costigan revealed the beautiful point that after 50....Kg6 51. Rh8 Kg7! and if 52. Rh5 Kg6 black has a perpetual attack on the white rook! If white ever tries to put the rook on h3, then black replies with ...g4, forcing the rook back to the h5 or h8 square. After 51... Kg7 Blas tried 52.Be5 Nxe5 53. Rxh2, leaving black with a knight and pawn versus a rook. This endgame is an elementary draw for the black pieces, but Blas was not ready to go home so early. Blas tried for over 50 moves to break the black defenses, but he never really had any chance, as Costigan is too strong a player to make a mistake in such a simple endgame. At least this game broke the USCL record for longest game, lasting an incredible 109 moves!

 This was a good result for Philadelphia against a strong Miami team. Philadelphia is in last place in the East with 2/5, however as they have by far the lowest average rating in the league, this is quite a reasonable result for the Masterminds. Philadelphia goes up against the Carolina Cobras next week. Carolina has struggled so far this season with only 1/5, and Philadelphia hopes to increase the Cobras' misery next week and return to 50%.

 Miami is still on top of the West by a full point with 3/5. The Sharks were happy to see their Western Division rivals score only 0.5/3 this week, and thus the competition fell further back from Miami in the standings. Miami goes up against the Boston Blitz next week in what should be a very interesting match. On board one we should expect a fantastic battle between GM Julio Becerra and either GM Larry Christiansen or IM Eugene Perelshteyn (2/2 so far this season).

Philadelphia Masterminds			Miami Sharks
FM Norman Rogers - 2307	0.0	1.0	GM Julio Becerra - 2622
IM Richard Costigan - 2295	0.5	0.5	IM Blas Lugo - 2426
NM Matthew Bengtson - 2264	0.5	0.5	NM Miguel Espino - 2272
NM Elvin Wilson - 2239	1.0	0.0	FM Javier Torres - 2231
Avg Rating - 2276			Avg Rating - 2388
San Francisco Total -------	2.0	2.0	----- Miami Total

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