10/06/2005

  Baltimore survives early scare and rings up their 4th straight win
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by IM Greg Shahade                       
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San Francisco vs Baltimore

1. IM Vince McCambridge (SF) vs IM Pascal Charbonneau (BAL)  0-1
2. FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL) vs FM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF)  1-0
3. FM David Pruess (SF) vs FM Bruci Lopez (BAL)  1/2-1/2
4. WIM Tsaagan Battsetseg (BAL) vs NM Andy Lee (SF)  1-0

  
  Things were looking terrible early in this match for the Baltimore Kingfishers. David Pruess and Bruci Lopez had a quick yet action packed draw, and now it was up to the remaining three boards to decide the match. It seemed as if San Francisco was winning or at least better on all three boards, yet incredibly enough, by the end of the match Baltimore had won all three of these games! To understand the predicament that Baltimore faced, look below for positions from each of the 3 key battles...


IM McCambridge (SF) - IM Charbonneau (BAL) - black to move



FM Enkhbat (BAL) - FM Zilberstein (SF) - white to move



WIM Battsetseg (BAL) - NM Lee (SF) - white to move


 The three positions above look incredibly ugly for Baltimore yet they managed to win every single one of them. I'd have to put the odds of Baltimore sweeping the above positions at around 50 or 100 to1 . The Kingfishers have been playing with an incredible amount of energy for the past 4 weeks and they don't give up any easy points. Pascal Charbonneau is now ranked first in the league in the MVP rankings, and teammate Tegshsuren Enkhbat is ranked at number 5. Both of these players have competed in every match for Baltimore and are largely responsible for the success of the Baltimore Kingfishers.

 Baltimore is also an incredible 12.5/16 in their last four matches. This is simply an unbelievable string of results in a league where the ratings are so evenly matched. As well as New York has been playing, their performance has actually been upstaged by that of the Kingfishers. One can only wonder what will happen in the New York - Baltimore rematch that is slated for three weeks from today.

 Baltimore remains a half point behind New York, but holds incredible tiebreaks due to their large margins of victory. It seems likely that if Baltimore and New York end up tied for the division title, that Baltimore will win the division on tiebreaks and receive draw odds in the playoffs. There is very little room for error for these two teams and it should be exciting to see whether they can both continue their hot streaks.

 Baltimore gets a rematch against the Philadelphia Masterminds next week. The Kingfishers beat the Masterminds quite handily in week 3, with a 3-1 victory. That was a contrversial match as when one of Baltimore's players hung their queen in an obvious mouseslip, the Philadelphia Masterminds didn't allow Baltimore to take back the move. You can be sure that Baltimore will be pulling no punches after that incident, and hope to increase their winning streak to five matches.

 Despite losing this week, the San Francisco Mechanics are still right in the thick of the playoff hunt, as they are tied for 2nd place in the underperforming West Division. Next week they go up against the struggling Carolina Cobras in what may be a do or die match for both teams.

San Francisco Mechanics			Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Vince McCambridge - 2502	0.0	1.0	IM Pascal Charbonneau - 2506
FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435	0.0	1.0	FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat - 2453
FM David Pruess - 2432	0.5	0.5	FM Bruci Lopez - 2409
NM Andy Lee - 2231	0.0	1.0	WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg - 2273
Avg Rating - 2400			Avg Rating - 2410
San Francisco Total -------	0.5	3.5	----- Baltimore Total

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