Tag Archives: TL73

TL73::R3 – Interesting games with a bitter end

News,

Our team lost at the third round with the score 2.5-1.5 against the ‘italian team’ Piazza.degli.Scacchi.

LightSprtans 1.5-2.5 Piazza.degli.Scacchi
Board1: marjohn 1/2-1/2 Pupkin
Board2: Paolone 1-0 cjldx 
Board3: chebein 1-0 Gnam
Board4: alfreale 1-0 tschack

On  board 1 marjohn had white against Pupkin. An English opening where black replied with the English Defense (1. c4 b6) with the common motive for this opening: A closed position with no pawn exchanges until move 11 !! And then the position suddenly changed dramatically: open center with both players eyeing the opponent’s king. Unfortunately, black got the upper hand and white had to defend the tiny weaknesses and small threats by black. A lot of exhanges occured which resulted in a drawn endgame.

On board 2 cjldx played as black against Paolone . We could say that it was a classical KID by all means. Black’s fianchetto, the closed center and the crucial question to be answered: which side will succeed on each side of the board. Finally it was white we created a way through the Q-side while blocking any attacking plans by black at the K-side. The material advantage gave white an easy attack on the black King.

On board 3 chebein played against Gnam as white. An attacking game by both players ended in a miniature (only 21 moves played) for white. Black started the battle with a combination to disrupt white’s pawn formation but he lost a tempto and white with really active play managed to lure black’s king into a mating position. Surely this game is a highlight for this TL !!

On board 4 tschack, was playing against alfreale as black. A very positional game by both players which ended with a nice combination by white delivering mate at the end. The move 32…Bd7 was a terrible blunder and black’s position collapsed after that, until then the position was balanced with a slight advantage to white.

With this loss we lost any hope for a playoff spot in this TL, but nevertheless its important  that we still enjoy it !!

TL73::R2 – Tough round!

News,

The second round was a tough battle which we lost with the score 3-1 against the ‘canadian team’ Archbishops_ArchEnemies.

Archbishops_ArchEnemies 3.0-1.0 LightSprtans
Board1: Misteraw  1/2-1/2  marjohn
Board2: cjldx 0-1 milpat 
Board3: Henderb 1/2-1/2 rudyray
Board4: LordTyraad 0-1 avidmate

On  board 1 marjohn had black against Misteraw. The game was a short draw since the outcome of the team’s match had already a winner. For the history we played a scotch opening from an Alekhine Defense !

On board 2 cjldx played (again) a very complicated  game as white against milpat. White played very actively in the opening by sacrificing a pawn and puting his own dark squared bishop in jepordy just to create a king side attack against the enemy king. For more than 15 moves the bishop on g5 could be captured by black but with the fear of exposing his king he did not took the risk. After all the struggle the B was free and the battle continued at the other wing of the Q-side. Still white had ideas to attack the fragile black’s K position but black defended correctly and his central pawns decided the outcome.

On board 3 rudyray played against Henderb. A classical Grunfeld was played with a lot of exchanges. The battle of R+dark-B  vs R+light-B was equal and ended even further in a classical opposite colors bishops endgame. Black had the inferior position and thus white managed to win an extra pawn which fortunately it was not enough to create any troubles to black. A draw soon was agreed by both players.

On board 4 LordTyraad, was playing against avidmate. It was a London System by white which could have given him good prospects for the rest of the game but an early blunder of the c pawn gave that away. Somehow, white misplayed the middle game and lost 2 more pawns which gave black an anormous advantage and the win.

That was a tough round but still we have good prospects for the 2nd place which will give a spot at the play-offs!

TL73::R1 – First victory and the best way to start !

News,

The first round ended in our favor  with a critical win with the score 2.5-1.5 against the polish team Chude_Dziki. Our opposition started the “Kasparov division” as the last team in terms of average ELO, but it is my belief that they will be a tough opponent for most of the other teams.

LightSprtans  2.5-1.5 Chude_Dziki
Board1: marjohn 1/2-1/2 MlodyBog
Board2: PaulonioSL 0-1  cjldx
Board3: rudyray 1-0 ArturPL
Board4: hajdzik 1-0 tschack

On  board 1 marjohn (that’s me) had white against MlodyBog, a very stable and positional player with a little higher ELO. The opening went smooth for both of them with concrete plans of playing on opposite sides. White started attacking the K-side while black tried to open lines at Q-side. Both of them managed to get what they wanted: white got space on the K-side and black opened lines at the Q-side. In the middle game though it seemed that white could won a pawn and thus black forced or better tried  a 3-fold repetition. White could have avoided and decline the unofficial draw offer but I felt that my dark squares where too weak and his knight at d4 too good.

On board 2 cjldx played a very complicated  game as black against paulonioSL. It was a Kings Indian Defense from the old stories against the Saemisch variation (with f3). The middlegame position was so complicated and so double edge that none could predict the outcome at that point. Eventually, the opening of the center via a tactical shot to win a pawn on the Q-side gave black the initiative and an inacuraccy by white gave him the better odds overall. Moreover, white’s Kind was stuck at the center and that made things easier for the attack. A nice win by Cj!

On board 3 rudyray played a classical Spanish variation against ArturPL. Both players made the usuall “Spanish” manouvres at the opening but at the end of it Rudy managed to create a permanent weakness of the pawn structure at the K-side of black. At first sight it seemed tiny but since all of white’s pieces where targeting the black King within 5-6 moves Rudy created a dangerous attack on the K-side. Black tried to defend the position but the tactics favored white almost in every variation and his position was collapsing, thus he resigned.

On board 4 the newest member of our team, tschack, was playing against hajdzik. This was the longest game for our team and a very complex one. White sacrificed too minor pieces for a rook and a pawn at f7 and also managed to weaken the position of black’s King. Both players played good moves during the middle game but the fragile position of black’s Kind decided the fate of the game. The critical mistake was the sacrifice of the bishop by Black at g3. This move unfortunately did not had a winning continuation and also helped white to open lines against his king which was stuck at the center. After the final exchanges the endgame was lost for black.

That was the best way to start this TL!

TL73 – Preparing

News

After Chris’s (aka chebein) suggestion to regroup the old gang and play another TL, it was just a matter of time to happen.So, we are preparing for another TeamLeague tourney at FICS. Most of the team members will be the same but we will have two new members!

TL73, we are coming! Keep tuned !