Week 2 vs the New York Knights

The Miami Sharks win again by the same margin!! (3.5 - 0.5) vs the New York Knights. On Board One we got our main gun back, super MVP Alex Rodriguez, sorry I meant to say GM Julio Becerra who seemed to toy with GM Pascal Charbonneau in something known as the Kozul Variation in the Richter-Rauzer Sicilian. Julio told me after the game he played based on some ideas of GM Michael Adams in similar positions, and it was a positional masterpiece from what I saw.

On Board Two, one of our other new super additions to the team, FM Osmany Perea, another Cuban newcomer who hasn't had much time for chess in the US is trying to get back into form, and he seemed to start in a very nice way defeating WGM-IM Irina Krush with the Black pieces. He played very smoothly and after Irina bravely refused a repetition of moves, he went on to convert his pawn advantage with ease for the second point for the Sharks. I am particularly happy for Osmany since I've known him since we were both about ten years old back in our native country. He really loves chess and hopes to have the chance to play more often if work permits him to.

On Board Three, brand new FM Charles Galofre had a nice advantage in the opening with the White pieces vs SM Greg Braylovsky (a former rival of mine in US Junior Championships), but somehow Greg got the best out of it right at the end of the middlegame but failed to prove his edge as White managed to trade all of the pieces to basically clinch the match for the Sharks.

Eric Rodriguez on Board Four won once again vs Matthew Herman by playing one of the first Sicilian Defenses of his career. Matthew played f4 which did not seem very good as he got into trouble quickly, and Eric converted without too much trouble. I thought this opening might be a bad choice for Eric while watching since I know Matthew is quite familiar with the Sicilian Najdorf with the Black pieces, but somehow things worked out for us, and I am feeling great about our results so far. I think this year may well bring the Sharks a title. Next week most of us will be playing in the Miami Open starting on Wednesday which is why we have to play our match on Monday vs the strong San Francisco Team. See you then!!

Miami vs Seattle in Week One

The Sharks faced the Seattle Sluggers in the first match of season four. We didn't field a lineup with our biggest guns due to various time issues which did not allow us to plan as well as we would have liked, but nevertheless, we had a pretty good lineup, and I think this year we have a better tuned team than any of our previous seasons. One of our newest and most important additions to the team is FM Bruci Lopez who recently graduated from UMBC and is now once again a part of the "Miami Cuban Mafia".

In the match itself, on the top board, Bruci battled against GM Serper. He knew he would probably be facing Gregory's ever dynamic Paulsen Sicilian, but still unfortunately Bruci did not have too much time to prepare for the game due to work issues. While watching the game I felt he had gotten the worst out of the opening as swapping on e5 fortified Black's position in the center and enabled him to place a strong Knight on d4. But in exchange for this Bruci got a pawn majority on the Queenside which he was later able to utilize to good effect. I think Serper played a little bit too aggressively on the Kingside also which caused him some serious problems. A nice victory for the Sharks on Board One against a very strong opponent.

On Board Two, I was looking for revenge from my last year's loss to IM Tangborn. I felt in that game I had had a nice position with a pretty good edge but played it badly and lost at the end. This time I was much more accurate and did not give White any unneeded chances. In the opening I think I misplaced the dark squared Bishop, putting it on d6 instead of e7, but I played largely on auto-pilot, not thinking too much about that detail and later on picked up a nice initiative and did not let go of it until White resigned.

On Board Three, Blas Lugo faced a Pirc Defense which is supposed to be FM Readey's best weapon. Blas got a nice attacking position similar to that of the English Attack and Sicilian Dragon set ups but somehow later on it became a slug fest of mistakes in the complicated struggle for which a draw was probably the fairest result.

On Board Four, the most improved player of the Miami Sharks, Eric Rodriguez won fairly easily on the Black side of a Slav Defense. A nice victory over Seattle by a 3.5 - 0.5 score and a nice start to the season. Next week we face the New York Knights. Watch out for the Sharks this year!!!

Season IV of the US Chess League begins

With two expansion teams, the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions joining, the US Chess League is adding many more titled players and young talents to the fray. I would like to thank League Commissioner Greg Shahade for his efforts in keeping this great initiative running. In future weeks, I will begin to comment on Miami's (hopefully successful!) results.