Bonin - Molner, USCL 2007White to play.
In Round 10 of US Chess League action, the New Jersey Knockouts fell to the New York Knights, putting an end to their season. New York will take the final playoff spot and New Jersey will have to wait until next year. As usual, I have annotated the games online.
Wins by Irina Krush and Jay Bonin on Boards 2 and 3 put New York in the driver's seat early, and despite Joel Benjamin's win on Board 1 there was not much realistic hope of a tied match, though Evan Ju played until the 50 move rule to test his opponent as much as possible in a drawn position. The game of the night was definitely Bonin's stunning victory over Mackenzie Molner with some flashy attacking play (see diagram above).
I guess we will have to root for New York to go all the way...
Other coverage of the final round of the season can be found online:
Though they did not make the playoffs, New Jersey made a good showing for their first season in the league, which predicts good things for the future, especially considering that many of their lower boards are very young.
You can play through the games from the entire season, now concluded, with annotations at our website:
- Round 1, Tie with Queens Pioneers, 2-2
- Round 2, Tie with Tennessee Tempo, 2-2
- Round 3, Tie with Baltimore Kingfishers, 2-2
- Round 4, Loss to Queens Pioneers, 1.5-2.5
- Round 5, Win over New York Knights, 2.5-1.5
- Round 6, Win over Carolina Cobras, 2.5-1.5
- Round 7, Loss to Philadelphia Inventors, 1.5-2.5
- Round 8, Tie with Boston Blitz, 2-2
- Round 9, Tie with Baltimore Kingfishers, 2-2
- Round 10, Loss to New York Knights, 1.5-2.5
2 comments:
In the game by Bonin, I fail to see the reason for Black's resignation. Wouldn't it continue 29... Kf8 30.Rf7+ Ke8 31.Rf4 Bxf4 32.Qxf4 Qxe6 with equality? What am I missing?
Nevermind; I missed 31.f4
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