Keeping the Heat On

The Chicago Blaze juggernaut continues to roll through the U.S. Chess League.Last night our Chi-town team won another decisive victory, beating the St. Louis Arch Bishops 3.5-.5. At this point, halfway through the ten-week regular season, the Blaze have a perfect record of 5-0—undefeated and untied.

Once again we got stellar performances from all four boards, with victories by GM Dmitry Gurevich, IM Angelo Young and NM Sam Schmakel and a draw by GM Josh Friedel against the redoubtable St. Louis GM Ben Finegold.

The draw between the two prominent grandmasters was the only scoring for the Arch Bishops on the night. Yet ironically, it was this single half-point in the St. Louis column, coming as it did after victories by Dmitry and Angelo, that sealed the match victory for the Blaze and touched off peels of quiet elation at the North Shore Chess Center when the results appeared on screen.

The celebrations were, as I say, muted because one game was still in progress, between NM Sam Schmakel and St. Louis’s Nick Karlow. Sam fell behind in time, playing coolly on the 30-second-per-move increment that’s part of USCL time controls. He thrilled spectators with his high-wire blitzing, sometimes moving with less than five seconds on his clock. When Sam played57. . . Rf3+, forking White’s king and only remaining piece, the crowd let out a gasp. Seconds later Karlow resigned, the match ended, and full-throated celebrations ensued.

Next up: the Baltimore Kingfishers of the fearful Eastern Division. More on this anon. Go Blaze!

Editor's Note: A write-up on last week's game from Amanov vs. Amanov can be found on the New York Times website.