Category Archives: betsy dynako
Pummeled by the Prelates
Even in a good season there are losses, and the Chicago Blaze suffered one last night, at the hands of the St. Louis Arch Bishops, by a score of 2.5-1.5.
St. Louis’s winning edge came on Board 1, in the first game of the night to end, when Arch Bishop GM Hikaru Nakamura successfully carried out a regicidal plot reminiscent of power-hungry medieval prelates, against the good and virtuous king of his opponent, GM Dmitry Gurevich of the Blaze. Alexandre Dumas would have understood the game perfectly.
Indecisively Decisive
Three draws will win you a USCL match—as long as that fourth game is a win.
The Blaze’s quest for the best season in the team’s history continued Monday night as the Chicago squad beat the Eastern Division’s Philadelphia Inventors by a score of 2.5-1.5. It was the second victory in a row for the fire makers, raising their 2010 record to 4.5-1.5. And while only six weeks in the ten-week regular season are over, this is, in fact, the best Blaze season every, the first time they have cracked the four-victory barrier since joining the U.S. Chess League in 2008. Continue reading
Ambush in the Desert
It’s tough having a perfect won-loss record; the pressure to keep winning and stay perfect is overwhelming. Going into last night the Arizona Scorpions were the only USCL team in that highly fraught position, but thanks to the Chicago Blaze, who handed them their first defeat of the 2010 season, the Scorpions have now been relieved of that particular burden.
We will forgive them, of course, if they don’t thank us. Continue reading
Gurevich Wins Illinois Open
Congratulations to GM Dmitry Gurevich of the Chicago Blaze, who is the new state chess champion following his victory this past weekend at the Illinois Open. Dmitry prevailed over some tough competition, not the least being his own Blaze teammates, who played well at the tournament. In all, seven of the top ten spots in the final standings were captured by current or former Blaze players.
Speaking of capturing, superstar chess photographer Betsy Dynako was on hand to record the action beautifully. We are, as always, deeply grateful for her photos and permission to post them.
Continue reading
Sweep Us Interruptus
Since nobody actually won, it technically wasn’t an “upset,” but try telling that to anyone who was at the North Shore Chess Center last night when GM Yury Shulman resigned his game against IM Florin Felecan, bringing the match between the Chicago Blaze and the fearsome St. Louis Arch Bishops in an inconclusive end.
To the Blaze fans in the room, who knew how heavily St. Louis was favored, the 2-2 draw felt like victory. The Arch Bishops had come with the highest-rated lineup in U.S. Chess League history, a lineup that included three grandmasters, two of them recent U.S. Champions. St. Louis was going to win, everybody knew it. The team’s own Facebook page even predicted a 4-0 sweep.
But that’s not what happened
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That’s All, Folks!
Blaze draw division-leading Sluggers to end a down-and-up season
IM Florin Felecan
NM Eric Rosen
The Blaze have finished their 2009 USCL season with a 2-2 draw against the division-leading Seattle Sluggers, capping off…
Frisco Holds Blaze at Bay
Chicago bows to Mechanics 2.5-1.5
It was a seesaw match that seemed at first to be going our way, but the storybook ending was not to be, as the San Francisco Mechanics held on, as widely predicted, to beat…
Deja Vu
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Blaze Stung By Scorpions Again
Photos: (c) Betsy Dynako
As Charles Dickens once said, there are the best of times, and then there’s last Wednesday night. Yuck. That evening, the Chicago Blaze lost to our fellow expansion team the Arizona Scorpions for the second time…
Your Moment of Zen
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