Category Archives: len weber
Blaze Force LA to Bite the Bullet
National Master Gopal Menon made his USCL debut in spectacular fashion Wednesday night as he extracted a win, from what many in the crowd thought was a drawn position, to clinch the Blaze win and extend the team’s perfect record to 4-0. Menon, known for his one minute bullet chess prowess (he was #1 on the ICC one minute list earlier in the year), came out of a the opening in typical fashion, with an advantage and up the exchange against 10-year old whiz kid Albert Lu. Continue reading
Get Used to the Heat
The Chicago Blaze came out smoking in its season opener with a convincing 3.5 – .5 victory over the Seattle Sluggers this past Wednesday evening. It was a hot night in the Chicagoland area as Blaze team members, management, local luminaries, chess fans, as well as members of the local press corps converged on the the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie to witness the beginning of what many believe will be a championship season. Continue reading
Don’t Mess with Illinois
The make-or-break battle for the playoffs makes the Blaze and breaks Texas
For the first time in their history the Chicago Blaze have made it to the USCL playoffs. They did it by beating the Dallas Destiny last night by a score of 2.5-1.5 in the final match of the regular season. It was a make-or-break night for both teams; it made the Blaze and broke the Destiny.
The margin of victory came from wins by IM Florin Felecan and NM Trevor Magness and a draw my GM Dmitry Gurevich. As a result of the victory the Blaze finish the regular season in sole possession of second place in the Western Division of the USCL, a half a match point behind the division-leading Arizona Scorpions.
“I still can’t believe we won it!” said a stunned an elated Dmitry, whose draw with IM Bercys was critical to the match victory for the Blaze. “What a match! What a team!” 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
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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Seattle Power Lineup Nips Blaze
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