CICL playoffs: we finish second! May 14, 2006
Posted by dorigo in chess, games, news, personal, social life.2 comments
Today it was the day of the second and third (i.e. last) round of the playoffs that decide the winner of the 2006 Chicago Industrial Chess League.
The eight chess teams who qualified to play the playoffs this year met at the Computer Associates site, in Warrenville (a small town 30 miles west of Chicago) this morning, after completing the first round in other sites during the week.
We had drawn our first match last Tuesday, playing the Alumni ACES. I had spoiled a promising position by miscalculating an exchange sacrifice and lost my game, but the other boards secured a 3-3 tie.
This morning, things went bad again for me, when I blundered horribly a piece at move 14, playing black against a member of the Renaissance Knights, a team formed by members of a local chess club (the CICL agreed to allow club teams in the league together with company teams a couple of years ago).
My game is not worth showing… But luckily, my team mates managed to squeeze a team win by 3.5-2.5, with Irwin Gaines prevailing after a long struggle in a rook ending, after being left alone by the rest of the team who had decided to rest and eat a little before the afternoon game…
At 2.15PM the last round started. We were at 1.5 team points, and were paired with a team which had 1, the Motorola Kings. Unlucky pairing, because we were cut away from disputing the win of the playoffs, a matter apparently to be decided between the Motorola Knights and the St.Charles Baker chess club. However, we could still hope for a win of our team and a draw in the top seeded pairing.
I won after a long struggle, and so did Gustavo on first board, Lenny on board three, and Irwin on board 4. The draw by Brian on board 6 secured a 3.5/2.5 success, and we finished the playoffs with 2.5 team points… The final winner was decided by the top seed match, where one game protracted well into 6.30PM, but unfortunately ended with a win for the St. Charles Bakers. So we ended our season with a clear second place. This is Fermi's best result ever so far in the CICL.
Below is a picture of our team playing the last round against the Motorola Kings.
