Final Four Update

In a stunning development, IM Gabor Papp of Texas Tech University sacrificed a Knight against GM Mauricio Flores of UTB on the Black side of the Sicilian Dragon! On board 4, Chase Watters, having the Black pieces and being outrated by over 300 points, sacrificed a pawn early on against IM Max Cornejo for development initiatives.

No guts, no glory!

Both IM Gegerly Antal (vs. GM Axel Bachman) and IM Davorin Kuljasevic (vs. GM Timur Gareev) have solid positions with White.

Lots of pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/TheRoadToTheFinalFour

Insane but exciting chess by IM Papp. After GM Flores gave back the piece for stability, he now again just sacrificed a Bishop for a Queenside attack. IM Kuljasevic has a small edge against GM Gareev in a R+N vs. R+B endgame. IM Antal and GM Bachman are now in R+6Ps vs. R+6Ps endgame. Chase Watters is still hanging on with a small initiative for a pawn.

GM Flores defended very well and now has a better endgame. IM Antal now has to work hard to draw the R and P endgame. IM Kuljasevic still has a better endgame against GM Gareev.

GM Erenburg just scored the first win for UMBC against UTD. GM Kritz also just won to give UMBC a second win against UTD. This is clearly a race between UMBC and UTB this year.

UTD won on board 4 to pull the score to 2-1. But UMBC immediately came back with a win on board 3 to win the match 3-1.

It’s incredible that the UTD – UMBC match is already over while none of the games in the TTU – UTB game is finished. It can go from 3.5 – 0.5 in favor of UTB or 2.5 – 1.5 in favor of TTU. Anything can happen in time pressure.

Finally, the first score in the TTU – UTB match. GM Flores and IM Papp drew. UTB won on board 4 to lead 1.5 -0.5. IM Kuljasevic misplayed a much better endgame and now it looks like it may be a draw on board 1. Board 3 looks drawish as well. Draw on board 1 and 3. UTB won 2.5 – 1.5.