Croatia Bulldogs – Turkey Knights

After two defeats in the two openings rounds of the Pro Chess League 2020, in round 3 of the Pro Chess League 2020, on January 23rd, 2020, at 14:45 CET (05:45 Pacific Time), Croatia Bulldogs meet the team who, up to that point, had one draw and one win – Turkey Knights.

Round report and highlights follow.

Team Lineups

Despite the fact that the first two matches didn’t go in their favor, due to the obligations of the team members, Croatia Bulldogs were unable to strengthen their average team rating and decided to go for their standard “super IM” lineup, that proved to be so successful in the Pro Chess League 2020 Qualifier:

On the other hand, Turkey Knights sent more or less a standard lineup, consisting of three GMs and “only” one IM on the final board:

In contrast to the previous matches, the rating gap between the two teams wasn’t at all pronounced, with both teams revolving around 2550. Due to the fact that they had 3 GMs in their lineup and that they started the league with good results, the Turkey Knights were perhaps slight favourites, but the Qualifier and the previous rounds showed that Bulldogs will not go down without a fight.

Round 1

Initially, nothing seemed to indicate that the match might swing our way. Sven Tica and Jadranko Plenča lost their games convincingly, while Leon managed to avoid starting a match with a defeat (which probably contributed to his good result in the end).

Only thanks to the very consistent and fighting chess by Tuan Minh Le did we manage to keep an acceptable minus:

Therefore, the first round ended with a minus 1 result for us – 1.5:2.5.

Round 2

The tide started turning in round 2. First, Leon Livaić obtained a winning position right out of the opening and, after some adventures, managed to convert it.

Minh Le and Sven Tica drew their games. But the real hero of the round was Jadranko Plenča, who played one of the best games I have seen to down his 2600+ opponent, former World Junior Champion Alexander Ipatov:

For the first time in the entire season, the Bulldogs managed to grab a lead – 4.5:3.5 – in the match and they wouldn’t relinquish it until the very end!

Round 3

Round 3 started rather bad for us, as Sven Tica, who was playing far from his best, went down relatively quickly against Francesco Rambaldi.

For a while, it seemed that Turkey Knights would equalize, as Plenča and Livaić both drew their games and Minh Le seemingly had zero winning chances against Batuhan Dastan.

However, he once again managed to squeeze the water out of the stone and display his tremendous fighting spirit:

Thus, the lead has been maintained and we entered the final round with an extra point – 6.5:5.5.

Round 4

The fourth round turned out to be the fitting dramatic end to this close and tense match. Sven Tica once again quickly went down in flames, but was quickly avenged by Tuan Minh Le, who refused a repetition offer early in the game to convincingly beat Alexander Ipatov:

This meant that one additional victory would be sufficient to win the match and Leon Livaić delivered in style:

Jadranko Plenča lost his game (where he had a clear fortress and even missed a direct win of the enemy rook), but it didn’t matter for the overall outcome.

Therefore, after lengthy trials and a dramatic match,  Croatia Bulldogs managed to snatch the deserved victory, much to the delight of their manager Vjekoslav Nemec:

 

With this win, Croatia Bulldogs managed to keep their playoff dream alive. Round 4 match against Russia Wizards will determine whether this dream will come true or turn into a nightmare.

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