Croatia Bulldogs – Russia Wizards

Following their round 3 victory against Turkey Knights, high-spirited Croatia Bulldogs were seeking to continue their streak in round 4 of the Pro Chess League 2020, on January 30th, 2020, at 15:15 CET (08:15 Pacific Time) against the frightening team from the greatest chess nation – Russia Wizards.

Round report and highlights follow.

Team Lineups

Considering that this match was crucial to keep the potential hopes of reaching the playoff alive, the obligations of players and the fact a number of players in the Croatia Bulldogs rooster didn’t get the opportunity to play in the Pro Chess League, our standard “super IM” lineup was altered somewhat with the addition of two grandmaster members:

On the other hand, Russia Wizards decided to play without Ian Nepomnhiachtchi, who made an appearance a week before, but still brought a fairly strong lineup, consisting of one 2700+ player, one 2600+ player and two 2550+ players:

Once again, Croatia Bulldogs had to take the role of the underdogs (or should I say, underBulldogs, heh, heh… I will show myself out).  However, considering that the average rating of our team was highest of all rounds so far, we were fairly optimistic before the match.

Round 1

And indeed, our optimism didn’t seem to be without justification, as the first round went well for us.

IM Tuan Minh Le allowed us to grab the lead after his opponent blundered the queen:

In his debut, GM Vojtech Plat made a solid draw from the position of strength. Ante Šarić was not so fortunate in his debut as he missed the best continuation in a complicated situation. Still, it seemed we would at least draw the first round, if not win it, considering that Leon had GM Evgeny Tomashevsky on the ropes during the entire game. Unfortunately, in severe time trouble, he blundered in a favorable rook endgame and was forced to resign a couple of moves later:

Therefore, instead of 2.5-1.5 in our favor, we found ourselves trailing by one point, which made a fundamental difference from the psychological standpoint in the remainder of the match.

Round 2

Still, the result of the first round was not catastrophic and we were definitely very much in the match. Alas, Leon Livaić, still apparently affected by the disastrous result of the previous game, lost quickly despite having an overwhelming position early in the opening:

Fortunately, Vojtech Plat kept us in the match by checkmating his opponent from a seemingly dead-drawn middlegame, much to the delight of the team manager Vjekoslav Nemec:

The other two games were drawn and Russia maintained their one-point lead – something that could have easily gone the other way if Leon managed to exploit his chances in first two games.

Round 3

Alas, in the third round, it all went downhill for our team. Leon, obviously shaken from his two previous defeats, also lost his third game with relative ease. Vojtech Plat, the hero of the previous round, played a splendid game and completely outplayed Pavel Ponkratov, but then lost the thread, allowed the simplification in a drawn endgame that was very tricky to hold and in the end even lost the game:

Since two other games ended in a draw, the Wizards took the commanding 7.5-4.5 lead and it was hard to expect that the Bulldogs can recover from this.

Round 4

And indeed, the outcome of the match was quickly decided by the following game, in which Ante Šarić suffered an opening disaster:

The cherry on the top was Tuan Minh Le’s final game, which saw an amazing turnaround, which fortunately didn’t have a decisive impact on the outcome of the match:

Therefore, we lost the match with a big margin 10.5-5.5, but we think it is not the reflection of true events happening on the boards. Even though Russia is nominally a stronger team, we can’t avoid the feeling of sadness and regret considering that we lost 4 clearly winning positions, which effectively buried our playoff dreams for the 2020 season.

But okay, this first season is a learning experience all the same and we didn’t embarrass ourselves so far. In the remaining three rounds, we will try to win and end the season on a positive note.

And who knows, maybe hope for a miracle?

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