Croatia Bulldogs – California Unicorns, Pro Chess League 2023, Week 1 Report
Croatia Bulldogs – California Unicorns
In the opening match of the 2023 Pro Chess League season, Croatia Bulldogs faced California Unicorns, a US-based team managed by IMs Kostya Kavutskiy and David Pruess from the Chess Dojo, featuring some of the strongest players from the States, such as GM Sam Shankland and GM Ray Robson, but also the leading youth chess talent from India, GM Dommaraju Gukesh.
It was a very tense and close encounter that kept the viewers on the edge until the very end… and that also probably ended up costing yours truly several years of his life :D.
Full report and highlights follow.
Team Lineups
In the very first match of the season, we decided to go for a very strong lineup, averaging 2533 ELO – just 17 points below the maximum allowed average of the team 2550 ELO:
In return, our opponents decided to omit their first two seeded players Gukesh and Shankland from their lineup and decided to meet us with 3 2600+ players:
Despite a somewhat different approach in which we decided to for a more balanced team, while our opponents decided to have one player significantly lower-rated than the others, due to the rating cap the average team ratings were approximately balanced. Therefore, a tough and close match was to be expected, so the fact that it all came to a very narrow margin is not at all that surprising.
Let’s review the action that unfolded on February 17th by checking some of the key moments/games from every round on a round-by-round basis.
Round 1
Sabina Foisor – Deac Bogdan-Daniel
In his very first game of the season, Deac Bogdan-Daniel faced California Unicorn’s lowest board (and rated player), WGM Sabina Foisor. Already from the opening stage, it was clear he was trying to play for the win, given that he opted for the Modern Defense, which definitely helped him score some points with the team’s manager CM Vjekoslav Nemec (who is the author of a Chessable course on this opening).
Fortunately, Deac also scored a point on the board. The game was quite complicated and interesting, but Deac gradually outplayed the opponent in a very complex position and obtained a winning position. Then, at the crucial moment of the game, in mutual time trouble, he decided to go for a very thematic exchange sacrifice, doubling the opponent’s c-pawns and obtaining a monster dark-squared bishop:
Deac had no problems in converting the advantage:
Georg Meier – Leon Livaić
Alas, on the second board, things didn’t go in our favor at all, as Leon quickly got into trouble against Georg Meier’s pet opening – the Catalan – and on move 17 he committed a final mistake in an extremely difficult position (where only a deep, impossible engine line would have kept him in the game):
Meier had no problems in converting the advantage – and he did so in a very attractive and stylish way:
Bardiya Daneshvar – Dariusz Swiercz
On the other hand, on the third board, the newly-crowned teenager GM from Iran, Bardiya Daneshvar, immediately showed it is going to be his day by completely outplaying the strong opponent and a renowned theoretician GM Dariusz Swiercz from a seemingly innocuous, quiet, and equal-looking position. Alas, his opponent defended very stubbornly and it was very difficult to break through Black’s position, so the game did ultimately end in a draw, but I was very impressed with the way Bardiya put a 2650 GM under pressure:
Polina Shuvalova – Ray Robson
Last but not least, on our “last” board, Polina Shuvalova faced the opponent’s nr.1 player, GM Ray Robson. She decided to employ a very brave and interesting opening which led to a fascinating and complex middlegame position where both sides had their chances. Alas, Robson kept his nerve and defended very well. Under pressure, Polina cracked and committed a decisive mistake on move 25:
Robson had no problem clinching the game from that point, employing some very nice, puzzle-rush-looking tactics at the very end:
Standings after round 1
Thus, after the first round, we found ourselves trailing by 1 point, which was not the start we were hoping for – but which was also not terrible or catastrophic by any means!
Round 2
Deac Bogdan-Daniel – Georg Meier
In the second round, Deac faced the solid Georg Meier with the White pieces. After employing a very unconventional and creative opening, he did get a very promising position – and his advantage slowly grew as the game progressed – and at some point grew to a decisive proportion. Alas, at a few critical moments, Deac failed to finish the opponent – for example on move 22 when arguably the biggest opportunity of the game appeared:
Thus, the resilient Georg Meier managed to diffuse the advantage and score a very important half-a-point for the Unicorns:
Leon Livaić – Sabina Foisor
In his second game, Leon faced board 4 of the opponent’s team, Sabina Foisor. Given the rating difference between the players of almost 400 points, we were very much hoping that this would lead to another full point for our team. Alas, not only did not happen – but ultimately we can be very happy that Leon managed to salvage a draw and not lose the game – which was clearly winning for Sabina at multiple points:
Ray Robson – Bardiya Daneshvar
On board 3, Bardiya Daneshvar faced the opponent’s board 1 Ray Robson with the Black pieces. And initially, the game went as you would expect, with Robson obtaining a marked advantage on the White side of the Maroczy bind. However, as usual with these Maroczy positions, Bardiya slowly managed to diffuse the opponent’s advantage, completely equalize and then even take over in the opponent’s time trouble. The culminating moment happened on move 45:
After his tactical sequence, Bardiya didn’t have much trouble in converting, despite the very severe and mutual time trouble:
Dariusz Swiercz – Polina Shuvalova
Alas, in the last game of the round, Dariusz Swiercz demonstrated why he is considered a very serious opening theoretician, by demonstrating some very nice preparation against Polina’s Nimzo Indian, obtaining a very pleasant position and converting to a full point:
Standings after round 2
Therefore, after the second round, the distance of one point was maintained – although the main battles of the day were yet to come!
Round 3
Dariusz Swiercz – Deac Bogdan-Daniel
In round 3, the most shocking game of the entire event, which probably decided the entire fate of this match, happened between Dariusz Swiercz and Deac Bogdan-Daniel. After obtaining a very solid position out of the opening and equalizing relatively comfortably, Deac started slowly grinding and outplaying the opponent – and his advantage slowly grew until it became decisive. However, at the crucial moment, with only 9 seconds on the clock, he made an inexplicable mistake and gave up his passed pawn instead of queening it in a single move:
This not only threw away the full point but also half a point, as Dariusz suddenly obtained a totally won position out of nowhere and Deac resigned just a few moves later:
Alas, this missed opportunity would cost us dearly and would have a decisive impact on the match, especially when we also consider what happened in the game between Robson and Livaić.
Ray Robson – Leon Livaić
Alas, the 17th of February was simply not Leon’s day. In his 3rd round game against Robson, he obtained a fighting and complicated position and managed to outplay the opponent. At some point he was clearly better – arguably even winning – but he let the advantage slip and transposed into a dead-drawn endgame. However, he suddenly found himself on the worse side of equality due to the opponent’s annoying h-pawn. Robson kept posing some practical problems and ultimately, in a tricky position and with the seconds ticking, Leon blundered and even went on to lose:
Bardiya Daneshvar – Sabina Foisor
Alas, after the drama in the first two games, the fate of the match was practically decided. Some glimmer of hope was provided by Bardiya Daneshvar who managed to beat the opponent’s board 4, Sabina Foisor. It is actually a very interesting game in itself – Bardiya was pretty much winning almost straight out of the opening, but at some point he lost the plot and even allowed the opponent back in the game, but ultimately he managed to prevail and keep the glimmer of hope for our team alive:
Polina Shuvalova – Georg Meier
In the last game of the round, Polina faced another pet opening by her opponent – the French Rubinstein. She came very well-prepared and obtained a very pleasant position in which only White can be better, although Black remained very solid. Very soon after the opening stage was over, she decided to repeat and take the draw, which was a good result from the competitive viewpoint, as there was no way she could have envisioned the drama that happened in the other games of the round:
Standings after round 3
Thus, after round 3, the match was very close to being over, as we suddenly found ourselves trailing by two points (5-7). If Deac had won his game, the score would have been tied going into the final round, but alas, Caissa decreed otherwise (although one could make a whole debate about whether Caissa has anything to do with flagging and time trouble in online chess :D).
Round 4
Deac Bogdan- Daniel – Ray Robson
Of course, some glimmer of hope still remained as the fourth round had to be played. In the clash of the highest-rated players, Deac had the White pieces and Robson took a very smart decision to employ the sturdy Berlin Defence. Alas, when Deac never really got anywhere and settled for a draw, it was clear that our chances of winning the matches are slowly dwindling:
Leon Livaić – Dariusz Swiercz
Leon’s game against Swiercz saw another Berlin defence. Leon employed a very interesting way of avoiding the notorious Berlin draw and did obtain a slightly more pleasant position. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to make most of his position and even found himself worse at some point, until his opponent quite sensibly settled for a draw in the final position (with only 12 seconds on the clock!) as he realized this result is going to secure the team victory for Unicorns, given that Meier was simultaneously beating Daneshvar on board 3.
Georg Meier – Bardiya Daneshvar
As mentioned above, Georg Meier managed to defeat Bardiya Daneshvar and secure the victory for the Unicorns. However, it was not at all a smooth or one-sided performance. Bardiya actually managed to equalize out of the opening with relative ease and Meier had no advantage. However, at the critical moment, Bardiya – due to the overall match standings – had to try and fight for the win in a position where no win was possible:
Alas, Meier had no problems in converting in this rook endgame once he was given the chance:
Sabina Foisor – Polina Shuvalova
In the last game of the round, Polina did manage to show her class and beat Sabina Foisor in a very smooth and convincing fashion, but alas, it was not enough for us to reduce the deficit accumulated over the previous three rounds:
Standings after round 4
Therefore, the final result of the match was 9-7 and California Unicorns managed to score their first victory. It is a bit of a pity that the match was decided by an “online-only” blunder in the game between Deac and Swiercz, but such is the nature of these competitions. We will be looking to bounce back in our next match against Berlin Bears, scheduled for 24th of February, 2023.