Arizona has had a pretty good year, though there were some bumps in the road along the way.
Last week the Scorpions took on the St. Louis Arch Bishops in a match that had chances for Arizona to really put the screws to their opposition, but there were missed chances for both sides, so it seems fitting that the decisive result came down to the players on Board 4, Chakraborty vs Hendrickson.
Board 1 was a tight positional affair that was fairly level throughout much of the game, but towards the end Mac Molner took a risky shot to gain some play. Panic on his opponent's part allowed Mac to hold the draw. But as the video will clearly show, St. Louis missed a golden opportunity in this game.
The favor was returned in the Altounian vs Kannappan game. Lev built up a nice position and seemed to be clearly winning, yet he missed the critical move Rc7 (after d6), I feel that Kannappan would have resigned a few moves later had he played this move. As the game progressed Lev won a piece but his opponent traded down to a R&N vs R endgame and was able to hold the draw!
Mohandesi managed to draw his game will a typical Mohandesi positional grind.
So far there were three draws but on Board 4 things looked better for Arizona, and indeed, Dipro kept his calm. In a comfortable endgame where he was a pawn up he only needed to find a way to trade queens when his opponent gave him a gift and hung his knight. This made the win super easy and with this win Arizona was able to sail into the playoffs.
Next the Scorpions take on the Carolina Cobras. This match is important to Arizona as a victory here may improve Arizona's current 4th position in the post season play.
Here is a video of game fragments from the Scorpions vs Arch Bishops - enjoy!
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