Round 3 showdown set for this morning

Media center at the 2014 Final Four of College chess. Pictured during round 2 are (standing, l.to r.) Al Lawrence, GM Anatoly Bykhovsky; (seated, l. to r.) professional game designer Mark Herman, NYAC chess club president Alec Diacou, GM commentators Irina Krush & Max Dlugy, Frank Niro (photo courtesy of Paul Micou)

Defending champion Webster University left the door open for the team from Texas Tech University (national champions in 2012 and 2012) with a narrow 2.5-1.5 match victory over University of Maryland - Baltimore County in Round 2 of the 2014 President's Cup. Texas Tech defeated Illinois 3-1 to remain a point behind going into their head-to-head match-up with Webster in this morning's final round.

Second round results:

Bd. 1 Huschenbeth (UMBC) vs. Le (Webster) 0-1
Bd. 2 So (Webster vs. Kore (UMBC) 0-1
Bd. 3 Bregadze (UMBC) vs. Meier (Webster) 1/2-1/2
Bd. 4 Robson (Webster) vs. Folser (UMBC) 1-0
Bd. 5 Rosen (Illinois( vs. Zherebukh (Texas Tech) 1/2-1/2
Bd. 6 Moradiabadi (Texas Tech) vs. Luo (UMBC) 1-0
Bd. 7 Auger (UMBC) vs. Gorovets (Texas Tech) 0-1
Bd. 8 Faik (Texas Tech) vs. Indusekar (UMBC) 1/2-1/2

Games

Huschenbeth,N (2620) - Le,Q (2795) [B48]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 1]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.0-0 b5 9.Nxc6 Qxc6 10.Be2 Bd6 11.Bf3 Be5 12.Bd4 d6 13.a3 Bb7 14.Qd3 0-0 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.Qe3 Bc6 17.Bb6 Qb7 18.Ba5 Rac8 19.Rfe1 Rfe8 20.g3 h6 21.Bg2 Ng4 22.Qe2 f5 23.Qf1 f4 24.h3 Nf6 25.g4 Nd7 26.Qd3 Qa7 27.Bb4 Nc5 28.Bxc5 dxc5 29.Ne2 c4 30.Qf3 Bxb2 31.Qxf4 Bxa3 32.e5 Rf8 33.Qg3 Bc5 34.Rf1 Qb7 35.Bxc6 Qxc6 36.Nf4 Rf7 37.g5 hxg5 38.Qxg5 Qf3 39.Nh5 Be7 40.Qg4 Qf5 41.f4 Rcf8 42.Kg2 Qxc2+ 43.Rf2 Qf5 44.Qe2 Bh4 45.Rff1 c3 46.Kh2 Kh8 47.Rg1 g6 0-1

So,W (2760) - Kore,A (2585) [D94]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 2]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd2 Be6 7.Qb3 dxc4 8.Qxb7 Nbd7 9.Ng5 Bf5 10.e4 e5 11.exf5 exd4 12.fxg6 dxc3 13.gxf7+ Rxf7 14.bxc3 Rb8 15.Qc6 Qe7+ 16.Be2 Ne5 17.Qe6

17...h6 18.Qxe7 Rxe7 19.0-0-0 hxg5 20.Bxg5 Re6 21.Rd4 Nd3+ 22.Bxd3 cxd3 23.Rxd3 Reb6 0-1

Bregadze,L (2518) - Meier,G (2701) [E08]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 3]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 c6 7.Qc2 0-0 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Bf4 a5 10.Rd1 Nh5 11.Bd2 Nhf6 12.Bf4 b5 13.Ne5 Bb7 14.b3 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Nd7 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.e4 dxe4 18.Nd2 Rc8 19.Qb1 Qc7 20.Nxe4 Nxe5 21.Qb2 Bxe4 22.Bxe4 f6 ½-½

Robson,R (2714) - Folsor,S (2311) [C70]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 4]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.0-0 g6 6.c3 Bg7 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 b5 9.Bc2 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Re1+ Be6 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Nbd2 0-0 14.Nb3 Bg4 15.h3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Ndb4 17.Be4 f5 18.Bxc6 Qxc6 19.Qg3 Nd5 20.Rac1 Qb6 21.Rc5 f4 22.Qf3 Nf6 23.Rc6 Qb8 24.Re7 Ne8 25.Nc5 Rf5 26.Ne6 Rxg5 27.Nxg5 Nf6 28.Rxf6 1-0

Grandmaster Irina Krush, reigning U.S. Women's Champion and President's Cup commentator, explores the Central Park area during her break between rounds 1 and 2 (photo courtesy of GM Max Dlugy)

Rosen,E (2398) - Zherebukh,Y (2706) [A16]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 5]
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 g6 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Ne5 Qd6 7.Nxc6 Qxc6 8.Qxc6+ bxc6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Bg2 Be6 11.b3 0-0-0 12.Bb2 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Bxc3 14.dxc3 Rd6 15.Rd1 Rhd8 16.Rxd6 Rxd6 17.Be4 c5 18.Bc2 Bf5 19.e4 Bg4 20.f4 Bf3 21.0-0 Be2 22.Rf2 Rd2 23.Bb1 c4 24.Kg2 Rb2 25.bxc4 Rxb1 26.Rxe2 Rc1 27.e5 Rxc3 28.Kh3 Rxc4 29.Kg4 h6 30.h4 Rc3 31.Rg2 Kd7 32.h5 Ra3 33.Rh2 gxh5+ 34.Rxh5 Rxa2 35.Rxh6 c5 36.Kf5 Ra4 37.e6+ fxe6+ 38.Rxe6 c4 39.Re3 Rb4

40.Ra3 Rb7 41.Rc3 Rc7 42.Ke5 a5 43.Kd4 a4 44.Ra3 Ke6 45.g4 c3 46.Rxc3 Ra7 47.Ra3 Ra8 48.Kc5 Kf6 49.Kb5 e5 50.fxe5+ Kxe5 51.Rxa4 Rxa4 52.Kxa4 Kf6 53.g5+ Kxg5 ½-½

Moradiabadi,E (2658) - Luo,X (2261) [D32]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 6]
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 cxd4 8.exd4 a6 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.0-0 Bd6 12.Bf4 0-0 13.Rc1 Qb7 14.Na4 Qb5 15.Bg3 Bb7 16.Nd3 Be7 17.Bc7 Rac8 18.Nc3 Qc4 19.Bb6 a5 20.b3 Qa6 21.Bc5 Rce8 22.Re1 Bxc5 23.Nxc5 Qa7 24.Qd2 Bc8 25.f3 h6 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Re1 Re7 28.Re3 Kf8 29.Kf2 Rxe3 30.Qxe3 Nd7 31.N3a4 Qc7 32.Nxd7+ Bxd7 33.Nc5 Bf5 34.g3 Bc8 35.Ke1 Qe7 36.Qxe7+ Kxe7 37.Kd2 h5 38.a3 g5 39.a4 Kd6 40.Kc3 Kc7 41.b4 axb4+ 42.Kxb4 Bf5 43.a5 Bc2 44.f4 gxf4 45.gxf4 h4 46.Na4 Kb7 47.Nb6 Kc7 48.Kc5 Bd3 49.Na4 Be2 50.Nc3 Bd3 51.Na2 Bb5 52.Nb4 Kb7 53.Nxd5 Ka6 54.Nc7+ Kxa5 55.Nxb5 1-0

Auger,M (2256) - Gorovets,A (2603) [B22]
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 7]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bd7 10.Bxc6 Bxc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 e6 13.Be3 Be7 14.Nc3 0-0 15.Qe2 Nd5 16.Ne4 Qd7 17.Rfe1 Rab8 18.b3 f5 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.dxc5 e5 21.Bc1 e4 22.Bb2 Rbe8 23.Qc4 Qe6 24.Rad1 f4 25.Rd4 e3 26.fxe3 fxe3 27.Rg4 Rf7 28.Qd4 Ree7 29.Rg5 e2 30.h4 Rf1+ 31.Kh2 Rxe1 32.Rxg7+ Kf8 33.Qf2+ Rf7 34.Rxf7+ Qxf7 35.Qxe1 Qf1 0-1

Aleskerov,F (2385) - Indusekar, A (2125)
New York, NY (2), 05.04.2014
[Board 8]
draw. both players' score sheets were illegible

Standings

Webster University: 6.5 game points (2 match points)
Texas Tech University: 5.5 game points (2 match points)
University of Maryland - Balt. Cty: 3 game points (0 match pts.)
University of Illinois: 1 game points (0 match points)

Texas Tech needs to defeat Webster by at least 2.5 to 1.5 in round 3 to reclaim the title in 2014. A tie match will give the title to Webster because of higher games points.