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By Alex Marler
The Arch Bishops struck back this week with a superb win over the Seattle Sluggers, who are ranked 2nd in the Western Division. This win has pushed Saint Louis into 3rd place in the Western Division, which is the highest ranking the team has ever held this late in the season. Once again week five featured the Arch Bishops' top clergymen: GM Ben Finegold, IM Priyadharshan Kannappan and IM Levan Bregadze. The three were unstoppable this week as they all reached winning positions by move 23! GM Finegold, true to his style, never allowed his opponent, FM Costin Cozianun (2508), an ounce of counterplay. Check out the game below to see GM Finegold's annotations. IM Kannappan also crushed his opposition without much trouble. However, that should not be too surprising, since IM Kannappan is the current league leader (the best individual score)!!! IM Bregadze defeated FM Curt Collyer with a crushing kingside attack in only 22 moves. Newly crowned expert, Matthew Larson, tried a daring line of the Gruenfeld Defense against Sinanan that included exchanging his best defensive piece, the dark-squared bishop. This choice proved too risky, and Larson was quickly routed.
Be sure to check out week 6 action against the New Jersey Knockouts this Tuesday night, October 9 at 7 p.m. in the chess club or on the Internet Chess Club.
