Prospect v. Palatine (1): Prospect Wins!

However hopeless the situation appears to be there yet always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance. And it is the player’s task to find these opportunities and make the best of them. When the player with the upper hand is continually confronted by new problems, when, at every moment, one renders the win as difficult as possible, then it is likely that his powers will eventually weaken and he may make some mistake. Paul Keres


Prospect scored its first win ever over Palatine by a score of 52.5-14.5. While it is true that Palatine was playing without a couple of strong players, Prospect played well to pull off the upset. Palatine players had strong positions on each of the top four boards, but stubborn play by all the Prospect players yielded two wins and a draw.

The win was anchored by 1st Board Peter Dimopoulos who won on time against Palatine's Syed Hassan. Peter grabbed a big advantage in space in the opening, but took a little too long to get his attack rolling which allowed Syed to generate dangerous counterplay. The ending looked bad for Peter with rook, bishop and four pawns against Syed's rook, bishop and six pawns. However, Peter still had the space advantage which he nursed carefully to keep Syed's rook and bishop passive. Syed used all his time trying to find a way to untangle his position.