Seattle Sluggers

Random Thoughts

2011-10-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I looked at Bioniclime's simulations, and wow, STL and NJ have 0% of making it to the post-season. Shucks.

But then, I looked at Seattle's chances of making the post-season, and then I didn't really feel so good.

0.339%. Uh-mazing. Which means it would be hilariously funny if we did end up making the post-season. Like, what would Seattle do. Hm. Sweep STL. Sweep the Vibe. And then knock currently #4 Dallas out of the post-season. Hm. What if Dallas goes 0-4 against SF Mechanics and Miami Sharks. Oh, that would put Seattle into the post-season.

I like where this is going. We just need to sweep STL and the Vibe.

1. GM Hikaru Nakamura - FM Cozianu

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA. Oh shnaps. what the ****. $#!@. Actually, not all hope is lost. Apparently, Hikaru is performing like a 2163. Heck. What the crap is that? Even lil' big gun Roland Feng has a higher performance rating than that. Oh, and as a matter of fact, now that I think about it, a kid who JUST graduated from elementary school has a higher performance rating. AND, he's from Seattle!

Holy cow. I just glanced at Roland's performance rating. It's 2326. That's actually pretty good. Shnaps. Future star material right there.

Haha. But this is only Nakamura's second game of the season. As if he's been saving 'it' for Seattle. haha, maybe not...though I'm interested in knowing why he hasn't played any more games.

As for the rest of the boards, I guess the popular opinion would be that SEA loses on board 2 and wins 3+4. But if we just get a draw on either 1+2, we got the match.

And then there was that time when Seattle still made the playoffs with a 4.5-5.5 record. Maybe the chips will fall our way again. Who knows. It's called Luck.

Some more Random Thoughts

2011-10-24T20:12:00.001-07:00

So now that I'm blogging during a not-as-fantastic season for Seattle...

I guess I've got to admit, it's not as fun blogging when not everybody's winning all the time. Actually, it sure shucks as hell when a score like 0.5-3.5 appears more than once in the season. Cuz a score like that means that nobody won a game. Nobody. Like, what are the odds of that. Oh wait, with Seattle, that's 25%. Shucks.

It gets hard, cuz then, it's like, crap, what are you supposed to talk about.

Another thing hard about blogging for Seattle, especially when you're 969 miles away, is that it's really hard to know what's going on in the team atmosphere. It's hard to write in a mood that resonates with everybody else's natural frequency. Cuz you just don't know.

The unsaid screaming emotions emanating from body language and facial expressions aren't there. A blog post isn't the same when you don't know that Akobian's head was throbbing with seizurous activity when he was crushing Friedel, even though that detail may not ultimately pop up in the post. These little things--they matter.

I guess the problem with long-distance is that everything sensed but not said just isn't there anymore, so really, you're only looking at a chess screen, a blue-highlighted digital clock, and just plain old text. Said another way, you're only looking at a one-dimensional integer array of shifting ARGB values. Can't get very far with just text.

But add the smile, the friendly voices, and perhaps a bit of funky body odor, and it's something different. Perhaps even magical.

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lololol ok time to exit sappy-writing-mode.

I know I haven't been posting as much as I would like, and part of that has been that college is actually really tough. Way more work than I expected. And though I might not have realized it at the time, I guess the inability to generate content based on what I knew what people were feeling was part of the difficulty. But I also want to make it clear that I certainly haven't stopped blogging because there weren't prizes. It's actually probably a really good thing for the USCL that those blog prizes have stopped. Discussion, not competition, please.

Which reminds me...maybe the USCL should have a discussion board.

(SEA) Roland Feng - Ben (DAL)

2011-10-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

OK, this year's season has not been brilliant for the Sluggers, and I guess, neither was this match. But hey, then again, there's this kid who's half my height and is already playing chess at an unusually high level.

I know that there are some small writing errors, but they just highlight the fact that Roland's young and is still a kid, which is, in my opinion, a higher honor than being called an adult. So here're Roland's annotations, presented as is, as the writing of a young gun who's still got a couple good years of chess ahead of him :).

Golub - Sevian

2011-10-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here are Golub's annotations to a very nice win over Sevian. Check it out!

Annotation: Orlov - Bercys

2011-09-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

It has been suggested that I should post some more serious content...so here's an annotation that Orlov sent in about a game which won him second place in the Game of the Week contest!

Here it is: http://seattlesluggers.net/games/orlovbercys.htm

Review of the Seattle Roster

2011-09-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

eh, it's been a while since I posted something, so I thought I'd post something that'd keep me entertained.

1. GM Varuzhan Akobian

Fun Fact: His head will throb furiously in concentration if he sees mate in 50

Hmm, part of this is actually true. It's kinda freaky when I saw his head do that, but I guess you just gotta do whatcha gotta do.

2. FM Costin Cozianu

Fun Fact: "What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say, 'Costin Cozianu'?" "A girl."

HAHHAHAHAHA I love asking my floormates :).

3. IM Georgi Orlov

Fun Fact: "He is a cool cucumber"~Michael Lee

About time the Sluggers got some vegetables on the team.

4. FM Slava Mikhailuk

Fun Fact: He lives a double-life as a vampire

Slava's profile picture still scares the decomposed waste material outta me.

5. FM Marcel Milat

Fun Fact: He owns a private jet, a Jacuzzi, 10 cars comprising of Porsches, Mercedes, as well as other OK collectibles, and a mansion next to Bill Gates.

I like calling him M&M.

6. WGM Katerina Rohonyan

Fun Fact: "The first thing that comes to mind is the Lord of the Rings. You know, like, Rohonyan, sounds like...Rohan, from the Lord of the Rings? Right?"

Um. Yah. Idk. You should ask my roommate why he said that when I asked, "What first comes to your mind when I say, 'Katerina Rohonyan'?"

7. NM Joshua Sinanan

Fun Fact: He used to have hair down all the way to his shoulders

He actually did. It was kinda cool, but then he had to get a haircut :(

8. NM Dereque Kelley

Fun Fact: he plays better with one minute than with 90 minutes.

I remember getting roasted given 1 minute to 5 minute time odds. Maybe Kelley should be given just 5 minutes in every match he's going to play in.

9. NM David Golub

Fun Fact: when he checks your king, he will yell "LLAMA!"

And this, my friends, is why we need to get Skype in on these matches. So that we can yell LLAMAAAAA.

10. Roland Feng

Fun Fact: this kid is in fifth or sixth grade, but he looks like he's 6 years old

I'm short, but this kid is half my height. Which kinda makes me wanna punch him. But it's ok. Great to see you on the team Roland!

Preview of the 9/12 match: Sluggers vs. Sharks

2011-09-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

After upsetting the Arizona Scorpions, the Seattle Sluggers are looking to win another match this week. Let's take a look at the Sluggers/Sharks matchup.

1. Cozianu (SEA) - Roman

Cozianu outrates Roman by roughly 200 points and furthermore, I am liking Roman's 2200 performance rating. Adding on to that, Cozianu loves the white pieces. Though I'm not going to predict an outright win for Cozianu, I'm liking Cozianu's chances on this board.

2. Rodriguez - Mikhailuk (SEA)

Both have been on All-Star teams but last season both have had relatively lackluster seasons. I don't think Rodriguez is going to keep his 2000 performance rating from last year, so the match up will be closer than one might think. Evenly matched, this board is a toss-up.

3. Rohonyan (SEA) - Hernandez

Hernandez is as yet untested under USCL team conditions and time controls. However, I don't think he'd be on the Miami Sharks for no reason. Having no knowledge of Hernandez's history and since the ratings look evenly matched, I'll just call this board a toss-up.

Oh and by the way, in his profile picture Hernandez kinda looks stoned, though I'm sure he's just being very very serious.

4. Alvarez - Kelley (SEA)

Both players have one game on their record, and thus their performance ratings are both sub-1900 (lol). But obviously, both players are obviously stronger players than simply 1900s.

Kelley had a tough first week, but I think he'll bounce back this week. And sorry to be bagging so much on profile pictures, but right now I'm kinda laughing a little because Alvarez looks like he's sleeping. Pleasant dreams, my friend.

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Be sure to watch the match today on ICC! Later,

Alex Guo

Potentially free cookies, kids

2011-08-31T20:13:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Night, 8/31

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

by Michael Lee and Alex Guo

Board 1: GM Varuzhan Akobian (Seattle) vs. GM Dmitry Gurevich

Board 1 features GM Varuzhan Akobian against GM Dmitry Gurevich. Gurevich held down board 1 for Chicago last year, playing a full 10 games. However, Akobian is dangerous, especially with the white pieces. Both players are fresh off the recent 1st Metropolitan International in L.A., so should be in good form. This looks to be a game to watch.

Board 2: IM Florin Felecan vs. FM Costin Cozianu (Seattle)

Wow, I like the alliteration on these names here. I wonder whether the team managers planned it that way. Felecan rhymes with Pelican which almost sounds kinda scary while Cozianu brings me warm feelings of coziness. Additionally, I kinda like Cozianu's profile picture better than Felecan's. It's like comparing a fierce competitor with ... with someone who almost looks dazed that his picture is being taken. Aside from that, they're both strong players. Felecan is a strong tactical player while Cozianu is solid. Should be an interesting matchup.

Board 3: NM Dereque Kelley (Seattle) vs. IM Angelo Young

Kelley's got gutsss to go up against Young. Young's got a pretty dang good track record, but I wouldn't count Kelley out here. Kelley's got some pretty nice victories in his last few tournaments. And Kelley's actually smiling in his profile picture while Angelo Young's standing next to...idk, some random move center. What is up with that. You should switch profile picture.

Board 4: NM Eric Rosen vs. NM David Golub (Seattle)

On Board 4, we have two rising juniors Eric Rosen and David Golub facing off. Both have improved greatly over the last few years, Golub recently breaking National Master and Rosen almost gaining an IM norm in his last few tournaments. Interestingly enough, this will be the 3rd Seattle Board 4 player Rosen has faced with White in the last 3 years.

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Hm, and the twitter account SeattleSluggers will be tweeting during the match. Go follow us!

The Final Match

2010-11-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

Tough match, tough match.

There's not much for me to add on to what has already been said. Kostya and the Farmer pretty much said all there is to say. Altounian held on to a tough draw against Akobian (first result). Wang got into a bad position pretty darn early through surprisingly passive play that only got worse as the game continued (second result). The dreaded must-win situation dawned on Cozianu and Slava. Cozianu slugged a tricky win against Rogellio. The only comment I have on that game is that Cozianu probably didn't 'see' the win, but what Cozianu probably did feel that there was a win, but being in a bit of time pressure, could not work out the concrete variations. Once it had come to calculate the variations, though, Cozianu took a couple of minutes and found the win.

So it was all up to Slava. Kostya and Farmer have already spotted most of the winning possibilities, just check out their annotations for details. Lots of possibilities...so many chances...time trouble...missing the first easy win (Rexd4) probably came as a psychological blow to Slava--I'm guessing he saw it just after he played Rxe5 (probably the worst possible feeling, that you see the win...just after....you play another move)--leading to some more missed opportunities. Oh well...

I've always thought that these matches and games were as much a matter of luck as they were a matter of skillage. Once again, Arizona has gotten pretty DARN lucky that their mistakes and missed opportunities didn't cost them. just look at that match against St. Louis, and they're darn lucky again in this match. The last thing I've got to say here before I sign out for the season:

the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

~Ecclesiasties 9:11

Till next season, I remain

Alex Guo

formspring.me

2010-10-31T18:14:00.001-07:00

Anything related to the Seattle Sluggers or the US Chess League! http://formspring.me/SeattleSluggers

Week 10 Recap against STL

2010-10-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Before the lineups were posted, we were pretty scared of a Naka/Shulman/double-Finegold lineup, against which we were going to go with Var/Mikhailuk/Lee/Guo anyways. A win could be expected on fourth board, but the other three...? Not too sure. Shulman was probably going to win his game, and whether Var could pull off a win, and whether Lee could hold his own against Finegold, was a little speculative.

But instead, we had the Shulman/Finegold/Brooks/Finegold lineup, which is substantially weaker. We would expect a win on fourth board; Var's chances of a win on first board greatly increased because Shulman's USCL play so far has not been too stellar. We'd hope for the best on second board, and FM Lee now had good chances for a win on third board (Brooks USCL record has also not been too great)

Which is what happened.

Board 4: Spencer Finegold - Guo, 0-1

(after 42...Qc2)

Given the firepower of Nakamura and Shulman on the top boards, I wouldn't have been surprised to know that Spencer prepped some crazy line against me, which might actually be credible. So the best thing to do was to play some wacko sideline to steer Spencer into unknown territory (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 b6!?), and ended up getting into a dubious position with the black pieces. Interestingly, the resulting position was rather easy to play and did not present many difficulties for Spencer, and thus he was able to exchange down into the endgame position shown above.

At this moment, Spencer blundered with 43.Nd7??. My only guess as to why this happened is simply that the move was played too fast. At this moment, I had around 16 minutes to Spencer's 56 minutes. This was probably 30 seconds...

Board 2: GM Finegold - FM Slava Mikhailuk, 1-0

Slava's been playing tough opposition all season, and this match was no exception. Slava got the Black side of a IQP position:

(after 21.Nc3)

White is threatening Nd5. which will get him out of the unfavorable pawn structure. Black needed to play 21...Nxe3, giving up the IQP pawn structure but getting the two bishops. After 21...Nxe3, the position is about equal. Black played 21...Qb8, and after 22.Nxd5, pressure on the IQP is lessened and a target is borne on d5. White now has the much better position, and White played well to achieve a great position. Even before Black gave the exchange in a bid for counterplay on move 27, White already had a domineering position (my computer gives White a 1.19 edge...). White converted the point convincingly.

(after 27.Bb1)

In the above position, Black is under very strong pressure from White. The knight cannot move because of Bc7, Be8 and Rd8 are stalemated...all of White's pieces are just really active. My computer engine gives White a 1.19 score +/-...it's a pretty tough position and I wouldn't blame Slava for playing 27...Ne7, which gives up the exchange to Bc7.

Board 3: GM Akobian - GM Shulman

Varuzhan played a fantastic game against Shulman, almost garnering him GOTW honors! Varuzhan went into a gambit line, and gained tremendous positional pressure,

(after 20...Nc7)

Varuzhan has an ideal position! All of Var's pieces couldn't be better placed.

Varuzhan let all heck break loose with 21.Nxf6!, Qxf6 22.Bxe5 Qf7 23.Bxc6. Unsurprisingly, Akobian soon won the exchange, leveling the material balance. Akobian then ran his extra c-pawn down the board to get a winning position

(after 38...Bxb7)

In the process of running the c-pawn down to the 7th rank, the queens were exchanged, but simply 39.Rxf8 Kxf8 40.Rd8+. The pawn promotes, and it's all over. Wow.

Board 3: FM Lee - IM Brooks, 1-0

So at this point, Seattle was up 2-1, but we needed more than 2 to get past draw odds. It was on this game that Seattle fans were most scared on. Michael had been gobbling piece....after piece....

First, Brooks dropped a pawn in the opening on the fifth move (a little rusty, maybe?)...

(after 15.Rc1)

Then Brooks gave up a pawn, another pawn, and the exchange! 15...Na5!? 16.Qxc7 Ba6!? (another pawn? ok!) 17.Bxd6 Rxd6!? (I think I'll take that too...if you don't mind :D), 18.Qxd6. At this point, Michael was already up three pawns, so perhaps a little caution is called for, and instead 18.Qxa5?. Taking the knight instead of the rook eliminates any danger from that piece, but I guess a rook....is a rook.

At this point, the players in the skittles room knew that Michael Lee had the better position (he's only up...three pawns and an exchange), but that the path to the win would be tricky. Brooks definitely had some counterplay - definitely not enough to win, but certainly not ignorable. The trouble started in the following position:

(after 26.Bg2)

So the files are wide open for attack! All the obstacles that are left on the middle files are now...Michael Lee's pawns (by the way, Michael Lee took yet another pawn on e4). Brooks knocked them out of the way with 26...Nxe3! 27.Qxe3 Re8, gaining back...some material. Then Michael Lee almost lost his marbles when Brooks had a chance to come back

(after 30.Rc5)

Michael Lee had played 30.Rc5, which is dubious, but it's tough to find a consolidating move in this position. Brooks had a chance to play 30...Qh4+! 31.Kf1 (Kd loses to Qf2), Qf6+ and if 31.Ke1/Qh4, with a draw (Kf1 Qg3 32.Bb7!!) Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for STL, who were down 2-1 at this point, so unfortunately, Brooks had to do something else to try for a win (note that if Finegold had drawn his game with me, Brooks would simply force a draw at this point, and STL would go to playoffs because of draw odds. Wow, we got lucky in this match...).

But the bad thing is that....Brooks doesn't have anything else besides Qh4+. 30...Ne4 31.Bxe4 Qxe4 32.Rf1 and to be frank....there's not much you can do with two pieces! Michael found his way out of the complications and out of time trouble, to clinch the match for Seattle!

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To be honest, the Sluggers got a little lucky this match. First, we had to be grateful for Nakamura's absence during this critical match, and second, the Sluggers got a win on fourth board, where Spencer had every right to expect a draw. If the Sluggers got a draw on 4th board instead, Brooks could've easily forced perpetual at some point, and it'd be all over.

But that's not to say that the Sluggers were always lucky. As I pointed out in my earlier posts, we were actually pretty unlucky during the season. I can point out at least a couple...Friedel-Akobian...Sinanan-Gupta...Slava-Becerra (a draw would've clinched the match against Miami). Nevertheless, the effort to make the playoffs was made possible only by everybody's effort, as the Sluggers needed every. single. point. While it is true that GM Akobian, FM Lee, and myself are the only ones with + scores, and have collectively scored more than half of the team's points, just look at the standings! Seattle got in only because of tiebreaks, by 3.5 game points. Every draw mattered. And let's not forget the fans who came in on the week 10 match (and on every other week, for that matter) - you guys make the matches worth playing.

Next week, the Sluggers are playing the Arizona Scorpions, fighting against draw odds. Interestingly enough, Arizona picked the white colors, hoping for better chances on board 1 with the white pieces, and possibly looking at my 0% record with the white pieces. Though, draw odds definitely aren't something to be too afraid of. There're plenty of teams in the past who've made it to the Championship match despite fighting draw odds (Miami comes to mind...). In fact, the Sluggers may have a weird psychological advantage because Arizona might be content in playing for draws on all boards, while the Sluggers will slug it out no matter what happens.

Should be an exciting match this week! By the way, sorry for the late post. College applications are extremely annoying. And speaking of college apps, I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't apply to Berkeley cuz of the weirdest arts requirement ever, but that's for another discussion. But before I sign out...St. Louis, you might want to know that I'm applying to the UW in St. Louis....just saying :D

Week 10 Match vs St Louis

2010-10-27T21:26:00.001-07:00

One word. Yay!

Season Recap and preview of the the "1st" playoff round.

2010-10-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

So, the playoffs are here. Sort of. This is technically the last round of the regular season, but in reality is just an extra round of playoffs. Unfortunately, St Louis has draw odds. Since we are looking at next weeks game as a playoff game, I will do our season recap now.

Its been a difficult year for us, losing Nakamura to St Louis. Luckily, we had Var step up and fill the void. Going into the season, we were very excited with our revamped lineup and knew people would be shocked to see Var on our lineup. Then GM Anka was unable to participate due to work load, and we had our State Champion Costin Cozianu step up in a big way. Then due to an unfortunate situation, we lost our rock, GM Serper for the season. However, after its all said and done, we are now looking a shot at the playoffs and looking for a championship.

We started off the season using a balanced lineup in week one and debuting Costin in week two, but things didn't go our way. Then, in week 3, GM Varuzhan Akobian came in and put a very impressive performance against GM Becerra to help lead the Sluggers to our first victory of the season. Var's enthusiasm was infectious, and I see why John Donaldson wanted Var on the Olympiad team so badly. Who needs cheerleaders when we have Var?

Unfortunately, in week 4, we suffered a close loss against our long time rivals, the Mechanics and we needed to stage a comeback to make the playoffs. From there on, we went undefeated, beating New Jersey and then drawing two more. Last week, we experienced our second ever win against San Francisco.

Despite going into the last week with only 4-5, we have actually scored the 2nd most points in the Western division, only short of Division champs Arizona.

Looking into our "1st" Playoff match, we are lucky that GM Nakamura is away cleaning up at the Cap D'Agde tournament and we won't have to face the deadly Triple GM lineup. On one hand, I feel that it helps our chances of scoring a victory, but on the other, I would like to face the best, only then we can see how good we are.

On Board 1, we see the matchup between long time friends, Yury Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian. They have been teammates, representing the US in various competitions, have played matches against each other, and also have had numerous training sessions together. Yury is the higher rated player, but Var has white, so its a toss up as to who will prevail.

On Board 2, we have Slava facing a big challenge in Ben Finegold. On this board, St Louis has the edge, as we have seen in the USCL, anything can happen.

On Board 3, young star Michael Lee faces IM Brooks. Brooks has been struggling this season, and Michael has looked better every match. I think Seattle has the edge here.

On Board 4, we have two underrated kids playing, Alex Guo and Spencer Finegold. It looks like Spencer will be looking to steer the game into tactical waters, where he's at his best, but in the end Alex has been remarkable this season, and he should be able to win this game too.

Given what we see, I feel like we have great chances to "advance" to the playoffs this year, but in the USCL, you never know what will happen.

Week 9 Sluggers vs. Mechanics

2010-10-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

This week, the Sluggers jumped a few places to secure fifth place, based on tiebreaks. The average rating of our opponents is....hm, 2398, which is about 15 points lower than most other teams in the West. The difference in rating is simply because the St. Louis Archbishops sorta skewed the averages, so after week 10, Seattle's opps Average Ratings should be around 2410.

As was pointed out on uschessleague.com, Week 10 sees the unusual phenomenon of three matches being essentially playoff matches. That is, the teams in places 2 to 4 have draw odds, while the teams in places 5 to 7 must win in order to move on. What's even more unusual is that all of these teams have either 17.5 game points or 18 game points, with the exception of us, with 19 points.

Luckily, we won the match against San Francisco 3.5 - 0.5, giving the Sluggers 19 game points and fifth place in the West. That means that the Sluggers could potentially leap to second place in the playoffs!

In the match against San Francisco, the Sluggers were in better positions on all the boards.

Board 1: GM Varuzhan - GM Josh Friedel, 1-0

Board 1 sees the rematch between Var and Josh. Last time, Josh won against Var with the white pieces, but this time, Varuzhan played well and scored a great win against Friedel, garnering him Game of the Week honors (about time somebody from Seattle got a GOTW!).

In a Nimzo, Friedel made a structurally weakening move 9...g5?!, which is, in all likelihood, quite dubious because it weakens the kingside pawn structures, and Friedel does not have his dark-squared bishop. Varuzhan later capitalized on Friedel's kingside weaknesses with 25.e4!.

(after 25.e4!)

An extremely strong positional pawn sacrifice! Var gets his knight back into the game, and right into the thick of Friedel's kingside weaknesses. Varuzhan continued developing pressure to reach the following position:

(after 32. Qb3)

In the above position, it becomes very difficult to defend all of Black's weaknesses, which include c6, e4, h6, and later on, g6, a7, and g4, while Var's pawns are easily defendable. Unsurprisingly, GM Varuzhan converted the point cleanly.

Board 4: NM Liou - Guo

Before the game, I had prepped for a French Tarrasch, but clearly, Yian came prepared and opened with 1.d4. Duh! Yian plays the Dutch, so he'd be fine playing on the white side of it as well.

The game steered into a Leningrad Stonewall. It was a Kingside attack vs. Queenside attack. Yian's first mistake probably came with an incorrect exchange of pawns.

(after 21...Nd6)

Yian played 22.cxd5?, to which the simple 22...cxd5 essentially kills White's queenside attack, as there is no target on the queenside and if the c5 knight moves, Nc4, Rc8 and there is no penetration on the queenside, or if there is, Black's kingside attack will certainly come faster.

But after 23.Ba3, I returned the favor with 23...Qe8?, allowing a tactical shot.

(after 23...Qe8?)

24.Nxe4! Nxe4 25.f3 and Yian is back in the game. Instead of 23...Qe8, better would have been 23...b6 and then 24...Nc4, with the better position and good chances of quickly breaking through on the kingside. Or even 23...Bf3 first, before Qe8, with a similarly crushing attack.

Instead, 24.Rfe1? and now 24...Bf3, after which there is not much more to say.

Board 2: IM David Pruess - FM "Micky Mouse" Mikhailuk, 0-1

Slava pulls off a nice win with several good sacrifices along the way.

(after 12.Kh1)

Slava plays the interesting pawn sac 12...Rg8!?, with Benko-like compensation. In return for the pawn, Black gets...the h-file, but is perfectly justified because open lines against the king are key in this kind of position, as seen when the game developed to the following position

(after 22.f3)

Slava utilizes the h-file in sweeping fashion with 22...Nxh2! and obtains a winning position. The game continued 23.Kxh2 Bd6 24.Rg1 (24.Kg2 Rdg8! -+ 25.Kf2 Bxg3 26.Ke3 Rd8! Black will win substantial material, in view of the coming mating threat) Rh8+ 25.Kg2 Rxg3+ and soon wins the Queen, and with it, the game

Board 3: FM Lee - FM Naroditsky, 0.5 - 0.5

Surprise, surprise. FM Robby Adamson correctly predicted a boring English. Lee-Naroditsky went into an opposite-colored bishop ending, in which Naroditsky blundered a b-pawn. Thus, Michael had the better position all the way till the end, when he felt insecure about his King and Bishop and accepted a draw, though in actuality, the position was winning. Perhaps Lee just didn't feel like grinding Naroditsky down that night?

(after 39...Rh5, drawn)

"Oh well," said Lee, "at least now it looks like I gave SF a consolation draw! :)"

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Week 10.

The final week.

And the Sluggers now get to meet their best buddies, the St. Louis Archbishops.

Who just happen to be 2500+ rating, on average. But considering what happened this past Wednesday, St. Louis's "oh so mighty" triple GM lineup were, in the commissioner's words, "very lucky to get away with a draw" (italics mine - added for emphasis). Initially, I thought it was some sort of conspiracy to get Seattle out of the playoffs, but FM Michael Lee has convinced me otherwise. Instead, it now becomes overwhelmingly clear that Arizona's chessplayers just played dumb chess. Period. Granted, draws against Nakamura and Shulman, both U.S. Champs, is extremely impressive, but seriously, taking two draws on two boards in two winning positions has to mean that somebody's fighting spirit is a little less than mediocre.

Too bad that doesn't diminish the fact that there's two monsters on board 1/2. But it does mean that the Sluggers also have a good shot at beating St. Louis.

Date Night

2010-10-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

In a date with Destiny, the guy Slugger didn't have such a great time.

The Slugger's date showed up to the party (which coincidentally consists of chess games) on time, but what about Slugger?

Well, I've got to say....half of Slugger showed up on time, and the other half of the guy...well...wasn't quite there. Sorta like a hole in his heart, just...well, half-empty. Some might say that it's half-full, but....not quite. More like half-empty, but not half-full, because it seemed more half-empty than half-full...if you know what I mean. Or, actually, half-full might be a better descriptor, because half-full is a (w)hole that is half-empty, while half-empty is a whole that is half-full. Wait a second. I think I'm getting some things mixed up here. Isn't half-full and half-empty the....same...thing?

WHATEVER.

Well, as it so happened, alternate personalities Slava Mikhailuk and Alex Guo arrived a little bit late--10 minutes, to be precise. Ms. Destiny was not happy at all.

Board 3: FM Keaton Kiewra - FM Marcel Milat, 0-1!!

She certainly did not seem happier one and half hours later. FM Marcel Milat outmaneuvered FM Keaton "the Beaten" Kiewra to achieve a superior ending:

(after 30...Bd5)

Keaton's pieces had experienced a temporary flourish of activity and initiative, noted by an obstinate rook on d6. But three pieces is....three pieces. There's not much you can really do with three active pieces, and in the above diagram, traded the rooks, and Keaton's pawn structure cost him the game.

(after 38...Nd4)

Can't defend all those pawns at the same time. FM Milat brings in the win for Seattle.

Board 2: FM Slava Mikhailuk - Julio Sadorra, 0-1

(after 21...b4)

Jules is going for a queenside attack, while White stakes his hopes on a kingside attack. 22.g5?! I'm not too sure about this move. By now, Black seems to have obtained the better position because of better minor pieces and actual targets on the queenside, but 22.g5 seems to exacerbate the situation, if nothing else, simply because it drops the c-pawn. Jules now has a far advanced c-pawn, the a-pawn is still a target, and now he potentially has d4 for his knight. If Black exchanges down, then White's kingside attack fails, and Jules takes the point.

Actually, that did happen.

(after 29.Rg2)

Apparently, White's attack has broken through, but Jules found this nice move: 28...Qxg2+!, which exchanges away the queen and rook, after Black's Rg7. Afterwards, Jules just had too many pawns.

Board 1: Bercys - FM "Cozy" Cozianu, 1-0

To be brutally honest, Cozianu, it just seems like you got a s****y position out of the opening.

Here's how the game went:

(after 1...c5)

OK...

(after 8.Bb5+)

8...N6d7!?, This, is the first time in my chess career that I have had to use two numbers to write down a knight move! This kind of move means that Black might be in some trouble. A good opening usually doesn't have the knight dancing around while shutting in the light-squared bishop.

(after 12.Nd2)

Alright. Black's probably in some doodoo now, as Nc4 and Na4 are coming. Positionally, 12...b5 is forced. But guess what?

(after 17.Qe2)

You get THIS position. White has tremendous pressure, and Black decides to give the a-pawn. Not sure whether there's sufficient compensation. Black's not lost, but certainly losing.

(after 32...Rf7)

Black launches a kingside attack to complicate the position, with ideas concerning the h-pawn and Rook infiltration on the queenside. White finds the consolidating move 33.Ne2!. White now loses two pawns, but the win is simplified. Soon afterwards, Black resigns in the following position:

(after 38.Kd2)

Black's pretty much lost, so it makes sense for Black to resign here. However, White still has some work to do in order to fully convert the point. If anything, the other Destiny members will still be somewhat uncertain of the outcome of this game.

Board 4: Guo - WFM Zorigt, 0-1

Out of the English Opening arose the following position:

(after 24...bxc5)

To be honest, the game felt like a really good story with a -crappy- ending. Things were going great throughout the game but things fell apart, and in postmortem with the rest of the team, I kept on having sentences in the form "he could play that" or "he could play this", which just made things worse.

In the above position, for example, White has a terrific position. Black's light-square bishop is blunted by his d-pawn. Black's knight is hanging out on the sidelines. Black doesn't have any real targets to attack, while his hanging pawns are more of a burden then an asset. White's bishops are on the most active posts they could be and in addition, there're hardly better place for White's rooks.

Being short on time and wanting to conserve time for later decisions that I felt could be more important than the present one, I played 25.Nh4?, which just ends up losing time. I missed the rather elementary defense 25...Red8. Lol, and with that, it was pretty clear to me that I let slip the win. 25.Nh4 popped out to me because I felt like there was a killer move, and Nh4 seemed to be it, as the d-pawn was almost undefensible. Except it wasn't. The pawn was perfectly defendable.

But I was right about one thing. As a good friend pointed out, simply 25.g5! would have secured a large positional advantage for White. 25...hxg5 26.Nxg5 and either the h-pawn or the d-pawn falls. If instead 25...Nf5, the only other option, 26.gxf6 gxf6 27.Nh2! Black has four pawn islands! and now White's knight moves to h2 opens up the long diagonal and threatens to attack the f6-pawn, while the d-pawn is about to fall as well.

Analysis position: after 27.Nh2!

Here, the variations split into two options: 27...Bxh2+ or 27...Ne7.

1) 27...Ne7 28.Ng4 Be5 29.Nxe5 fxe5 30. Qb5, and a few moves later, one of the pawns must fall. White's unopposed dark-square bishop should also help in converting the advantage.

2) 27...Bxh2+ 28.Kxh2 White's already set up to swing his rook to the open g-file. Sample variation: 28...Ne7 29.Rg1 Ng6 30.Bf3 Qd6+ 31.Kh1 Re7 32.Qf5. The basic idea in the variations: -Rook on g1, -Rook on c1/d1 (depending on where pressure is best applied), targets-f6, d5, c5, a7. At any rate, White has a pretty large advantage.

Oh well. Can't kiss all the girls.

As it turns out, White even had a chance to obtain the better position later in the game with 34.Nc3!, but at that point, it's essentially useless to talk about such opportunities, as 1 minute does not compare with 30 minutes. The tremendous amount of complications later in the game, and my time shortage, sealed my fate.

Now that I reflect on this past Monday, it seems that I might've played on a little too much. My apologies, and good game, WFM Zorigt!

*************************

Well, that wraps up what happened last monday. Still two more matches to go! Both Seattle and San Francisco have had disappointing matches recently, and with playoff position up for grabs, these last few matches are especially critical.

And we'll see whether the Sluggers can get a second date with Destiny

Week 7 Recap

2010-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

This week I was a little bit more busy than other weeks, due to SAT testing (every high schooler needs to boycott this test). Consequently, my annotations are going to be rather anemic (SAT word!).

On Wednesday, the Sluggers went into the match with every reason to win. Akobian heavily outrated his opponent, while the other three boards were evenly balanced.

As expected, Akobian cruised his way to victory rather surprisingly easy, due to a couple of major mistakes from his opponents, and accordingly, it seems rather presumptuous (another SAT word!) for Muscleman to be falling all over this game.

However, Akobian's quick victory was equally matched in terms of decisiveness in Rohonyan's match. Soon after the opening, Rohonyan fell for an opening cheapo , and ended up in a losing position.

That left Sinanan and Slava. FM Mikhailuk pulled through and brought home his FIRST WIN of the season, after having a tough start. It seemed that Banawa miscalculated the variations or his chances when he sacced his queen for two rooks and knight, but Slava ended up winning the piece back, and in a tricky position, infiltrated Black's position while Banawa was unable to coordinate his two rooks.

With the match at 2-1, Seattle only needed a draw from Sinanan to clinch the match. A draw seemed likely for a while, as Sinanan traded down into a drawish rook ending. In a weird psychological twist, having to play only for a draw seemed to have a detrimental effect on Sinanan's ensuing play, and missed a few of Gupta's tricks in the endgame. But no worries, my friend. I still think Seattle's got a good shot at playoffs. Maybe Championship.

P.S. more detailed annotations will be available soon.

Michael Lee predicts again

2010-10-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

Physics Final 2morrow.

NY 3-1
Manhattan 2.5-1.5
Miami 2-2 Dallas
SF 2.5-1.5
Boston 2-2 NJ
NE 3-1
STL 2-2 Blaze

As for the Seattle match, Michael Lee prefers to leave well enough alone.

Seattle Slugged the Knocked-Outs

2010-10-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

Co-authored by Alex Guo and Josh Sinanan

Guo:
Going into the match of the interdivisional week, I must admit that I was rooting for Western division to get swept, and then Seattle would be the lone winner and take a giant leap in the standings. Of course, none of that was going to happen, but to my surprise, Seattle did indeed take quite a sizable jump, from second to last, to being one of the top four--at least for now, as Seattle had the best tiebreaks of all the other teams.

As for the match, I was a little uneasy about our chances. Seattle had better chances on the bottom two boards, while the top two boards faced strong New Jersey players GM Benjamin and IM Molner. Fortunately, everything turned out alright, with Cozianu and Slava getting past their missteps in the past two weeks, and bottom two boards performing as was expected.

Personal message to Professional Prognosticators: HAHAHAHAHA, WE WON!!!!!! Sorry, it just makes me a little bit more than amused to see Seattle completely stomping the predictions of naysayers, who were predicting a win for New Jersey, while instead, New Jersey nearly got swept. Looks like NJ is having a rough season.

Well, onto the match!

Board 3: FM Michael Lee - IM Albert Kapengut, 1-0

Michael Lee scored the first win of the match, continuing his latest winning streak. Nothing's stoppin' this USCL stud! With the white pieces, Michael Lee entered into a 1...e5 English, to reach the following position arising out of the opening:

(after 12...b6)

White is saddled with doubled c-pawns, but in return, has the two bishops, potential pressure down the d-file, and a nice target to work with, in the e4-pawn. In positions like these, the e-pawn is like a sore thumb, since backing it up with a pawn is difficult to do.

Michael Lee mobilized his Q-side pawns with 13.b4, to which Black replied 13...c5!?, a positionally sharp move. After 14.Nb5, Black must take on b4. After winning the pawn on b4, Black will position his QN on c5, and then opt for a d6-d5 break, and the chances are roughly equal.

However, Kapengut played 14...Bf5?, a positional blunder, and allows White to consolidate his Q-side pawn structure 15.ba5 ba5 and then 16.Rad1, and then Black will have the uneviable task of defending the d-pawn, with no substantial counterplay in sight. Another important detail, as noted in the only two tweets that NJ had on this match, the QN is rather cut off from the battle, while Michael Lee's pieces are coordinated against a concrete target.

Kapengut did indeed lose the d-pawn soon, and after that, Michael Lee cleaned up the game to score the point for Seattle. Nice job FM Lee!

Board 4: Sean Finn - Alex Guo, 0-1

Finally. For the first time, I'm not the only player in the match without some sort of a title! This game was rather crazy. Obviously, the Winawer I played was wayyyyy offline, with 6..Qa6 and 7...c4 completely out of book. I don't think you'll find many significant games on this line. I just wanted to immediately lock up a portion of the pawn structure and see how well Finn could play on his own. Besides, 1.e4, 2.d4, 3.Nc3 were whipped out rather quickly, so it was obvious Finn had come prepared to battle me in my Poisoned Pawn Variation. But 2100s aren't well known for great play in an opening that is unknown to them.

Apparently Finn didn't like my line. He immediately went for the kill, trying to refute my opening, which is, to be honest, a little aggressive, when at the most, Black had committed only a opening inaccuracy, and so Black should not be immediately losing, though Black might indeed be in a slightly worse position.

(after 15...Ba4)

With the two bishops and targets on a greatly weakened K-side pawn structure, White probably has the better position, though, unfortunately for Finn, the path to victory is by no means clear. Smelling blood, "Shark" Finn went for the kill with 16.Ne2?!, allowing 16...Bxc2 17.Nf4 Kd7! with this move Black is doing fine now. After 18.Qxf7 Nxf4 19.Qxf4 Black has pressure along the g- and f- files, and meanwhile White's king is no safer than Black's.

(after 31.Rg2)

Just a few moves before, I essentially offered Finn a draw. We were repeating moves with Be2/Bd3 and Bf3/Be4. Objectively, Black's position is certainly better because of a Q-side passer, but the win is very tricky and by now I was living off the increment. By this point, the upper boards Cozianu and Slava looked like they both had good chances to secure a draw, in which case a draw on fourth board was sufficient to clinch the match, which is all that really matters in the end. Thus, I decided to "offer" a draw instead of going for the win by exchanging bishops. Naturally, Shark Finn declined.

I went for the kill with 31...a5, to utilize my extra q-side pawn. Shark Finn saw a tactical opportunity and played 32.Qh2, sensing a chance to target the potentially weak Q-side pawns. Unfortunately, the attack comes just a little too late, as after 32...Be4! Finn must exchange the key defender of g4-pawn. After the exchange, Finn must either defend the g-pawn with his queen, which then paves the way for my queen to get my a-pawn down the board. On the other hand, if Finn advances his g-pawn, then that gives up control of the f5-square, so that my Nf5, which then gets control of the key e3-square, and thus Finn can never really get his Bd2 out of the way on the second rank, and thus my a-pawn still gets to the last rank. Essentially, White is losing. After some crazy tactics and a pretty intense time scramble, I did eventually convert the point.

From here on, Sinanan recaps the match for us.

Board 1: FM Costin Cozianu (SEA) - GM Joel Benjamin (NJ), 1-0

On board 1, Costin faced off against MVP points leader GM Benjamin.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Costin, he was one of the top junior Romanian prospects back in the early 90's. He stopped playing chess professionally to take up a career as a software engineer, which eventually led him to Seattle where he works for Amazon. He came to the attention of the Sluggers management in 2009 when he won the WA State Championship, ahead of Sluggers stars FM Michael Lee, NM Howard Chen, and yours truly. Oh yeah, and don't be fooled by the fact that Costin is "only an FM." Like many other players from Seattle, he just hasn't bothered to get his IM norms yet!

Before the game began, Costin beat the heavy Seattle traffic and arrived at the Chess4Life Center early to do some last-minute prep. for GM Benjamin. Cozianu is one of the few Sluggers who prefers to play 1. e4 instead of 1. d4 or the English, which he considers to be "closings" rather than "openings." It was no surprise when GM Benjamin responded with the Caro-Kann defense, which has been his weapon of choice against 1. e4 this season. Costin chose the quiet exchange variation, which followed theory until white played a novelty on move 8:

(after 8. Bg5!?)

Costin chose 8. Bg5!? over the more popular 8. Bf4. Perhaps he was hoping to trade the Bishop for the knight on g8 should it develop to f6, which would weaken black's pawn structure. Benjamin didn't go for this though and seemed to equalize rather easily. In the ensuing middle game, black had the better chances due to superior coordination amongst his pieces. After 14. a4, white's knight on b3 became a target that Costin defended by interposing his bishop on b5.

(after 15. Bb5)

White was forced to give up a pawn a few moves later but as compensation he was able to establish a knight on d4. As time pressure approached, GM Benjamin built up nicely on the kingside, while Costin countered in along the d-file. The critical moment occurred when black found a very nice exchange sacrifice to open up the kingside:

(after 25... Rxf3!)

Here Seattle fans had reason to be worried. After 26. gxf3, black could have improved with 26...Ne5 instead of 26...Qh3, leading to a winning position. In the complications that followed, white had to find 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. f4, probably leading to a draw. Instead, Costin blundered:

(after 28. Qc3??)

GM Benjamin had about 2 minutes on his clock to find the crushing 28...Nf5! The point is that after 29. Rxd5, black has 29...Nh4!!, winning instantly.

(analysis diagram after 29...Nh4)

Fortunately for Costin and the Sluggers, GM Benjamin played the second best move, 28...Bc5+. After 29. Kh1, black missed the last chance to win with Nf5. Costin took advantage of this missed opportunity and calmly played 30. Nf4, after which white is winning.

After a series of forced moves, white won a piece for a pawn and converted the ending cleanly. Nicely done Costin!

Board 2: IM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) - FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA), 1/2 - 1/2

On board 2, Slava was playing up against Molner, a very dangerous IM. Coming into this game, Slava was off to a slow start this season, having castled long after his first three starts. In Slava's defense though, he has played up in all three games, facing 2 GM's and a very strong IM. He came very close to beating GM Gurevich and held his own against IM Barcenilla and GM Becerra. As one of the Sluggers' all-time MVP points leaders, it is only a matter of time before Slava regains his form!

Slava seemed to have prepared well for this game, as he opted for a Lowenthal Sicilian instead of his usual classical Sicilian. Molner went for an early queen trade with 8. Qxf6, and the game followed theory until Slava played the rare 10...b5 instead of the more common 10...d5:

(after 10...b5)

The point of this move is to create a square for the bishop on b7 and to take over some space on the queenside. Molner countered with Bg5 and captured on f6, giving black some weak doubled f-pawns.

(after 14...gxf6)

I was discussing this position with NM Dereque Kelley during the match, and we went back and forth trying to decide how white can prove an advantage in this position. After doing some analysis with Rybka 4, we decided that the correct plan for white is to play f4, bring his King to e3, double rooks on the f-file and then switch to the c-file at some point one black has taken time to defend on the kingside. Molner instead went for a quick f4 break, exchanged on e5, and doubled his rooks on the f-file. Slava responded by putting his King on e7, king's rook on h7 to guard f7, and his other rook on c8 for play on the queenside.

(after 18...Rh7)

Molner then played the aggressive 19. Rf6, threatening Rb6. However, after Slava responded with 19...d6, Molner played 20. Nd1?!, allowing 20...Rc2 with equality.

(after 20...Rc2)

Here white had no choice but to retreat his rook back to f2, after which Slava traded into an even endgame and easily held the draw.

Final score: Seattle 3.5 - New Jersey 0.5

Overall, this was a great match for the Sluggers! Everyone played well throughout the evening, and we seemed to gain momentum after Michael Lee's big win on board 3. We were lucky to come out on top in the time-pressure scrambles on boards 1 and 4, and Slava scored a clutch draw on board 2 to clinch the match. We improved our match record to 2.5-3.5, which puts us in a 4-way tie for 4th place in the West. The next 4 weeks will be critical as we play 3 of the teams with whom we're currently tied. With the return of our new superstar from the Olympiad, GM Varuzhan Akobian, we hope to have another strong showing next week as we take on the L.A. Vibe!

FM Michael Lee makes his predictions

2010-09-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

Michael Lee, a fellow Slugger, shares his thoughts on what's gonna happen, with occasional comments from me. Unless otherwise noted, these are Michael's words

New York > Miami

2.5-1.5, split on the bottom boards but...NY has an edge on top two.

Dallas>Carolina
3-1, same as above. (Editor: Carolina has pulled draws recently. Wouldn't be surprised if they did it again)

philadelphia ? chicago - could go either way, I'd go with chicago if I had to. (Editor: Unfortunately Seattle needs Chicago to lose. So I'm gonna call a win for Philadelphia)

NE sweeps STL.

Shankland is good. (Editor: this is the disadvantage of hiring kick-ass players.)

LA = manhattan,

I don't know. (Editor: Call a win for manhattan. Seattle needs LA to mess up somehow).

boston > san fran
2.5-1.5 I'm hoping this happens. looking strong on 1+2. (Editor: Boston's been a strong contender recently.)

No comments for the game on Seattle. Better not to tempt fate.

arizona>baltimore
2.5-1.5 solid on all boards. that's too bad, though (Editor: true dat)

Thanks to Michael Lee for sharing his thoughts!

The Wednesday Coin Flip: Some changes are going to have to be made...

2010-09-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well, helloooo 0-4 record for the Monday Match Predictions. That's right. All of my predictions were dead wrong.

Nor'easters - Inventors: I predicted a draw, but the Nor'easters won.
Cobras - Applesauce: I predicted Applesauce to win, but it ended in a draw.
Archbishops - Destiny: I predicted St. Louis to win. Again, it ended in a draw.
Chicago - Scorpians: I predicted it to be a draw. But wow, the Scorpians actually lost this one.

I really find my terrible record quite amusing. I mean, getting all of the predictions wrong is every bit as RARE and awesome as getting all of my predictions right. Given that RARE events never happen simply by coincidence, there must've been something wrong with my system.

Well, certainly the probabilities are right. For Monday, 50% of the matches were drawn, albeit only through the game-losing blunders by Cobra's NM Agner and Archbishop's FM Eckert, while my coin flipping system gives draws a 50% chance of occuring.

Hmmmm.....

Can you see what's wrong with the following picture? Don't worry if it doesn't strike you immediately at first. Frankly, it's really quite hard to find.

That's right. I'm sure you must've seen it: the coin I used, was the state quarter of North Dakota.

An apparently innocent decision to draw the first quarter out of my backpack has had a shockingly killer effect on my predicting record. And besides, WHO THE HECK LIVES IN NORTH DAKOTA ANYWAYS?? The people of North Dakota has been granted too much power in predicting matches. It's time to put an end to this outrage.

Introducing...

THE WASHINGTON STATE QUARTER!

Since we are in Washington (or at least I am), why not use Washington's state quarter? Novel idea! So here we go, predicting the matches yet again, but this time, changing the coin to the Washington state quarter

New Jersey Knockouts - Boston Blitz

Two strong teams from the East are pitted against each other. New Jersey has the edge on board three, while the Blitz have the edge on board 4. Should be a tight match, but this time the Blitz will prevail over the New Jersey Knockouts.

Baltimore Kingfishers - New York Knights

Close match ups on boards 1 and 4. New York has the rating advantage on board 2 while the Kingfishers has an advantaeg on board 3. Another very close match, and the match will hover at a draw.

Miami Sharks - Seattle Sluggers

Huh, I wonder why Serper hasn't debuted yet? Our top two boards are struggling, and we could really use his help. Michael Lee is getting his first white in a long time, while Slava's gonna hold down the fort on board 1 against GM Julio Becerra. The Sluggers have a very slight rating advantage on boards 3 and 4, but they certainly won't be gimmes. Expect another close match, but this time, Seattle wins!!!! (Yes, I actually did flip the coin.)

San Francisco Mechanics - Los Angeles Vibe

The first CA vs CA team in USCL history! SF has brought out their two young guns while the Vibe puts a 2300 (really?) on first board. It almost like a lineup that you'd expect only from the Carolina Cobras. Clearly, SF is favored to win, though the coin flip is a draw. Hmm, I wonder whether that'll actually happen?

*****

Tomorrow, expect better prediction results! Also go to http://bit.ly/cZVgpE in order to keep updated with what's going on at the Slugger blog and facebook page!

--Alex Guo

Monday Matches Predictions

2010-09-19T18:51:00.001-07:00

Because of evident flaws in my system, changes are being made to predict the monday matches. For last week's Wednesday matches, I got only 50% of the results correct, which was because my system did not take into account the draw factor mainly because draws don't happen that often.

The Original: flip the state quarter of North Dakota once. The team with the white colors gets heads; the team with the black colors gets tails. The coin flip is used for all four matches.

The New: flip the state quarter of North Dakota twice! If heads and tails come up, its a draw. If heads comes up twice, the team with the white colors is predicted to win. If tails comes up twice, the team with the black colors is predicted to win.

The Math: draws are now expected to occur 50% of the time, and a decisive result will occur 50% of the time. The probabilities make sense, because 50% of the Week 4 matches ended in draws.

Onto the flip:

Nor'easters - Philadelphia Inventors

Strength coming from the bottom boards means that Nor'easters will be favored to win this match. But a draw is predicted.

Carolina Cobras - Manhattan Applesauce

Once again, the Cobras are underdogs, but last week they managed to draw the New Jersey Knockouts. However, the coin likes Applesauce's chances better. Applesauce wins.

St. Louis Archbishops - Dallas Destiny

After two magical seasons, the Dallas Destiny is struggling this year. Good thing St. Louis doesn't have their three GMs out, this time going for a more balanced lineup. Maybe their fourth board will actually go for the win this time. The coin flip goes to... the St. Louis Archbishops.

Chicago Blaze - Arizona Scorpians

Arizona Scorpians go for their fifth win against the Blaze, while the Blaze are looking for a win after last week's loss to the Vibe. Can they do it? Looks like neither team will get their wish. A draw is expected.

If I am totally off the mark for the Monday matches, a different system will be used to predict the Wednesday matches.

If you think my system for prediction is GREAT and ACCURATE!, please comment. Support would be wonderful.

--Alex Guo

Michael Lee gets a win!

2010-09-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, there were four drawn matches this weekend! Which means that my predicting rate for the Wednesday matches were just 50%. Given my relatively crude methods, I'd say 50% is pretty darn good. The 'secret formula' will soon be released.

Unfortunately, a 50% prediction rate also means that my method predicted the Seattle - SF match correctly. Despite having a higher average rating, Seattle gets upset by San Francisco. Incidentally, this week seems to be the week of the upsets.

Ron Simpson's upset over Gulko
Cobras gets their first break, this time against the New Jersey Knockouts
St. Louis's Fourth Board gets their first 0.5 point of the season
Michael, though getting his sixth black game and a pretty bad losing streak, gets his first win (good for you, brothuh!)
Pruess upsets FM Cozianu

...and Friedel upsets Akobian. Just as in week 1, Seattle's upper boards lost.

Seattle has been on a pretty unlucky streak so far. Anyone else notice the string of blunders in the Sluggers' matches?

Week 1: Michael Lee blunders a pawn to Felecan (so it started with you...FM Lee)
Week 2: Michael Wang drops a pawn to Nick Thompson, and later, Slava gives up a clearly drawn position (albeit, forced by the team situation)
Week 3: I blunder two pawns. Katerina drops a piece. By the luckiest of circumstances, Seattle wins.
and Week 4: FM Cozianu blunders an exchange.

Honestly. I'm not sure blunders happen that often to the other teams. But despite the blunders, all four matches have been pretty darn close. Which is, in a way, a good thing. Despite the blunders, the Sluggers can still make their opponents fight every inch of the way towards the win. Of course, now the blunders just need to go away.

Board 2: FM Cozianu - IM Pruess, 0-1

The first game to finish was board 2. In an French Advanced, Pruess plays the rarely seen line, 3...b6!?, leading to interesting play. Seems like you can play practically any variation in the French. Thereafter, a relatively normal French ensued.

(after 17...Rfc8)

A normal French pawn structure except for the queenside pawns. Black will seek counterplay on the queenside, probably taking aim at White's b2-pawn so as to undermine support for c3. White's plan should be to generate kingside counterplay through a pawn demnonstration, or to seize and hold d4 as an outpost for his pieces. With both objectives in mind, the right idea was probably 18.g4, to drive away Black's KN and then Be3, to exchange the dark-square bishops so as to firmly plant a knight on d4 (as a side note, this plan could have been implemented earlier, when instead of 16.Bf4, White should continue 16.Rd1, g4, and then Be3). In addition, the exchange of dark-square bishops would either bring black's pawn to b6, closing the b-file, or undermine the isolated a-pawn.

Instead, Costin played 18.c4?!, to which 18...Nb4! comes as a strong reply because Black now has the possibility of putting a strong knight on d5. c4 also loosens up the q-side pawns, and consequently, Pruess managed to rev up tremendous queenside pressure, to soon reach the following position

(after 23.Ne4)

Black clearly has the better position, because of all his piece activity on the queenside, while White's on the kingside is lightyears behind. Pruess played 23...Nc2, and Costin tried 24.Ra4?, dropping the b-pawn but trying to give Black a hard time converting his better position. Of course, 24.Ra2 is an alternative, but things already look a bit desperate for Costin. A slight inaccuracy a few moves later hastened the end.

People shouldn't interpret this one game to mean that FM Cozianu is a terrible player. Mistakes near the end were due to Costin's 15-minute late arrival, so Costin can play much better than he has this week.

Board 3: FM Zierk - FM Michael LEE 0 - 1

YAHHHH, YOU ROCK MICHAEL! Finally, a win :)

For this game against Zierk, Michael deviated from his usual Sicilian and selected the sharp Dragon. Michael deviated from mainstream Dragon early on, with ...Qb6?! instead of the more usual ideas such as ...a6 to get the b-pawn moving.

(after 9...0-0)

Zierk responds 10.Nf5, followed by Nxg7. Following the weakening of the dark squares, Zierk launches the bayonet h4-h5, while also castling queenside. The game naturally turned into a sharp middlegame with both sides coming close to each other throats.

(after 19.Qxd6)

In the above sharp position, Michael should play 19...Bc4, with a sharp middlegame position that will most likely end in a perpetual. Instead, Michael played 19...Be6?, allowing Zierk's reply 20.hxg6, when Black cannot capture with the f-pawn because he hangs the Bishop, or with the h-pawn because of Qh2, leading to mate on the h-file or substantial material loss. After 20...Qa1 21.Kd2 Qxb2 it was Zierk's turn to return the favor:

(after 21...Qxb2)

Although my computer suggests 22.Na4, simply Rdb1 would be enough for a win, forcing the liquidation of queens into a winning endgame for Zierk, which he usually converts convincingly. Amazingly, Zierk blundered away the game with 22.Qh2?? Looks like Zierk forgot Qh2 wasn't a check? Michael slams down 22...Rfd8 (check) 23.Nd5 cxd5 23.Qxh7+ Kf8 24.e5!? Qd4+ and after a couple of checks played by Michael, the game was all over.

About time you got a win, Michael!

With Board 2 and 3 finished, there remained Michael Wang and Akobian.

Board 4: Wang - NM Liou, 0.5 - 0.5

In response to 1...e5 against the English, Wang went into a Botvinnik, which is a worse version than the KID because now Black's bad bishop is outside of the pawn chain. However, Yian exchanged his knight for Wang's bishop, allowing Wang doubled e-pawns, which is, in my opinion, good for White because the e3-pawn covers the previously weak d4-square, and could later support d3-d4.

(after 17...Rad8)

Black is obviously preparing for the break d5. To prevent it, there is the interesting 18.Nd5!?, just stopping the idea right in its tracks. Another possibility is 18.Qh5, which will provoke 18...f6 when Wang will finally have something to play for on the Kingside. 19.g4 and g5 will follow, to undermine Black's kingside.

Instead, Wang played 18.b5. I'm not too sure what the idea behind this was...after 18...d5 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.cxd5 cxd5 21.exd5 Nxd5 22.Nxd5 Bxd5 23.Bxd5 Qxd5, Black clearly has the better game, because of his possession of the d-file and a legit weakness to work against, in the d3-pawn. Liou ended with a pawn up in a rook endgame, but despite being under a minute for the rest of the game, Wang was able to prevent Liou from converting the win, thus securing a draw on board 4 for Seattle. Nice job Michael!

Now for the Game of the Week.

Board 1: GM Friedel - GM Akobian

Ya know, I think that the Game of the Week prize is a JINX. It is pretty well documented that the finalists in the Game of the Week contest almost always do badly in the week following their victory. I remember last year a funny series when the winner of the GOTW beat the winner of the previous GOTW, and that happened several times in a row. Even this year, Yury Shulman was the winner of the first GOTW, and then the winner of the second GOTW Felecan beat Shulman. I'm sure there are plenty of other examples. Hmmm, maybe that's why I played like crap in the match against Miami? Anyways, more GOTWs should be given to Arizona then!

Maybe the "GOTW jinx" explains why Akobian lost to Friedel. Perhaps it was unfortunate that he placed in Week 3 GOTW.

At any rate, Board 1 was the critical game for this week's match. Akobian got the worst end of a complicated French. For such a hugely complex game, I'm not going to pretend like I know everything that's going on, so I'll only present the most interesting and critical positions of the game with brief comments.

In a Ngf3 Tarrasch (versus the more commonly seen Ne2 line), Akobian ran his a-pawn down the board, which Friedel decided to ignore.

(after 12.bxa3)

In the game, Akobian played 12...c4, which is in hindsight, may not be the best move, since it later became hard for Akobian to drum up queenside counterplay versus White's kingside pawn storm. Thus, my hunch is that 12...cxd4 would be better, because it opens up more lines on the queenside.

Akobian won back the a-pawn, and shuttled his king over to b8. Nevertheless, Friedel launched a pawn storm on the kingside.

(after 29.g5)

Initially, I thought that White had a great game, because White has a raging kingside initiative. But as I look at the above position again, it seems that Black should be able to hold the position. White's a-pawn is sticking out like a sore thumb, and Friedel's kingside attack, though menacing, is also double-edged, because the attack opens up lines that lead directly to the White king.

In the game, Akobian played 29...Nf8, moving the knight back to where it was a move ago, leading to a loss of time. Later in the game, the knight on f8 didn't have that much to do, so 29...Nb6 should be considered, in a bid for a queenside initiative in response to White's attack on the kingside.

As lines opened up on the kingside, tactics started emerging. Black's pawn structure is in shambles.

(after 36.Ne3)

Akobian played 36...Ne6 in the game, which invites White to chomp on all of Black's weak pawns. I think that 36...Ne6 might have cost the game. A better alternative might be 36...Qd7 and forcing White to allocate resources to attack the f-pawn further. So if 37.Qh3, then 37...Ng6, striking at White's own weaknesses. Eventually, Black will of course capture White's a-pawn.

After 36...Ne6, Friedel got the better of the tactics. After Akobian let Friedel have both of his f-pawns, Friedel suddenly got two passed pawns. In the tactical portion of the game, this would be extremely significant, as White could now sac his rook and get away with it, because both of his pawns would be on the sixth rank, and unstoppable.

(after 44.Qxd1)

By now, Black is already lost. As the course of the game shows, 44...Rxf7 was not possible. As for 44...Qxc3 45.Qf3 Qxf3 46.Kxf3 Rxf7 Whtie is obviously winning the endgame.

So the big question: where did Akobian go wrong? I think that Akobian made the correct strategic decisions, but at one point let his opponents take both of his f-pawns, thus giving White an important card: the passed pawns. In the ensuing tactics, the passed pawns was the ultimate factor in tipping the balance in favor of Friedel---and San Francisco.

Of course, if you have a different opinion, comment on this post!

*****

Tough match, tough luck. At a 1-3 record, the Sluggers aren't off to the greatest start they've had so far. As a 5-5 record is the minimum for qualification for playoffs, Seattle's going to have to do some serious buttkicking for the rest of the season, but I wouldn't put it beyond us.

As for my prediction method, please welcome...

DA COIN! Or to put it more precisely, the state quarter of North Dakota. Yah, it's kinda random, but seriously, it was the first coin I found in my backpack, so why not?

As highlighted by the matches on Wednesday, there is an evident flaw in my system. I only flipped the coin once, with heads being the team with the white color, and tails being the team with the black color. Initially, I ruled out the possibility of draws because they really don't occur that often. A modification shall be released for Monday match predictions.

Go Sluggers!

--Alex Guo

Wednesday Matches Preditions - 9/15/10

2010-09-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

You know, every single blogger must predict a win for their team. Otherwise, it just looks really bad to be picking against your team. So for instance, no matter how bad things look at Carolina, any Cobra bloggers there will always predict a win, and in the end, well, maybe they'll win. Polsky has been picking the Vibe to win, and what's happened in the last few matches? And besides, the last time I tried predicting the match was in Week 2, and despite a close match, Seattle didn't make it.

One of these weeks, I'm gonna predict a 0-4 sweep against Seattle, just to see how things turn out :D

But this week, Seattle's looks ready to crush San Francisco. Just like last week, Seattle outrated the opponents on all boards except board 4, and last week, Seattle actually won. This week should be no different.

Board 1: GM Friedel - GM Akobian

Akobian had a great debut against a top USCL player, but this week he has the black pieces. Most bloggers think the Panda can draw Akobian, and while I certainly agree, I think it's fair to say that Akobian has the better chances in this game. Once again, Akobian is going to win, and lead the charge for Seattle.

Board 2: FM Cozianu - IM Pruess

you might as well roll the dice to predict which opening Pruess is going to play, though last time Pruess picked the King's Gambit and didn't do too well. Pruess is a tricky player, but Cozianu's a solid player. Cozianu has the better chances for a win, particularly given that he has the white pieces, and loves playing white. Cozianu takes this one for Seattle.

Board 3: FM Zierk - FM Michael LEE

Both are rather strong players, but Zierk has been showing greater tournament activity than Lee in the past few months. Hopefully Michael has stepped up his game and is ready to win one, after having lost his last four USCL games. Incidentally, he's had the last five games with the black pieces, and this time he's again having the black pieces!

Then again, I've personally faced Zierk in Denker, and he gave me plenty of chances, while Lee is a much tougher nut to crack. I predict a draw on board 3.

Board 4: Michael Wang - NM Yian Liou

These two youngsters have met in the recent US Chess School in Seattle, so this won't be the first time they played chess against each other. Wang will come with his English against Liou's KID/Leningrad. Wang should look out for a K-side attack, but I think he'll be able to hold his own against Yian. Another draw for Seattle.

Seattle wins, 3-1.

As for the rest of the matches... I've come up with a technologically innovative solution for predicting matches. Results of the experiment will be released after match results come out.

Boston - Noreasters, Noreasters win

NJ - Carolina, New Jersey wins

LA Vibe - da Blaze, The Vibe wins

(by the way, what kind of a name is "Blaze"? Why name the team after the Chicago Fire, which screwed Chicago over?)

Oh, one last thing. I tested the solution with Seattle's match today. Claims SF is gonna win, and now I'm beginning to doubt whether I've really come up with a reliable tool for predicting.

If you have an idea of what the "technologically innovative solution" is, comment below!

--
Alex Guo

Yay!

2010-09-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First win! though obviously not without some major tussles along the way. Aside from Akobian's smooth and impressive win over Becerra, the bottom boards faced major issues. Oh wait, that includes me. Well, yah, I guess I was losing? lol, ok, I was dead lost. For most of the game I actually thought I was dead lost, but after Perez failed to find the few killer moves, my position proved to be surprisingly resilient.

But first, the shocker

Board 3: WGM Rohonyan - FM Charles Galofre, 0 - 1
Katerina loses, and very early in the match.

(after 9.Rxg7???)

Really, an unfortunate blunder, and I was told that Rxg7 was played quickly, but Rohonyan should've been more than a little suspicious since this is early in the opening and Galofre, a respectable 2300, probably doesn't make opening blunders much. After 10...Qf6, fatally forking Nf3 and Rg7, FM Galofre cleaned up board 3. As usual, an early loss placed pressure on the other three boards to perform up to par, in order to equalize the match.
Next up, Akobian's debut.

Board 1: GM Akobian - GM Becerra, 1 - 0
Akobian's debut against one of the most successful GMs in the USCL started out in a Grunfeld sideline. The line that Akobian chose doesn't give White much: just a miniscule advantage that Akobian would have to nurse patiently in an endgame.

(after 16.Ra3)

After the exchange of Queens, Akobian had a Queenside pawn majority, greater space, and pressure along the a-file. Akobian is planning to double up rooks along the a-file and prepare b4-b5, with strong Q-side pressure. Becerra lashed out with 16...e5?, which must certainly be dubious because 17.d5 gets White a center passed pawn with tempi. In fact, Black might even already be on the brink of losing. 17...Nb8 18.Nd2! Nice maneuver, swinging the White Knight over to d6, and later backing up the knight with c3-c4-c5. Black can't stop it with 18...b5, because of 19.Bxb5. The strong knight and eventually, strong center passed pawn was enough for Akobian to pull off win. For Becerra, the following position was the beginning of the end:

(after 30.Rd5)

White's crushing, and Black has hardly any counterplay. Akobian equalizes the match, bringing up the match score to 1 - 1.

Although the match between Seattle and Miami was now equal, many Seattle players (and probably Miamians as well) had good reasons to feel pessimistic about Seattle's chances.

Board 4: Guo - NM Perez
"I thought we were going to be 0-3!" said FM Costin Cozianu after the match, "because of him!"

Haha, well, thanks for the comment, though I'm glad we're not 0-3 either! Though Costin might've felt hopeless about the way things were going in the match (remember, Rohonyan's also in a bad situation), he certainly wasn't the only one. I, for one, felt awfulllll

(after 20...g5-g4)

In the opening stage, Perez deviated from mainstream Winawer into a Winawer exchange (exd5 after Black's Bb4), and then he reeled off a dozen moves off his prep. If it wasn't all prep, then it certainly seemed like it, since he ended up with 65 minutes (the game started with 60), while I started with 25 minutes down the toilet. After making several inaccuracies in the transition between opening and middlegame, Perez set up a battery down the e-file and obtained the better position. Then...

AHMG adjfaoarg;aiehgko;jjl;kfjgakfao;wrhingbl.znkfb;ouhao;wrg, a blunder, and g4 actually 'forces' the White Queen where it wants to go! In the above position, Perez plays the no-brainer 21.Qxf5, and I left down two pawns in a freaking endgame (of all the kinds of middlegame positions I could've had), to try to fight back. Morever, I was down on time, with my clock now below 5 minutes, and Perez's sitting at a comfortable 20+ minutes.

Really, playing a game on two hours of sleep just doesn't work out. Hit by a combination of procrastination and IB's bludgeon Extended Essay, I almost had to drag out an all-nighter. OK, not the best thing to have before a critical match, I guess...

White probably had plenty of ways to win. For those readers who really want to know, just use Rybka or Fritz, and it'll probably pop out a few precise moves before Black's ready to resign. The right idea was probably to just DITCH the Q-side pawns and to get the K-side passers moving. Later, after White's King got to d3, just h3, to stop all of Black's ideas with saccing the h-pawn, and then White could try to slowly grind out the endgame.

(after 37...Rxf4)

Then came what was probably White's first critical mistake. Simply 38. h3, preventing Black's h3, and Black will have to hope that his queenside bind and active rook will be enough. 38.Rh7?! Rg5 seizing control of the semi-open file, and eventually obtaining the second-rank, thus allowing Black to hold the balance. 39.Bc1?! White has an interesting idea in mind, but too bad it doesn't work...By the way, Perez is under a minute around here, I think. 39...Rxg2 40.a4 Nd6 41.Bf4 Nc4! Black now has perpetual check with the knight via the squares b2 and d1. By now, it's a draw fosho.

(after 41...Nc4!)

42.Rxc7 Ka6 43.Rd7 followed by perpetual would be best, but now Perez tries to grasp again the win he almost had... 43.Rxc4??, not only did it cost the game, but also the match. Afterwards, I was able to slowly grind Perez down in an endgame.

In a clearly winning position, the first mistake often quickly leads to a series of mistake, and thus turning a won position into a losing position very fast. Perez, you have my full respect for coming so. dang. close.; best of luck in your future games and chess career.

With that, Seattle pulls back from the jaws of defeat. It's 2-1.

Last, but not least, Costin Cozianu.

Board 4: FM Martinez - FM Cozianu

Marcel started out with a tame line of the Ruy Lopez, opting for the quiet d3 over the sharper c3. Cozianu begins a mad rush to push the b-pawn to b3.

(after 19...Nd7)

White returns the favor with a center break: 20.d4 exd4 21.Nxd4 Nxd4 22.Bxd4 Bf6! Cozianu should get rid of the bad bishop. 23.Qd2 Be5 with a tough middlegame battle ahead for both players.

Skipping down to the endgame, Marcel was now pushing for the win against Cozianu, as my game managed to get turned around.

(after 59...gxf4)

White's better pawn structure, preferable minor piece, and more active king ensured him the better chances for a win. However, not all was to be, as he blundered with 60.Bd5? Nb4 61.Rxd4 Rc5 62.Ke4 f5! 63.Kxf4 Nxd5, and Cozianu's extra piece assured the team of at least a draw, and with that the match.

******

YES!!!!!

OK, the match definitely didn't go smoothly. To be sure, we were faced with markedly lower chances right out of the gate with Katerina's loss. luckily, mistakes on the part of Marcel and Perez enabled Seattle to turn around the match. To celebrate, the team headed down to Applebee's for food. Nothing's perfect without food!

Good luck to Miami next week, facing St. Louis, who is brandishing their GMs once again, and probably a proud fourth board as well. Next week, Seattle is facing longtime arch rivals San Francisco, a chess power house for sure.

Seattle all the way!

-Alex Guo

2010-09-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Prediction for Seattle's Tuesday Match

After a rough start, it seems that the Sluggers might have an opportunity to bounce back. This week we are playing the Miami Sharks, a team who looks quite deadly on paper. Let's check out the pairings.

1. GM Varuzhan Akobian 2698- GM Julio Becerra 2628

2. FM Marcel Martinex: 2475- FM Costin Cozianu: 2557

3. WGM Katerina Rohonyan 2327 - FM Charles Galofre: 2316

4. NM Robert Perez 2175- Alex Guo 2116

Board 1 Prediction: The new addition to this year's lineup, Akobian will be well prepared for this match. His recent 7.5/9 in this year's US Open means that he is on top of his game. Also a little history for you readers, the last time these two met was in the 2009 US Championship and Akobian beat him as WHITE. In addition to the fact that Akobian is 70 points higher rated than Becerra, I predict that this will be a easy victory.

Akobian 1- Becerra 0

Board 2 Prediction- Personally, I feel that Costin is a very strong player even though he hasn't got his IM or GM norm. However, Martinex cannot be ruled out since he did not lose even ONE game last year in this league. I've never seen Costin play with the black pieces and if he is not playing to his potential, I think this game will lead to a draw.

Martinex 0.5- Cozianu 0.5

Board 3 Prediction

Don't really know about both these players. Lets call it a draw.

Rohonyan 0.5- Galofre 0.5

Board 4 Prediction

If you guys don't know, Alex Guo and I both go to the same school and he has improved alot this year . I expect Alex to win this.

Perez 0- Guo 1

Overall Score: Seattle 3- Miami 1

LETSSSSSSSSSS GOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yea , my name is Abi Viswanathan for anyone who wants to know who I am

Ok.....

2010-09-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, second week in a row! Again, a really close match that could have easily swung our way. All of the games were decided only when both players had begun to experience time trouble, with two of the games decided in serious time trouble. In Slava and Katerina's games, the players were living on the increment for dozens of moves. Anyway, on to what happened!

Board 4: Michael Wang - NM Nick Thompson, 0-1

Wang's game was the first to finish. In an endgame where Black was slightly better because of his more active pieces and queenside pawns, Wang misjudged 24.Qc1, and after 24...Qxe2 25.Qxc7 Rd1! 26.Qc8 Kf7 27.Rxd1 Qxd1 28.Kg2 black is simply winning the endgame. Nick Thompson cleanly converted the win.

(after 24.Qc1?)

Wang's result was very important, as it put the onus on the other three Sluggers to win.

Board 1: IM Altounian - FM Cozianu, 0.5 - 0.5

What began as a normal Slav quickly turned into something else that was quite bizarre! One move that I cannot fathom is Costin's 12...Ra7. The idea is to move the Queen behind the rook, bringing tremendous power to the a-file, which is actually, at the moment, completely useless. The result of Costin's rook/queen on a7/a8 was what I thought a tremendous misuse of the major pieces, and they were caged up for about 10 moves when they finally (kinda) broke free. Altounian played logical positional moves and gained an enormous positional and material advantage, but Costin held on tenaciously, to reach the following position:

(after 35...Re6)

In this position, Levon was impatient, and played 36.Nc5?!, leading to the exchange of the important White knight and inadvertantly giving Black control of the open file, thus giving Costin the draw. Another reason why Nc5 was a mistake is simply because "Every rook endgame is drawish" ~Tarrasch, so Levon should have kept the minor pieces on in order to maximize imbalance. A better move was 36.Rdd4, and then h4, f4, b3, to lock the pawn structures, and to carefully prepare an eventual e4.

Given Costin's scary-looking position in the middlegame, I'm sure he was happy to get a draw!

Board 2: FM Mikhailuk - IM Barcenilla, 0-1

Slava played an early e4 in the English, giving Black a good version of the Botvinnik because Black did not have a pawn on e5. So unfortunately, Black managed to equalize with relative ease. However, Slava disrupted Barcenilla's mojo and played the crazy 17.e5!

(after 17.e5!)

Objectively, at least according to the computer, the position is actually equal, but it greatly complicates matters. After a series of skirmishes, Slava played a very controversial pawn sac.

(after Nd4)

The knight move loses a pawn, but afterwards the game could now easily go either way. The decision was probably made because by now, Michael Wang lost and Costin's game was a draw at best, so Slava had to give it his best shot. Even afterwards, the position became a drawish opposite-colored bishop position, but Rohonyan's game was petering out to a draw, so Slava tried to go for the win with some very dubious moves, and lost, but his go-for-broke strategy was justified by the match situation.

Board 3: FM Adamson - WGM Rohonyan, 0.5 - 0.5

The last game to finish, though the match result was already long decided in Arizona's favor after Slava's loss. Perhaps the most memorable moment was the following position:

(after 44...Bd7)

White's turn to move, Robby actually had a chance to completely turn the tables! Although, by a positional evaluation, Black is better because of a central pawn majority and the two bishops, White is able to hold the position because of the central positions of the two knights as well as the two rooks. Seattle's best chance to equalize the match was on board three, where Katerina almost managed to win.

However, simply 45.Nf5! and White is clearly winning. Instead, Robby went 45.Rd2, and after a long endgame battle, the game ended peacefully.

******

So, Seattle is clearly off to a pretty rocky start, since luck was not on our side in two fairly close matches. Kudos to Chicago for managing to draw their match against a TRIPLE-GM lineup, and Arizona certainly does not need to worry about a GM-less roster. Fortunately, there's still another 8 weeks. Next week Seattle faces Miami, the only other team in the West division with a two-game losing streak. Let's see who breaks it!

Predictions for Seattle's Monday match

2010-08-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT???? Seattle pulls out the *drumroll* DOUBLE FIDE-MASTER LINEUP. Which is definitely SCARY because it has more syllables than DOUBLE GRANDMASTER LINEUP, and more syllables than double IM lineup! w00t! Well, as for the actual matchups, Seattle definitely has a stronger lineup than last week.

IM Levon Altounian 2496 - FM Costin Cozianu 2557
FM Slava Mikhailuk 2431 - IM Rogelio Barcenilla 2583
FM Robby Adamson 2363 - WGM Katerina Rohonyan 2327
Michael Wang 2103 - NM Nick Thumpson 2183

Arizona 2406 - Seattle 2355

Again, Seattle is outrated, but Seattle managed to make their match against Chicago really close. Seattle Sluggers should have their chances this week again.

Board 1: IM Altounian - FM Costin Cozianu

Costin's really strong, and I'm quite surprised that he is not an IM or GM. Perhaps it's because there're hardly any norm events occuring near Seattle. If I remember correctly, Costin won the 2009 Washington Championship very cleanly, drawing Michael Lee and grinding down Howard Chen in a drawish endgame. As for IM Levon Altounian, he is certainly seems to be a solid player, so perhaps it is no surprise that Arizona does not have a GM on their roster! As a matter of fact, it seems that Levon's only loss in the USCL was to super GM Nakamura. I give Costin a slight edge and decent chances of winning, but I predict a draw.

Board 2: FM Slava Mikhailuk - IM Rogelio Barcenilla

Alright. Slava's outrated by, oh wow, 150 points. But judging by his USCL records, Slava always manages to pull out against significantly higher-rated opponents. Just look at his game against GM Shabalov.

HEY ROGER!, look at Slava's face:

Scared? Good. Slava wins this one. Board 2 goes to Seattle.

Board 3: FM Robby Adamson - WGM Katerina Rohonyan

I'm sure that Robby and Katerina are about equal strength. The match should be a sharp Sicilian, and the result could go either way. Ehhhhh, let's call it a draw. :D

Board 4: Michael Wang - NM Nick Thompson

Michael Wang's outrated by 100 points. However, I've played Michael several times before, and he's pretty tough fighter and could draw an NM. I'm sure he'll pull out this time. I predict a draw on board four.

Predicted overall match score: 2.5 - 1.5

YAHHH, Seattle all the way!

"The Winners Write History. The Losers...?"

2010-08-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

HI! Most of you readers probably don’t know me. If so, I’ll just quickly introduce myself. I’m Alex Guo. I just recently turned 16, and I’m an incoming junior at Interlake High School. I play some tennis, though I’m mostly a chess player. My favorite chess quote is, “I like the moment when I crush a man’s ego”, famously said by Bobby Fischer. He was a queer one…

Now before I get into Seattle’s match up with Chicago, I’d like to make an interesting observation that NONE of the losing teams have really covered much about their matches. The losing teams would be Baltimore, Boston (poor guys…), Carolina, New Jersey, Dallas, Miami, St. Louis, and of course, Seattle. Meanwhile, ALL of the winning teams have showed off quite a bit with their “inaugural win!” or “opening match victory!” or “woohoo!” etc. etc. whatever. Reading through the blog posts of the winning teams, looks as if each of them have actually annotated, to some degree, each of the match’s games, or at least discussed the processes of each game. The most I can say about “the losers” is perhaps the mention of the match score and one of the games. Thank you, Carolina, for at least posting and annotating a game which was won by one of your members, and kudos to Baltimore for at least posting the game of their top board…which they lost. As for the rest, make some effort to write about each week’s matches.

I just realized, Baltimore and Carolina both have had at least one pretty crappy year in the USCL. In 2008, Baltimore went 1.5 – 8.5, while Carolina went 2.0 – 8.0 last year in 2009. Maybe that’s why…

OK, Now, the match with Chicago. Yeah, we lost. The match score was 1.5 – 2.5, Chicago, but everybody else’s predictions were 1-3, so we beat expectations. As for how Seattle lost the match…to be frank, I’m not sure. The consensus was that Seattle would score something on boards 1 and 2, while “Mr. Undefeated” IM Young was supposed to tear apart Sinanan while NM Eric Rosen was supposed to take me down, like “a walk in the park” (thanks for the support, mUSCLe). But the bottom two boards were actually where we got ALL 1.5 of our points, while the top two boards sorta messed up (hem, hem). Let’s discuss the critical points of each game, in the order that they finished.

Board 3 NM Josh Sinanan – IM Angelo Young, ½ - ½

This game was a rather quick draw, through repetition. The following diagram is the resulting position. I don’t know much about the Queen’s gambit, though I’m assuming that Sinanan is following the book line, and besides, White seems to have plenty of compensation for the pawn, through Black’s fragile Queenside pawn structure, Black’s dark-square weaknesses on the K-side, White’s two bishops, and a strong center pawn. However, draw for board three is not a bad result.

Board 2: IM Felecan – FM Lee, 1-0

Guess what? Michael Lee goes to Interlake High School.

But as for the game…YEESH. Dropping a pawn…not good. The following diagram is after White’s 15.b3, protecting the extra c-pawn.

Still…I reckon Black has a decent chance of a comeback. Opposite-side castled positions are VERY sharp, and pawns are often sacked in the name of opening lines against the king (see the classic game Lasker – Steinitz, some random year and some random game of a random World Championship match, for a good example. Actually, I change my mind about letting you search for it yourself. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132675 ). Strategy for both sides can be summed up as: “The one who gets there the firstest with the mostest…wins.” In other words, open up lines ASAP and get your pieces there as fast as possible. Ignore the other side’s attack as much as possible, so that your attack gets going faster.

That said, I think something along the lines of 15…b5 is called for. B5 opens up files against the White King and threatens …b4, severely undermining the e4-pawn. 16.Qd6 simply lets Black win back the pawn. 16.Qd6 bc4 17.Qxc6 is a dream for Black’s Queenside attack, and there should be enough to dream up against the White King.
However, Michael launched a piece attack, failed to open up sufficient lines, and in my humble opinion, 16…h5 was a drastic error because it allows White to open up lines quickly. So…Lee goes down in less than 30 moves.

Board 4: NM Eric Rosen – “I don’t have a title” Alex Guo, 0 – 1

FYI: I played this game.

As Seattle went into the match as the chief underdog (now that I think about it, of all the USCL teams, Seattle had the weakest lineup in terms of Avg. rating), I put an aggressive spin on a normally placid French game. So Black had a rather unusual pawn structure, significantly raising the risks but heyyyy, better chances of winning for Seattle!!! I’d say that the first critical moment came with my exchange sacrifice:

(diagram, after I played …Rd5)

I’m still not too sure if it is sound. Anybody reading this post, what’re your thoughts? Feel free to comment. I’ll just say that White could probably pull off a win with very precise play, but Black also had plenty of counterplay to keep White on his toes for quite a while. Makes sense with the overall match strategy, to complicate the game so that Seattle has a better chance of pulling out. The next critical moment:

(diagram, after 26…b4)

Black has a very strong Q-side attack going. Black is aiming to sac a pawn with the object of increased piece activity or a strong protected passed pawn at b3. Meanwhile, it is not completely clear what White is going to do on the K-side. The N and Q are tied to the d-pawn, while moving the dark-squared bishop can unleash Black’s e6-bishop against the h3-pawn. The only reasonable plan would be to either infiltrate the lower ranks, or to push the passed h-pawn down the board. The first plan of infiltration doesn’t work too well, as Black can lift the king and get the rook out of the way, and then there’s nothing left to do. As for pushing the h-pawn, that would weaken White’s K-side, and is still a very long ways from fruition. Black clearly has the initiative.

Eric played the disastrous 27.ab4, letting Black’s knight get to d3, in which case Black clearly has enough compensation for the exchange and should be fine.

27.ab4 Nxb4 28.Rxa4 Nd3 29.Qd2 Bb4 30.Qe3 Kd7 31.Rg2 Be7

Black is pressuring the b2-pawn, while letting the Black bishop keep events in check on the K-side. Now 32.Ne1?? (yes, it deserves two of those swiggly lines), allows the no-brainer move 32…Nxf4 33.Qxf4 Rh4 34.Qf2 f4! HUGE pressure on h3 35.Ra3

Black to move and win a queen

Answer: http://www.uschessleague.com/games/rosenguo10.htm click on link, and then click on the 35th move.

With that, Seattle moves to 1.5 – 1.5.

Board 1: FM Slava Mikhailuk – GM Dmitry Gurevich, 0-1

Slava. Yes, Seattle’s hitman, although I attribute most of his success to his rather intimidating photo: http://www.uschessleague.com/mikhailukchamp.jpg By the time I finished my game, Slava was at the following position:

(diagram, after 29…Rd2)

GM Gurevich plays the stunner …Rd2! Nice! I should mention that I have the utmost respect for Gurevich as a Leningrad Dutch guru, but nice move! Still, the position afterwards was really unclear. However I COMPLETELY disagree with NM Konstantin Kavutsky that Gurevich cleanly converted a “positional advantage.” Slava certainly has plenty to play for. At several moments after 29…Rd2, the game could have easily swung either way. Although Gurevich managed to hold on, kudos to Slava for creating sufficient complications against a veteran and famous opponent to have given Seattle a very decent chance to have won the match, despite putting forth the weakest lineup of the week.

Oh well. Next week, Seattle’s gonna have some big guns, so we’ll have a much better shot at winning the match, while the Scorpians could use some GMs.

And lets get some more teams posting commentary. If the psychological impact of the loss was that bad, then the Seattle Sluggers extends their condolences. Otherwise, show some spirit!

Seattle Sluggers Qualifier

2010-08-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

This year, we decided to do something new. We offered up a roster spot to someone in the community. Our 1st Annual Seattle Sluggers Qualifier. Winner gets a spot on the roster, and at least one game during the season. Why did we do this? There is just too much young talent to choose from. Its hard to choose from all of these great up and coming players. So we invited a bunch of players, 1850+ and under the age of 18 to come play a small tournament to determine who our 10th member is. We even had an elementary school kid show up, and Rolend Feng, who's 9 years old, scored a respectable 2.0/4. I have a feeling he will be showing up on the roster sooner or later. Anyways, going to the last round, Vishnu Warrier was leading with a 3.0/3, however he met up with a insurmountable challenge. Facing him was young Michael Wang, fresh off of a week of soaking up chess wisdom from the GM Yasser Seirawin as part of United States Chess School. Michael showed no mercy and won the final spot on our roster. Now, with our roster complete, we will look forward to our first match-up with Chicago, on the 23rd.

My Generation

2009-11-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

Time to look back on the season for the Seattle Sluggers. The first thing I would like to point out is that the Sluggers had only one lineup change adding Howard Chen replacing Andy May. Other teams made many more changes, mostly major upgrades on higher boards. The upshot was that as the season started the Sluggers were looking to have an experience factor on their side. To start the season the schedule had the Sluggers face San Francisco and New York right out of the gate, two teams the Sluggers have some history with. Both matches ended in ties with both matches going the same, Seattle wins on first board , loses on second and draws on the bottom two. It seems that the Sluggers lower boards weren't looking for the maximum in either of these two matches and let some superior positions slide. Arizona in the third round was a change as Michael Lee was able to produce a small bit of magic and win from a worse position, giving the Seattle side a win and starting them on a streak. Nakamura had returned and Josh Sinanan had found his stride, so in the fourth round a 3-1 win over defending champs Dallas seemed a harbinger of Seattle's growing confidence. Facing Tennessee's double GM lineup next the Sluggers got another surprise boost when Mikhailuk defeated GM Shabalov to go with Sinanan's victory, 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 was now their 3rd win in a row. In round 6 it was wins by Serper and Sinanan that propelled the Sluggers past Queens, followed by a win over Miami with Nakamura and Sinanan once again supplying the victories. In round 8 Tennessee used the No GM's lineup while the Sluggers had both of their big guns scheduled. The surprise of the match was 4th board Howard Chen providing a text book like example in winning over one of Seattle's previous nemesis' John Bick. At the point Seattle had won 6 matches in a row, had 7/8 match points and had clinched a playoff spot. Round 9 had the return of the Arizona team. The Sluggers lost on that night when Josh missed a tricky win and Marcel was not able to see through the complications, scoring only one draw on the bottom boards while Naka was held to a draw. No one honestly expected the Sluggers to win out in the regular season, this loss was likely a real make or break point for them, at least in my opinion. It seemed to me that the Sluggers were winning on the outside boards and holding fast in the middle, Seattle's opponents would feel the pressure on those boards and consequently the opponent's middle boards would strive for more. My feeling is that the Sluggers middle boards could count on some highly aggressive, perhaps even risky, play from their opponents and could use that knowledge with a little preparation. In round 10 Seattle saw the Chicago Blaze for the only time this season. Marcel did a fine job of winning on 3, but Sinanan muffed a seriously better position and lost and the match ended in a tie. Going into the first round of hte playoffs the Sluggers had a lot to be confident of, they were going to have their double GM lineup available and a level of confidence that was new to them. The match with Miami should be a perfect example for future USCL teams in team psychology. With a surprising loss by the best player in the league as the first result the rest of the Sluggers had to change their mindset with an air of distress while the Sharks players were benefitted in thinking that they only needed draws. The end result was both frustrating and distasteful for the Sluggers as they lost 3 1/2 - 1/2. My feeling is that the season wasn't a failure as in any sense. Yes, they expected more, but that's why we play them. Sinanan proved that he is quite a good fourth board, Chen was a very pleasant surprise as a fill in, Marcel proved to be valuable, Michael had his moments but would do well with more preparation, Slava was his usual self as a rock sometimes and a turtle at others , and both Nakamura and Serper had stellar years. If the Sluggers players are serious about team chess all they need to do is to have some preparation and having a plan for each match. The disappointing thing is that these were almost my exact same words from last year. So, on to next season...

Which brings me to... me. I am done. That's right kiddies, the evil HA81 won't terrorize you with big words, sematic probes or quotes from people older than Greg Shahade. When I started I figured that 3 seasons would be enough to know whether it was a continuing project/hobby or not. Well, the answer has been obvious to me for a while. My hope was to provide an alternative to the more standard blogs in the league, I tried to adopt the role of the "fan in the stands". It didn't seem to succeed, though not through a lack of trying. My identity turned out to be an issue with some people, though I suspect more knew than let on. By now everyone knows who I am and so there is no need in going into that. I would like to submit the words of the greatest William ever, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Ok, since that is out of the way i would like to share an opinion (you didn't really think I would go gently into that good night?). For my money the best blog on the USCL is Arizona, but that is because they have 500 people doing it. While I congratulate the Scorps on their blog, I think it is simply ridiculous that more teams can't recruit players to write for them. Probably I am to blame because everybody is afraid to find a blogger like me on their doorstep, but think about it. If there were more active blogs it should increase interest. Teams could cross link back and forth in their blogs to get a better effect. Not only that but more responses should be appearing on blogs in order to give direction to the bloggers. This will meet with a lot of guffaws, but It seems to me that it will go a long way to increasing the popularity of the league if we could limit the trash talking and work to have complete understandable sentences. Just a thought. With that, no more Twitter, no more blog, no more rants coming to your local pc, no more HA81. I am requesting that Eddie remove my email from the Sluggers blog so that I can't get back on, that way if someone posts as HA81 we can be sure it isn't me. In that same vein, I won't be reading this any more, you are all on your own.

I want to thank all the Sluggers players from Giorgi, Nat, Loren, Andy, Slava, Eric, John, Katerina, Josh, Hikaru, Gregory, Marcel, Michael and Howard as well as Eddie. Thanks to all the other players in the league, to Bioniclime and of course to Greg/the Commish/ Dean Wormer. I will likely get reprimanded for forgetting somebody, but hey that's how it goes when you get to be 52.

People try to put us down,
just because we get around,
things they do look awful cold,
hope I die before I get old,
this is my generation, my generation babe,
why don't you all fade away,
don't try and dig what we all say,
I'm not trying to cause a big sensation,
just talking about my generation,
my generation

Badlands

2009-11-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ever watch the weather forecasters and wonder how they got their jobs? I mean, they are either stating the obvious or giving a forecast that has no chance of being right. Think about it from their side. That is how I feel today. Last night the Sluggers lost to the Miami Sharks by 3 1/2 to 1/2. Guess Roy was right when he said "you're gonna need a bigger boat!"

Bd. 1 Everything else in the match has to be seen in the light of what happened here. Facing GM Becerra with the Black pieces GM Nakamura opted to take the unusual course of playing the Nimzovich Sicilian with 2... Nf6. Some GM's have a limited repertoire and will stick with their openings to the end, but Nakamura doesn't fit that category. Consequently, a lot of possibilities can be read into the choice of this offbeat line. My read was that Hikaru felt he needed to win for Seattle to get through, it was best to bypass the lines that Becerra was well versed in, possibly pick something that could turn sharp quickly. I would not fault Naka for taking such an approach, though in a team match it seems a bit speculative. Anyway, booking up on a sharp line in the Sicilian sure wouldn't be the last thing we would expect. The only problem is, it appears that Nakamura didn't brush up on the Nimzo sicilian and was just kind of winging it. The result was that he resigned on move 12. This must rank very high on the lists of total surprises in league history.

Bd. 2 Lugo was late to start, but considering the styles and repertoires of the 2 players the time element was not very critical. An exchange QGD appeared on the board, a line that is ok for Black but fits Serper's style well. The game turned into a bit of siege warfare on the c6 pawn, when Serper attempted to open a second front it proved useless. Lugo was able to keep equality very close until the end when Serper pressed too hard and ended up losing a knight and pawn ending.

Bd. 3 Lee faced a line in the Moscow Sicilian (3. Bb5+) that is fairly normal in the variation with a quick d5. Roman met this with surprising energy that netted him a pawn. Michael played hard to get through to an ending, though extremely short on time. Clock issues led to some interesting decisions by both sides, but Roman was able to keep at least the extra pawn. Struggling to eliminate all the q-side pawns Michael was surprised by a quick shift of White's attention to the g-pawn and the rest of the K-side sank with it.

Bd. 4 Another 3.Bb5+ Sicilian, this time with Black playing for a dynamic imbalance of the 2 B's for development. Chen did a good job of limiting Black's play for a long while and ended up with a good bind on the Q-side light squares. I would suggest to Howard that he investigate 2 things: first that he played Nb4-d5 too soon and secondly a plan of making the b7 point a focus with either Ra4-b4 or possibly getting the king to defend c4 and then pushing b4-b5 might work better. As it was the assault on the d6 pawn lacked enough umph to get through and Chen had spent all his resources in the effort, eventually holding a rook and pawn versus rook ending.

So, that's the Season for the Sluggers. For much of the season they relied on strength on first board to carry them and it did. When that strength failed, so did they. No bad luck, no misfortune, no calamity of errors. In this match the Miami players found a way to win the match and pulled it off. They were the better players and deserve full credit for the victory. Congratulations to Miami and good luck going forward.

There is no point in going into what the team needs or how it can improve. Time will dictate those terms for us. We can be sure that next season will be tougher because the Sluggers will recieve a first place schedule, likely to include matches with 2 of the best teams in the East to go along with the best efforts of the Western division competitors. But, that is what makes it fun.

Thanks this time to Eddie, Josh, Marcel, Slava, Michael, John, Gregory, Eric, Howard and Katerina for making it a lot of fun this year. And also Hikaru, who we would not have won the division without. Thanks and have a nice day.

Preview of Seattle v Miami

2009-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Playoffs are finally here. After clinching a playoff spot a while ago, I've been looking forward to the playoffs. Winning the division is nice, its something that we've never done before, but thats not the ultimate goal. The goal is to win the Championships. To that end, lets look at the matchup this week.

Becerra vs Nakamura

This is a rematch of last year. We had the same paring last year against Miami, except this year we are the ones that have draw odds. Last year, we lost, and now we want redemption. If you watched last year's game, Becerra won thanks to a misevaluation by Hikaru. But what you didn't know was that Hikaru was playing from Europe, at 3AM in the morning there. As many of us know, latenight chess can turn ugly. We miss things, make stupid mistakes, and have horrid hallucinations. Thankfully, Hikaru is in Seattle this year and we won't have that problem. Hikaru should win this one.

Serper vs Lugo

This matchup was a surprise to me. I thought Miami was going to use Marcel Martinez on board 2, with Lugo on board 3, so, using Lugo on board 2 was definitely a surprise. Serper with has been almost perfect with white this season, only giving up a draw to Ehlvest. In fact, he's only lost one game this season, and that was with black. Serper should be able to put together a similar game to last week's well deserved Game of the Week.

Moreno Roman v Lee

This lineup beat Arizona 3-1 last week, so I guess thats why Miami chose to go with it. Moreno Roman finally won a game this season, after going 0-2-1. He seems to be working off the rust after not playing in a tournament since the Miami Open in 2008. Michael is a young up and coming player that needed a break, after playing almost every week in the beginning of the season. Hopefully the break will provide a huge boost to him, and this matchup should be very interesting. I have no idea what will happen with this game.

Chen v Rodriguez

Seeing Eric on board 4 was no surprise. He's been stellar, losing only one game this year to Chicago's Young. This will be a tough game, but Howard does have the white pieces. Howard is hard to beat as white, so I'll hedge my bet and predict a draw here.

Well, all we need is a draw to advance, and hopefully we can get it from our top two boards. With a boost from Howard and Michael, we hopefully won't need to rely on draw odds, though it gives us a big psychological edge in which both Rodriguez and Moreno Roman have to push for a win.

Elsewhere in the West, I think San Fransisco is going to advance 2.5-1.5.

Eddie Chang

People Get Ready

2009-11-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

At last, the playoffs are here! That special time that we have been hoping and waiting for, the Playoffs. My feeling is that there is no debate about the playoff teams being the best 8 in the league and it has worked out to have some interesting matchups right out of the gate. It is imperative to remember when predicting playoffs that some teams will have draw odds, so that does "skew the view" as it were. Here's how I see it.

New Jersey vs. Baltimore - The Knockouts had missed the previous two seasons with late season let downs, but not this time around. They started fast and only had one misstep. Their strength has been outstanding play on the top 3 boards. Baltimore was the first USCL champion, but has fallen to the bottom of the East the past 2 seasons. They have a well rounded lineup that hasn't found a rhythm for their matches. If we take the first board matchup as a wash, then the Knockouts have some advantage in the middle while the Kingfishers have the advantage on 4th. So, for the Kingfishers to win the match they have to get extra performances from the middle two boards. I could see the Kingfishers putting up 3 draws on 1-3 and winning on 4th board, but I wouldn't be on it. New Jersey has too much going.

Boston - New York - This one is a lot closer than most people might realize. Check this out, looking at points by board for these two teams: board 1 both teams had 6, board 2 Boston had 4.5 New York 4, board 3 is at 5.5 each and board 4 Boston has 7.5 and New York 6.5. As I suggested prior to last weeks match both teams have substituted liberally, New York kept GM Kachieshvilli, filled in boards 2 and 3 then moved Norowitz to 4. Boston has gone with a completely new group. To be honest, I like the Knights in this matchup. We have to remember that Charbonneau was once a feared Blitz killer. to the point that Boston had put a bounty on him. Actually, the games where the Knights are black will be key, if they stay even on those boards their chances are pretty good.

Arizona and San Francisco - The Scorpions have made the playoffs and will be greated by one of the best teams in the league. Arizona has surprised the best teams this season, but more pointedly have placed themselves in the annual Western Conference free for all. The thing is the Scorps have to win against the Mechanics, so they have to find a board to win and then play tough on the other 3. This is a real hill for them especially with Bhat on 2nd and the improving youngsters on 3 and 4.

Miami - Seattle - the other half of the backyard brawl in the west. Ok, so Seattle and Miami aren't really "backyard" distance, the thing is these teams have been very closely matched in the past few seasons. You know the old saying about familiarity, well this would be an example. Taking the view of Seattle, the matchup that really jumps out at me is second board. Serper with white will be a demon for Lugo. If Seattle gets a point there it is pretty reasonable to think that Nakamura will hold, which leaves it to Lee and Chen to get one draw. In the first place Nakamura might still be stinging from losing with black to Becerra in last years round 1, then we add that Chen has been a bit of a surprise with his solid play and finally Lee is due to break out of the bad luck he has had in the league. Bottom line, Seattle can afford an accident on a lower board and Miami can't.

That's all for now. Thanks to eveyone and be sure to follow the Sluggers match on Twitter, look for HA81chess. ttyl and have a nice day.

Spirits in the Material World : Interview with HA81

2009-11-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Glancing either way up the street it is safe as no autos are approaching. Crossing the street to the arranged location strides follow briskly. Stepping through the door glanced around the room. A head moved, it was unmistakably him. There was a nod of affirmation. A voice asked what the order was and a finger was pointed at a donut. Picking up the cup and plate then proceeding towards the face. Standing to offer his hand the plate and cup were place on the table. As the tablet come out of the bag it was clear no one else was within ear shot. A quick sip and the interview started

MI: Good morning, Thank you for agreeing to do this
HA81: My pleasure, I am always at the disposal of the media
MI: you are looking well
HA81: Thank you, the climate seems to favor you as well
MI: I have grown used to it. Down to business. First question, how did you come to blog for the Sluggers?
HA81: Well, saw an ad in the newspaper, sent in a note, got a call, talked to a guy, sent a sample, bought the guy a coffee and talked to another guy, did a small dance and finally got the gig. Yeah, that's about it
MI: I see, has it been worth the effort?
HA81: Well, I don't get paid if that is what you are asking. Otherwise, it has been fun and kind rewarding in a way.
MI: How so?
HA81: Like anything else, the feeling of accomplishment. In this case that there is some element of an audience out there that reads my stuff.
MI: What is your view of your audience?
HA81: Not sure how you mean that? What do I think constitutes my audience? Well, they are kind of like me.
MI: Ok, I see. What I meant is how do you see your interaction with the readers?
HA81: Yeah, right. That was part of the talk with the guy. There was no clear direction given to me about what or how to write, as long as I didn't use foul language. So, I kind of had to work my way along. At first I was doing the "news at 11" standard, you know "he put his rook on the 7th and it proved to be very good there", crap... er stuff like that. Then I noticed that everyone was doing that and probably better. So, I tried a different tack. I played on several teams that won the local team league...
MI: is that the old Puget Sound League?
HA81: yeah, the PSL. I think I was on 8 winners in 10 years or something. Anyway, I remembered how my teams would approach matches and I attempted to share that. It seemed like a good idea and it was WRONG! I got no feed back at all as well as finding out that nobody on the team read my stuff. So, I kind of had to go back to the standard crap, but this time I didn't tailor it to fit what was expected or normal, I put my own feelings and emotion into it. The end result is, half of the league tells me to stop ranting.
MI: Ok, so you don't see the rest of the league as part of your audience? How do you feel about the rest of the leagues reaction to your blog?
HA81: The rest of the league is more than welcome to read my stuff and leave remarks. You know that the bloggers are a big part of the league because the blogs are the conduit to the fans. . Bioniclime does a really great job of getting interest from around the league and Ron Young figured out the jumble deal, that stuff is really fun. I mentioned this in a previous post that our league has fans who are players, not just folks who pretend to know what it is like to play, and part of the deal doing the blog is to create a forum for the fans to react and interact. Ok, how does it make me feel? Well, you see I write my stuff from the perspective of a Sluggers fan and so other people around the league aren't going to understand or appreciate that as much. I find my stuff is real different from the other bloggers. I get along with the other bloggers I have talked to. So, with all of that aside I would say that I see the rest of the league in 3 groups: a whole bunch of chess players who are just that, like me they are chess players, second group is a small cluster of agitators who figure they can get 20 seconds of the spotlight by telling me what a bozo i am or that one of the Sluggers should feel humiliated for losing to a lower rated player or something, third group would be players who get involved in threads that they are incapable of understanding because to be honest these people are third from the left on the graph of human evolution, you know the first ones who don't have their knuckles dragging...
MI: Uh, are you sure you want to depict part of the audience that way?
HA81: yeah, sure, why not? He knows who he is.
MI: Not afraid of making enemies?
HA81: Enemies? I am half Irish, I started out with enemies. Besides, it is only a freaking game after all.
MI: You know, I have noted that your blog involves a bit more controversy than the others, do you think that is related to your writing style or your content?
HA81: That is a very good question. Yeah, my style of writing is a bit more flamboyant than some of the others, but isn't the color I bring a positive? As for content, that's a big bag. At the core of it, any controversy on the blog is based in confrontation. My feeling is that the controversy isn't derived from differing points of view. No, the simple fact that I try to hold the responders to a standard - no free pass for imbicelic insults or saying things that have no thought behind them - that causes controversy. In this regard, we are talking about groups 2 and 3 in my previous comment. I invite people to take shots at me, but do some thinking about it... make me work for my counter remarks. As for any controversy concerning my run ins with titled players, I would say that there is a pecking order in the league, I am at the bottom of it but won't allow that to prevent me from standing up. To be honest though, I have no idea why this is even a topic because this stuff never makes it to the league, I mean there isn't any "McLaughlin Group" to debate the pros an cons regarding differences.
MI: I see, yes. You said that your writing is different from the other bloggers, how so?
HA81: Let me try this; how many times do you see predictions? How many times do you see post match wrap ups? Yeah, so everybody posts late Sunday or early Monday and then on Thursday. So, the first thing I did was write a post about how the other bloggers were kind of letting down, nex t thing I get a comment from Elizabeth Vicary. So, I kind of got a little momentum there. I started trying little things to change up how the blog was coming across, I still had to write match wrap ups though. I guess it is just looking for something new to try.
Mi: Why have you kept your identity concealed?
HA81: No one has asked me who I am
MI: So, it is as simple as that? If someone asked you your name you would tell them?
HA81: No
MI: Well then, you are actively remaining anonymous?
HA81: Uh, I don't see how it makes a difference? I am not a famous name, my name doesn't appear in Chess Life, I don't play in any of the big opens or the Amateur Team events, so if I use my name everyone will just wonder who the heck I am. That is anonymity as well, isn't it?
MI: I don't know about that. Having a real name on the blog would seem to give it more respectability, after all you yourself have commented about "anonymous" posters...
HA81: I can see where this is going. I have not used my "real name" for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it keeps a bit of intrigue in the writing. Your next question is going to be about the hypocrisy of me keeping a secret identity yet denouncing others for replying on the blog anonymously, right?
MI: Ok, lets say that would be next question...
HA81; that is easy. How often do I go onto the "Anonymous" blog and tell them that they aren't a good enough player to write about the USCL? Hmm? Never, because they aren't on any blog of their own. More simply try this, If I go onto ICC and ask about HA81 there is a chance someone will say "oh yeah, that fool who blogs, he is an idiot", but if I ask about Anonymous, there won't be anything. Does that help?
MI: Well, no not really. Why don't you announce your identity? What will it take?
HA81: Simple. This is America, if I get a good enough offer I will reveal who I am. That is the difference.
MI: Ok, moving on. Have you done any other writing?
HA81: Oh my yes
MI: Well? Such as?
HA81: Uh, I write checks, notes to my aunt, short set of instructions for co-workers...
MI: No, I mean have you done any other chess writing
HA81: ... term papers, small snipets of poetry... (pauses) Of course! I have written elsewhere about chess
MI: (slight bit of impatience) Ok, what else have you written?
HA81; (waves his right forefinger) No, what you mean is where can you find my identity. Sorry, not going to work today. Why don't we talk about the Sluggers?
MI: Very well. The Sluggers have had a good season this year, what has been the difference from past seasons? Is it Nakamura?
HA81: Well, there have been a few things. First off, Serper has played quite well this season and that has been a boost. Also, Sinanan on fourth board has done a tremendous job. Both of those guys should get a lot of credit for the teams success. Nakamura is great, but still only one point. Where he makes a difference is in the minds of the other players. The lower boards on the Sluggers kind of get the feeling that they should try to play up to his standards and that acts as motivation. Great for the team.
MI: Have you ever thought about playing for the Sluggers?
HA81: (rolling his eyes) Yeah, sure. All Star 4th board for the Sluggers!. I thought about it, then realized that I have a job I have to be at on Thursday mornings, I would probably be good for 30 to 35 moves and then it would be my bedtime. Besides, I have really good tv on Wednesday nights.
MI: I see. Who is your favorite Slugger player?
HA81: Oh, I don't know. I have known Eric (Tangborn) since we were both teens, I always root for him. Slava plays so hard it is hard to ignore him. I would say one of them.
MI: That is a bit of a surprise, I would have thought one of the GM's
HA81: No, not me. Sorry.
MI: Do you have any ideas of how the Sluggers could increase their popularity?
HA81: Yeah, I have a couple. Talk to the local high school chess coordinator and arrange a match, say 2 weeks before the season, between one of the better high school teams and some of the Sluggers. It wouldn't have to be any of the titled players, just the guys holding down 3rd and 4th board maybe. Set it up like a real internet match, with the Sluggers at home and the high schoolers at their place. I think that would draw some attention. Also, I had an idea to have some of the old time players from Seatte or the Puget Sound play a similar squad of Sluggers, but at a mall. You could have banners or something. Play it up to the public.
MI: Where do you see the league going and how do you percieve your place in it?
HA81: Uh, that is tough. I do not have any information about official league direction and am certainly not privy to the inner workings, so what I say is totally off the cuff. I have heard rumors that there is more expansion in the works, that could work really well. If the league got to 16 teams they could set it up like the 1960's NFL where there were 2 Divisions and 2 conferences in each division, so 4 conferences of 4 teams. Then for a 10 week schedule arrange it so that the teams play each other twice and then each team in one conference plays each of the teams in one other conference, then rotate which conference plays which on a yearly basis. For example, if a team came to LA you could have a Pacific conference with Seattle, San Francisco, LA and Arizona, then you could have a Southern or Dixie conference with Miami, Dallas, Tennessee and Carolina. Year one each of the Pacific teams has 6 matches against their conference brethern and 1 game each against the teams in the Southern conference. 10 games! That would lend itself to direct rivalries and give that a boost, also if the teams in a conference are all in the same time zone it would relieve a bit of the situation where New York is starting at 9 PM wondering if they will get 5 hours sleep before work the next day and Seattle is playing at 6 PM coming almost directly from work without time to freshen up. That would seem a positive to me. Another thing I can see is having 3 boards with a rating limit and the 4th board being strictly a junior or possibly a senior board. I am not thinking that teams could aim to pick up points by having Lenderman or Robson playing off the top 3 boards, instead it would seem likely that each team could recruit 1 or 2 aspiring local high school players and include them in the team. If little Bobby came home and told his parents that the local USCL team wants him to play, it is likely that Bobby's parents will have to find out what USCL stands for, but after that it is like free marketing. Those are just a couple of thoughts. As for my place in it? Probably very minimal if any. This season is likely it for me, I think that my contributions to the league are about done. My efforts would start to become routine and mundane, which is the furthest thing that I am aiming for. Probably just a fan and from where I live and watch the matches not many folk can here me yelling and cheering.
MI: Very surprising. From your writing my feeling is that your are one of the most passionate characters in the USCL and you are saying that you will walk away?
HA81: Yup, walk away with a perfect record no wins, no losses no draws.
MI: Ok, well that is about all I had. Do you have anything you want to share with the readers?
HA81:Yeah. When are we going to have USCL trading cards? Why don't we have an All Star match? Really want to spice things up, you could add an element of randomness like, Round 3 next year the teams can play their 4 players in any order! Or Round 5 we don't have prematch color allocations, each game draws lots for colors!! Or how about something like Sunday night on ICC the managers of paired teams compete in a trivia game to determine who gets to decide colors? Why did Greg stop doing his weekly video recap? Creativity, that is what this league needs more of.
MI: Very good thank you again...
HA81: One final thing. If any of the readers has an idea of who I am, not the Commish or anybody who I have revealed my identity to, then leave a comment with what you think my name is and why. I am certain that at least one person out there knows me, but I would bet it is an older person because all the clues I have left are from the before time. Thank you

You Got That Right

2009-11-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

"I like to drink and dance all night,

comes to a fix not afraid to fight,

you got that right,

Said you got that right

Sure got that right"

For the first time in their short history the Seattle Sluggers have won the Western Division regular season crown. Last night they scrapped out a 2-2 tie with Chicago in a very convoluted match. The title had actually fallen into the Sluggers hands earlier as San Francisco's 2-2 result with Dallas as well as Arizona's surprise 3-1 loss to Miami had finished before the end of the Sluggers' games. Let's try to pin down what happened in the Sluggers games last night.

Serper - van de Mortel started out 1.c4 Nf6 and worked itself into a Botvinnik English with c5. Black played to control d4 and Serper tried something a bit new with a quick Bg5. After some tussling over the d4 square and Black putting up e6 and f5, White could claim the advantage because of better rook coordination and a b6 pawn that was under observation. After a couple of minor tactical skirmishes from which Serper won a pawn he settled for a rook on the seventh and f/g/h pawns versus an h6 pawn and a passer on the b file that had the black rook in front of it. A small bit of technique brought the point to Serper.
Felecan vs. Mikhailuk saw Slava facing the Rossolimo line with an early Bxc6. Once again Slava built a solid formation, but spent a lot of clock in doing it. White advancing h4 must seems to have upset Slava as 26... Rg7 turned out to be almost an immediate loser. Possibly Slava should have sought to sit tight, make a few quick moves to get some time back and work from there, but alas he didn't.
Milat - Pasalic saw a line of the Paulsen that was popular in the 60's, so I am not sure if Marcel had something prepared or was just going with a hunch. By move 20 the game had turned into an ending with White having 4 pawn islands to 2 for Black, but White's c-pawn was a passer. Pasalic appears to have relied on the "simplicity" of the position too much and allowed Marcel to activate a rook on the seventh and then allow White's otherwise piteous Bd3 to jump to c4 and become a monster. Black then lost the a pawn and in an effort to mix things up missed a pin that won a piece. Nice work by Marcel
The Rosen - Sinanan matchup on board 4 is one that I am sure most of us can relate to. Rosen played for an K-side rollup right out of the opening, but was too mechanical about it. Josh played nice simple moves to get equality, then a superiority in the center. After 18...f5 White's forces appear to be stumbling around trying to find each other. The game then turned into a spitting contest, White on the a1-h8 line and Black down a8-h1. This was simply winning for Black because the only defense White could offer on the white diagonal was with pieces covering squares whereas Black had a heavily defended pawn on g7 to limit operations on the black line. Josh further increased his advantage with the second very good move he played 29... Rd4. After that White's Bb2 is completely blotted out and whatever White's 2 rooks might be worth is more than offset by the activity on the long white line. At this point Josh had 18 minutes and Rosen less than 3. Move 31 Josh missed an easy crusher with 31...Rxf4 which plays on the overwork of White's Rf2, this is the cleanest line as White can't even try Kf1 to escape. Later Josh missed another easy try when he played 36...c4, where I think that 36...b5 threatening c4 seems much better. I say this for a couple of reasons: after b5/c4 Black will have Bc5 coming and White's attempt to block with d4 is taken e.p., second is that 36...c4 37.bxc4 Qxc4 removed the Black Q from the long diagonal and allowed White to get his pieces moving, and lastly White is very short of time and looking for any easy moves which immediately include simple captures like 37.bxc4. The final blow followed in an almost logical manner, Rosen took the f5 pawn and pressured g7 to which Josh responded by taking the f4 pawn, instead playing Bc5 will dramatically limit White's play and a line such as 38. Nxf5 Bc5 39. d4 Qd5 40. Ng3 Bd6 will see material equality restored, but with White back in the box on that long diagonal. At move 39 Josh correctly avoided 39. Qe6 Qxe6 40.Rxe6 Bd7 41.Bxg7+ Rxg7+ 42. Nxg7 but the damage was done and all Rosen had to do was avoid losing on time. So, a tie match.

Congratulations are due to the Sluggers players and manager. They found a way to win 6 matches, tie 3 and lose only 1. At the start of the season Seattle was one of the teams in the West with chances to win in the regular season primarily because the Sluggers could field 2 GM's. The uncertaintity with the Sluggers was consistency on the other boards, but each of the players has responded by winning or drawing crucial games. This is not a team of 2 GM's, but 4 players all looking to get whatever is necessary to win matches. So, now to the playoffs!

Here is my quick take on the playoffs. In the east New Jersey faces Baltimore and Boston gets New York. New Jersey has been the class of the league from the start and with a chance to field 3 2500 rated players present a formidable challenge. Baltimore is back in the playoffs after a couple of down years and with 2 GM's of their own could pose a real challenge to the Knockouts. Boston is the defending Eastern conference champ and remains a true monster of a team. Twice this season they got shut out, yet won 7 other matches which is only surpassed by Jersey's 8. New York has been a real roller coaster team this season. Still, the Knights have 3 GM's on the roster and it wouldn't surprise many if they got on a roll to the finals. New Jersey and Boston are the favorites considering the draw odds, yet I would suggest that if New Jersey doesn't win on second board or Boston on third either result could be a shock.
In the West, Seattle faces Miami while San Francisco will battle Arizona. The Scorpions have the toughest road as playoff newbies. A disturbing sign is that after defeating Seattle in week 9 the Scorpions were firmly in second and talking about chances at first if Chicago could pull off an upset, yet at the end they find themselves in third. My feeling is that Arizona will regret losing the draw odds to the Mechanics, but having beaten both of the division regular season winners Arizona is full of surprises. Seattle and Miami is a rematch of last years first round match, but with roles reversed. The Sluggers would do well to consider the model of Dallas: take no undue chances, look to get a win on one board and then work to force the other team to beat you. This might be the exact perfect model for the Sluggers, especially with Nakamura playing.
Ok, that's all for now. There should be a special post later this week. Thanks to all the readers and anyone who follows on Twitter. ttyl and have a nice day

Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

2009-11-03T19:04:00.000-08:00

Week 10 is upon us as it always does, but this time there is much less noise in the background. Out of 8 playoff spots we know 7 of the teams for certain and the 8th only needs to avoid tripping up. So, you say to yourself, why should we watch the matches for round 10 if things are already determined? Well, 2 reasons. The positioning of teams in the western division is uncertain. The second reason is that the teams that are out of the playoffs will most certainly have something to say about the playoff setup and be sure that those teams would love nothing more than to be involved by beating a contender. The cross conference matchup is Tennessee and Baltimore. The Kingfishers are on the verge of the 4th playoff spot in the East, while the Tempo have seen the ground slide beneath them. Baltimore looks like they are coming with a playoff ready lineup and should be the favorites. Tennessee can cause trouble if they get points from the middle 2 boards. New Jersey faces Queens. It seems that the Pioneers should be a power in the East, but have been under a cloud since a round 1 fingerfehler cost them a match with Boston. New Jersey is looking to keep form for the playoffs, while Queens needs some outside help to get in. The Knockouts are likely to be everyones favorite in the match, yet looking at the players it would seem that the only thing NJ has over Queens is confidence. Philadelphia is the team that is hoping for a Tennessee upset as it would increase their chances of getting in. Still, the Inventors have to be aware that they are facing a Carolina team that has found itself in the past few weeks and has nothing to play for other than the upset. Possibly the most interesting match this week is Boston - New York, because they will face each other in the first round of the playoffs. I wonder if the Knights are doing a little bit of lineup swapping to create a bit of doubt. You have to admit, if the Knights win this week what each team will be looking to change for round 1 of the playoffs. Dallas plays San Francisco in what is basically a rivalry match The Destiny are out of the playoffs, but as 2 time defending champ they aren't going to wimper their way out of the season. For the Mechanics there is some chance of better placement for the playoffs and they have opened the wildlife exhibit by have a Wolff and Bhat on the top boards. Miami gets the Scorpions this week as both teams look to sharpen up for the playoffs. Miami will be seeing the Sluggers next and probably looking to find a couple extra teeth for that match. Arizona is in second in the West and wants to win to keep that placement. Last match is the Sluggers and Chicago Blaze.

Seattle is fielding a moderate lineup with Serper, Mikhailuk, Milat and Sinanan. Chicago counters with the 3 IM's van de Mortel, Felecan and Pasalic with Rosen on 4th. Board 1 will be quite interesting as van de Mortel has played above his rating this season and Serper has been very steady. Sinanan looks like a solid favorite on 4th boad, though a similar situation happened last week. To me it looks like the place the match will be decided is in the middle. Slava and Marcel have both shown strength that has surprised some folks. Slava just needs to get comfortable quickly and not fall behind on time, while Marcel is just rounding into playing shape. I don't know what the rules are as far as Marcel's playing in the playoffs, but the other 3 are certain to see action. The Sluggers could fall out of first place with a loss and Arizona win or third if the Mechanics get a blow out. Chicago has played with great spun the whole season and none of the Sluggers or their fans should look beyond that. I like the Sluggers to win the match.

You may have noticed that I didn't pick winners in any of the other matches, reverting to my old form. Just nostalgia I guess. So, I will be posting after the matches.

Thanks this week to Patrick Wolff and Vinay Bhat for being good sports, to all the 3rd board players in the league... they get no respect, to the Commish, Mulfish and all the readers. ttyl and have a nice day

Catch the Wind

2009-10-31T17:43:00.001-07:00

Welcome readers to another day in paradise. Just in from raking leaves, it started to drizzle with the cold wind blowing rain from left to right, ah simply a great time to consider how best to express things. Learning my lessons in these conditions were instrumental in winning championships in two states. Yeah, I kind of know how the pieces move, though certainly not at the level of a titled player. Ah, but those are matters for the dim light of the past, we are in the here and now. Yeah, now, now I would like to thank Marcel Milat for posting on the Sluggers blog, though I fear my vision may have suffered a bit. It seems that all the other active sites for USCL have multiple bloggers, while I am the lone voice from the Northwest. One thing Marcel, no blood test needed. The pharmaceutical industry is big enough without players having blood tests every time they realize there was a better move or a continuation was misevaluated. Again, Thanks. Also, no one has commented on my picture. I had it done special for the Commish, he said it was lame to use the Sluggers logo all the time for my stuff, so I found a picture and sent it to him. Don't you think it shows off all my best features?

Observing the leaves push together likes pieces in a puzzle I was able to deduce the pattern around me. For those who are fresh to my writing or had a vacation, please check out my last post and all the comments. I stress, all the comments. Once you have finished the comments, you will possible understand my predicament. It works out the same all the time, I am nobody and where do I have the nerve to talk about famous people. I didn't want to believe that 2 letters had so much power, but there in the comments it is evident. Ilya makes it clear that having a title means your word is gold and "Anonymous" questions why a titled player would even stoop to respond to me! It's all back again, I am from Seattle, I have the audacity to question the authority of titled players, I am nobody and I rant. Ok, so what's your point?

NOW! Before you tell us what your point it, allow me to clarify mine. At one point in the game Mateer - Sinanan IM Ginsburg made a comment "she should make him pay for turning down the draw" in the game channel on ICC. I made reference to this, that I didn't think it was appropriate and was surprised that this had occured. Some anonymous character and Ilya both replied that it is silly to take such comments seriously on ICC. As much as I would like to agree, it just ain't so. If I make a comment that Ilya is an unschooled lug who doesn't bathe and he replies that he will break my neck, ha ha everyone gets a laugh and we all go quietly with our business. If I say that Ilya should accept a draw from Anonymous because of x y and z, people ignore me because my handle might as well be invisible. But what if someone with an IM next to there handle makes a comment about a player turning down a draw? Do the folks who read that take special note of it? Will aspiring players watching to pick up what they can from the games make a mental note about it? Well, you know Ilya was certainly willing to agree that Mr. Ginsburg having IM next to his name was worth more than my name. Anonymous went further to infer that I didn't have the right to question anyone with IM next to their names. Quite suspicious to me, these are people who supposedly know that on some level we are all equal on ICC. Maybe not playing strength, but at some point we are all players and kibitzers, aren't we? No, we are not. I am despised because I don't have a title. Well, ok then... I guess we know where things stand in that regard.

One more thing about this is how it happened. Josh is playing a game, he isn't even supposed to see kibitzes while he is playing. Comments that are made about moves are like the ether, just there. But when a kibitzer states that a player should suffer a result based on a decision made because of a team situation something has gone amiss. Josh can't defend himself, come out and say " I did this because the team needs a win", because he isn't even supposed to know that the comment was made. This wrankles heavily of 4th grade and talking about the uncoordinated kid behind their back. Mr. Ginsburg makes a point that a half game point is worth more than nothing, but he fails to note that a half a match point would have been worth a great deal more. In much the same way that it was not devulged on ICC at the time that Josh wasn't playing on because he faced a lower rated player or a female, that he played on to help his team. I have no hostility towards Mr. Ginsburg, he just did things as he saw them. Yet, it seems to me that IM Ginsburg would do well to contact Josh Sinanan and explain to Josh what happened and what his motives were. For all I know, Josh is completely unaware of this incident, but do we still talk about the unpopular kids behind their backs?

Ok, I will try to post again before the week 10 matches... I just have so many leaves to rake! Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Slugger wants to submit blood drug test after blown position

2009-10-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Arizona played a good match this week against the sluggers. Naka never really got one of his types of positions (messy), Slava was under pressure in an anti grunfeld that shows how a few of us old timers are getting rusty and Josh while missing his changes to win after white played Kg2 (allowing e3 winning) was probably only deserving of a draw.

Here are some annotations to my game with Robby which has some theoretical value to the overall evaluation of a topical line in the Benko.

Milat,Marcel - Adamson,Robby [A58]

US Chess League, 26.10.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 No Trop this week. Time for something a little sharper 2...c5 3.d5 b5 Robby has an impressive repetoire in the benko. A quick search of games for Robby shows he might be one of the leading theorticians in the Benko. In preparing for the game, you quickly find he plays the benko against d4 and only a few other sidelines. Problem is he plays the benko well. He has had many good positions againt GMs and draws with Elvest and Dlugy etc. 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.g3 d6 8.Bg2 Bg7 9.Nf3 Nbd7 10.Rb1 10 Rb1 has been considered one of the critical lines of the benko since 2001/2002 and has support from the super GM level including Kramnik. [10.0–0 Nb6 Here is a game with Robby in his element against a higher rated opponent. 11.Ne1 Nfd7 12.Nc2 Ne5 13.Ne3 Nbc4 14.Nxc4 Nxc4 15.Qa4+ Qd7 16.Qc2 Qb7 17.a3 0–0 18.b3 Rfb8!! Diagram

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5+-zpP+-+-%
4-+n+-+-+$
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2-+Q+PzPLzP"
1tR-vL-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

19.Rb1 (19.bxc4 Qb3 20.Qxb3 Rxb3³) 19...Na5 20.b4 cxb4 21.axb4 Qc7 22.bxa5 Rxb1 23.Qxb1 Qxc3 24.Qe4 Bf6 25.g4 Qc4 26.g5 Qxe4 27.Bxe4 Bc3 28.Bf3 Bc4 29.Bf4 Rxa5 30.Rc1 Ra1 31.Rxa1 ½–½ Kiriakov,P (2565)-Adamson,R (2344)/Minneapolis 2005/CBM 107] 10...Nb6 Diagram

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8r+-wqk+-tr(
7+-+-zppvlp'
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10...Nb6 seems to be currently thought of as the most reliable defence for black. Black had first experimented with Qa5 ideas or 0–0 and Qa5 ideas before returning to Nb6. The idea is to quickly pressure d5 and if white play e4 to support d5 to try to return the bishop to the a6-f1 diagonal where the king might be trapped in the center and where the d3 square will be weakened. 11.b3 Mutipurpose move. In some lines black can play Bc4 and xd5 and b3 helps to let white play Bb2 or suport a4. 11...Bc8! [11...Bb7 12.Nh4 0–0 13.0–0] 12.Nh4! [Bc8 sets up the trap that the natural 0–0 allows Bf5 hitting Rb1 and white can not play e4 and next will be Ne4 for black with a slight edge. 12.0–0? Bf5 13.Rb2 Ne4³; 12.e4 White has tremendous compensation 12...Ba6 ] 12...h6 Both sides are battling for f5 13.Qc2 [13.0–0? g5 14.Nf3 Bf5³] 13...Qd7!? 14.Bb2!? The main branch in modern theory appears here. Some folks propose Bd2 here. This lends support to the c3 night and protects the b4 square which in some lines can have a Nb4 occur for black if he were to win the d pawn. In some cases the bishop also support a b4 pawn break. Of course the negative is that it really does not blunt the Bg7 and is rather passive. [14.Bd2 g5 15.Nf3 Nfxd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Nxg5 Bb7 (17...hxg5 18.Bxd5 Bb7 19.Bxb7 Qxb7 20.f3 g4 21.Bc3 Bxc3+ 22.Qxc3 Rh7 23.Rb2 (23.0–0) 23...gxf3 24.exf3 Qb4 25.Qxb4 cxb4 26.h4 f5 27.Kf2) 18.Nf3 Ra3 19.0–0 0–0© 20.e4 Nb4 21.Bxb4 cxb4 22.Qd2 Bxe4] 14...g5 15.Nf3 Bb7!? [this might be a alternative for black. It pretty well forces e4 for white and leads to messy positions. White still might have a pull but they are quite weird positions. 15...Qf5!? 16.e4™ (16.Qd1?! Bb7 17.0–0 Nbxd5 18.Nxd5 Qxd5³) 16...Qg6 17.0–0 0–0 (17...Nfd7 18.Rfe1 Ne5 19.Nxe5 Bxe5 20.Na4 Nd7 21.b4 (21.f4 gxf4 22.gxf4 Bxb2 23.Qxb2 Rg8) 21...Bxb2 22.Rxb2 c4 23.Qxc4 0–0) 18.Rfd1 (18.Qd2 Qh5 (18...Ng4 19.Rfe1 Nd7²) 19.e5 Ng4 20.exd6 exd6 21.Rfe1 Nd7 22.Na4 Bxb2 23.Qxb2± f6 (23...c4 24.h3 Nge5 25.Nxe5 Nxe5 26.Nb6 Rb8 27.g4 Qh4 28.Rxe5 dxe5 29.bxc4 f5 30.c5 fxg4 31.hxg4 Qxg4 32.Re1 Ba6) 24.Qc2) 18...Bg4 19.h3 Bxf3 20.Bxf3± h5 21.a4 g4 22.hxg4 hxg4 23.Bg2 Nfd7 24.Ne2 Bxb2 25.Qxb2 Ne5 26.Nf4 Qg7] 16.Rd1 [16.e4 Ba6 17.h4 g4 18.Nd2 0–0] 16...0–0 [16...c4 17.0–0 0–0 18.e4 cxb3 19.axb3± Ng4 20.Nd4 Ba6 21.Rfe1 (21.Bh3 Bxf1) 21...Ne5 22.Nf5 Rfc8 23.f4 Qa7 24.fxe5 Nxd5+ 25.Kh1 Nxc3 26.Bxc3 Bxe5] 17.0–0 Ra7N [17...Nfxd5 Nd5 might be blacks best but white generally has a slight pull still even in some of the ending that could arise 18.Nxd5 Nxd5 a) 18...Bxd5 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Nxg5 hxg5 21.Bxd5 Nxd5 22.Rxd5 f6 (22...f5 23.Qd2 Kg6 24.e4 Qe6 (24...f4 25.e5 Qh3 26.exd6 e6 27.Rxc5 Rxa2 28.Qd3+ Kh6) 25.exf5+ Rxf5 26.Rxf5 Qxf5 27.Re1 Ra7 28.a4 g4 29.a5 Kf7 30.Qe2 e5 31.a6 Qc8 32.Ra1 Ke7 33.Qb5) 23.f4 Qe6 (23...gxf4 24.Rxf4 Rh8 25.a4 Qh3 26.Rf2 Rab8 27.Qe4 Qd7 28.Qe3 Rb4 29.Rf4 Rhb8 30.Rxb4 Rxb4 31.Rh5 Qb7 32.a5 Rxb3 33.Qh6+ Kf7 34.Qh7+ Ke8 35.Qf5 Kd8 36.Rh8+ Kc7 37.Qe6 Rb1+ 38.Kf2 Rb4 39.Qxe7+ Kc6 40.Qe8+ Qd7 41.Qxd7+ Kxd7 42.a6 Ra4 43.a7) 24.e4 gxf4 25.Rxf4 Rh8; b) 18...Bxd5; 19.Bxg7 (19.Nxg5 hxg5 20.Bxg7 Nb4 (20...Kxg7 21.Bxd5 Bxd5) 21.Qc3 Rfb8 a) 21...Bxg2 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.Kxg2; b) 21...Nxa2 22.Qb2 Rfb8 23.Bh6 (23.Bxb7 Rxb7 24.Bh8 f6 25.Bxf6 exf6) 23...f6 24.Qc2 Qe8 25.Bxb7 Rxb7 26.f4 Qh5 b1) 26...g4 27.Qf5 (27.Qe4 Rb4 28.Qf5 Kh8 (28...Nc3 29.Qxg4+ Kf7 30.Rd3 Qg8 31.Qf3 Kg6 32.Rxc3 Kxh6) 29.Rxd6 Qf7 30.Rd7 Qh7 31.Qd5 Rbb8 32.Qh5 Rd8 (32...Nc3 33.Bg7+ Kg8 34.Qxh7+ Kxh7 35.Bxf6 Nxe2+ 36.Kg2 Rxb3 37.Rxe7+ Kg6) 33.Bg7+ Kg8) 27...Kh8 (27...Qf7 28.Rd5) 28.Qxg4 Qg8 29.Qh5 Qh7 (29...Qe8 30.Qf3 Rab8 31.Rd5 (31.Ra1 Kh7) 31...Rxb3 32.Qg4 Qg8) 30.Ra1 Rxb3 31.f5 Rb4 32.Rxa2 Rxa2 33.Qe8+ Qg8 34.Qxe7 Rg4 35.Qxf6+ Kh7 36.Bf4; b2) 26...gxf4 27.Rxf4 Rb4 28.e4 Qg6 29.Rh4 Kf7 30.Be3 Ra3 31.Qd2 Rxe4 32.Qd5+ Re6 33.Bd2 f5 34.Re1; 27.fxg5 Nb4 28.Qe4; 22.Bxb7 Rxb7 (22...Qxb7 23.Bh6 a) 23.a3; b) 23.Bh8 f6 (23...Kf8 24.Qg7+ Ke8 25.Qxg5 f6 26.Qh5+ Kd7 27.Bxf6 exf6 28.Qxc5 d5) 24.Bxf6 exf6 25.Rxd6 (25.Qxf6 d5 26.Qxg5+ (26.e4 Qg7 27.Qe6+) 26...Qg7 27.Qc1) ; 23...f6 24.h4 gxh4 a) 24...Kh7 25.hxg5 Qe4 26.Qc1 (26.a4 Nc6 27.Qd2 Nd4 28.gxf6 Qxe2 29.Qf4 e5 30.Qc1) 26...Nxa2 27.Qd2 fxg5 (27...Rxb3 28.gxf6 Nc3 29.fxe7 Nxe2+ 30.Kh2 Nd4 31.Qf4 Qxe7 32.Rfe1 Qb7 33.Rxd4 Rf3 34.Re7+ Qxe7 35.Qxf3 cxd4 36.Qxa8 Kxh6 37.Qh8+ Kg6 38.Qxd4; 27...Kg6 28.gxf6 exf6 29.Bf4 Rxb3 30.Rfe1; 27...d5) 28.Qxg5 Rg8 29.Qh5 Qg4 (29...Qg6 30.Qh4 Qxh6 31.Qxe7+ Qg7 32.Qxd6 Rge8 33.Qxc5 Nc3 34.Qf5+ Kg8 35.Rd7 Re7 36.Rxe7 Qxe7 37.Qg6+ Kf8 38.Kg2 Qe4+) 30.Qf7+ Kxh6 31.Qxe7 Rg7 32.Rxd6+ Kh7 33.Qe3 Qf5 (33...Rf8 34.Ra1 Nb4 35.Rh6+ Kg8 36.Qxc5 Qf5) ; b) 24...Qe4 25.hxg5 Kh7 26.f3; 25.Qc4+ Kh7 a) 25...e6 26.Qxe6+; b) 25...d5 26.Qxh4 Rxa2 (26...Qd7 27.e4 d4 28.Qh5 Qe8 29.Qg4+ Kf7 30.e5 Qh8 31.e6+ Ke8 32.Qh5+ Kd8 33.Qxc5 Qxh6 34.Rxd4+ Ke8 35.Rh4 Qg7 36.Qf5) 27.Qh5 e5 28.Qg6+ Kh8; 26.Qxh4 Rh8 27.e4 Kg6 (27...Rxa2 28.Kg2 Nc2 29.Rh1 Kg8 30.Qg4+ Kf7 31.Qg7+) ) 23.Bh6 f6 24.f4 g4 a) 24...Rxa2 25.fxg5 Kh7 (25...Qg4 26.gxf6 e5 27.Rxd6 Qxe2 28.f7+ Rxf7 29.Rd8+ Kh7 30.Rxf7+ Kg6 31.Rg7+ Kxh6 32.Qc1+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+) 26.gxf6; b) 24...Nxa2 25.Qc4+ e6 26.fxg5 f5 27.e4 Rb4 28.Qxc5 dxc5 29.Rxd7 Rxe4 30.Ra1 Rd4 31.Rg7+ Kh8 32.Rf7 Kg8 33.g6 e5 34.Rf1 f4 35.Rg7+ Kh8 36.Re7 Kg8 37.gxf4 Nc3 38.Rg7+ Kh8 39.fxe5 Rg4+ 40.Kh1 Ne4 41.Rh7+ Kg8 42.Ra7 Rd8 43.Rg7+ Kh8 44.Rd7 Ra8 45.Rf8+ Rxf8 46.g7+ Kh7 (46...Rxg7 47.Bxg7+ Kg8 48.Bxf8 Kxf8) 47.gxf8Q+; 25.f5 a) 25.a3 Rxa3 26.f5 Qb5 27.Qe3 Qe8 28.Qe4; b) 25.a3 Kh7 26.axb4 Rxb4 (26...Kxh6 27.bxc5 Qc6 28.b4 Rc8 29.Qe3 (29.Rc1 Qe4 30.f5 Rxb4 (30...Qxb4 31.Qe3+ Kh7 32.Rb1 Qxb1 33.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 34.Kf2 Rb7 35.cxd6 exd6 36.Qd4 Rf8 37.Qxg4 Rd7 38.h4 d5 39.e3 Re7 40.Qd1 Re5 41.Qh5+ Kg8 42.Qg6+ Kh8 43.g4 Re4 44.Kf3 Re5 45.g5 fxg5 46.f6 Re7 47.hxg5 Rc7 48.Qf5 Kg8 49.g6 d4 50.Qd5+ Kh8 51.Qe5 Kg8 52.Kg4 (52.f7+) 52...Ra7 53.Qd5+ Kh8 54.Qxd4) ) 29...dxc5 30.f5+ Kh7 31.Rf4 cxb4 32.Qb3 Qc5+ (32...e5 33.fxe6 Re7 34.Rxf6 Qc5+ 35.Kf1 Kg7 36.Rf4 Rf8 37.Rd7 Rxf4+ 38.gxf4 Kf6 39.Rxe7 Kxe7 40.e3) 33.Rdd4) 27.Bg5 fxg5 28.Qc2+ Kg7 (28...Kh8 29.Qg6 Rd4 30.Rxd4 cxd4 31.fxg5) ; 25...Qb5 26.Qe3 Kh7 27.a4 Qe8 28.Rf4 Qg8 29.Re4) 19...Kxg7 20.Nxg5 Nf6 (20...hxg5 21.Bxd5 Rh8 (21...Bxd5 22.Rxd5 f6) 22.e4 f6 23.f3 Ra7 24.Rf2 Rha8 25.a4 Rb8 26.f4 Bxd5 27.exd5 Qg4 28.Re1 Rb4 29.fxg5 Qxg5 30.Rfe2 Kf8 31.Qh7 Rbb7 32.Qd3 Rb4 33.a5 Rd4 34.Qh7 Rg4 35.a6 Qg6 36.Qh8+ Qg8 37.Qh3 Ke8 38.Re6 Kd8 39.Qf1 Rg5 40.Qb5 Kc8 41.Rxd6 Rxg3+ 42.Kh1 Rc7 43.a7 Rxa7 44.Rc6+ 1–0 Gustafsson,J (2513)-Kasparov,S (2458)/Deizisau 2002/CBM 087 ext) 21.Bxb7 (21.Nf3 Be4 22.Qb2 Qa7 23.Rd2 Qa3 24.Qa1 Qb4 25.Rfd1 Ra6 26.Nh4 Rfa8 27.Bxe4 Qxe4 28.f3 Qe3+ 29.Kh1 e6 30.Ng2 Qe5) 21...Qxb7 22.Nf3 Qe4 23.Qb2 Ra7 (23...d5 24.Rc1 Rfc8 25.Rfd1 d4 26.b4 Rab8 27.Rc4 Rxb4 28.Rxb4 cxb4 29.Rxd4 Rc2 30.Rxe4 Rxb2 31.Rxe7 Nd5) 24.Rd3 Rfa8 25.a4 Rb7 26.Re3 Qg4 27.Rd1 Rxa4 (27...Qh3 28.Qc2 a) 28.Nh4 Rxa4 29.Rf3; b) 28.Qa1 Kg8 29.Qc1 Ng4 (29...Rab8 30.Qc2 Ng4 31.Rc3 Rb4 32.a5 R4b7 33.a6 Ra7 34.Ra1 Rb6 35.Qd3 Kg7 36.Rc4 Nf6 37.Nh4 Rbxa6 38.Rxa6 Rxa6 39.Ra4 Rxa4 40.bxa4) 30.Re4 Rab8 (30...Rxb3 31.Qf4 Rb4 32.Rxb4 cxb4 33.Qxb4) ; 28...Kg8) 28.Rxe7] 18.e4™ Rc8 19.Rfe1! This has the threat of e5 with the idea that Nd5 will open up the game favorably for white. 19...Ng4 [19...c4 20.Nd4± (20.e5 Nfxd5 21.e6 fxe6 22.Qg6 Qe8= 23.Qxe6+; 20.h4!?) 20...cxb3 21.axb3 Ra2 22.Nxa2 Rxc2 23.Nxc2 Qc7 24.Ne3 Nbd7 25.Nb4 Qb6 26.Nc6 e5 27.Nc4 Qc7 28.Ne7+ Kh8 29.Nf5 Bf8 30.Rc1 Qb8 31.Ba3 Ne8 32.Bh3 Ba6 33.Nxh6 Bxh6 34.Bxd7 Bxc4 35.bxc4 Qa7 36.Bxe8 Qxa3 37.Bxf7 g4 38.Ra1 Qb4 39.Bh5 Qxc4 40.Bxg4 Bd2 41.Reb1 Qc7 42.Ra6 Ba5 43.Rb5 Be1 44.h4 Qc2 45.Rb8+ Kg7 46.Rb7+ Kg6] 20.h4 This is one of the negatives of blacks position. Normally if white plays h4 black would play g4. Now g5 and the black kingside becomes soft 20...Ne5 [‹20...gxh4 21.Nxh4 Bd4 22.Bh3 Diagram

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-+k+(
7trl+qzpp+-'
6-sn-zp-+-zp&
5+-zpP+-+-%
4-+-vlP+nsN$
3+PsN-+-zPL#
2PvLQ+-zP-+"
1+-+RtR-mK-!
xabcdefghy

I was hoping this position would arrise. Black can with the exchange but at the cost of allowing nf5 and no protection around the king. 22...Bxf2+ 23.Kg2 Bxe1 24.Rxe1+- And like most computers... they slowly start to like white position 24...Rca8 25.Nf5] 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.hxg5 hxg5 23.Qe2! g4 black can not allow qh5 24.Qe3! again tickeling black with the idea of Qh6. The nice thing about this square is that c4 play will not work with Nb6 and Bc3 is not going to work either. Actually during the game, I was not sure of what plan black could attempt given it would be his turn. 24...Kh7™ 25.f4?? I sometimes wonder if drug testing in chess has any merits at all. I know its politics for attempting to get chess into the Olympic circle. Here I would have liked to have seen the IOC check my blood content level for perscription drugs (Arizona voodoo??). Of course f4 was based on a few major hallucinations starting with the thought that Seattle had not won a single US Chess League game of the week in 2009 and I might be able to do that with gf3 Kf2!! (with the idea of Rh1 later). [25.Bf1! leads to an overwhelming position. Ironically this was my first candidate move. Sigh.. I think I need to play more chess.... Ra5 26.Kg2 Kg6 27.Be2 f6 28.Rh1 Rg8 29.Qh6+ Kf7 30.Qh5+ Rg6 31.Rh4 Bc8 32.Bc1 Bxc3] 25...gxf3 26.Qxf3 [26.Kf2?? This is the move I almost played. 26...fxg2 (26...Bxg3+ 27.Kxf3+-) 27.Qg5 When white has a good game except for Qh3!! winning for black.] 26...Rg8 27.Qh5+ [¹27.Qxf7+ Rg7 28.Qh5+ Kg8] 27...Kg7 28.Bh3 Qe8 Here Robby offered a draw and i only saw the perp. ½–½ 29.Na4 [¹29.Nb5 Qxb5 30.Bxe5+ dxe5 31.Qxe5+ Kf8 32.Qb8+ Bc8 33.Bxc8 The computer prefer white here, but to be truthful I did not even see Qb8 when thinking about Nb5.] 29...Bxb2 30.Nxb2 Rxa2 31.Qg5+ Kf8 32.Qh6+=

Many Rivers to Cross

2009-10-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I could not think of a better song title or song for tonight's match with Arizona. The final was 3-1 for the Scorpions and they fully deserved to win the match, without any question. To make this as simple as possible for any readers who don't like to read, the Sluggers played a match in which they displayed all their short comings and very few of their strengths. Here is a quick recap:

Bd. 1 Ramirez met 1. e4 with Alekhine's defense, Nakamura chose the exchange variation. Black was willing to keep a compact and fairly solid position, Naka seemed to be making small gestures but in the end Ramirez had a liquidation that won black a pawn but left bishops of opposite color.

Bd. 2 Slava played a Grunfeld setup against the english in which Whtie had Qa4+ to h4. This is a kind of tricky bit for Black which Slava didn't handle well. He was dreadfully behind on time and lost a pawn. Altounian didn't let up and scored the full point.

Bd. 3 a Benko broke out between Milat and Adamson, a topical line with 10 Rb1 followed. For some reason Black put h6 and g5 in which afforded White a ready made idea. Marcel did his best to create an accident on the g or h files, but was unable and with both sides low on time a draw was agreed.

Bd. 4 Sinanan played the Nimzo, Mateer replied with 4. Qc2 00 5. e4. This has become a popular line, which I don't know the theory of. Josh created a really good chance based on play down the h1-a8 diagonal, but missed what I think was an excellent chance at move 20 where I thought 20...e3 was quite strong. Slowly White crawled out of trouble, offered a draw which was refused in order to play on and then Josh's boat just went over.

In a way this was a perfect storm. With Black the Sluggers were not prepared at all and got caught out for it, both blacks were way behind on time in the early opening phases. Combined with Naka's worst performance of the season, with all due credit to Ramirez, and Seattle just didn't have any umph. This is very much like matches that they played last season where they were underdogs and just seemed to accept that status. Let's hope that isn't really the case.

Next up is Chicago, a team with surprising aspirations to get into the playoffs. We know they will be coming to play, so lets hope the Sluggers do as well.

ttyl and have a nice day

Sunshine Superman

2009-10-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

There's no denying it, the best score he had ever gotten at trivia. He had finished first before, but not by that margin. Still, there had been greater scores. How things had changed. In younger days a victory would have meant cause for ice cream and dreams of greater glory, now it was merely a time to reflect on the circumstances of a particular time. "Oh well, no time to waste. Matches are up, let's see who is playing this week". His fingers deftly typed the letters and pressed return. As the page opened his mind had wondered, to the different fortunes and how to portray them. "Ah, here we are" he mused as the page appeared. Yes, things had changed a lot. A slight dismay whisped by him as he read the names "Queens and Carolina". One team had higher aspirations and the other was coming off unexpected success, now they were both playing out the season. The difference was that the Cobras still played a little beyond themselves. Queens by a length, it will be an upset. Another team that gives it a lot of effort is Chicago, this week they face Dallas. "The abyss" he thought, "Dallas is on the lip of elimination. Will they panic? Will they through some kind of changeup?" Checking the lineups he noticed that Dallas had an A player in the lineup. Well, they seem to be going with their 3 best horses on top. "Ok, Dallas will keep the suspense for another week, the Destiny by margin on prelined note paper". Down scrolled the screen as he watched the names in the San Francisco versus Tennessee match appear. " Holy Moly, is Tennessee banking on their 4th board having a slingshot or some such?" Shrugging he typed "SF 3-1" keeping the hope that he wasn't short changing somebody. Taking a sip of tea he became aware that the types of matches had changed. Monday was a showcase mostly for teams that weren't in a race, teams showing what they had without any thought to final standings. The first match listed for Wednesday had a team hungry for a win to advance their playoff chances against a team thumping around the league. The Inventors are an eyelash from playoff possibilities, while the Knockouts are full of unexpected status as the premier team in the league. " Don't be fooled" grinding his teeth at the possibilities, " The Inventors are looking to play even on 1, 2 and 4 then take their chances with a veteran. Good trick, if it works. No, I don't see it, but there is credit enough for all. Tie" He wrote the words and bit his lip, " the Knockouts are in the playoffs and don't face the Knights again in the regular season, yet their history in finishing the season is poor. Tie!". New York and Baltimore, these teams were closely matched. " The difference will be on the middle boards. Even if the Knights win on 4th board, the Kingfishers will surprise them. Baltimore will win by a tail". He chuckled to himself, a fish tail that is he thought. A bit of amusement was well timed as he noted the next match. Boston faces Miami in a match where only the Sharks can affect their playoff position. "What really matters is that both teams have something to prove. The Blitz may not give a fig what the rest of the league thinks, but they have to answer to themselves at some point. Miami is composed and will be prepared. So, what do I base my decision on?" He sipped more tea and glanced at the clock. "Of course! It is right in front of me. The Blitz have been beating St. Mary's Sisters of the weak pawn and teams like that. They haven't found their way past a winning team yet. I can't go against a trend like that. Miami will win by the difference of the respective teams fourth board IQ". He knew trouble was ahead, but it always had been. Nothing new there. So, we are down to the Arizona and Seattle match up. Fully aware that even a loss wouldn't drop Seattle from first or from the playoffs, he wondered what was the teams motivation? "Play them, one at a time". he knew it was a cliche. Still, no one really understood it as well as he did. "They have a match to play, so they play. Hikaru, Slava and Josh... been pretty steady so far. Almost sounds like a law firm." As much as he liked the names, the thing that was obvious was that Seattle players had been able to avoid bad streaks. That would suggest Marcel would have a fine game. Still, it wasn't easy. Suspicion, Arizona listed an A player on fourth board. "A trick?" he wondered. Well, if it was a trick it would turn out to be a real doozy. Checking Arizona's point of view he noted that getting a 2600 player on first board is pretty good, except when that player is outrated by 150 points. This seemed out of whack. "It must be some kind of kharma thing" he tried to persuade himself. "No, they have to play the matches too. That is the Scorpions motivation". Seattle was vey likely to win on the outside boards and only needed some kind of score in the middle. As if to make a note of a special ingridient in an old family recipe he pointed at the screen. " A modest victory for Seattle. The Sluggers shall prevail by the distance between 2 raindrops". There it was done. All of the matches had been verified. As always he checked again, just to be sure no one snuck in when he wasn't looking

Let the Good Times Roll

2009-10-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hi to all the readers, we are back again. If you ask me what I will remember about week 8 I will likely tell you " some teams really defined themselves". Yup, that is what I would say. I don't really try to be cryptic, but I find it comes in handy quite often. Let me explain, but first a quick recap of the Sluggers match up with Tennessee.

At lineup time it was pretty obvious that Seattle expected a couple more GM's to play than actually did, while Tennessee aimed to try a little bit of "small ball" by getting some extra strength on the lower boards. In Arun Sharma's recent "Mid Season All Star" post he picked John Bick as the allstar 3rd board, so it seemed like a stroke of genius when the Tempo were able to push him down to 4th board. No moss growing on them Tempo players (note to league officials: is it ok to refer to multiple Tennessee players as "Tempi"?) . So, the match started. Nakamura on board 1 seems to be using 1...b6 to good effect and had another opportunity as Ron Burnett shot out 1.Nf3. Serper started with 1.c4 and 2.g3 which was his standard fare coming up, to which Andrews used a move order which has become standard since the late 80's. Bereolos and Readey on board 3 started with 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 and followed with the shadow boxing that seems to come from this line. Finally, an advance Caro popped up on board 4 as Chen and Bick looked like they were ready for this matchup. It somehow worked out that board 4 went very quickly as Bick played c5 a little early to which Chen found a really good response with c4, the center blew open and black's king was stuck on e8. After a couple of tactics Bick was compelled to give up the queen for a rook and bishop with Chen grabbing a couple of pawns on the way with check. This was over surprisingly quickly. Nakamura didn't appear to play for equality, but got there anyway. Burnett's decision to exchange black square bishop for knight on c5 just propelled Black into activity and a miscalculation followed that cost white a piece. Meanwhile, Bereolos and Readey were brushing up on the modern rules where players can move the pieces more than 3 squares at a time. Andrews on board 2 made what I consider a questionable choice by going for a Kings Indian formation and giving Serper the opportunity to play the Botvinnik formation ( note to readers: please don't read that last sentence aloud to any spouse, significant other or close friend who is not a chess player as that last sentence spells out "Geek" in the outside world). Serper put his pieces on the squares he wanted, played a minor combination, kept Andrews staggering, picked up the exchange and finally trapped Todd's queen. At this point I noted that Bereolos had offered a draw to Readey, which was declined! This surprised me a lot, but to each his own. This game went on for quite a while and ended as a draw, though Readey missed a couple of places to improve greatly. So, a 3.5 - .5 victory to keep the Sluggers in first place. Any time a team fields 2 GM's it seems as if they should be heavy favorites, but in this case there is more to it. Chen played a very creditable game on 4th board, while Readey did a fine job on 3rd. This indicates that Seattle it getting points from places other than the top. Tennessee was unfortunate to run into the Sluggers right now, because as well as having the 2 GM's they have a lot of momentum. Sometimes a team gets a little run going and it just seems to build on itself, that is where the Sluggers seem to be right now. The Tempo deserve full credit for finding a formula to give themselves a chance and for playing tough.

A team on a roll. Remember last season? The team on the roll was the Carolina Cobras, who won matches that seemed well beyong their resources. This season they are struggling to get any kind of a run going. So, when they faced the New York Knights there was plenty of reason to pick the Knights. Well folks, this is why they play them. The Cobras were able to get a tie in a match that belonged to the Knights. We should send out kudos to the Cobras for continuing to play hard and seek out points that aren't apparent to the rest of us. Philly and Baltimore played to a tie, which combined with the Knights tie to do absolutely nothing to clarify the playoff standings except take one more week away. The Mechanics pumelled the Pioneers,. I want to say that Queens has the appearance of a team that has plenty of talent, but no real direction... they haven't devised ways to win matches. Dallas had a great chance to leap back into the playoffs with a match versus the Miami Sharks, but were only able to tie. Arizona confirmed their status as a playoff team with a win over Chicago. The Blaze have played every match to the hilt and with a little bit of a swing could have been in the playoff chase. And finally, the New Jersey Knockouts made it clear that they are serious about not just making the playoffs, but making some noise there with a 4-0 thrashing of Boston. This doesn't affect playoff standings in terms of making the post season, but now Boston will have to get some help to get the draw odds that are now in the possesion of New Jersey. What we found from all of this is that there are some teams who have found the path to Olympus, some teams who are looking and some teams who are more than happy to make the trail as dusty as possible.

Ok, in week 9 the big matchup is Seattle and Arizona as the top 2 teams in the West square off. The Scorpions have been a refreshing presence in the league this year, but there is one thing I gotta say. You know, they have at least 3 folks who regularly blog and closer to 5 or 6 who throw stuff out there while I am only me. If it takes 5 or 6 of them to match me, the Scorps have a ways to go, though I must admit to having a couple of their albums in the 80's. This brings me to my final deal. Bloggers, we got rapped in the mouth by a certain member of a certain team that is in the northeast and just lost their second shutout match. This season seems to have a lot of posts by Arizona, New Jersey, Chicago and... me. Boston got in there a bit, but seem to be real quiet, except for a certain member of their team who's mouth is only slightly smaller than his ego. There have to be other folks out there who want to let us know what they think? Or rant? Or vent? Or just have a voice? Come on guys, lets hear some more from you. SF, are you guys really so busy? Miami, I know you don't have cold weather so do some talking. Dallas! Hey, Bartholomew you said you were going to spice things up? New York, you gotta be kidding me that you don't have something to say? You guys can't really be thinking that we don't want to hear from you? We do. So, let's hear it!!!

Ok, thanks as always to the Commish, Mulfish, the kids in the lunch line, Todd Andrews for explaining what was going to happen if a certain member of a certain team accidentally found himself below the Mason Dixon Line, to all my readers the "4 to 9ers" and of course to Mom who taught me the best gambling odds should be less than the confidence I have in myself. ttyl and have a nice day

Karn Evil #9

2009-10-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends,
We're so glad you could attend, come inside come inside,
There behind the glass stands a real blade of grass,
Be careful as you pass, move along move along

Week 8 and the pairings are up, good to be here to share a few moments with the readers in their busy lives. I have to tell you, the USCL is really a lot of fun and there is a simple reason for that. Think about it, there are a whole bunch of us who wake up on Saturday's and Sundays in the fall or winter so that we will be certain to watch football on TV, later in the year it will be hoops. After watching our favorite teams we go on the blogging sites and critique the coaches and officials, the failures of the players and the insanity of the beer commercials. Here in the USCL we can do pretty much the same, well except for the beer commercials. There is a difference. I never played organized sports past high school and have no idea what it is like to compete at those levels, nor have I ever been on the field or court with any of the players I see on TV. I have played in tournaments against a whole bunch of the USCL players and expect to look across at some of them again! Oh no, I am not a titled player or anything like, don't get me wrong I have been in a ton of team leagues and know what it takes to play and win. That's the deal, just because the players in the USCL are stronger or have higher ratings doesn't deny the fact that we have all been in the pits of playing chess right there along side them, as opposed to pro/college sports where very few of us have any idea what is involved. Yeah, this league is a lot closer to home and that makes it so much fun. So, as I start to embarass myself again with these inane predictions, let the USCL know what you think. I am certain that the Commish is more than welcome to ideas and comments. Ok? Bring on the next act!

Monday sees the match that so many have had circled, the Boston-New Jersey showdown. But first there we should comment on the other 2 Monday night menageries. Dallas faces Miami. This is it for the Destiny, they can still make the playoffs and have a certain amount of their fate in their own hands, but it has to start here. It looks like they are seeing it the same way I am by having Ludwig and Kiewra in the middle. If they can pick up a score on the outside boards Dallas has a cood chance to win the match. Miami is still a formidable team, but have misplaced some of the magic they had last year. I have a feeling that the Destiny aren't quite done yet and will pull this off by width of a caterpillars nose (Note to Ron Young: I am trying out this scoring system using words... hope it works). Chicago has Arizona on Monday as wll. Both teams are coming off surprise victories last weel. Chicago's Jan van de Mortel has proven to be a barrel of fun on first board, but the Blaze don't have Angelo Young. Combine that with Arizona's push to the playoffs and I see the Scrops winning by the distance between major cities on an AZ state road map. Now, the Blitz and Knockouts setup. It is surprising that neither Christiansen or Benjamin is playing, but the quality of top board matchups doesn't fall with Gulko vs. Perelshtyn and Sammour=Hasbun up against Ippolito. Boston has an advantage on third board, while the Knockouts have high expectations for youngster Ng on 4. I want to think that Boston has an advantage based on the difference on third board, but NJ has been showing a lot of resilience so far. If there is going to be a surprise in the match I suspect it will be on board 2, though that is entirely a hunch. I am going to say the match ends in a tie.

Wednesday starts off with the Knights against the Cobras. Carolina picked up there best result of the season last week, but the New Yorkers have some battle tested players back. This one goes to the Knights by the width of one of them streets in the Big Apple. Philly has Baltimore. The Inventors could move into the bottom playoff position with a win and are trying to find a hot hand on board 1. The Kingfishers have been in a funk all season and I don't see them getting out of it. I like the Inventors by a crack in a bell. San Francisco faces the Queens squad this week. The Mechanics are going with the same lineup as last week, there must be some scheduling issues for them as the risk of going further down the playoff list is nothing to sneeze at. Queens is looking to make a late pull into the playoff race in the East. The Mechanics are a tough bunch and I really don't like picking an eastern team in 6th place over a western team in 3rd place, but it looks to me like Queens has a better group on the first 3 boards and will win by a donut hole. Now we get to the Sluggers and the Tempo match. This is one of those times where you kind of look at the matchups and wonder just exactly who Kreskin is working for. Seattle put their 2 GM's out there, obviously anticipating the Tempo would do the same, and Tennessee has sold some carrots on the top two to get potatoes on the bottom 2. Ok, sounds like I am saying "Seattle on first 2 and Tennessee on the bottom", but not quite that easy. I have faced Burnett online a bunch of times and have the utmost respect for him as well as Todd Andrews, but when you go into the cage with the lions you gotta think that very few good things are going to happen. It would seem that if there are going to be results that don't fit the schedule it would be on one of the two bottom boards. I am thinking board 3 will be the place the match goes one way or the other. Bereolos and Readey are similar types of players and I think I know what opening it will be ( I don't want to give away anyone's secretes here, but the opening line I am thinking is on page 234 of the.... cough, cough, uh never mind). I think the match will be a tie with Seattle have about a 1/3 of a point chance for victory.

Ok, Alfred Hitchcock is on and I gotta go. Remember to let your USCL team or the Commish know how much you enjoy this league. Big thanks to Emerson, Lake and Palmer, to Eddie, to that whiny guy in the Sluggers mascot costume, to Joe the pizza delivery man and of course Dean Wormer. ttyl and have a nice day

Heart Full of Soul

2009-10-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

HIYA, HIYA, HIYA, HIYA…!!! It is a great day to be writing. Sky is gray, rain is falling from right to left (October in Seattle is very windy) and the only thing less interesting than the local news is, well news from any where else! It is a great day! Before we get to all the razzmatazz from this past week, I want to share a thought with the other bloggers in the USCL. I have to pay tribute to my “spiritual superior”. Like Darth Vader kneeling before the Emperor, I bow my head in tribute to the force that has guided my hand in blogging. Of course, I recommend all of this person’s worCheck this guy out, I am pretty certain you can all pick up plenty of tips on interesting communication from him! Ok, on to the party…!!!!

Sluggers match with the Sharks. I had convinced myself to pick the Sluggers to win based on some pretty reasonable thinking. Therein was the problem, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am neither reasonable or a thinker. Behind the scenes I was kicking myself for not looking at the facts. Seattle had found their way to the top of the western division, had Nakamura coming back and were facing a Miami team that appeared to be in the middle of the blues, you know the depression of staying up to 4 a.m. to see your favorite terrible sci-fi movie only to find out they cut out the one scene you loved and now you had to be up at 6:30 to go to work? Yeah, that feeling. All of these things were really negatives for the Sluggers; never a team to accept success well, this was the equivalent of winning a brand new Porsche as the price of gas hits $5 a gallon. Still, I had to watch… it is my duty. Sinanan on board 4 had a pretty standard game, got to a Benoni type position with b5-b4 in, then did a slight shuffle of pieces to the left (does anyone remember “The Time Warp”?) and finished with a bit of nice technique. Well done. Milat made his season debut on board 3 and surprised me by playing the Zot /Trompovski (quick note to Marcel… “Dude, tough to get to the Belgrade after that sequence”). This one deteriorated quickly into a contest of who could mis-interpret Reinfeld more effectively. To be fair, Marcel found everything in the house to try to win and it wasn’t quite enough. On board 2 Slava took a choice in the opening to give up the exchange for a pawn and cut Martinez’ attacking chances down. It appears that White then went looking for a rabbit, while Slava just “slowly rolled along”. In a game where either side certainly had places to press for more, a draw was found via a rook opposition. Matchups of GM’s in the USCL has become pretty common and we know that those GM’s just don’t like being outdone at anything. So, as if the efforts on boards 2 and 3 weren’t enough Becerra and Nakamura got together to give us plenty more excitement. I had predicted that Nakamura would open with 1.g3, this had been his usual previously in USCL matches, and was quite intrigued when he opted for the Veresov. It turned out to be an inspired choice as White was presented with a huge space advantage and plenty of time in the opening. I would bet that Nakamura changed his mind at a couple of points, seeking the “perfect” route instead of just a pawn or some such ( I hope he writes the game up in his blog). Slowly Becerra worked his way out of the dungeon and emerged with equality. So, tied match right? WRONG!! I don’t know if he just misjudged, misanalyzed or simply overplayed but Becerra went directly into a losing ending by offering a queen exchange. Nakamura found a very direct line to victory from there. So, another use of reflections to collect a 2 ½ - 1 ½ victory. Let’s be clear, except for board 4 all the games swung around at least once and had the potential for any result, plus every player seemed to have some sort of issue with the clock. This was a close match between division rivals. Next up for the Sluggers is a rematch with the Tennessee boys who will likely by sporting their 2 GM’s again.

On a more self serving angle; note to IM Mark Ginsburg ( please, please, please Eddie, can I call him Dr. Demento?) when you are considering the opening to focus on this week keep in mind that this week there were 2 Zots, 1 Veresov, 1 aborted Stonewall and of course the Young – Bick encounter. Work with the league here to get across to the readers how Sunye Neto – Quinteros Lone Pine 77 had morphed into Young – Bick USCL 2009. Changing topics here, I appreciate the Arizona folks for all their efforts in blogging and want the rest of the league to show their approval as well. However, I think there should be a rule limiting players to less than 3 “nicknames”. Please, Dr. Dem… er, I mean IM Ginsburg sir, I am your age and enjoy quite a bit about your writing, but giving each player on the squad 3 or more nicknames is a bit much. If J. Edgar Hoover were alive the Tucson area would be drowning in FBI agents trying to figure out what secrets you are passing to the KGB via these nicknames! Thank you.

Donuts! That should be the battle cry for at least a couple of the USCL teams. Anyone who knows/remembers “The Tick” can relate this to “spoon”. I am however suspicious, thinking back on GM Benjamin’s comments about “energy drinks” and donuts, then seeing this. Coincidence?

Special big thanks go out this week to John Bick and Angelo Young, spirits of chess from a different dimension, to all the players out there pushing digital wood, to all the “four – to – niners” where ever they may be, absolutely to my friend Mulfish, The Arizona team for being good sports and of course to the Commish. Ttyl and have a nice day!

CHANGES

2009-10-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Many tasks at hand. Of course, it was a day off and some how there were always lots of tasks for a day off. He glanced out the window as the view was filled with a sudden burst of sunshine. "Check the USCL first!", his mind concluded the best first step. Checking for updates and rereading posts for new comments there was one thing that was fairly obvious, either the USCF or the Commish was going to have to make some sort of ruling about the consumption of donuts . "Quite a change in a week, the Knockouts have gone from looking for a record 6-0 start to worrying about fried pastries." His direction of thought jumped to the changes of the past week. "Not an unusual result in the league, nobody got 3/4 of a point for almost winning or anything like that" , his face changed expression as his eyes squinted "Four-to Niners?" The mind would be boggled. Such things didn't happen in a universe directed by string theory, only in the universes of upside down gravity. "NO! There is the clue!" Yes, 429 was a special number in his memory. As a youngster his mother had taught him about the odds in Vegas, where they happened to live, and one of the things she ingrained in him was that you would never see a smaller number listed first, " 2 to 1 you will see, 3 to 1 sometimes, even 7 to 2, but never a smaller number first like 4 to 9". He could here her words in his mind, those exact words, 4 to 9!. It was mom letting him know that she was well. Having been on the run for that whole "Yes, we produce wonderful dry wines in Washington state" fiasco. Everyone knows that 'Dry" and "Washington" can't be used together. "Thanks Mom" he thought. Now, there are matchups to consider.

New York versus Philadelphia looks pretty easy. "Of course I will root for the Inventors first board, I remember him as a fine lad in Alaska, scratched arm and all", yet that won't change the outcome. The Knights are picking up momentum and will win this one easily
Carolina and Dallas, " Poor scheduling committee, didn't have a clue" Carolina has run completely out of magic dust and the Destiny are trying to get out of the rear view mirror in the West playoff race. Dallas will win, by the minimum, but will win
Wednesday night has only in division matches for each side on Wednesday
Boston and Queens. His head turned for an instant as a could blocked the sunlight for a moment. Boston would be the obvious pick, obvious to those who didn't observe. The Blitz know they have a big match next week and could be looking ahead, not really very likely as the Boston players seemed to focus on their immediate surrounding quite well. No, there are 2 factors to consider. Queens took a hard loss last week where a tie seemed almost certain, this is the point where they need to make some advances in the standings. Combine that with the most recent trend, Red Sox swept in playoffs and Patriots defeated by some oversized ponies, and you have the makings of a surprise result. I can't pick Queens to win because that would have too dramatic an effect on next weeks predictions (how many of us think Boston would lose 2 in a row?). Tie
The Knockouts face the Kingfishers. Baltimore isn't fielding there best team, so their chances go way down. The Knockouts get back on track.
Chicago is kind of like the little train that can't. Their lineup jumps around too much. The Tempo have their GM's on hand and will win easily. Board 3 will be the focus for much of this match as Bick and Young are possibly the 2 best board 3's . "That is another change" he thought, "Arun is back?"
Sf and Arizona face off. The Mechanics have a problem, a simple big problem. They have too many GM's! Anytime that the Mechanics have Donaldson on 2nd board it means that a bunch of their GM's are busy. Arizona has a problem, they don't have Ramirez playing this week. The obvious thought would be that the Mechanics still have more talent, but the Scorpions are coming off their win over the Knockouts. Teams that have problems are usually lucky to tie, so I think both teams will be lucky this week.
"Finally, the Seattle match" he peers at the names while his mind races to the donut dish. He nodded as he noticed Nakamura would have white and possibly a little bit to play for, considering what happened between these teams in last years playoffs. Sinanan on 4 has been pretty close to a rock. "That has been a real surprise" he sipped some coffee. "Milat is making his appearance for the season, very clever!" Weighing things up a strange feeling came to him. " Miami often has young underrated players on the lower boards, but Marcel is very solid and Josh is playing well. Seattle has the advantage there" another chocolate donut, " Nakamura is not likely to base anything on payback, but is the better player and trying to get past Slava is like trying to climb over a brown bear" his fingers felt a bit numb. Quickly he jumped to the season schedule. "All the matches are tough, pretty even league. Still, if the Sluggers get past this match the rest of the division will be racing with one leg tied behind their backs". How could he do it? This was sure to be a hard match, but logic was in charge. "Logic, the thinking man's way of explaining the obvious!" he whispered. Yes, it was time. "Seattle will win this match, probably 3-1, but a simple win will be enough". There, he had said it. No way to go back now. It was certainly quite a change from the week before, predicting a Seattle victory, but it was only a change in perseption. Gods be damned, it was the right prediction and he knew it. Still, the chocolate didn't taste right...

All the best to whoever reads this, to GM Joel Benjamin who has proven that the best players do read the blogs (sort of), to all the guys in the Omega Theta Pi house, Dean Wormer and of course to "mom" in 429.

Too Old to Rock n' Roll, Too Young to Die!

2009-10-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

He fumbled slightly as another piece of wood went onto the fire. Early morning was like that for him. He didn't have trouble waking up, his eyes seemed to open at the same time no matter what season it was, but getting up had become a chore. It was age. Bad pawns, bad bishops, bad pairings and age, the tormenters of chess players. "They follow us to the end" he thought. On to the task at hand, a summary of the previous evenings escapades.

" I arrived after only a couple of moves, Serper had played the French again, Lee was well into a Panno Kings Indian, a surprising choice of Semi Tarrasch QGD on board 4 and Slava had started with Nf3 and g3." He was working to find the correct words. "Checking back a few moments later, I found that Josh had played the e4 line of the Semi-Tarrasch, good! That line has been good for White since the Botvinnik - Petrosian match". He stopped for a moment, gazing out the window at the darkness. All the games seemed so hopeful, his prediction might have been born of fright. "After my salad I checked again. Serper's game looked ok, but playing g6 seeemed very provocative. Sinanan was surely aware that pushing d5 and then e5 as a temporary pawn sac was an accepted lever in that line and Slava had finally pushed up the c-pawn to the 4th rank. This all seemed well, only the board 3 game was a question. Lee had given up the white square bishop to establish a Nd4 and Zaremba was building the Q-side advance. I hope that Michael has the feel for proper timing, I seem to remember that Black should try to time the f5 break so that Nf6 arrived to support a d5 push. I just hope..." He poured some coffee and wondered how much more chess there was in him. It had been a long time. His prediction wasn't based on a simple whimsy of "pick against the team to win", it had been based on those years of playing, the catastrophe's he had been witness to or victim of. He had some notes, now where had he left them. "Dinner finished and I was back again. Serper's game had changed drastically, all the minors were off and only a queen plus rook each. Serper had a passer on the d-file which combined very well with White's k-side weakness looked very promising. This was more than countered on the bottom boards. Josh looked to have waited too long and Black had what appeared to be good play on the Q-side. Worse yet, Lee had mis judged the position by ignoring the f5 break and playing a5 instead. All the white squares were now a problem for Michael. Slava had been presented with a small opportunity based on the black knight on d7 guarding a Nf6 and a Bc5, This looked quite promising, but possibly not enough." Remembering his thoughts at the time, he considered. "That seemed the lowest point and it felt like I had seen this match from the Sluggers before." Anyone who thought he didn't pick the Sluggers to win hadn't read any of his work from previous years. "My next check in made me think of a whirlpool. The board 1 game seemed well in control and Serper only needed to avoid a perpetual, but Lee had lost. Too bad, games like that are hard for King's Indian fans. Sinanan's game had turned around totally as he had the c-file, a more active king and a passer on d6! On board 2 something crazy had happened as Slava was one pawn down and looked to lose another on c5. It happens so often, some milk turns to cream and some turns sour." Another cup of coffee was needed, also a donut. "I watched Serper wrap up his game very neatly and began to watch board 4. As Josh got closer to victory I knew that my prediction had been accurate. Actually, it was quite good that way. Dallas had won, Miami and SF had tied as I thought. Boston was victorious, but eveyone picked that one. As soon as Katz resigned I started to put together some things about the match and realized I had left detail unattended. Slava's game wasn't finished, so I quickly went to it. What was this! Bishops of opposite color and all pawns on the same side of the board! Incredible! It almost seemed impossible, yet there it was. Seattle had won the match!" Writing the words he knew that some would question him yet again for failing to pick Seattle for victory. "The fools, did they not see how close the Pioneers were to victory? Simple play on board 1, a little more iniitiative on board 4, perhaps a bit better technique on 2? How would that have played in the blogs? No, I feel fine about my prediction. If my credibility is the price to pay, then so be it!" He peered out the window again. The darkness had given way to fog. A slight smile came to him. "Happy for victory? Of course, but results come and go. There will be other results to be concerned about. Satisfaction in picking 3 matches correctly, hardly. I cannot mimic the Oracle of Delphi and feel lucky to get any right. I smile because my friend Mulfish had forseen events accurately. Plus, I seem to have a couple of readers... what more can I hope for?"
With all things in place he begins to lay down the words, wondering again how much chess there was left...

SIGNS

2009-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

As he presses the start button he hears the door behind him close. He thinks “what kind of nonsense today?” Checking the blog, no comments and so he types in the USCL home page. With no one else awake he will be left undisturbed to read the other blogs and discern their mistakes. His thoughts as his only companion he begins. “Ah, the Commish has pointed out my ranting again” this causes him to feel a bit of pride and his back straightens in the chair. He reads further. “Oh my, the Wavemaster has written this weeks predictions. He surely has Boston and the Mechanics, I wonder who else” As his eyes pass over the words a spark tingles deep in him, near his feet. A sensation that something is near, yet unapparent. “What?” he whispers. “The Wavemaster has mentioned me in his predictions?” His thoughts raced as if chasing cheeseballs with legs. “A mere comment from the Wavemaster is as sweet as praise from Jupiter himself” he thought. Just as quickly his mood returned to the standard flatline of daily life. “… never picks his own team, Seattle, to win!” This was certainly not praise of any form and he knew it. “The fool” his words spattered from his lips “the proof is right in front of him and he dismisses it like so much lint.” Yes, it was true. GM Benjamin had commented that picking your own team was bad luck and how could the Wavemaster question such thinking. “Not to accept a superstition is one thing, to openly question it is certainly bad luck” Now he knew, there was no way back. “He passes it off on me, trying so cleverly to get me to blindly pick the Sluggers, the fool” Considering the situation he turned his mind to the superstition. How could Wavemaster appreciate it? He didn’t live in the northwest where the rain is so prevelant that the only homes without a “waterview” are those that are also windowless. How could Wavemaster understand. “Well” he thought “unlucky for him, he picked New Jersey and his Scorpions won the match. That will come back to haunt him. Hah!” There was a satisfaction in knowing that Wavemaster would be gratified with a single match victory, while the gods would certainly be appeased later with larger gain. “Time to move on, there are matches on Wednesday to consider. Who wins?” He clicked over to the lineup sheet to review the matchups for Wednesday. Carolina against Boston appears to him a sure mismatch, though the Cobras would like nothing more from their season than to bite the Blitz, without a heroic effort from 2 of Carolina’s players it surely won’t happen this week. How about Tennessee and Dallas? Easiest would be to pick the Tempo with 2 GM’s, but Dallas has the advantage on the bottom 2 boards. The complexities melted away from him as his mind approached the problem more distinctly. Yes, on the bottom two boards Dallas is better and it is likely that one of the IM’s on the top 2 will play a game like no other. Everyone else will either pick the Tempo or just conclude a tie based on each side having 2 good boards, I will do what Warren Buffet would do , go contrarian and pick Dallas! The next match for review was San Francisco and Miami. His eyes focused on the lineup “Ah, the Mechanics have let the Wolff out of the bag!” This was certainly a ploy to garner positive predictions. Miami was commonly under estimated by some, but they did rely on their first board. This could be too much for the Sharks to overcome, yet it might not be enough to guarantee the Mechanics a victory. That was it, he knew it in his feet. A tie was the sure result! Finally, he had come to the Queens versus Seattle lineups. The names danced in front of his eyes as he tried to weigh the pros and cons. Checking rating differences, the boards where Seattle had black were much closer than the white boards. Each team had a certain rating advantage on one of the even numbered boards. “If the boards with black are about equal and the boards with white tilt one for each team the result looks even?” he wondered. Still, Slava on second board was quite possibly the most under appreciated player in the league and sould easily tilt the match toward Seattle. No, that thought was countered easily by wondering if Sinanan would lose that bit of magic he had recently been privy to? This is Seattle after all, a place where the qualitative properties of apples and oranges give way to the differences between toxic mushrooms and poisonous toadstools. Seattle, where weather forecasts have “showers, giving way to rain”. Seattle, the only city in America that could lose its basketball team to… Oklahoma City! “No!” his fist slammed the counter. “No, something will go wrong. This match is no more than a tie at best!” He sipped his coffee slowly, 3 day old Folgers was certainly not as good as Starbucks, but also much less expensive. With his predictions in order he once again reviews the lineups to make sure there hadn’t been a late lineup change sent in just to cause his failure. “The fool” he thought, “no way back!” He set down his cup and placed his fingers on the keyboard and began to type…

Submitted with admiration to the memory of the late Victor Mollo and respect to Dean Wormer, Wavemaster, all 9 of my readers and anyone else who happens to stumble onto this by accident.
Ttyl and have a nice day

VOODOO CHILD

2009-10-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Sluggers fans... and anyone else with the intellectual acumen to read this blog. I have several topics to discuss, so right to it.
First off, the Monday night matches. New York versus Baltimore looks like a match for bragging rights... to third place in the East. Some might call it an "East Coast Pillow Fight", but not me! (Eddie made me write that). The Knights are getitng their bag in order, while Baltimore can't seem to find a track. I like the Knights. Philadelphia is an obvious favorite over Chicago and I don't see any reason to go against that. Arizona gets a crack at the top team in the league, the Knockouts. This is a match that I think both teams will be a little surprised by the other's actual strength. New Jersey has been having a great season by finding ways to win close matches, I give them the nod.
The back half of the season promises to have some really fun matches. We all know that Oct. 19 is when New Jersey squares off with Boston, but don't miss this Wednesday's rematch of Miami and San Francisco. Miami has a good match the following week with Seattle and in the final week we have Boston against New York. There are sure to be plenty of thrills and spills as almost every match will have some playoff bearing and could be critical to the final standings.
A big shout out to GM Benjamin for his midseason report which is quite entertaining. I would hope that he is planning another piece with a few more teams, but mostly I think that I can read between the lines in his writing and have an answer for him. NO, the league will not allow a panel of 3 French judges to score the game of the week contest!
Lastly, a big "Hi" to Ilya. He seems to be a great guy and about once a year he sheds a bit of light into his thought process. First off, Ilya says he doesn't know "who is HA81" and then proclaims that I am not a player. I will confirm that I am not a participant in the play, but still that logic is poor. Next, he "doesn't know what ha81 stands for". Ok, sit on the Black side of a chess board, look at the file furthest to your left - the 'H' file, next to the file furthest to the right - 'A' file- and now look at the closest and furthest ranks - 8 and 1. I think that explains it all! Now, he comments that he wasn't talking to me. Uh, whose blog are you responding to Ilya? Then, as if to wouhd my pride he states that no more than 5 or 10 people read my "idiotic and honestly quite boring blog"! Oh Death, where is thy sting? Ilya, stick on topic. You didn't like the power rankings, but didn't offer any alternatives! Here it is Ilya, when you talk you are representing the fine folk of Boston and giving "imbeciles" like me both the ammunition and opportunity to crack jokes on you. As for my readership, I woud be happy with 5 to 10, as long as they were reading to find a bit of entertainment. If my stuff is so boring Ilya, please do not read it. I will be ok with 4 to 9 readers as long as you are not one of them. You are a fine 4th board in the league, but don't quit your day job!
Word to "Wavemaster"... I was only defending myself, no negative thoughts intended. We are all friends here, just that some are "more friends" than others.
ttyl and have a nice day

Black is Black

2009-10-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Sluggers fans, I have the week 5 wrapup of the Sluggers match with Tennessee. Before we get started I need to ask Dean Wormer... er I mean the Commish to notify the local transit folks about the USCL schedule so that our bus drivers know that it is ok to excede the posted speed limit on Wednesday nights during the season. I was a couple of hours late for the start of the match because of this and want to apologize to anyone trying to find the start on Twitter. To the match...

My previous post explained why this was going to be a difficult match for the Sluggers, so no need to rehash. Just watch the details, like my dad told me "the devil is in the details".

Bd. 1 Seattle's lone GM Serper played the White side of the Nimzo Indian defense versus GM Ehlvest. A pretty book type line with 12... g6 being new. A small exchange of barbs occured with white's d4 going in exchange for Black's g6 and the GM's went to a perpetual. After the exchange on e6 at move 15 Black is looking to get Qh4 in, so White just played safe. I arrived only for the final half dozen or so moves of this game.

Bd. 4 This was finished when I arrived. An old g3 line against the Taimanov Sicilian. It looked like Justice was much better prepared than Sinanan as White gained quite an easy advantage. The reason I won't comment on preparation is that the White moves are not too difficult and could have just been OTB inspiration. Anyway, from a distance I think White could have made life quite a lot easier at move 18 by playing 18. Bxd7 Bxd7 19. Ne4 Qc6 20. Nf6+ Kh8 21. Nxd7 and it looks like Black is still going down the ex, but White will have a lot fewer issues later on. In the game Sinanan was able to drum up quite a good initiative for the ex and turned it into a point.

Now we come to the games that I saw a fair amount of

Bd. 3 A slightly offbeat opening choice saw Black's dark square bishop end up on c3 and it would draw a lot of attention. The only place I might question the opening is at move 10 where White might have better than Re1. As the game went, the sector in the square d4/a4/a1/d1 became kind of a sinkhole. Some adventurous play by both sides ended with White a full rook down, but trapping Black's queen. The price would be the other rook, so Rohonyan played to make the best effect of it. Unfortunately she become a bit too embroiled in improving things that she allowed Bick to save the queen. Some off hand attempts followed, but Black eventually picked up the point.

Bd. 2 With a GM facing an FM this appeared to be the most favorable board for the Tempo. A Rauzer Sicilian was played and followed several games up to the 18th move. Shabalov is known to work quite a bit on his openings, so there is no way of knowing where his prep ended. Playing to get the Black king in the center Shabalov sac'd the exchange on f5. As the game progressed it appeared that any initiative gained from the sac was short lived as Slava took control. With both sides short of time Black just wedged forward and was able to pick up the full point! A most unexpected result.

There you go, the details. In my prediction I did pick a draw on first board and suggested that a point for Tennessee on second wasn't a given, I didn't see how close Seattle would be to losing on 4th board nor the insanity that would appear on 3rd. Details, I tell you details. What I really didn't see was White scoring 1/2 point out of the match! Normally a 3 1/2 out of 4 performace would be something unusual, but Seattle had a 3 1/2 match for Black versus Arizona and this rounds Philly - Queens match went them one better with a 4-0 shutout for Black!

So, until me next slow moment ... have a nice day and ttyl

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

2009-09-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Some years ago a local comedian stated that being a sports fan in Seattle is "like loving a woman you can't stand!" I won't lie, I have only been about 70 percent Seattle fan when it comes to sports teams, what I have noticed is the number of deja vu experiences concerning Seattle sports. Well, here is another one. The Seahawks played Chicago on Sunday without their 5 best players and lost, now Seattle plays Tennessee without there top GM. I tell you, it is eerie! To be fair, the Seahawks should have won, but there is that deja vu thing again. Back to reality. To my eye this match appears to confirm how strong the league has become. Despite drawing with West leading, and perenial powerhouse, San Francisco plus defeating the 2 time defending champions from Dallas this could be the Sluggers toughest match yet! Think about it, besides not having Nakamura Seattle has the challenge of facing 2 GM's and Tennessee hasn't lost to Seattle since 2007! That's right, last season the 2 matches were a tie and a Tennessee victory. All of this adds up to a load of trouble for the Sluggers. Now, take a deep breath and work with me here...

We can break down the match to top boards and bottom boards. Tennessee definitely has the advantage on the top boards with 2 world class GM's, but how much of an advantage? Serper is not chopped liver and certainly has the ability to score on first board. Slava is quite capable of scoring against GM's on board 2, but we shouldn't sugar coat that he is a big underdog against Shabalov. On the bottom 2 boards WGM Rohonyan is experienced and with the white pieces a probable favorite against Bick, while Josh has a rating advantage against Justice. My feeling is that the Sluggers will get 1/2 point out of the top 2 and either Rohonyan or Sinanan will win for sure. Where the match comes down is whether Seattle gets both points on the bottom 2 or not. Josh with Black concerns me a little, but he did win last week. Rohonyan is a pretty solid bet to at least draw. I want to say that Seattle wins to keep up with the West leaders when Slava gets an unexpected plus result, but I am going to predict a 2-2 tie.

In the other Wednesday matches: I like Philly over Queens based on better results with White, New Jersey will defeat Chicago in a close match, I mean time trouble on 2 boards and nobody can keep up close. It seems like all of Chicago's matches are like that. San Francisco will defeat the Knights for a very simple reason, the Knights historically don't come totally to life until the 6th week and finally Dallas over Arizona only because it will cause more confusion in the playoff race.

That's all for now, but keep a look out for my posts... stuff just flies into my head and I have to write it, so this blog could be updated at literally any second!

Have a nice day and ttyl

2009-09-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

Sitting around, kind of bored, another couple of days wait for USCL action I started thinking about BionicLime's "Power Rankings". Actually, thinking about how much grief Bio seems to get over them. I understand that every fan feels their team isn't getitng any respect and wants to let the world how unjust this is, never realizing that the world is more in tune with the mathematics Bio uses than the overzealous emotion the fan has, well every fan except for yours truly. Eventually, I decide to try my hand at some rankings, not as an avocation or to produce irrefutable evidence of my team's coming epoch. No, I decided to come up with my own rankings for one reason, entertainment. My own entertainment, but if you get something out of it all the better.

I have neither the patience or spreadsheet skills of BionicLime, so I came up with another way. I wanted my method to be simple because, frankly my boredom is a direct result of being lazy and I don't think it is fair to ask me to change for some stupid rankings. My final plan was this: rank the teams by i) Match score, ii) game points and iii) opponents average rating. Here is my list for the teams after USCL week 4:

1) New Jersey
2) San Francisco
3) Boston
4) Seattle
5) Miami
6) Baltimore
7) Tennessee
8) New York
9) Arizona
10) Queens
11) Dallas
12) Philadelphia
13) Chicago
14) Carolina

Ok, the first thing to note is this isn't a perfect list... I mean it doesn't factor in the level of competition each team has faced. Still, it is based on the teams performance so far. I will be very curious to see how it compares to BionicLime's rankings this week. So much for the science (ugh), now for the perception. I have to tell you that Chicago hasn't really struck me as the second team from the bottom? They got pummeled the first 2 weeks, but have come on by winning over Tennessee and almost drawing with the Mechanics. They might not be as strong as some of the other teams, but they come to play. Next team to make an impression is Dallas. I think the Destiny have suffered from 2 things; inconsistent focus on where to win matches and the other teams are really gunning for them. I don't think they are out of the playoff picture yet. Boston is interesting from the perspective that any reasonable improvement in their record ( my suggestion is a tie with Dallas) would only move them up to second. For all the surprise that the loss to Dallas caused, it was only one match. I would say that Philadelphia is a bit of a disappointment, but maybe their past success was due to over achievement? Otherwise, I don't think any of the teams is much out of place. New Jersey is on top simply because of their perfect match record yet I wouldn't have bet that they would be out of the top 4 at the start ( honesty time: I rarely bet on anything and when I do it is not on somebody else ). That is my perception of the league after 4 rounds.

Two matches on Monday night. Baltimore vs. Boston - this is one of those matches that reminds me of "vector analysis". That is, Baltimore is coming off a win, has some momentum and is running into Boston which seems to have refound the train tracks it was on. Baltimore is a favorite on board 2 while Boston has the edge on 3 and 4. I just have the notion that this is too good an opportunity for Baltimore and they will pull it out. Carolina - Miami 2 teams playing for completely different things. Miami is looking to stay in the race for first in the west while Carolina is looking to earn some respect. We can gauge how much vigor the Cobras have for the rest of the season on this match by their performance here. Miami is the easy pick, and as I said I am lazy so i will take them.

Well, that killed a good 30 minutes... wonder if I have any cheesy puffs around here???

Our Fearless Captain

2009-09-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ride Captain Ride

2009-09-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

Week 4 is in the books and the league is chugging along. Seems like just another week, you know Jersey won, Frisco won, Seattle won... oh yeah Seattle won! They defeated the 2 time defending champs from Dallas by 3-1 and keeps them on directly on the heels of the Mechanics. Here is a look.

Bd. 1 For the second week in a row Nakamura faced the Reti/English by fianchettoing the QB followed by c5 and then K-side fianchetto. Ah, I remember the days when this was termed "the two pockets" defense. Anyway, Bartholomew on first board for the Destiny arranged to play Nd5 and exchange knights and black square B's while opening the c-file. Eventually all the heavy pieces came off on the c-file leaving an ending of 1 knight and white square B each. White had more space, but Black had a better knight plus more flexible center pawns. Bartholomew was short of time which might have led to some of his problems. Naka reached a knight versus bishop ending. One question I had was at move 48 if White hadn't exchanged e4xf5 would the result have been the same. In the game Naka used a very nimble knight and a central pawn wedge to get the point

Bd. 2 Opened as a Reti with d5,c6,Bg4 for Black. Slava played Ne5 and then d4 in the opening. It resolved itself into a position where White had c5,d4,f4,g3 in and 2 B's versus a very compact c6,e6 for Black with 2 B's. Ludwig decided to leave an exchange on d5, but couldn't get anything going. A second exchange was gone in the melee and Slava avoided any accidents to score the point.

Bd. 3 Kiewra played the Rossolimo Sicilian the old fashioned way, with c3 and d4 instead of a quick exchange on c6. I don't think Lee was entirely familiar with the line, but kept his position stable. White sac'd an exchange on e5 for the black square B and lots of chances, forcing Lee to defend. Michael gave the exchange back, but Kiewra kept a pawn advantage. Black sac'd his B on h3 for some kind of phantom which didn't materialize and after a couple of tactical flurries lost.

Bd. 4 Went directly into a Semi Slav. Both sides manoueverd for some moves, with Black having handing c and d pawns. They proved to be a liability as Black was not able to inject an activity into the position. Eventually Sinanan picked up the c5 pawn followed by a6, then forced queens off. The pure rook ending appeared a bit rushed, but then Josh had been playing with less than 3 minutes for many moves. Eventually the board was cleaned up and Zorigt called it a night.

Ok, I will be honest... except for the course of board 1 and the rambuctious play by White late on board 4 I pretty much had this match nailed. Michael and Josh got a point between them and Seattle won the match. I didn't see Slava winning, but it was a bonus. The Sluggers seem to be picking up a bit of momentum at a good time. Their next match is with Tennessee, a squad that defeated them last year and just narrowly missed defeating Miami last week. They will not be pushovers. The potential clash of Ehlvest and Nakamura on board 1 will be quite interesting and past history suggests that Seattle has trouble on board 3 versus either Andrews or Bick. We will have to wait to see the actual lineups, but for now it promises to be a very interesting contest.

In the other matches, I picked incorrectly for New York over NJ and thought the Inventors would be a tougher test for Boston. I did get Queens defeating Carolina. So, I am 2 - 4 in matches and minus 6 in game points. Maybe that game point idea wasn't so hot?

ttyl and have a nice day

Louie Louie

2009-09-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday everybody, at least those of you where it is still Tuesday. The matches last night were quite entertaining and I just wanted to give a shout out to the 6 teams that played. Yeah, even the despised Mechanics get a big thumbs up. They seem to have found a keeper in GM Kraai. Look what I am saying, how many teams wouldn't find a GM a keeper? Anyway, I want to give a big thumbs up to the Blaze and the Tempo. Also, I think that all the prediction stuff in the league is great, but we should be keeping track of how many game points off hte predictors are. Like last night, I had the Baltimore - Arizona score correct, but was off by 1/2 point in each of the other two matches. So, I am 1 - 2 in matches and -1 game point. Just a suggestion.

A little different topic, I want to thank Dean Wormer... er, I mean the Commissioner for not giving me any demerits so far this season. I have tried to behave myself, but sometimes I just say stuff. Thank you Mr Commissioner Still, I feel a chill on my backside. I could be wrong here, but I kind of think my name is in there someplace ( Ok, I have to avoid the "you talkin' to me" references here as one 70's movie reference is going to be more than enough for a whole bunch of the audience). Seems that I kind of owe somebody somewhere an explanation. I gotta throw myself on the mercy of the court ( "Trust me, I am pre-law" "I thought you were pre-med?" "what's the difference?"). Arizona has all kinds of bloggers and it is hard to keep track, you know? When Blogger A comments about one of my guys poor opening play, I kind of view it as a work in progress, when Blogger B also comments on it, I figure there is a pecedent. Am I wrong? "The question isn't whether one of the team broke a few opening rules, he did (wink)". So, I just went along with it. You know, I gotta figure all them Arizona guys are college educated, so they know what they are doing? I was the first in my family to go to college, so I was also the first to drop out! I just want to say that I agree with... not sure if I call him Mr. Adamson, Wavemaster or Blogger C (my hero Wolverine would use "bub" but I don't think I can use that in the third person... can I?) in that this is all meant for fun and improving our enjoyment of the game! Take it all with a grain of salt. I would like to extend my hand to... still not sure how to reference him... and say " good match and good luck". Then as he extends his hand I of course pull mine back and wipe my cowlick with a slight "psych" echoing from my lips. Just to be clear, I will follow the lead of my more learned USCL colleagues, using them as beacons for my future efforts.

I would like to thank the following: Harold Ramis, John Landis, Faber College, the great John Belushi (rip), Mr. Robby Adamson, GM- elect Robert Hess, FM Daniel Rensch, The Commissioner, Dr. Seuss, Dean Faber and of course the incomparable Eddie Chang. For anyone who doesn't understand my references I suggest you look for a little film titled "Animal House" and get a life. Thank you and have a nice day

Smoke on the Water

2009-09-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, took a quick time out from the Emmy's to post this. Please don't get the wrong idea, I in no way find the Emmys, or Greatest Race or even Sunday Night Football more important than the USCL matchups, just that my computer had been comandeered to follow an Ebay auction of the original genuine never before seen in this country at this price edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. So, I was finally able to wrestle the laptop back after explaining that I was certain the scrolls would be up on Ebay again and everyone knows that the second time around the price is way down. So, on to the show!

Dallas v. Seattle

This is a matchup in the Power rankings (updated thank's to BionicLime between the #6 and # 2 teams. This could go a ways in weeding out contenders in the West.

Bd. 1 Bartholomew is white against Nakamura. There is a weird thing being a Seattle fan with Nakamura on first board, I almost feel guilty picking him to win each week. This will be the second black in a row (Dallas was listed first on the sheet), but Nakamura seems to have even more flair playing with the black pieces. I am a bit surprised that Dallas wouldn't try Stopa or Zivanic on board one as a more solid approach.

Bd. 2 Mikhailuk versus Ludwig. This is a good matchup for Seattle as Slava isn't likely to get involved in any theory, real or imaginary. He plays what he plays. Also, Slava has some history with the Destiny... check the last time they lost a playoff match.

Bd. 3 Kiewra up against Lee. This is certainly a prepared pairing. Kiewra seems to play the White pieces against the Sicilian with a certain aplomb. This could be a problem for Lee, it will certainly be a telling board for the match.

Bd. 4 is Sinanan - Zorigt. This could be a real tough game to watch. I know that the players will give a lot, but I don't believe either of them goes to a lot of effort to either have a prepared surprise in the opening or to seek complications. (note to Eddie: please don't have Slava and Josh both playing White in the same match... young children are likely to get the wrong idea about chess... or even middle aged people for that matter).

Dallas is going to try to sneak this match past on boards 2 and 3. If they win both, Seattle is kaput. If Josh and Michael score a point between them then Seattle will win. I really think this is one of the easiest Seattle matches to handicap. I am leaning toward a tie, but 2.5 is certainly possible for the Sluggers.

All of the Emmy categories I like are done, so I will give my thoughts on the other matches this week.

Monday:

Chicago (10) v. SF (1) - The Blaze are a plucky lot, you gotta say that. To make this short though, an important saying I learned when I was young, "you don't throw rocks at people with machine guns!" SF has some machine guns. SF 3-1

Baltimore (14) v. Arizona (7) - First time meeting. I think the Kingfishers are a bit surprised by their current standing and look at this match as quite important. Arizona is pretty confident that they are a contender and just look at this as another match they should win. One thing to note is that this is the only match where both teams rating average is below 2400. This will be decided by the experience of the older Kingfishers

Baltimore 2.5 - Arizona 1.5

Miami (4) v. Tennessee (8) - This looks like a trap to me. Simply put I think that Tennessee will win this match 2.5 - 1.5

Wed. Matches

New Jersey (3) v. New York (5) - Knights revenge. NJ isn't better on the top 2, no jumbo lineup with Ippolito, New York has a score to settle, Stonewallamania! 2.5 -1.5 NY

Carolina (13) v. Queens (12) - Ok, explain to me how a team with 3 2500 players is number 12? If you can't explain it to me, then explain it to the Cobras. This could be a wipeout, I mean a really ugly wipeout. 3-1 Queens

Boston (11) v. Philadelphia (9) - I really gotta think that 3rd board is critical here. If Bartell holds then the Inventors win. Actually, I don't think that anything has gone well for either of these squads yet this season. No reason to see this as the turn around point. Tie

So, that is all for now. ttyl

Hazy Shade of Winter

2009-09-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

But look around,
leaves are brown now
And the sky
is a hazy shade of winter

Topic for discussion: Perception versus science! Talk amongst yourselves! It is week 4 of the USCL season which is the time that matches start having some real relevance. Oh, I know how all the teams have little rivalries and grudges that would carry on no matter what, but now we are getting to the stage where teams are getting separated into the serious contenders and the delirious pretenders. Or possibly, it is just our view of it that makes the teams seem to shape their future aspirations? I bring this up because we have a "Power Ranking" to discuss thanks to that devoted servant of the USCL BionicLime. Very nice, very pretty, very... nice. I don't really quite know what else to say. The Limester has done a great job of getting this list together and even states that there is a scientific formula which is used! Bravo I say, Bravisimo! Thing is, I kind of feel like this science is... misguided? Here is where we witness the separation of perception and science. In the first place, I would never question the placement of Boston at 11, though Bio saw fit to include a disclaimer. That is part of his perception, that Boston backers would be in an outrage that their beloved heroes would be anywhere lower than just slightly above first place! I of course share that perception, but it is irrelevant. Let us not think of Boston, instead let our minds wonder to the breezy shores of Miami. Here folks you have a team many regard as a true power in the league, with a 2-1 record after three rounds, in position 7 which is two places lower than Dallas, who by the way Miami defeated! Now, let me be clear... I am not suggesting anything negative of either team, for be it from me to try to alter the perception that each of these teams is worthy of much higher stature in the rankings. No no, I am instead intrigued by the science which brought this about. This seems a bit, odd.

Or try this. Checking my local tv listings to see which matches would be worth watching this week I naturally took note of my Sluggers run up with Dallas, a rivalry that carries weight as well as history. I mean, aren't the Sluggers the last team to defeat Dallas in a playoff match? Glancing just a bit further I was of course most happy to see that New York and New Jersey would be at it again, kind of like some something out of " The Godfather " (hey, Robert Deniro as Joel Benjamin?) . With these two matches in mind I quickly jumped over to the power rankings, low and behold Seattle v. Dallas is 3 versus 5, while the Rumble near the Bronx is 1 versus 4 ( I have never been to New York or New Jersey, so just having a little fun, no reason to get upset). Wow, could any matches be closer than those? Well, I am glad you asked me that question. Tennessee at number 8 is hosting Miami at 7! I want you to know that I have the utmost respect for the Tempo, but my perception is that they aren't quite as much of a power as Miami. Is my perception that far off base? You see, there is the rub.

Now, before Biomaniac starts melting down or whatever Lime's do when they get frazzled, let me just say this. I am not trying to denegrate the work that has gone into the power ranking. I am also not trying to get them changed. What I am saying is, don't use the power rankings when talking to your bookie. They are not very useful for purposes of handicapping matches. They do however provide a fun and delightful way to infuse blogs with really stupid stuff, like dumb human tricks.

Back to science and perception. I am reading the "press" coming out of Arizona and wondering just how exactly did the match with Seattle go. You know, how Mikhailuk forgot the rules of the game by playing a lame opening and got what he deserved as opposed to fantastic concept of a double fianchetto to exchange pieces that Barcenilla played. Uh, ok my sarcasm meter just dinged... hang on a second. I mean really, is it necessary to make so much out of lame openings? Nobody down there pointed out that Black went 3.5 out of 4 in the match! There was even less comentary from the Scorps about how there pre mach prediction was... lame. I know that there will be flames about this all over the place, but I am sticking up for a player on my team. I don't pull punches on the Sluggers ( kind of a pun there), so why should you guys?

Perception. The Sluggers are probably feeling real good with themselves. I sure hope not. Their next match is with Dallas. It is easy to play a match with a team that is ahead or has the same score and get psyched for it. Dallas is behind in the crosstable, but looking to get back into the race. This is an important match for the Sluggers and I hope they know that and react accordingly. We can't just expect them to get lucky every time. I don't know what the lineup is going to be, but whoever is playing boards 3 and 4 have to know that they are most likely underdogs, get ready with that thought in mind. Those are likely to be the boards that decide the match.

Ok, I have exhaled again. Time to let somebody else rant. I have only one request. If you are going to comment on my post, at least bring something to the table. When you see a comment from Anonymous that says "Idiot" you know that somebody's mother got them up to 5 letter words, but not into the complete sentence concept. Please, make this interesting.

Thanks and ttyl

25 or 6 to 4

2009-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life you find things that just keep making you scratch your head, no matter how many times you see or experience them. I think that Seattle - Arizona matches are going to be that way. At least, that has been the story so far.

Nakamura slowly overcame the slow down approach of Barcenilla. Picking up a pawn, then giving it back to activiate both rooks and bishop Naka was able to create a net and through it.

Ginsburg on board 2 just played simple chess. When it appeared that Mikhailuk might be making some progress the f4 pawn recieved more attention than Slava would have liked. Inevitably the game slipped into thrash around mode as the bishops of opposite color were either a drawing tool (for White) or enough to win (for Black). Ginsburg was ultimately correct as the black squares were a coffin for Slava.

Josh on board 4 kept trying to pick up something, but Leo Martinez had more than enough to keep it level. Note to Josh; have a line ready for the Hedgehog.

That left the Rensch - Lee encounter on board 3. With Seattle leading 1.5 - .5 this game and board 2 entered into the critical phase of "Seattle has less than 2 minutes on the clock" territory. Michael had lost a pawn in the middle game, but was able to assemble quite a formidable force for counterplay. Rensch went astray by pushing his king to b1 where Lee had an a greeting party prepared. The Arizona third board eventually gave up a piece for 3 pawns and attempted to muddy matters in Lee's time situation. Problem was that the White pieces were a little short of squares. Rensch overlooked a tactic and Lee picked up a second piece simultaneously exchanging rooks. Seattle wins!

Good match. Both teams put out some entertaining efforts. Seattle got some good play from the lower boards this time around. Quite a far cry from the last time these 2 teams faced off, last season when Arizona thrashed the Sluggers 3-1 in the final week of the regular season.

Ok, that's all for now. ttyl

Pick up the Pieces

2009-09-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, good day to be chessplayer. Feeling a bit out of the norm, usually I just post pre and post match. Well, I was riding the ferry across the Puget Sound, sun was shining and I thought that it would be a good time to post. And you know, in this league there is more than enough going on to keep eveybody writing. Anyway...

Couple of thoughts about the Monday night matches (Sep. 14). I want to thank Mssrs. Charbonneau and Schneider for delving into the pond of chess where Fritz wasn't mechanical. I suspect that there might have been some kind of secret analysis cooked up years ago between these two that encouraged a wager and such is how the opening occured. In any case, Bravo! Next, of course is the Boston debacle, made worse by the prediction of Mr. Phelps. Well, I think this was an ingenious ploy! Consider the consequences. If Boston had won then all is well as they puff out their chests and proclaim there dominance of the defending champions. If they lose, then it is simply a matter of luck and best of all when they lose by an overwhelming score as happened then it is obvious that the rest of the league is against the Blitz, so they need to band together to keep from weathering the storm of adversity. Very clever, I would not be surprised if they lost 0-4 at the request of their manager(s)! Very sneaky, very clever. Be warned rest of the league, Boston is now more powerful than ever!

Different not, the upcoming epic between your Sluggers of Seattle and the accursed Scorpions of Arizona. GM Ramirez of Arizona has posted a prediction and I would like to thank him for his efforts. Very enlightening. I have already posted my view of the match, so I have no further comment on the outcome. I would, however, appreciate a review of the academic credentials of GM Ramirez. Looking at the numbers and explanations of them leads me to suspect that GM Ramirez either missed a couple of classes or accidentally read his Shakespeare in prep for a psych exam. Or possibly the standards for education at GM Ramirez' alma mater (UTD) are a wee bit askew. I mean no harm what so ever, just checking so that I get the correct wager in at Las Veg... er I mean I can comment appropriately on the blog. All in all, I think an tie is just the right result. Actually, when you consider the actions of a certain GM transplanted to Holland perhaps a tie is indicated. Kharma and stuff like that.

Now, for the important part. I have decided that the titles of these "blog" bits is too boring, so I am going with rock titles. Hope it helps.

ttyl

Rd. 3 Seattle vs. Arizona

2009-09-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Week 3 and a matchup of two undefeated teams. The odd part is, Seattle hasn't won any matches yet! Each team has reason to feel that an undefeated streak through the 3rd week of the season is likely.

Seattle can feel confident that Nakamura on board one is not an underdog even with the black pieces. This limits the match to a 3 board affair with Seattle having white on 2 of those boards. It is just the way that the rating system and GM's work I guess.

Board 2 is the most intriguing, only because of the history from the end of last season between Mikhailuk and Ginsburg. A couple of different moves in that last round and Arizona would have gone to the playoffs. Ginsburg will likely be looking for a bit of payback and is unlikely to give anything away. If there is any place where Arizona might expect kharma to work for them it is right here.

Rensch on board 3 has the only rating advantage listed ( to be honest, the USCL rules on ratings doesn't seem to reflect the numbers posted on the pairing sheet ). Lee is improving, but hasn't shown his best in the USCL. This is definitely the board where Arizona can look to make hay.

Leo Martinez is going hoping to use some of the expertise he has in match predictions to work some magic on board 4. On the Seattle side Josh Sinanan has yet to bust out, much like Lee, and is looking for any opportunity.

The match looks like a real landslide for Seattle, but don't be fooled. The Scorpions have a lot to play for, an undefeated string this season as well as some bad luck from last season. Arizona can win this match on the bottom 3 boards, it is very possible. For Seattle the season so far has been a 50/50 proposition... that is get 50 percent on the top 2 boards and 50 percent on the bottom two. To me this is not a surprise, I has a brief conversation with some of the Sluggers about a month before the season and suggested that it didn't matter how well they did on the top boards, that they needed better play on the lower boards. Doesn't seem to have rung through to them yet. I am going to predict a tie, that way everybody stays undefeated and can wait for next week.

Message to Sluggers fans everywhere, especially my friend Mulfish. I have set up a Twitter account HA81chess where I am going to try to keep up on the match. Not sure how it will work, I don't type very fast any more, but at least it will keep the news fresh and the Commish won't have problems linking to it. Just go out to www.twitter.com and look for HA81chess, that is wher I should be. I will have a post match wrap on this blog right here.

Ok, see you all later

Rd. 2 update

2009-09-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

I kind of posted without meaning to.. Oh well.

7:35 update

kind of a surprise on board 3. Bonin exchanged c5 x b4 and then plopped in Nd4. Lee captured on d4 once, then instead of playing Nc3-e2 followed by d3-d4 with a big plus he just played Qb3. It is possible that he didn't like lines after Ne2 and d4 where Black pushed d5 and just accepts less space.

I gotta tell you folks, the only thing worse than haveing your opponent play a move you never expected is blogging about others (likely better players) making moves you don't expect!

Oh, looks like a big whoops on board 1. Kachieshvilli was winning e3, Naka set a small snag, Kachi then played Bc3 and it looks like it is just losing a piece for Black as Naka captured on e3 and then c3, Black Queen on e3 was defending Be3 and Re8 from White Qa4. Ugghhhh!

Another big change, on board 2. Just as I said the armies could only barely see each other, Charbonneau played e5 and then f5. Ok, we have made contact. I wonder of Pascal is going to sac the Knight on d4? something like 14...d6xe5 15.f5xe6 e5xd4 16.e6xf7+?

Board 4 has changed also. White arranged doubled rooks on the a-file and then moved Bg2 to d3. Black played a6, Kc7 and Rb8 as a defensive redoubt while advancing all the k-side pawns f5 / g5 and h5.

Well, this is about what I expected. Nakamura won, Lee wasn't able to exploit a positional advantage, Serper is 2 pawns down in a double rook ending after fighting through an attack by Charbonneau and Chen is either blocking or blocked, either way neither side has a chance to break through. This looks like a tie to me. Good night!

live update from Sluggers - Knights USCL Rd. 2

2009-09-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

6:50 PST

Got home, move stuff around and finally got to the match. Here is how it looks right now...

Bd. 1 Nakamura played 1.b3, Kachieshvilli played d5 and c5 to which Naka went for the Nimzovich attack (instead of a Bird), Kachi played Nf6 and g6 to get a reversed Queens Indian and Naka played Bb2xf6 doubling the f pawns. From that point, the position officially became.. a mess. Naka plays for activity, takes an isolated e-pawn and advances q-side majority. Maybe a little better for White.

Bd. 2 is still in the opening, a Kan Sicilian (Serper fav) with 4.Bd3. Charbonneau has set up a Maroczy. There are good a bad to this for Serper, good that he isn't already way behind on time, bad that his past results in the USCL from this formation aren't the greatest. little better for White

Bd. 3 Another still in the opening. Symmetrical English, Lee opted for the Botvinnik formation and Bonin countered with an interesting sequence of b6 and Bb7, then fianchetto the other side. This is about the sort of thing I had expected and will tell how mature Michael has become, or possibly how mature Bonin already is!

Bd. 4 QP game with 3.g3. Chen opted for a London setup, exchanged Q's on b3 and Bf5 x Nb1. On the face of it this appears equal, but either side has trumps to play with and could turn matters.

Back in a bit

7:10 update

Bd. 1 has changed. White squared B's got exchanged on e6 and Black recaptured with a Rook, then doubled on the e-file aiming at the e3 pawn. Naka is getting the Q-side pawns revved up to go further and kind of defending e3 by observing a Re8 with his Qa4, so if Rxe3 the Qxe8+ will pick up 2 Rooks for the lady. I don't think it will go that way though.

On Bd. 2 the players are still marking out their fighting zone. In other words, no real contact between armies. This is fairly normal in the hedgehog.

Down to board 3 we find that Lee has advanced b2-b4. I think this is good for White because Bonin threw the move a6 in and so an exchange b4xc5 will present an issue for Black... if d6xc5 then b6 is being observed by Rb1 and has no pawn support on a7, while b6xc5 loses the Bb7.

Board 4 has changed a bunch. Chen castled long, Sturt arranged f3, e4 and then e5. This is good for White as Black's counterplay is far off. I feel kind of odd saying that, but here is the point. Black can create some play by g7-g5 , Bf8-h6 and Rg8, but that all takes a bunch of time and at the end White might just take the g-file and be happy. It is because of the White space advantage.

Back soon

Rd. 2 vs. New York Knights

2009-09-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Crossing division lines in week 2 of the USCL seems a bit odd, but that is the schedule for Seattle and New York. These teams have a bit of a rivalry as they have played each of the past 3 seasons ( all 3 of Seattle's seasons in the league ). New York won the first 2 and Seattle won last year. This is surely a critical match for each team as the Knights lost in the first round and Seattle failed to win in round 1. Let's have a look...

Nakamura plays for the first time this year for Seattle and faces veteran GM Kacheishvilli. Nakamura is establishing his place in world chess and will no doubt look to further that in this match. Still, Kacheishvilli is no pushover.

Board 2 harkens back to the first time these teams met as GM Charbonneau had white against GM Serper in that match also. Having white favors Charbonneau, while Serper just broke a similar stretch last week as Black against Freidel.

Rising star Michael Lee will have white against veteran Bonin on third board. On paper this would favor Seattle, but Bonin is very cagey and will certainly have something in mind to misdirect the Seattle wunderkind.

A double indoctrination is the setup on board 4 as Raven Sturt for New York and Howard CHen for Seattle will face off. This is a board where the help of other team members could decide the affair. Last year Seattle won when first timer Andy May came better prepared in an obscure line of the Caro, likely the result of work with a team mate. That might favor the Knights a bit.

This looks like a case of White being the favorite on each board, so a tie would be a likely result. If I was betting on this I would break it down to 2 matches. Seattle should win on board 1 and has good chances of holding on 2. Board 3 has the best chances of ending peacefully while 4 is a complete guess. Also, I would suspect that Serper is in much better form this season than last and will likely produce some quite good results.

Actually, I wouldn't go through all that. I would simply say that the middle 2 boards are likely to offset, Seattle on 1 and NY on 4. I think a 2 - 2 tie is likely.

The other 2 Tuesday night matches will do quite a lot to determine the pecking order in the East. Queens lost last week to Boston and this week face a Baltimore team that was victorious in round 1. If the Pioneers lose another they will be in trouble, like 2 par secs into Borg space kind of trouble. New Jersey beat their nemesis New York last week and now will face a Philadelphia team that was predicted to do a lot, but lost in the first round. If the Knockouts win again this week they will be off to a fast start with some groing confidence. Philadelphia is probably the favorite, but not winning this week wil raise a lot of questions. So, all in all it should be quite an interesting evening.

Looking Around...

2009-09-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, people ask me why am I a Sluggers fan? Well, what can I say? I live in the area, know some of the players, get paid lots of do-ra-mi (just kidding). So, I am a fan. Also, it kind of relates. The Sluggers don't get a lot of airtime on the USCL kind of like I don't get much response to my posts, kindred spirits sort of. Now, looking at the current batch of blogs all I can say is... at least I have one monotone voice. Might not be pretty, but at least you know where I am coming from. Here is what I mean...

End of the first round of the USCL and here is what we know from the different teams blogs. Queens lost their match with Boston due to a dumb rule, the Queens bottom board didn't understand 3.d3 and they play in a really red room. Boston won the match despite having really droopy faces only an hour before hand (what was that Sox score again?). NJKO won basically on simple puns while the "official" New York team lost because nobody was blogging (what was that Yanks score?). Tennessee won but don't have a blog, so we can start to wonder about UFO's (lot of them in that part of the country). Miami doesn't have a blog and they won also, maybe there is something to not blogging? Dallas has the most boring blog, of course being captain/ first board and blogger you gotta think Bartholomew would have some time to keep things lively. Arizona predicted they would win and the did win and their blog was simply an illustration of what the game list looks like on ICC. Very creative! Your third board makes it to the cover of Chess Life and you put directions to "Joe's Chllie Bar" in the blog. Another thing about the Scorpions, whoever is taking their pictures should backup just a couple more feet because some of those pictures looks like they were from the cutting room floor of a 50's sci fi film. Ok, that wasn't fair, the most boring blog is in Baltimore... Season roster, week 1 lineup, week 1 scores, games from week 1, week 2 coming soon. Geeeezz!! Our friends the Mechanics show you how to blog. First they get Josh Friedel to expose his obvious paranoia by blaming poor Arun Sharma for making one bad move while he, Friedel, attempted to tarnish Arun's reputation. Good try Josh, coulda picked a better target though, Arun rep... squatch! Then the Mechanics get John Boy to annotate his game in John's age old monotone (yes kids, John sounded EXACTLY like that 30 years ago). Very schizophrenic indeed. What next? Do we get a team in Toronto called the "Toronto Eh files" and their blog is all in half French half Canadian? Un- freaking- real! I am just up here telling you what I saw and how I interpreted it, while all these other blogs are scanning the gamut fron the Enquirer to the Little Nickel want ads! Wow, what a racket.

At this point I put in my disclaimer. All of the ideas or thoughts written here are mine, mine alone and do not represent the attitudes or feelings of any Slugger player, coach or sponser. If anyonw reading this is offended, too bad. That is just how it is.

Have a nice day

Round 1 wrap

2009-09-01T18:31:00.001-07:00

There is no other way to say it, that was not what I expected. The Sluggers came through for us and.... didn't lose! That old saying about a tie is "like kissing your sister" sorta rings true here. Let's talk...

Serper did a great job pulling a little opening surprise on Friedel. Avid Mechanics fan f-pawn had pointed out that these 2 have faced each other 5 times with White winning every one. That came to an end, and a lucky thing it did. Serper does like that structure with an open d-file and semi open c-file to work with.

Second board looked about the way I had thought, a QGD Exchange variation. I don't know if Eric prep'd for it or not, but they followed some previous games up to 10. Bg3 by White. I am not sure why 10.e3 wouldn't be ok for White, but I know that Eric has his reasons. Anyway, I think that Preuss was able to combine his more recent practice with some youth to outplay Eric in the endgame.

Donaldson - Lee on board 3 was quite interesting. John gambitted a pawn, not normal for the English, the older player or John, but that is what happened. White got a nice bind for a pawn, but not much more and Lee defended. If anything I would suppose that this could be a lesson for Michael in terms of preparation.

Board 4 is where things were oh so close. The game left standard practice quite early on as Sinanan plunked the h-pawn up the board. The structural advantage this offered Josh had a price as winning the f5 pawn was going to involve some tactics. In the end White had 2 pawns for the exchange with the 2 Bishops and Rook against 2Rooks and Bishop situation. My feeling is that as soon as this became clarified Josh went into prevent mode. Instead of 22. b3 which gave Black a hook to try to work with Josh can play Rd1 or 000 as Black playing Bxc4 allows Rd7+ which is like near death for Black. Even so the real culprit came later when the black square bishop was relocated to c3. I think this is a total misread of the position. If White keeps the B on the h4-d8 diagonal, plays Rd1 and works the f-pawn forward to f5 Black is lost. Frankly, I don't see any design for a good defense for Black. In the end of the actual game every aimed to have a B on a different color and a draw was agreed.

So, I forecast that the Sluggers would lose based on history, they pulled out a tie based on some tough play and could have won based on better calculation. I won't complain, mostly because I predicted incorrectly. Oh well.

Ok, the Sluggers next opps play Wed. as New York faces New Jersey.

See you later when board assignments are up!

Third Season in USCL, Round 1 vs. SF Mechanics

2009-08-30T21:56:00.001-07:00

Hello again Sluggers fans, HA81 coming to you with another exciting season of Sluggermania. This season sees our boys begin versus their arch enemy the San Francisco Mechanics. Usually the Sluggers don't see this tough a match until week 3 or 4, but the obvious point is that the entire league is stronger this year. This could be a harbinger for the season to come, right out of the gate.

Board 1 witnesses GM Friedel as White versus GM Serper. This particular matchup has some history with the majority of it favoring the player with the Whtie pieces. There is only a marginal reason to think this might be different. Friedel has been seen recently advancing the d pawn two squares on the first move with White and that could be a little bit of a break for Serper. In the past Friedel has done a fine Fred Flintstone impression on Serper with 1.e4, so opening with the queen pawn could be gold to Serper's eyes.

Board 2 has the Mechanics pulling a sub in for the first match as IM Preuss comes off the bench to face IM Tangborn. Despite the fact that Eric is listed with a higher rating and the White pieces, it would seem the Preuss must be a favorite as he is much better practice. If Tangborn plays 1.c4 the game is likely to go into some form of exchange QGD where Preuss will be more up to speed right now.

Board 3 sees Washington's current "wunderkind" Michael Lee playing Black against a past prodigy from Tacoma IM John Donaldson. This is likely to be the toughest game of the bunch as John plays a style that has given Michael some trouble. Basically, John puts both gloves up in front of his face and tries to trip the opponent.

Board 4 is where Shinanan has White against Yian Liou. Seattle has a rating average advantage, basically because of a 140 point difference on this board. This will be a critical board for Seattle going forward as past experiences suggest Seattle struggles on the lower boards. Combined with the likelihood that SF has prep'd their fourth board this will be a real test.

To be honest, I don't see Seattle winning this match. The only way it crops up in my mind is if the bottom two board swing heavily for the Sluggers and the top two Mechanics panic. Not real likely, but could happen. I see one win and 3 draws, for the Mechanics... hoping I get it all wrong.

Good Luck Sluggers!

Washington Class Championships

2008-12-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Josh Sinanan and Michael Lee for tying for 1st! Hopefully one of them will post a tournament report on this blog soon.

Sluggers vs. Miami in playoffs

2008-11-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last night the Sluggers lost to Miami 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 and so ended their third season and second entry into the playoffs. It was a typical example of how the season has gone for the Sluggers. a disjointed struggle.

Having won the Western division the Miami squad was heavily favored to advance, mostly because they had draw odds. What it boiled down to was that no matter how the double GM lineup did for Seattle the Sluggers were likely to struggle on the bottom two boards. The first point in the scenario didn't materialize and the second likely shouldn't have.

Serper's game was the one that went closer to expectation than the others. Playing 1.c4 and 2.g3 as he did when he arrived on the international scene Serper played the Botvinnik formation against Lopez' King's Indian setup. Serper showed his expertise in rubbing out any Black play while playing a textbook king side assault with pieces. A very fine technical game. On fourth board Andy May ended up in a side line of the Max Lange / Scotch Gambit as White. I doubt Andy knows this, but the Max Lange was all the rage in the Northwest for about 4 years in the mid 70's. For my part, I was surprised to find that the players followed a recommendation from GM Dzindzichashvilli up to move 14. Kd2 where the GM claims a slight advantage for White. It might be that a GM can play the White position for an advantage after 14. Kd2, but I would be more likely to seek play with 14. d4 as 14...Nxf3 15.Bxf3 activates the Bishop, keeps a slight space edge and works to make something of the exposed Black King. For example 14.d4 Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 a6 16. Nc7 Rb8 17. Nd5+ with 0-0 and Re1 on the cards looks good. As the course of the game went Andy seemed to go completely passive and ended up in a completely passive position. After giving up his h-pawn to get some activity the roof just came down on Andy. Michael Lee on board 3 was slated to have the toughest time. His opponent Perea is still a bit of a mystery as far as just how strong he is. Michael played a main line of the Kings Indian and followed accepted theory for quite a while. Michael ended up a pawn to the good, but without realistic winning chances. Before the match if anyone had said that Seattle would get 1 1/2 out of the lower 3 boards most people would think the chances of a Slugger victory quite good. Well, here is where the typical Sluggers scenario comes into play. Nakamura played the Breyer defense in the Ruy Lopez against Becerra and achieved a reasonable position. My feeling is that this was a bit of an odd choice as Becerra plays the Lopez from both sides and isn't going to find many problems in it that are outside his realm and considering the number of different defenses Nakamura could play there might have been a more pointed choice. Still the real shocker came just into the middlegame when Nakamura gave up a piece for 2 pawns. There might be some deep underlying nugget that we all missed, but it would seem that it was deep enough that Naka missed it too. This was almost like handing a point to Miami. I would say it was disappointing, but the circumstances and sequence just left it bewildering. As I said, very typical of the Sluggers play this season. One final point is that the first board encounter was basically played out before any of the other players had escaped the opening. This is important because the other 3 Sluggers really pulled up their socks and made a run at the Sharks. I would like to congratulate Serper, Lee and May for showing the heart that seemed missing from the Sluggers for parts of the season and thank them for confirming that there is a lot of fight in the players representing Seattle.

So, no more Sluggers this year. It is possible that the rest of the playoffs will be exciting as the finalists from last year Dallas and Boston now face the 2 surprise division winners Miami and Carolina. I can't say that I really like any of these teams, but I would expect Dallas to do well.

So, til next season. See Ya!

Western Division semi: Miami vs. Sluggers

2008-11-07T09:56:00.001-08:00

“No matter how often you are defeated, you are born to victory” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s playoff time in the USCL and Monday we see the fun begin. The Sluggers come into the playoffs on a 2 match losing streak, the first team to make the playoffs with a sub 500 season record. They face a red hot Miami Shark squad that was able to win the Western Division in the final regular season match. The Sharks have a solid lineup led by two time league MVP Julio Becerra, plus they will have draw odds. Not an easy task for the Sluggers. There isn’t a pundit around that will pick the Sluggers to win the match and I am not one to break ranks. What I will do is describe how the Sluggers can win.

The draw odds add a peculiar dynamic to the match. On its face this would seem to suggest that each of the Sluggers players must play to win, while each of the Sharks will play to draw. Such a scenario would benefit the Sluggers, I feel, because it is easier to play for a win from the start than a draw. I doubt that any of the participants will fall into such thinking, so it is a simple matter that Seattle can’t tie the match. They have to win it. In a previous post I offered a scenario in which the Sluggers would have chances to defeat the Sharks, but I was unaware of Nakamura’s availability at that time. With Nakamura available the Sluggers can use the double GM lineup and improve their odds. The reason for this is simple; in my previous review of the match I felt it imperative that Seattle not lose with Black on boards 1 and 3, with Nakamura they are possibly a favorite to win on 1 with Black. If that does happen then the Sluggers just have to find 1.5 more points. Serper was defeated by Lopez in Week 1 of the season, but Gregory had Black in that game. I feel certain that Lopez will have some special preparation for Serper’s lines in the Kings Indian, but even so Serper is likely a favorite. Board 3 is tough for Seattle as Perea is just the type to give Lee trouble. I speculated that the best way to play against Perea, at least in a team event, was to sit tight and see what he can create. Michael is still a young player and it will most likely be difficult for him to play tight. That said, any score that Seattle gets on this board is gravy. On 4th board Andy May faces Prilleltensky. My impression is that Prilleltensky has altered his approach as he played the Sicilian in the past, but in 2 league contests this year played 1.e4 e5 and then the Rubinstein French as Black. If Andy can resolve himself to play in a determined manner rather than any kind of all out style, I think he will do very well.

So, my scenario is 2.5 points out of boards 1,2 and 4. Now for a bit of thinking. You know what made Miami so much better this year? The bottom 3 boards aren’t watching Becerra and relying on him so much. My opinion is that Bruci Lopez coming back to Miami from Baltimore shifted that dynamic and it has worked great for them. So, just speculating here, what happens if boards 1 and 2 tilt towards the Sluggers early? Perea might not be too disturbed, but putting him in a must win situation will be interesting. The situation on board 4 could be even more up in the air as Prilleltensky might be in a pressure situation. This is the kind of thing where team dynamics come into focus and Seattle will have to make the most of it.

Ok, that is it for me. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and watch the action on Monday!

Look ahead, look side to side, look down?

2008-10-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

A friend challenged me to prove that chess was a “real” sport. After spouting out the usual spiel about chess he simply told me to state a sports cliché that applied to chess. “Win or go home!” I blurted out, only to realize that the USCL teams were staying home whether they won or not. “You’re only as good as your last game” , didn’t seem correct considering how the Sluggers tumbled into this years playoffs. “You gotta take them one at a time”! Aha!! There was my cliché. “No” my friend shook his head, “that’s not a sports cliché, that’s what a divorced woman tells her lawyer”.

“Finding a way to win” is my cliché for the Sluggers. Getting into the playoffs was something of a victory for the Sluggers to start with, considering they lost their final two matches, yet exiting without so much as a whimper would still be disappointing. Once it was certain that they were in the playoffs it didn’t really matter which team they were going to face, the Sluggers were going to be underdogs and search for a formula to succeed in a do or die match. First off the Sluggers need an idea of how they are going to win a match, where the points are coming from. Second, they have to be prepared for that goal. Last, they have to believe that “they” can get it done. These points alone won’t win any match, but they will get the Sluggers into a situation where they have a fair chance to win.

Facing Miami right now is no easy feat. They are a team that has found it’s rhythm and has been rolling. In such a situation the players on a team are hampered by questions of inaccuracy or failure, they simply follow what seems to be correct. This is a great advantage for any team that enjoys it. The Sluggers must realize that they aren’t facing a vastly more talented or experienced team, they are facing a group of players that don’t think they can lose. It is exactly that “don’t think they can lose” attitude the Sluggers have to take advantage of. I am pretty certain Miami will want White on the odd numbered boards as Becerra on first is their best player and Osmany Perea on third has been the engine for them recently. Becerra is one of the very best players in the league. A couple of important points though; Serper has done pretty well against him in league games and Becerra has been the recipient of a couple of gifts in recent matches. So, he is not infallible. Perea with White plays an unpretentious style that aims to let the opponent make mistakes, so the key to playing him is to sit tight and make him try to come across the board. Board two is most likely going to be Bruci Lopez and fourth Matan Prilleltensky. I would expect Lopez on board 2 as he has been there during this run for Miami. He plays an active style seeks out complications. If I was Eddie Chang I would call up Eric Tangborn and ask him if he remembers a game Eric had against Bill Schill in the Washington Junior back in 1976 and if Eric has that game score tell him to study it and be prepared to play the White side. Ok, just kidding, I really doubt Eric has any 30 year old game scores. Prilleltensky is a rookie who has done well in the matches he played and seems a natural player. The bottom line for the Sluggers is this: they have very good chances of not losing on first board and have to find a way to not lose on third. If Miami wins on third board the Sluggers have to win 2 games with White which would be extremely difficult. We will have to wait and see what lineups are posted.

Now let’s talk a little about the other playoff matchups. If people were surprised that Miami won the West then they must be proclaiming the end of the world with Carolina coming out on top. The Cobras were shuffled back into the Eastern Division this year with the expansion and took top honors. They face a resurgent New York Knights team that was left for dead after the Sluggers beat them in week 6. I was one of the earliest advocates of the Cobras chances to make the playoffs, but I suspect school is out. Carolina might pick up a point on second board if Krush over presses or doesn’t take Zaikov seriously, but I don’t see a place where they can win a second game. So, they have to pick up 2 draws on the other 3 boards. It is a funny thing, but the Knights don’t have to worry about losing they have to worry about drawing. That works really well for them. The Queens – Boston match has taken on a “Family Feud” aspect with all the talk emanating between Krasik and Lenderman. As a straight match between teams I would pick Boston, but there are those pesky draw odds. We all know that the Boston boys are real full of themselves, but this might just be too much. The other match in the West is San Francisco and Dallas, the past two USCL champions. My natural inclination is to say that whichever team wins a game first wins the match, but SF has draw odds. That works to their advantage if games are drawn. I think it helps Dallas as they can slowly play for a point and be ready to take advantage of any overly aggressive overture by one of the Mechanics. This is a stylistic problem, reminiscent of Lasker – Capablanca St. Petersburg 1914.

Finally a personnel reflection. There has been some chatter about East coast bias in the league and I would like to weigh in on this. I read Ilya Krasik’s latest gem and must say how wonderful it must be to learn how to write by using “The National Enquirer” read and play. A truly fine piece of creative non fiction that is well worth the effort it takes to discern its true meaning, really. My only problem is that I thought it was better to write in a slightly more modern style, less “Tarzan see insult, Tarzan not like insult”. I am not condemning his style. No, not at all. I am upset that none of the East Coast elite were of a mind to let me know that I should communicate with them in this style. You know, shorter words, fewer sentences, more grunts highlighted by grunts! Yeah, that’s it. With all the clamor that this received from the folks back East I feel empowered to try and descend, I mean ascend, to that level. Oh I can’t do it, there must be some genetic deal with those guys. Thanks

USCL Week 10: SLUGGERS TO THE PLAYOFFS

2008-10-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am reminded of a quote that a very good friend once gave me. “This isn’t the edge of the Earth” he said, “but you can see it from here”. That is how I feel about the Sluggers this morning. They didn’t really back into the playoffs as much as they kind of fell in. At the start of the evening everyone was well aware that all Seattle had to do was avoid losing by 3-1 and they were almost certainly going to make the playoffs. Well, they avoided 3 – 1. Barely. The final score Arizona 2 ½ - Seattle 1 ½ got the Sluggers into the playoffs and avoided the fate of missing out in the last round that befell them last year. Yeah, you definitely can see it from here.

To start out I think we simply must send out a big commendation to the Arizona team. The task they faced last night wasn’t impossible, but the degree of difficulty had Olympic gymnastic judges shaking their heads. The Scorpions came out and didn’t think twice about it, putting their best effort into it. I want to say that this is the kind of competition that makes the USCL fun. So, thank you for the great match and good luck next year to Arizona.

Next, we come to the hero of the day. Slava Mikhailuk was the only Seattle player to win last night and that is what got Seattle into the playoffs. Of course, he has been the real heart of the Sluggers in the second half of the season, winning in each of the final 4 regular season matches. Considering that Seattle finished ahead of Arizona by ½ of a game point, basiclly one fewer draw, that score of 4/4 looks huge. Of course their isn’t any place for such things in the USCL MVP race, but it seems to me that this stat alone makes Slava the MVP of the Sluggers. Last night Slava faced Mark Ginsburg for the second time. In a line that is alleged to offer White no advantage Slava directed play to a prolonged endgame. This worked out as it became more evident that a draw wouldn’t do for team considerations. I am certainly not the player to question whether IM Ginsburg felt compelled to advance the Q-side pawns or overestimated his chances with a bishop versus knight, but either way it worked to give Mikhailuk chances. My feeling is that there was a chance in the rook and pawn ending , maybe 52 …Rb1+ to try and help the Black K get over, yet it never materialized. Certainly IM Ginsburg will provide in depth analysis on his blog. The end result was a fairly direct rook versus one pawn end that the Seattle player won.

Serper on board one gave up a pawn in the late opening to acquire the 2 B’s. Both players played steadily enough to end up with a split point. Rohonyan achieved quite a reasonable position. Then when sitting tight with 30… Kg7 and the idea of 31.Rb4 Rcc7 32. Rb6 Re6 would likely have kept things in place she blundered with 30… Rc3 31.Rb4 Rd7 32.Rxe4. Adamson showed fine technique in picking up the point for Arizona. On board 4 Michael Lee had White against Warren Harper. Lee was confronted with the line 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 that had led to his loss in the Chicago match. This had to be something he might have expected as it would have been a standard bit of prep for any opponent. The line that Michael followed was rather timid and directionless, which suggests to me that he was caught unprepared for a repeat of the line. The game turned into a model of play for Black in the opening and Lee never seemed to get out of the water, losing an ending a bit later.

The Sluggers were successful in avoiding the abyss again. Playoffs begin and Seattle gets the Miami Sharks, winners of the Western Division. I will be posting some thoughts on that a bit later.
ttyl

USCL WEEK 10: Sluggers vs. Arizona

2008-10-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ah how time flies. It seems like only yesterday that the Sluggers missed a chance to make the playoffs by the slimmest of threads. Yes, it was a year ago that the Seattle squad lost to Miami in a win or go home match and were a mere perpetual check from making the playoffs. So, the 4 weeks ago that I was nervous about the Sluggers schedule really does seem like history at hand. Honestly, if you had told me that we could jump ahead to this match, skipping all the drama of the past 4 weeks, with Seattle just a couple of points from the playoffs I wouldn’t have taken it. My thinking is that the Sluggers had plenty of chances to pad their playoff chance and whether they make it or not the fun has been in the ride. So, everybody have your ticket ready as we are about to go through the loop de loop.

The Sluggers face the Arizona Scorpions this week, the same team they faced 2 weeks ago. This isn’t quite the same scenario as last year. If Seattle wins they are in the playoffs, a tie might get them in. Arizona has to win the match 3 – 1 and get some help to get in, so it is a bit more complicated. There is only one difference in the squads from the meeting 2 weeks ago, Gregory Serper is playing board 1 for the Sluggers instead of Nakamura. It doesn’t seem likely that Serper will lose here, even with Black. He faces IM Levon Altounian. Altounian is a very good player, but doesn’t look to have the style to beat Serper if Gregory plays solid. This is actually a small benefit for Arizona as they lost on this board last time. Board 2 is a rematch of Mikhailuk and Ginsburg which the Seattle side won last time. To a lot of players (old codgers) this will be quite interesting as their styles have some similarities. Adamson has White this time against Rohonyan. Last time this game was a draw and Adamson probably missed a much stronger continuation, probably winning. On board 4 Michael Lee faces Warren Harper again. Last time Harper won a fine game as Michael seemed to go stiff and fall over. So, not a lot of lineup changes to discuss.

On the surface Arizona fans have a couple of things to be happy about. Altounian is facing less of a force and Adamson will be looking more closely for his chances. That narrowest of winning margins that Seattle had last time doesn’t seem to be quite so visible. Still, Seattle followers shouldn’t despair in the face of this. First off, I would think that Michael Lee will give a better performance with the White pieces on board 4. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rohonyan pushes a superior effort. Biggest of all is that Arizona knows they have to win 3 – 1 to have a chance of making the playoffs. This means they have a little extra to think about in their moves. If Seattle can keep even with the Black pieces and give the even numbered boards a chance to pick something up I believe Seattle will win the match.

Of course, this Friday is Halloween and we all know that spooky stuff happens then. Last year’s match with Miami was on Halloween. So, Sluggers fans tune in and think positive thoughts.

ttyl

USCL Week 9: Sluggers vs. Tempo recap

2008-10-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

In Troy two figures came forth to warn of the Greek horse. Cassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but also the curse that no one would believe her. Laocoon was a priest who warned that he saw no reason to trust a gift from the Greeks. It is fabled that the end of Troy was contrived from a statue made of wood, but more form the avarice of men. I stake no claim to heredity form either Cassandra or Laocoon, as my experiences with the Greek gods has afforded no privileges. There is sincerity in my words though, as I was truly suspicious of events.

Last night the Sluggers were muffled by Tennessee for the first time 2 ½ - 1 ½ . To be certain the Tennessee lineup has become quite a bit stiffer with GM Ehlvest on board 1, though it felt like the Sluggers should retain an edge. Well, there isn’t much else to do than to congratulate Tennessee and reflect on events to try and better ourselves.

Board 1 was the clash of GM Serper and GM Ehlvest. A typical type of Grunfeld where White had more space. Black didn’t have to press and could just work to hold things. Not a GM draw by any means. Board 2 was the one bright spot for the Sluggers. Mikhailuk took the Black pieces versus IM Burnett. Burnett is an experienced player and must have known what line Mikhailuk would play, so I suspect that there was a bit of homework here. If it was, it didn’t get a good grade as Black’s trumps in the particular Sicilian (2 B’s and center pawns) seemed to work a lot better than any attacking ideas White had. Slava just worked his position to a win.

Board 3 was a surprise as Josh Sinanen manned board 3 instead of Katerina Rohonyan. Josh is a fine player, but I think not as experienced as Rohonyan. Facing Todd Andrews of Tennessee Josh played the English 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ I don’t know if 5.Qa4+ has a history, but I also am not sure of the point. In short order the structure c3 and e4 for White with c5 for Black was reached with Queens exchanged on b6, leaving Black a half open file with the doubled b-pawns. It seems to me that Josh rushed to exchange White squared B’s with the idea of using the white squares later, but I might have given more thought to keeping them a while and seeing how Black would employ that boy on c8. Anyway, I can understand and appreciate Josh’s idea. The execution was unfortunate. I think it is imperative for White to keep a Knight on the board as it is the piece most able to get something from the bad Black pawns on the Q-side. I would have gone so far as to retreat the Nc4 back to d2 and then shot f4 up to boot the Ne5 and returned to c4. As it was, Josh ended up defending on the Q-side. Andrews is a solid experienced player and made the most of his opportunity to get the point.

Board 4 had John Bick for Tennessee against John Readey for the Sluggers. I have to confess that when I gave my opinion on the whole match I failed to remember that these two had played with the same colors in the first meeting. It is to Readeys credit that he played the King’s Indian again as it would have been easy to slide to some other defense thinking it better to try and catch the opponent off guard. So, it went into a fashionable line of the Samisch Kings Indian. It appears that Readey took a wrong approach fundamentally as he exchanged Queens early in the opening. Black is giving up space and time to try to activate pieces and exchanging Queens early greatly lessens the effect of activity. Bick slowly took control and when a White rook landed on the seventh it was very difficult. Black’s position just imploded.

So, a loss in the penultimate round. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that Arizona beat Chicago, so the Sluggers remained in 4th slot, the final playoff spot. The bad news is, Arizona beat Chicago and so is now in the hunt for a playoff spot, the same Arizona team the Sluggers face next week. I think it is fair to expect that the Sluggers will come prepared for that match because a Chicago victory over Dallas would mean a Sluggers tie with Arizona might send Chicago into the playoffs.

Ok, no dismay, no uncertainty, no despair. We all have to keep up the positive thoughts… The Sluggers can win next week.

USCL Week9: Sluggers and Tempo

2008-10-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Ah, another week another obstacle to hurdle. To be fair, the Sluggers did kind of put this one out there on their own. This week they face the Tempo of Tennessee. The Sluggers drew their last match with Tennessee which was a bit of a disappointment for many followers. I remember making a comment about how ratings wouldn’t do the Sluggers any good, that it took determination to win. That is what I will find interesting this time around, the Sluggers have a much clearer picture of what they need to do to get into the playoffs and that should give them focus.

Serper has White on board one versus Ehlvest, I wonder if these two have ever played previously? Ehlvest has been cleaning up in his USCL engagements so far, but I don’t think he will climb over a determined Serper. Second board will be a spot to watch as Mikhailuk has Black against IM Ron Burnett. Slava has had 2 very good games in a row which should be a great sign for Seattle, but Burnett has a pointy kind of sharp style that has cause Slava some problems in the past. WGM Rohonyan plays board 3 again, this time against FM Todd Andrews. Andrews has had some terrible luck in the USCL, but against Dallas he got a bit of payback. Let’s hope it doesn’t keep up for him. John Readey has Black in an unfamiliar position on board 4 and his opponent is John Bick. Usually this would be seen as a big plus for Seattle because Readey has been on 3rd board and doing ok. If there is a hitch it is that Bick play’s 1.d4 a lot and the last time Readey saw that in a USCL match he kind of got ground down. Bick seems to like either the regular Averbach line or 5.Bg5 directly.

Ok, if you are a fan of the Sluggers this match should scare you. They have pulled themselves back up into the race and are facing a lower ranked team. They have white on boards 1 and 3, have a player on board 4 who is experienced at a higher board and have more to play for. In chess complacency is the state a player falls into when they become convinced that enough factors away from the board are in their favor that they don’t need to concentrate on factors at the board. In teams this is even more difficult because results on any or all of the boards may affect the players approach. My opinion is that Seattle has been a bit susceptible to this. That makes this a wee bit tenuous for Sluggers faithful.

I would tell the Sluggers that if they need to think about one of the factors I listed it would be the last one, they are playing for a playoff spot. None of the matchups is so wide in playing strength that either team can point to it and form their team strategy around it. Seattle is not likely to win this match with the White pieces, but the players of Black have a tendency and a history of doing more than expected. For Tennessee to win this they have to get a big push from Burnett.

The tension builds with every passing week.

And now for our Freudian Slip of the week, lets see what the USCL put out for us

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seattle Sluggers (4.5-3.5) vs Tennessee Tempo (2.0-6.0)

All Time Series Record (San Francisco leads 3.5-0.5)

Starts at 9:00 PM ET Time Control - Game 75 with 30 second increment

Uh, Greg... I realize the whole west coast seems like one big resort, but come on!

USCL Rd. 8: recap Sluggers vs. Arizona

2008-10-15T22:53:00.001-07:00

Remember Bill Murray in "What About Bob?" ? Baby steps! The Sluggers pulled out an important victory tonight versus the Arizona Scorpions. The win propelled the Seattle squad into 4th place in the West division with Chicago losing to Queens.

On first board Nakamura displayed the technique of a strong GM. Once again he opened with 1.g3 as White, possibly an homage to NW legend GM Duncan Suttles or just a way to avoid a lot of prep time, and got a fair position with the 2 B's. Altounian seemed to have gotten some activity when he doubled on the d-file with 27...Red6 but just 3 moves later the Black king's residence was a teetering mess. Some nice tactics finished the day.

Board 2 was a real clash as Dr. Ginsburg for Arizona has been a theory buff for nearly 30 years (just look at his website), while Mikhailuk will get 10 moves out and start to think. In this case Slava was simply aiming to win by one means... captures. Ginsburg got an advantage in development for a pawn, then went for some tactics by letting the e4 pawn be exchanged for f7. I think, my opinion here, is that Ginsburg didn't play 18. Rfe1 because he felt he had to win the game for his team, so either didn't like the endgame prospects or was more optimistic about middlegame chances. It turned out that Black had a little glue, got stuff together and ended up winning with a little counter attack.

Katerina Rohonyan's debut on board 3 for the Sluggers was a fine effort. Basically the opening was a bit of shadow boxing, then an exchange of N's on d5 set the stage for Black to make some noise on the K-side while White vaposized the c7 and b7 pawns. The end was fairly quick as White couldn't defend the h-file, but could chase the Black king with checks. A draw worked for the Sluggers in this case.

On Board 4 Warren Harper won a nice game for the Scorpions. Michael Lee seemed to shuffle his pieces with no real aim. Michael is young and seems to get bogged down in positions where a static position in the center has been established. Games like this have a spooky quality as you can almost hear the Black player thinking "ok, this is a good square for this piece, I will put it there" and then when it is his move again "that was a good square, but that piece is now needed on the other side of the board". It's like a lack of direction. Hopefully Michael will work on this sort of position as it is likely to crop up in the league for him again.

Ok, so the Sluggers have gotten back into the playoff race. I would like to say a couple of words here about that. 2 weeks ago I posted on Arun Sharma's blog that I thought the Sluggers were ranked too high. The counter to my thinking was that the Sluggers remaining schedule was the easiest in the league. My response was that basing a teams "strength" on its schedule was utter nonsense if not disrespectful to the teams on that schedule. No response to that. This past week I posted again on the power rankings, pointing out that Arun was now talking about the Sluggers having a hard time getting into the playoffs. That went unanswered, probably because I made a comment about the Mechanics. The comments that I have heard from the "fans" out there is that I am a lose cannon and that I was saying a couple of weeks ago that the Sluggers wouldn't make the playoffs. Sluggers followers, this is my part in this.

First of all I am a lose cannon. Too much of the league is goody goody, use the right words, don't say things that might not be popular crap. That is just not me. At no point did I say "the Sluggers won't make the playoffs" and more importantly I never thought that. Second, about that "say the right things" stuff... well it is all fine and good for everybody else to tip toe around, but a titled player comes out and makes an accusation against the Sluggers ... well folks that is all fine and good. The league don't care, you know those guys back east "really don't much like us hill folk" if you know what I mean. So, am I just gonna walk by and watch the guy point fingers. Two words, first one rhymes with "swell" and the second one is 'no'. I didn't stand for it. (Note to people who are reading this from other teams or who might be league commissioner, close you eyes now kiddies cause this might get messy). Then everybody's feelings got hurt and I am such a "lose cannon" and I don't consider all the people out there. Here is what I think: This league is supposed to be entertaining and if you are reading this you are entertained. You folks who are entertained are the people I answer to. If you think that I am so out of line with my approach, you let me know... no Mr. anonymous you don't get to vote. Here's the deal. I will put a message on the NW Chess message board tomorrow morning (assuming I get enough sleep to remember) and it will ask people to respond. Whether you like my stuff or think I should just go away you better respond. This way, Mr. Anono"myass" doesn't his nose dented. I don't see this as a problem for the league or for the Sluggers, so please come on and let us all know.

Ok, I am out of breath. ttyl

USCL Week 8: Sluggers vs. Arizona

2008-10-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Matchups. That is what everybody looks at. How a specific player performs against another. Captains or managers look for chances to get a player they think has a big plus against another, whether that plus by a playing style or past history. Matchups. All the sideline jockeys talk about matchups, such and such will happen on board one and that will be significant. It’s true, sort of.

Week 8 of the USCL is upon us and the Sluggers are facing the first year Arizona Scorpions. The matchup look here is simple; the Sluggers got a little embarrassed last week while the Scorpions have been smacked two weeks in a row. So, both teams are looking to get turned around this week. Who has the intestinal fortitude to do it? That’s the question.

Nakamura will be White on board 1 against Altounian. This should be a clear plus for Seattle. Second board is Mikhailuk Black versus IM Ginsburg. This will be an interesting match because there is a similarity in approach. Neither player is likely to take big chances and the game will move to a late middlegame situation. This one could be determined more by the clock’s hands than the players (ok, digital clocks don’t have hands, but you know what I mean). On 3rd board WGM Katerina Rohonyan makes her Slugger debut against Robby Adamson. Checking some databases this looks like it will be a French defense, either a Winawer or MacCutcheon, with each player defending their favored side. At fourth board Michael Lee has black against Warren Harper. Each of the teenagers has had good and bad moments in the league, so it could be just a matter of who is more determined.

Sometimes you have to state the obvious. Looking just at matchups Arizona does not have an answer for the strength disparity on board 1. That would suggest that Seattle is a favorite. Arizona is likely looking for some advantage on the bottom two boards, hoping to get good performances there to counter the board 1 situation. I would think that a new face on board 3 works for Seattle as there will be the natural desire to impress the new team.. Board 4 is where a lot of this could be settled as Lee could win or lose without incident. Matchups, Seattle will do well if they have good players on the Black pieces to deal with the matchups Arizona is looking to use.

Reply to the Mechanics

2008-10-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

I shake my head. There are things that seem to exist, like mirages in the sand. Yet, unlike mirages these images have supporting evidence that make them impossible to deny. In my world though, these things have no place, no haven to rest in or sanctuary to give them comfort. Such things appear in the words of my esteemed fellow USCL bloggers, whose words flow from their hands like the river of dreams. I wonder where the words come from? I don't know.

Just in this past week we have seen one of the bloggers upset with Carolina because they didn't do as he expected, he worked it out in his mind that a player should have won but lost instead and the bloggers whole world is upside down? WHAT!!! Ok, players get there feelings hurt because of, uh, the air conditioning is too loud. LIVE WITH IT! I see that Arun can't really explain what the power rankings are measuring. Ok, I kind of suspected that. Of course, we all have to sympathize with Arun as he is getting threats from one of the team captains. I don't really know any of the participants in this episode, but you gotta think somebody was using the extremely recessed parts of their mind for that one. Oh, none of the pickers chose Dallas to beat Philly, despite the fact that Dallas was tied for first in the west and Philly has been playing like mud (uh, do you think their captain has my phone number? Nah!!! couldn't be that lucky). I mean, this
is worse than trying to keep up with a daytime drama. "Oh did you see the look that the Boston player made when the WIM moved the knight?" This is silliness. But, not the end.

I see that the Mechanics have weighed in.

http://sfmechanics.blogspot.com/2008/10/cutting-down-sluggers.html

Let’s see, Bhat’s first assertion is that the match was rescheduled due to weather and the arrival of a baby, later in a reply to Chris there is mention that Mr. Bhat expected Seattle wouldn’t field a team and finally he states “ a match had been moved to avert what I saw as a no-show”. Wow, it’s true the longest road is the one to the truth. When the match did happen there was Serper on second… oh wait, it was patently unfair for Seattle to have the same lineup. I seem to note they didn’t have the same lineup. Boy, this is just the stuff of cold war novels, those clever Sluggers covertly passing false information in order to get, Slava on second board! Very devious.

I will now fess up to what could be my part in this. I made light of the possibility that the Mechanics possibly achieved greater success because they were forced to drop their first board. At some level you have to see the logic in this, I mean it be curious if a team achieved a better result without their top player than they might have with him. So, if Wolff plays and Nakamura defeats him while Bhat wins from Mikhailuk the split is the same as what resulted in the actual match. Mr. Bhat, is it really so bad to win by 3 – 1? No, I didn’t think so. Further, Mr. Wolff’s replacement could hardly have been more uncertain; the Mechanics have IM Friedel, IM Preuss, IM Zilberstein, but they ended with IM Donaldson. It would certainly not have been so beneficial to Seattle to have that change. Was it such a successful ruse that you need to proclaim how lucky the Mechanics were to win, unless you are much less confident in your teammates? Very curious.

My final take (not edited because I have no “official” standing). What do I take away from this? The titled players are all taking this very seriously, which is certainly good for the level of chess, maybe a bit too seriously. This last affair clearly indicates that one of the teams doesn’t view the rest of the league as colleagues, that the idea of sportsmanship has devolved to getting in sharp accusations at others in the league and that the camaraderie many observers thought was common among titled players is merely one of those illusions. The people involved that don’t play are certainly having a lot of fun with it, but the enjoyment will dissipate if the level of “gamesmanship” is allowed to extend to such levels. I will formally apologize to the Mechanics for any comments they took as offensive, if they so wish, as I feel that is my responsibility. However, I will not simply ignore this egregious breach of sportsmanship as one players opinion or “take”. I would hope that the league or the commissioner would help to shed some light on this as currently it is nothing more than “he said” without any “she said”. Whatever the facts are around this match or the results of the games, this incident became a large black eye on the league because of Mr. Bhat’s comments.

Thank You.

Mechanics vs. Sluggers recap

2008-10-09T11:10:00.001-07:00

What is the difference between the bus and the airplane? Taking the plane gets you to your destination and whole lot quicker, but you still have issues with cost and checked baggage. Bus trips take longer and it is a bit harder to sleep, yet the scenery can make up for some of that. Well, the Sluggers are looking at the bus trip right now, and it will be a long ride. Last nights match against San Francisco was a detour out of the airport.

There was something amiss with the match even before it started. It was scheduled to take place on Monday, but was postponed. Then the pairings on the top two boards abruptly changed as Patrick Wolff and Gregory Serper were pulled from the lineups.
This turned out to be a push, at least on paper. Really this turned out to be an excellent swap for the Mechanics. Nakamura seems to have some kind of vexation with Bhat and it worked to the Mechanics advantage as Bhat won a fine game. On second board Mikhailuk faced Donaldson with the former wearing the older player down. The top two boards were thus a split. I certainly don’t think that Seattle would have done better with Serper on second board, a win there is a win. I am perplexed though considering the consequences of Wolff playing Nakamura and Serper, with White, against Bhat? Is it possible that not playing a GM helped the Mechanics?

Board 3 was for me the most interesting game. I think that Readey equalized with the Black pieces and even missed more in the middlegame. At move 35 I think that Ne3 by Readey might have born fruit. White can’t allow Nc2, so must oppose on the c-file. With one pair of rooks off the Ne3 goes to f5 to remind White of the h4 pawn, combined with the Bg7 I feel Black will have plenty of chances to gain a full point. Andy May on board four appeared to just be outplayed from the opening. To me this appears to be another example of “team” play. Nakamura had been a rock for the Sluggers, but when his game went astray the other players were left to fight for better scores.

After losing to the Mechanics 3-1 last night the Sluggers have virtually no chance of winning the division. They still have good chances of making the playoffs with the last 3 matches against the teams below them in the West. Now all there matches are “playoff” scenarios. For the Sluggers to get to the Finals they will have to win the rest of the regular season and then likely face the top 2 teams in the conference playoffs, likely Dallas and SF again. This is not going to be an easy trip, but I did see a lot of fight in the Sluggers last night and that is a good step for them.

USCL Rd. 7: Mechanics vs. Sluggers

2008-10-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

I knew this week was going to be kind of short notice, that kind of thing happens when you are looking at the calendar to find the next paid holiday and accidentally see that the USCL is playing on Monday night. Lots to say, so let's not waste any more blog.

To start, I need to say that the tribute to Eddie was well deserved. Of course, I did embellish because of my own style of egocentric writing. The Sluggers deserved to win, are very deserving of congratulations and we should all appreciate how Eddie stood up for his team. Yet, it still had that flavor to it that causes doubt instead of removing it. Think about it, the Knights are just playing in a funk, Seattle played the "Jumbo" lineup with Nakamura and Serper plus got a great performance on 4th board, but in the end the Sluggers avoided a tie due to one false move in extra time by an old man. This is not a great sign, especially when the arch nemesis is next up. Everybody be honest now, with Nakamura playing we all expected a victory while remaining conscious of the past history of these two teams and there was nearly an amazing addition to the script between these sides ( for those not sure what I am talking about, it seems Bonin might have missed a winning continuation in his endgame). So, for me at least the Sluggers have passed one hurdle with plenty more ahead.

Just prior to writing this I checked the USCL website and noted the lineups. It is pretty much open knowledge that the Mechanics are taking this one seriously, playing Wolff and Bhat on the top two boards. If anything good can be drawn out of this it is that Nakamura seems as dangerous with Black and Serper plays more confidentaly with White. The Sluggers can feel good about those matchups, but it is the other two boards that we should scrutinize. Board 3 had Shankland with White facing Readey, then bottom is May going against Naroditsky. Third board should be quite interesting as there is a contrast in styles which lends itself to decisive results. Both players have had solid results without anything spectacular. Fourth board has a whole other dynamic as Naroditsky has been a real strength for the Mechanics and May is just beginning to get any kind of a name in the league. In the NY match it appeared that Andy had done some homework on a specific opening line, if that is true this would be an excellent opportunity as Naroditsky is likely to have plenty of games available for research. If I was the SF captain/manager I would pull Naroditsky aside and tell him to play slow easy chess, just to see if May can make anything happen on his own. Problem with that is these are both youngsters and can't really control themselves to that extent.

This match is quite important. If the Mechanics win they can try to sprint for home, whereas a Seattle victory throws the playoff scenarios spinning. More than that, it is a matchup of rivals, bringing a little more zing to the result. I would not expect more than one draw in the match, which sounds like Seattle has to win on the outside boards to get the match. If they get anything more than a draw on the inside it is gravy. The Mechanics might aim to make it a match of the two boards where they seem stronger, second and fourth, but they have black on those boards. In the end, this appears to be a match about will and who has the stronger will.

Tribute to Zeus

2008-09-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

" All a man can betray is his conscience" Under Western Eyes - Joseph Conrad

Here I am dear readers, before you with nothing but my conscience to keep the cold chill off. I made a small agreement with Eddie Chang and herein lies the payment. On Monday evening the Seattle Sluggers defeated the New York Knights by a score of 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 , which was certainly not the score I would have expected. Eddie did a great job of guiding his charges to a victory, the first ever for the Sluggers against the New Yorkers. I think that we in Seattle can join together joyfully in any defeat inflicted on the evil hordes coming from "The Big Apple" by our hometown boys. This was an exceptional victory for the Sluggers as they seemed to have a plan for victory and followed it to the letter. I have no doubt that Eddie had spent long countless hours divining every possible way his players could achieve the smallest of advantages. He then revealed the fruits of his work to the Sluggers with such immense confidence that they couldn't help but feel as though the match was theirs for the taking. Armed with this knowledge they fell into battle with their vile foes. There was nothing more for Eddie to do but follow the preordained sequences with his eyes as they played out on the boards before him. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Chang... the name roles off the tongue, does it not! From the moment that Eddie was able to determine the lineup he would have to face New York there was no doubt in his mind of the outcome and in the end there was no doubt at all. Congratulations to the Sluggers is more than due, but for Eddie mere congratulations would pale as the rose does when the wind blows cold. I know this, for I had seen into the hearts of the Knights and knew what they expected. They had experienced only Seattle teams that were thrown together like the garments of a vagabond, players capable but without direction. On Monday the Knights felt the breath of another team, a team with fire in their hearts and malice in their souls. Fire and malice that Eddie brought them. Eddie did more than coach, much much more. He instilled the idea of victory in his players. We should all salute Eddie. Hail Eddie, Hail Eddie, Hail Eddie......

Recap: New York versus Sluggers USCL Rd. 6

2008-09-30T09:13:00.001-07:00

Good Morning folks, doesn't the morning seem brighter than normal? Probably because the Sluggers shrugged off the monkey last night and defeated the New York Knights, a team that had between then in every previous meeting. Doesn't the air smell a little sweeter?

The first board matchup between Fedorowicz and Nakamura was surprisingly the first to finish. Playing the Pauslen/Kann Sicilian with some of that very modernistic piece development Nakamura gained a position with plenty of play. The Fed went for a pretty direct attack aimed at h7 or g7 and evenutally got there. Eventually is the operative word. Nakamura had established enough of an advantage on the q-side that giveing up the h7 pawn to exchange some active White pieces was a bargain and the action snapped over to stuff west of the d-file. A very nice win. (I had flashbacks to games I lost like that many eons ago to John Boy).

Second board was Serper versus Krush and frankly I was in for an immmediate surprise as I didn't think Krush ever played the King's Indian. Both sides treatment was very interesting, but Black eventually fanagled and advantage. I would not doubt that Serper might have missed a chance later, but Krush's pursuit of victory was quite exemplary.

Andy May on board 4 either had a prepared novelty or just dreamt it up over the board. In a line that had been a side pocket for Caro players since the mid seventies May calmly took the material offered and kept his King safe. Very nice job

Board 3 was a bit of a concern as Jay Bonin has been an all star. Milat shoved out the Grunfeld and landed in one of the queenless middlegames that has become a standard for the opening. Bonin showed why he has a reputation and kept pressing for the victory, missing his best chance just at the end. The split point brought victory to the Sluggers.

So, a little bit of good luck for a change. Of course there was a good effort by the players. It's like that old saying I just made up " Good Luck follows good work like Saturday follows Friday". (Hey, don't like it... you try making this stuff up!)

Good day and good luck to the Sluggers.

Recap: Dallas versus Sluggers in Rd. 5

2008-09-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Another example of how close the Sluggers can play. As a theme, a small advantage was the focus last night. Michael Lee acquired an advantage in the form of active rooks and displayed excellent skill in turning it into two pawns, then victory. Slava aimed for an endgame where his outside passed pawn would be an advantage, but it ended up being only enough to draw. The first board game appeared to be headed into a middlegame contest with an IQP when it took a sharp turn into an ending. That became a bishop’s of opposite color where the players looked to spend more time convincing themselves they could win. So, only Readey’s game was left. It looked like John was working to keep a solid position and didn’t achieve much form the opening. Slowly Bartholomew outplayed him to get to a better ending and a win. A tie match was a common expectation and that’s what we got.

I said on the message board that the Sluggers needed a win to keep realistic playoff hopes alive. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it doesn’t look great for them. The next 2 Mondays the Sluggers face New York, a team they have had zero luck against, and then the West leading Mechanics. There might be a little pull for the Sluggers against the Mechanics based on the rivalry, but they will need more than some emotional push. The rest of the schedule sees Arizona twice wrapped around a match with Tennessee. As much as I would like to say that the schedule favors them, it just doesn’t. We aren’t entirely sure how good Arizona is and the first match with the Tempo ended in a tie. The Sluggers are not out of the playoffs today, but they have a pretty rough road to get there. There is a bright spot that they hold their fate in their own hands.