This is the weekly featured article by FM Robby Adamson, who is a member of the Arizona Scorpions.
Highlights of Week 3 included a Boston sweep of Dallas, err, I mean a Dallas sweep of Boston; New Jersey moved to 3-0 with an easy win against Carolina, and SF moving into first place with a victory over Miami. I did a little better in my picks this week, but still, room for improvement!
Before looking at the matches, a few thoughts. First, when someone predicts Person A is going to beat Person B, teams/individually should not take it personally. If someone says Person A made a bad choice in the opening, it’s one person’s opinion, and I think its perfectly acceptable to comment. Second, if no opinions were ever offered on things, this would be a boring endeavor. People write funny things like Boston’s manager picking a 4-0 sweep (obviously he didn’t really believe that) or Alejandro Ramirez picking AZ to win based on “science.” Its all fun so people need to relax and just enjoy a really cool US Chess League. I enjoy the USCL a lot and I know it serves as entertainment for the players, spectators, fans, etc.
UPDATE – One More Rant. I see that Fox has decided to schedule the show House on the day I am playing. This should be avoided in the future since Dr. House is my hero. Perhaps our Commish can take that into future consideration.
Now that my brief rants are over, lets take a very quick look at Week 4 matches.
Miami Sharks vs. Tennessee Tempo
Board 1 features the best match of the week with two USCL studs facing off in Becerra and Ehlvest. No result in this game would surprise me, though based on Miami’s rating advantages on boards 2-4, I would say Ehlvest needs to play for a win. The colors and match-ups seem to favor Miami, and therefore I pick them to win 2.5-1.5.
Chicago Blaze vs. San Francisco Mechanics
San Francisco looks to continue their early season success against the Blaze, who won their first match last week. Something tells me that Chicago will be in this match until the end though it is hard to ignore their obnoxious rating advantages on board 1-3 – a 2564 on board 3? Oh my! However Chicago does have the experienced IM Angelo Young on board 3 and he will have white. Chicago has to win on board 4 to have a chance. I think this will be closer than most people think, but SF will come through 2.5-1.5.
Baltimore Kingfishers vs. Arizona Scorpions
Both teams have a balanced lineup and I think there are no real favorites on any of the boards. I would not be shocked by any result on any of the boards. Of course I am picking my team to win 2.5-1.5.
New Jersey Knockouts vs. New York Knights
NJ is undefeated and won Round 1 against NY, will they win round 2? This is a very interesting match in that NJ is severely outrated on board 4, while board 1-3 they have a slight advantage. I think this match will be a tie, but I think NY has the better chances to win.
Carolina Cobras vs. Queens Pioneers
The balanced lineup of Carolina vs. the stacked three 2500’s lineup. It would be interesting for someone to write an article on that sometime – which is better? I am going to pick Carolina in the upset over Queens. If IM Jonathan Schroer holds on board 1 against IM Eli Vovsha, Carolina has an excellent chance to pick up 1.5-2 points on boards 2-4. If not, the balance switches to Queens.
Boston Blitz vs. Philadelphia Inventors
I changed my mind on this match several times. I can not seem to decide who I like on the top boards. GM Kudrin has struggled so far against admittedly tough competition, while Sammour has not quite found his form. Board 2 and 3 will probably decide the match since I think Boston has a nice advantage on board 4. Boston wins in a close one 2.5-1.5.
Dallas Destiny vs. Seattle Sluggers
An intriguing lineup by Dallas. If IM Bartholomew can somehow score against GM Nakamura, Dallas wins the match. If not, I think the match is really close anyway. IM Daniel Ludwig is more booked up than Kasparov so it will be interesting to see how his match works out against FM Mikhailuk. I predict Slava will play a slow opening, and it will be a matter of who plays better under pressure. FM Kiewra is dangerous if he gets you in his preparation. This will be an interesting sluggest, and probably a Najdorf. The match could come down to Board 4 where Dallas’s secret weapon and USCL stud NM Bayaraa Zorigt faces very solid (though not as solid as Levon the Stable) NM Josh Sinanan. Overall, I think Dallas has the edge here, but somehow I think the match ends in a tie.
Last Week: 3-4.
Season: 8-14.
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