Comments for Arizona Scorpions

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by mginsburg

mginsburg — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 04:09:45 +0000

You mean against Bregadze? Yes my rating was too high.

For the semis, now that the lineup is out, let’s look:

Seattle Sluggers Arizona Scorpions
GM Varuzhan Akobian: 2697 IM Mackenzie Molner: 2511
IM Georgi Orlov: 2523 IM Levon Altounian: 2493
NM Joshua Sinanan: 2263 IM Shahin Mohandesi: 2399
NM Peter Lessler: 2177 NM Dipro Chakraborty: 2306

Our expectation is in the 0.5 out of 2 range on the top 2 boards (maybe a tiny bit less than that), and 1.5 (probably a little more than that) on the bottom two boards.
Our overall expectation is at least 2 out of 4.

So, I think we are significant favorites to score the needed 2 out of 4 and advance.

In the other match,

Manhattan Applesauce Philadelphia Inventors
GM Vladimir Romanenko: 2513 GM Sergey Erenburg: 2700
IM Eli Vovsha: 2514 FM Tom Bartell: 2489
NM Andrew Shvartsman: 2343 FM Dov Gorman: 2327
NM Alex King: 2303 IM Richard Costigan: 2288
Average Rating: 2424 Average Rating: 2451

This is a tough one. Manhattan having white on boards 1 and 3… but Philadelphia only needs a draw.

Considering the colors and the players, Manhattan has an expectation of the 1 to 1.25 range out of 2 on the top two boards and also a 1 to 1.25 range on the bottom two.

Thus, they have decent chances of scoring the needed 2.5. I would rate them as having about a 40% chance of scoring the needed 2.5.

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by Steve Farmer

Steve Farmer — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 04:00:53 +0000

I agree with your feelings. On paper I liked AZ as well, but I have to tell you that boards 2 and 3 scared me before the match. Kannappan has been on a tear all year long as had Bregadze, I mean seriously, look at their scores this year – amazing.

I would have liked to see you go against Sinanan, would that have put us over the rating limit? I don’t think so. I do have to credit Shahin for his play in the last game, he never blinked.

I am so proud of this team, the whole team. Had there not been a controversy in the Barcenilla game who knows what would have happened.

What’s your off-the-hip prediction for the Semi’s? Personally I think we might hold on 1 and 2 (if Mac is feeling better), so 3 and 4 seem crucial. I’m thinking a 2-2, which, this time, is fine with me

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by mginsburg

mginsburg — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 01:26:38 +0000

That’s right, I felt we had the better team on paper, I thought it might go 1/2, 1/2, 1/2, 1. I was very surprised when we started 1/2, 0, but then finished with those two fabulous wins. I had commented on another site that our expectation was about “2.4″ but I then also said “I hope this equates to 2.5″ and it did!

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by Steve Farmer

Steve Farmer — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 01:19:32 +0000

Wait! On the US Chess League page it states that Mark recaps the “UPSET”! Hey, I’m not upset, are you?

Fantastic fighting spirit, keep it up for two more Matches! Go Scorpions!!!

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by mginsburg

mginsburg — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:01:45 +0000

Yes, there is no way their Board 2 declines the draw if their Board 4 is already clearly winning.

Comment on Arizona 2.5 – St. Louis 1.5 by Levon

Levon — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:37:25 +0000

Just to be clear: I offered a draw when it seemed like Dipro with 2 Bishops might be better at one point- not when he was losing…. but also the fact that unless the opponent does something- I can’t win…but if he tries to win, then it is a different story.

Comment on Week 5 Comeback. Arizona 3.5 – SF 0.5 by mginsburg

mginsburg — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:20:58 +0000

No I didn’t, I was wasting time and finally went for the bad win of the exchange. I should have focused on just keeping him in zugzwang.

Comment on Week 5 Comeback. Arizona 3.5 – SF 0.5 by Steve Farmer

Steve Farmer — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:50:54 +0000

Good commentary Mark. I was wondering if you spotted the Ba5 move during the game. Looked good to me, but I didn’t have the pressure of being the person at the board. It’s good to be a kibitzer sometimes.

Comment on Week 4 by mginsburg

mginsburg — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:42:30 +0000

The judge should have said “Sherman’s March Through Atlanta.” The defendants had won a judgment that they did not infringe on some patents due to obviousness. Then in what the judge termed ‘Belt and Suspenders’ they made a new motion to invalidate these patents altogether. The judge implied in his write-up that they had taken it too far and this new motion could and should backfire horribly.

Comment on Week 4 by Steve

Steve — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:59:19 +0000

“belt and suspenders” just means, careful redundancy. two ways to keep your pants from falling down.