New England Nor’easters vs. New Jersey Knockouts

New England, sporting a 2-0 record, can really establish themselves as a team to reckon with in the East while New Jersey is coming off a nice win last week and looks to improve to 2-1. The most interesting game has to be board 1 with Sam “I am sort of quitting chess” Shankland vs. Joel “I don’t have to play white to play on the team” Benjamin.

Key Game(s) for New England: FM Arthur Shen (NJ) vs. NM Alex Cherniack (NE). Cherniack has the experience and rating edge versus young Shen.

Key Game(s) for New Jersey: IM Dean Ippolito (NJ) vs. IM Jan van de Mortel (NE). Ippy has the rating edge and white.

Prediction: I think this is going to be very close. NJ wins but barely 2.5-1.5.

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Boston Blitz

Boston owns this series with 5.5/6 lifetime score but one of the games has a mismatch – so this should be an interesting match.

Key Game(s) for Apple team: FM Andrei Zaremba (MA) vs. WGM Anya Corke (BOS). Zaremba needs a big win here because of the rating disadvantage on board 4.

Key Game(s) for Boston: IM Marc Esserman (BOS) vs. IM Eli Vovsha (MA). Esserman has white and I am sure will have some tactical mess in store for Vovsha.

Prediction: Simply because of the rating edge on board 4, Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

Dallas Destiny vs. St. Louis Arch Bishops

Oh the 3 GM lineup again, with Naka, Yuri the Cat, and Ben Finegold. I picked St Louis last week and got stung, but not by a Scorpion.

Key Game(s) for Dallas: GM Alejandro “I don’t know how to plan in advance” Ramirez (DAL) vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura (STL). Alejandro needs to hold the fort here and hope for a win on board 4 where Dallas has their only rating edge, and then hope someone kicks the aforementioned previously referred to Cat there under or Lady Gaga lover.

Key Game for St. Louis: Same as key Game for Dallas.

Prediction: St. Louis rolls 3-1.

Chicago Blaze vs. San Francisco Mechanics

The closest match of the night features two teams who have not lost yet. Lots of intriguing match-ups here:

Key Game for Chicago: GM Dmitry Gurevich (CHI) vs. IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF). In a battle of the Dmitrys, the senior one could give his team a huge lift if he wins on board 1.

Key Game(s) for San Francisco. FM Daniel Naroditsky vs. IM Florin Felecan and FM Steven Zierk vs. IM Angelo Young. Daniel has been playing very well lately while Florin just knocked off GM Shulman for a second time in the Kings Indian. Steven has also played well as of late, while Angelo has only lost one game in USCL history (last week). Very entertaining match.

Prediction: If Chicago wins its because of a win on board 1 and FM Gauri Shankar handling his USCL debut well by avoiding his ridiculous time pressure. If San Francisco wins, its because Daniel comes through with white, Zilberstein draws or wins, and FM Andy Lee wins. Overall, I see the later happening. SF wins 2.5-1.5.

After a good first week, I returned to my 2009 form of ineptness of picking matches. After finishing 5-3 in week 1, I fell to 3-5 in week 2, so I guess that makes me even, with 8-8 record after 2 weeks. I will predict Tuesday matches now, and Wednesday matches tomorrow.

New York Knights vs Philadelphia Inventors -

A tall order for Philadelphia facing a staked NY line-up with up and comer Justus Williams.

Key Game for NY:   GM Fed – Bartell – if Fed holds down giant-killer Tom Bartell, NY wins

Key Game for Philly:   IM Costigan- Williams.  Costigan has to win – otherwise Philly has no chance.

  Prediction: NY wins 3-1.

Baltimore Kingfishers vs Carolina Cobras

Baltimore employs the rarely-used balanced lineup, while Carolina has to use that lineup. 

Key Game(s) for Baltimore:   FM Simpson – Enkbhat. Simpson needs to make use of the white pieces here.

Key Game(s) for Carolina:   WGM Fosior – NM Agner. A decent rating advantage and white could be critical.

Prediction: Baltimore wins 2.5-1.5.

Seattle Sluggers vs Miami Sharks

Maybe the toughest match to pick. GM Varuzhan Akobian takes on USCL giant Julio Becerra. They have played each other in numerous swisses I am guessing. Both teams are facing potential 0-3 starts -

Key Game(s) for Seattle:   GM Akobian – Becerra. Akobian has to make use of the white pieces here – this will decide the match.

Key Game(s) for Miami:   Martinez – Cozianu and Perez – Guo are critical for Miami because they have white and because both match-ups are even.

Prediction: Seattle wins 2.5-1.5.

Arizona Scorpions vs Los Angeles Vibe

A great match between two very evenly matched teams. This match will probably swing a few times. The match is highlighted by the board 1 encounter between two real fighters IM Rogelio Barcenilla and GM Melik Khachiyan; however the other boards are very intriguing as well. 
 

Key Game(s) for Arizona:   FM Banawa – IM Aldama and IM Rensch vs. WFM Tatev Abrahamyan. Aldama has a lifetime 2.5/3 score in the USCL while Banawa has the white pieces. Danny has white and will surely come after Tatev, who is very crafty and dangerous – I should know, I lost with white to her in the last round of the U.S. Championship in 2004 – a game I think is still very theoretically important in the Winnawer French.

Key Game(s) for LA: Tanaka vs. Mateer. Christian makes his USCL debut as a 100 point favorite as well as the white pieces. Amanda is greatly improved from last year and has stepped up her game to a new level. 

Prediction:  This match can go either way, but AZ wins 2.5-1.5. 

Congrats to the upset winners Philadelphia and of course my own Scorpions for winning Week 1, and a lot of great candidates for Game of the Week – I really thought Becerra – Barcenilla would do a lot better in the voting. The resourcefulness by Becerra to hold and in fact win was quite impressive IMO.

As for Week 1, for the first time in a while, I actually got better than 50% record in picking the matches. In Week 1, I went 5-3 which isnt too bad. Unfortunately, because I am playing this week and it being a Monday match, I will give my picks quickly and without much comment (which to some might be a good thing!).

Monday Matches –

New Jersey Knockouts vs New York Knights

NY Knights Win 2.5-1.5

Carolina Cobras vs New England Nor’easters

NE Noreasters move to 2-0 with a win 3-1 over the snakes.

Miami Sharks vs San Francisco Mechanics

SF wins 2.5-1.5

Arizona Scorpions vs Seattle Sluggers

AZ wins 2.5-1.5

Wednesday Matches -

Boston Blitz vs Philadelphia Inventors

Boston changes strategy and goes with the kid on board 4, but Philly counts with their own youth. A tie is in order.
Baltimore Kingfishers vs Manhattan Applesauce

MA wins 2.5-1.5, though Baltimore has reasonable chances to pull the upset. Its tough competing with a team with a 2500 on board 3, good grief.

Chicago Blaze vs St. Louis Arch Bishops

St Louis rebounds with a 3-1 win.

Los Angeles Vibe vs Dallas Destiny

Vibe moves to 2-0 with a win, despite the Alejandro factor.

So Week 2 of the US Chess League Season is starting tonight! With a really exciting Week 1 win against the Miami Sharks, easily one of the best teams out of the West every year, the Scorpions have to be looking forward to Week 2. Below are the matchups:

Arizona Scorpions (1.0 – 0.0) vs Seattle Sluggers (0.0 – 1.0)

All Time Series Record:  (Tied 2 – 2)

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

Seattle has always been a tough team for us and is the team that stole our playoff spot two years ago in a tough last match result. This year however they have a lot of new players in Akobian, Cozianu, Guo, and Wang.  All these players are new to the team and also new to the league as well.

Many interesting match-ups with more than a couple of new players to the league in this match. For the Scorpions Nick Thompson is a new player that will play his first game tonight against another newcomer in Michael Wang. Nick has improved a lot recently in strength and in rating. The Scorpions are using the September 2009 rating list for the whole season showing Nick at 2098. At the present moment he is at 2227 and showing no signs of stopping. This game should be interesting because playing the league is much different than playing in real life. It should be interesting to watch how both of these players adapt to the new circumstances (no player sitting by you, being part of a team, etc). I’ll give Nick the nod here and give us a point up in my prediction.   Arizona  1 – 0  Seattle.

Board 1 is between Scorpion veteran Levon Altounian and new player FM Costin Cozianu. I don’t know much about Cozianu but after looking at some of his games he seems like a fairly aggressive player. This game seems like it might be a contrast of styles as Lev is very solid and likes to play positions with small advantages.  Also to note is that Levon has White which he is much better with and could decide the decision in his favor. Let’s call it a draw just in case. Arizona 1.5 – 0.5 Seattle.

Board 2 is between IM Rogelio Barcenilla and FM Slava Mikhailuk. We were able to put Rogelio on board 2 for this match as the rule states that as long as the players are within 50 rating points of each other in the supplement that you chose you can make this switch.  Rogelio is an amazing player and it is something special to have a 2583 rated player on board 2 for a team. Although he lost his game to GM Becerra in the first round no one could really deny his fight in the game. He went from clearly worse to losing to unclear to winning and then again back to losing. Crazy game…with Rogelio having 1-2 minutes for much of the latter part of the game. This round is a little different in that Rogelio will face a weaker, not taking anything away from him of course,  opponent than Becerra in Slava Mikhailuk. Slava has White but Rogelio has a large rating advantage so sometimes those two even out but I’ll take Rogelio for the win.   Arizona 2.5 – 0.5 Seattle.

Board 3 between IM-Elect Robby Adamson and WGM Katerina Rohonyan is a rematch of the 2008 season where these two same opponents played each other twice. Robby got the better of the match within a match by going 1.5/2 in those games even though both games were fairly close. I feel like Robby has a slight edge having White while also having good games in the past but I will go for a draw here. Arizona 3 – Seattle 1.

Overall I am predicting a 3-1 win for my Scorpions! Stay tuned tonight at 6:00pm Tucson time and 9:00pm Eastern for a truly exciting match for both teams. Either Arizona goes 2-0 to start off the season or Seattle rebounds from their first week loss to get back to 0.500. Big match!

Hello Everyone !

Back to the US Chess League but this time as a spectator! The only two seasons the Scorpions have played in the league I have been both manager and player but due to graduate school I have been forced to hand my title over. (EJ: I get your NM title too! Sweet!) Now I am confined to watching the games from my 200 square foot apartment in New Orleans!  Despite my move I can’t miss any games in the league so I will be predicting the results of the Arizona matches for hopefully the whole season.

The addition of the LA Vibe and the St. Louis Archbishops and the farewell of Tennessee really shakes things up in our division and makes things a lot more challenging. LA seems like a solid team for sure and St. Louis will be really top heavy so I don’t know if both teams will make it to the playoffs but I would guess at least one of them does. I’ve always thought the Western division was stronger than the Eastern but now I think it’s true even more than before. We’ll see. It should be a fun season!

Anyways, on to the match. Arizona has a really solid team this year and although we have lost GM Alejandro we should be able to fight it out in every match.  Miami has been a tough team for us to beat and is never really weak on any board. And nothing changes for this season.

All the Arizona players are on the right hand side and all the Miami players are on the left.

Board 1

These two players played against each other with opposite colors two years ago and this should be a tough match-up. Both players play pretty predictably and will probably play a Ruy Lopez. Both players are experienced in the league and obviously Becerra has a long record of good seasons. However, Rogelio is known for being very solid and can easily turn the tables if Becerra decides he needs to push hard. I’m going to predict a draw here.

Board 2

This should be a very interesting match-up! Both players are very wild and not only are not afraid of complications but really go after them. These two players also know each other pretty well. This is only the third game Dionisio has played, having a fairly good but short year last season with 1.5/2 games beating IM Felecan of Chicago and drawing IM Donaldson of San Francisco with Black. Dionisio will have White this game and I’m going to predict that he pulls this one out. If there is one game I would not miss it would be this game. Bring your popcorn and look for fireworks!

Board 3

Two more interesting and dynamic players on board 3. Danny rebounded from his horrible first season to have a solid year last season. However, from talking to him he is ready to show his true colors. Having a near 2500 IM on board 3 is always a nice feeling to have. I’m not sure but I think this is a rematch of a US Open game in Phoenix a while back. I think Danny won that one in 6 hours. That was a different time though for both players.

Eric has had a lot of experience in the league and overall has a great record. That, with the addition of being White, should make this an interesting match-up. I’m going to go with the rating advantage here and pick Danny.

Board 4

Man when you look at FM Charles Galofre on board 4 you got to be a little impressed. He is a very strong board 4 and actually played pretty well for Miami on Board 3 (!) two seasons ago. He is playing against one of our newcomers to the team in John Gurczak.  John has wanted to be on the team since we started the league two years ago and now he gets a chance. One thing going for him in this game is that he is White. Hopefully he can use some of this excitement and win this one out but I am going to predict a Galofre win here.

So overall a very tight match-up. I am predicting a 2.5-1.5 victory for my Scorpions! Stay tune on Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM Arizona time. It should be a good one!

The Year 2010 in the US Chess League looks to be a rather balanced league. It will be interesting to see whether improved teams such as Chicago can qualify for the playoffs, and whether new teams like St Louis and Los Angeles will handle their respective first year in the league. Somehow I think there will be a few new teams to the playoffs.

Just like last year, I will try my best to predict the matches. I really hope I can pick better than I did last year because last year was worse than the fall of a certain political parties (insert your favorite punch-bag here).  Without further ado, here are the Week 1 predictions:

Monday Matches –

New York Knights vs. Boston Blitz

The first match of the 2010 campaign is again a great match-up between 2 rivalries. I really like New York’s team this year with the use of the 3 underrated juniors (underrated meaning current USCF ratings are much higher than 2009 rating supplement being used) Alec Getz, Alex Ostrovskiy and Justus Williams, as well as heavy-weight GM Giorgi Kacheishvili on board 1. Getz has played well this year, Ostrovskiy is almost 2300, and Justus Williams has improved a lot in the last year. Boston always will be strong when you have GM Larry “Can I please get an ice coffee” Christiansen leading the team, but I think Boston is lacking that underrated player element that always seems to help teams. So who wins this one? I think Larry needs to score the full point against GM Alex Lenderman for Boston to be successful because I think NY is stronger overall. NY wins 2.5-1.5

Philadelphia has a slight rating edge here – but Philly will need a strong outing from IM Bryan Smith who had a superb  Philadelphia International this summer. I think Bryan needs to come after GM Joel Benjamin because NJ has a huge edge on board 2. GM Boris Gulko receives his obligatory white vs. FM Tom Bartell and should bring that point home. For that reason, I think NJ wins this one 2.5-1.5.

I remember the nervous feeling I had two years ago when I played for the Arizona Scorpions and I am sure there will be a little bit of nervous feelings from both of these expansion teams. But don’t feel too bad for St Louis who has 3 GMs (Naka, Shulman, and Finegold) or LA which has the very experienced GM Melik Khachiyan and some other very talented players. I think its pretty clear that if St Louis survives on boards 3 and 4 this year, they will be very difficult to beat. Even though this match is going to be close, in large part due to the huge rating advantage LA has on board 4, St Louis wins this one 2.5-1.5.

Seattle Sluggers vs. Chicago Blaze

Chicago has a rating edge this match and really looks to be significantly improved. GM Amanov on board 2 (or potentially 3^rd!) for future matches is slightly obnoxious. I expect Gurevich to do well on board 1 this year which should help Chicago contend for the playoffs. Seattle on the other hand has replaced Naka with Akobian, but Varuzhan is not playing this week. Chicago wins 3-1.

Wednesday Matches –

Manhattan Applesauce vs. Carolina Cobras

Do Cobras eat apple sauce? If they did, that would give Carolina at least one edge to speak of. Manhattan wins this one, though it will be closer than people will expect. MA wins 2.5-1.5.

The other expansion team, New England, has a lot of familiar faces with IM’s Hungaski, Vigorito, and strong FM’s Braden Bournival and Chris Chase. NE also has a huge rating edge. Baltimore is not playing their strongest possible lineup and is an underdog on all boards. That spells disaster for Baltimore.
New England wins 3-1.

San Francisco busts out the usual obnoxious rating average (2462 – highest of the week) and features the usual cast of underrated juniors, with both Daniel Naroditsky and Steven Zierk each recently picking up IM Norms. Dallas has a strong team as well and really needs a strong performance from Sal “Can we have split (not separate) checks” Bercys.  Sal really will need to “Do it Live” for Dallas to hang in there – you know its gonna be an interesting Kings Indian Defense. Overall, I give SF the nod here as youth is served.  SF wins by a hair, 2.5-1.5.

Miami Sharks vs. Arizona Scorpions

Last year was a great year to be a fan of the Scorpions. We won the blog award , made the playoffs, and had a great time.  Unfortunately we lost in the playoffs – but still a successful year.

This year we see two new strong juniors (NM Nick Thompson and Expert John Gurczak) who will man board 4, as well our most successful board 4 from last year, David Adelberg.

Now onto the match. We will need Rogelio to hold down USCL stalwart, GM Julio Becerra while our other IM’s Dionisio Aldama and Danny Rensch will need to score against fellow IM Blas Lugo and NM Eric Rodriguez. Miami has a 200 point rating edge on board 4 with Charles Galofre against John Gurczak, though John is white. This will be a tough match as it always is when you play Miami.  I predict the olive branch here, 2-2 tie.

Sharks, Cars, and Suicide

First of all, I want to preface this preview with an apology: this will be my worst write-up for the Scorpions that I have done.  My liver is reeling from this weekend, I can’t breathe out of my nose, I’m sleep deprived, and I just got back from a class where my world famous professor rambled on about Hardy-Weinberg Principle Chi-squared testing for two hours—YAY!  Okay Elliott, stop whining.  Anyway…

both teams will make the playoffs, so not as much to play for other than seeding, but Arizona can actually tie for first in the West with Seattle if the Scorpions win and the rainy city inhabitants lose.

GM Julio “¿Hablo Inglès?” Becerra vs. GM Alejandro “I Don’t Know How To Drive” Ramirez

(Disclaimer: I have no knowledge about Alejandro’s actual driving ability, but I know it’s at least better than Robby’s and Amanda’s)

This game will be exciting, obviously because both players are Latino (although Handi somehow didn’t acquire the dominant “I love to attack crazily” allele).  Becerra will of course go for the jugular and come out with guns blazing.  These two last played with the current colors over the board at the 2008 UTD GM Invitational where the game ended in a hard-fought draw after 44 moves.  Julio will open with 1.e4 as always (once again because nearly every Latino player plays 1.e4), but the question is what will Ramirez respond with on his first move (he played Alekhine’s 1…Nf6 in the 2008 game—maybe a good choice again)?  He has many flexible choices at his disposal (i.e. Sicilian and French along with Alekhine’s), so it’s really up to Alejandro to determine what type of game he’d like to steer the position towards.  This stylistic direction will most likely determine the outcome of the game.  I recommend Alejandro plays something solid like he did last time because I think complications would favor Julio.  If Handi can successfully equalize, I think he can hold a very dangerous opponent to a solid draw.

IM Levon “I Am Going To Go For a Win This Time!” Altounian vs. IM Blas “I Have The Coolest First Name” Lugo

Levon is white, the rating favorite, and really needs to try to win this game for his team, mainly based on the fact that board 4 is a problem (sorry Amanda, love you!).  No matter how he goes for it—either via slow, methodical, python squeeze or busting out of his solid cocoon for an attempted blitzkrieg—Mr. Reliable Consistency has to try to push, force the issue, and win this game at all costs.  However, everyone knows Blas will be ready for a fight, and for those who aren’t familiar with him, he is a capable player whose strength is much greater (at least 100 points) than the meaningless four-digit number that follows his name (Lugo has also whooped me twice a few years ago).  I know Blas plays Slav as Black, which is obviously way too exciting for Levon to even come close to challenging, so maybe Altounian will open with the flexible 1.Nf3 to see how Lugo responds or maybe Levon should play English with 1.c4, which would most likely result in a reversed closed Dragon such as: 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d3 0-0 9.a3 etc. because I think Blas plays something along these lines (although I could obviously be wrong).  Of course, Levon should really play the Botvinnik variation of the Slav or one of those crazy Meran lines or something like that.  *[Wishful thinking by me]*.  Regardless of what the opening is, I believe Altounian will come through in the clutch again for his team and ultimately prevail in this intriguing match-up.

IM Alejandro Moreno “No, I Don’t Have As Many Middle Names as Handi” Roman vs. Robby “Yesterday, I Became Eligible For Senior Benefits” Adamson

Happy Birthday Robby (to the readers: it actually was his birthday)!  Congratulations, you’re old!  You also suck at driving.  Now, just don’t lose this game.  Nothing would make Robby and the Scorpions happier than a big win on Board 3.  I think this may be the most pivotal game of the match.  The winner here will most likely lead his team to victory.  Moreno Roman will actually not play 1.e4 (I will be very surprised if he does) because he clearly favors Queen-pawn systems.  What remains to be seen is if Adamson chooses to repeat his Two Knights Tango or if he tries to go into some sort of Benko or Benoni.  I will predict a toss-up: will the veteran IM secure a victory for his team or will Birthday Baby-face deliver a present with a masterful performance?

Madame Amanda “I Almost Killed Elliott Liu When He Was In My Car” Mateer vs. Eric “The Last Time I Played A Girl With Initials ‘A.M.’ I Lost In 14 Moves!” Rodriguez

Alright so for those who don’t know, these two nicknames are actually TRUE!  FACT!  CORRECT!  So…first of all, Amanda, you ARE the world’s worst driver, congratulations (yes, hard to believe, but worse than Larry)!  To make a long story short, ms. Directionally Challenged made a left turn into an oncoming semi with me in the passenger seat.  Okay, I guess I am being mean.  I only say she is a bad driver because I almost died, but besides that she isn’t too bad (“too” is the key word here).  And secondly, Eric, my homeboy, remember back in the U.S. Open in 2007 when you played another “A.M.” with Black, lost in 14 moves because you forgot how to play chess, and wanted to kill yourself?  Well, in case you or anyone else did, thought I’d revive this gem: I present to you ms. Abby Marshall vs. Eric Rodriguez.

Yo, so Amanda you have the whole “A.M” thing on your side this week.  Also, you showed the world your undercover beastly strength with that previous 300 point upset, so there’s no reason why history won’t repeat itself.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling E-Rod will play more like A-Rod this week, so just pretend you’re Madonna or something (hopefully sports enthusiasts understand).  I assume Eric will try to Benoni you, so, um, good luck with that.  But seriously, make the game cool.  In a shocker, I predict Rodriguez to win this game, but ms. Mateer is no pushover…until you actually try to push her.

Verdict: So what does all this mean?  I predict an exciting 2-2 draw this week.  No, I’m being serious, I actually think 2-2 has a good chance of happening.  Both teams have two toss-up games on Boards 1 and 3 and two games where one player is more favored than the other on Boards 2 and 4.  I still think Robby’s game is the most crucial because in this specific situation I don’t see Alejandro beating Becerra with the Black pieces unless Julio has to unnecessarily push, which I’m assuming he shouldn’t considering both teams are already in the playoffs.  I will conclude by saying it has honestly been a pleasure guest-writing for the Scorpions from time to time this USCL season, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Peace!

Alright, back to Mendelian recombinant population genetics and lactose coevolution

Let’s quickly look and see what Week 9 has in store for us. NJ is going to try and clinch the East, while Seattle closes in on the West. Everyone seems to be alive in the East while the West is seed-to-be-determined, with Dallas having an outside chance. I have done much lately in picking, although of course that’s all luck.

Queens Pioneers vs. Carolina Cobras

Queens wins to keep mathematically alive. Queens wins 2.5-1.5.

Dallas Destiny vs. Chicago Blaze

A battle for Dallas to stay alive in the West – Dallas and Chicago battle to 2-2 tie.

San Francisco Mechanics vs. Tennessee Tempo

San Francisco wins 3-1 – they have more to prove than Tennessee, who has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Philadelphia Inventors vs. New Jersey Knockouts

Gulko = win for NJ – should wrap up the division and may dash the playoff hopes of Philly. NJ wins 2.5-1.5.

Baltimore Kingfishers vs. New York Knights

The biggest match of the night perhaps. NY has the edge on board 4. Erenberg probably needs a win with white for Baltimore to have a chance. NY wins 2.5-1.5.

Boston Blitz vs. Miami Sharks

A match with significance for both teams. No Becerra, no LarryC – should be a tight match. Perelshteyn gives Boston the edge and a very narrow win. Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

Seattle Sluggers vs. Arizona Scorpions

I predict my Scorpions and Seattle battle to a tie, 2-2.

Last week – 5-2! (That is 10-4 in 2 weeks!).

Lets briefly recap Week 7, (where I finally picked well (5-2). I mean I had to pick well once this year).  Seattle solidified their stranglehold on 1st place in the West Division with a hard fought win over Miami, while both New Jersey and Boston improved their record to 6-1 as they continue their dominance in the East.  Arizona, San Francisco, and Miami are all tied for 2nd in the West, with a record of 4-3. All teams in the East except Carolina are in playoff contention in the East, with only 1 match win separating 3rd from 5th place.  The results this week should clarify or confuse the division.

New Jersey Knockouts vs Boston Blitz

With firstp lace on the line in the East, except a very competitive match.  No GM Joel for NJ, and no GM Larry for Boston. The GM match-up of  Boris Gulko and Eugene Perelshteyn should be a dandy – as both are undefeated in USCL play this year. Boston seems a little stronger on the other boards and that should provide an edge. NJ has been impressive this season, so we will see if that difference matters. I think Eugene will hold Gulko to a draw and therefore the edge switches to Boston, and therefore Boston wins. 2.5-1.5.

Dallas Destiny vs Miami Sharks

Miami has a slight rating advantage, and because of  Dallas’s late substitution on board 4, Miami has the edge on most of the boards. For Dallas to be successful, they need IM John Bartholomew to hold at least a draw and perhaps have IM Daniel Ludwig exact some revenge from his previous loss to IM Bruci Lopez.  Despite the advantages for Miami, somehow I think Dallas and Miami battle to a tie, 2-2.

Chicago Blaze vs Arizona Scorpions

Go Scorpions! Arizona wins.
New York Knights vs Carolina Cobras

Rating advantage on 3 boards + Need to win to keep hold of 3rd place = Win for NY Knights, though it will be closer than people think,  NY 2.5-1.5

Philadelphia Inventors vs Baltimore Kingfishers

Philly better make their move soon if they are gonna make the playoffs, like my beloved Phillies. This match is a total toss-up. Philly seems a little stronger, though Baltimore is very close to making the playoffs if they can find a way to win. This should be an exciting match – I predict a draw, that way no one is happy.

San Francisco Mechanics vs Queens Pioneers

Queens needs this badly or their playoff hopes are over. San Francisco needs it as well to keep pace in the West. SF wins a close one, 2.5-1.5.

Tennessee Tempo vs Seattle Sluggers

It is so difficult to pick against Seattle when Nakamura is playing, no matter who the opponent. TN chose not to use either of their GM’s, its hard to pick anything but a Seattle win.  TN has to hope for production on boards 3 and 4, and a draw on boards 1 or 2. TN will put up a valiant effort, in the end, you cant get around the NAKA factor. Seattle wins 3-1.

Last Week 5-2!