Levon Altounian is a stong IM based in Tucson, Arizona. He is the head of the Arizona Chess for Schools which you can find out more by clicking here.

ARIZONA SCORPIONS VS Seattle Sluggers ( Week 7 )

OPENING REVIEW:

Great match and a very tough victory by the Arizona team that propelled us to a 2^nd place tie in the division! I feel relieved.

San Francisco is always a tough match for us having usually employed at least 1 GM (even though some of the line ups may include even 3 GMs). Here is what I approximately thought may happen. It was a pure guess based on only either knowing our players, their preferences, in some cases their opponents.

Board 1. I was not sure what Rogelio will play this time. Last time against Bhat he played an Exhange Rui Lopez. Got a weird game, lost a piece, instead of resigning played on and …. Drew!

Board 2. I had a feeling John will play the solid type of some nf3-c4 system and it was up to Aldama to decide which way to react. I was 99% sure it will be either Kings Indian, symmetrical or some Bogo_Indian version.

Board 3. With Danny I really had no real feeling. It could be his 1d4 2 Bg5, could be Torre attack or could be main line Sicilians.

Board 4. I had no time to check what Dallas player plays as White but I was sure whatever it will be, David will play his usual stuff he knows best.

This match was a bit of a tribute to tactical creativity of all players and the slight edge Arizonans have playing ICC type chess ( SF people might disagree though)

Board 1: BARCENILLA-BHAT
General Styles: Barcenilla- More active chess, Bhat- more “normal” chess
Theoretical Importance:  8
Novelty: 6
Precision: 7
Opening: Scotch
The Scotch Opening choice took me by complete surprise! I had looked at playing it myself and somehow was sure Bhat would play exactly what he played again Rogelio. I watched games of Kasparov in similar lines and I was astounded how I would always guess maybe only 10% of all his moves.I knew I would not like those positions as White so didn’t even try. Now, watching the game unfold exactly how I assumed it would unfold had it been my game, I had the pleasure of watching it all from a safe distance. If Barcenilla finds something (or had prepared something ) against the lesser known 8…Nb6 (favorite of many Russian 2700 players), then he knew something I didn’t know. If he got into trouble, then it would prove my feeling that the line of Scotch in the game is too weird for normal chess players to comprehend in a complete way. I didn’t like the 11 a4 and it seemed black got more than a good game. However, complications started, time pressure slowly crept in and I think Black somewhere missed a win. Having not found a win, Black chose to trade all off into a draw, but instead found himself in a slightly worse endgame. I was still sure it will end in a draw until White pawn got to the 7^th rank. Then Bhat panicked. White had a much easier win (58 Bd7!) but chose a safe way out and by force got an Queen vs Rook ending. At that point Mark Ginsburg was touting how easy it is to win it for white but forgot a “tiny”detail: few months back, he himself didn’t win it against an IM at the Copper State 09.We were sure however, Rogelio will win easily as the rook was separated from the King. To my surprise the game kept going. All ended well though, as he found a way to win the rook without reaching the dreaded 50 move rule. Very good Blitz save and win by Barcenilla but his opening choices as White sometimes scare me!
Board 2: IM Donaldson-IM Aldama
General Styles: Donaldson- Super solid openings as White, Aldama- much less theory while compensating it by sharp tactics.
Theoretical Importance:  8
Novelty: 9
Precision: 9
Opening: Kings Indian
As I mentioned, I was expecting Kings Indian in this game. However, John played a very interesting new move ( at least for me )-9 b3!!. It seems Black should have some Nf6 forced removal and Ra1 capture  ( like N:d5 or Ne4 ) but the simple fact White played it and Black did nothing about it, convinced me in about 2 seconds there has to be nothing for Black. Aldama never misses such chances and John never blunders those. If that is the case, then the small advantage White obtained by switching to English structure from that line of KID should make all future attempts by Black to play this line a very unpleasant experience. However, White didn’t seem to be inclined to really push for a win, being happy to keep the slight edge.He probably had a win at the end but chickened out and repeated the position. Good Defense in a very unpleasant position by Aldama.
Board 3: FM Rensch-FM Naroditsky
General Styles: Rensch- very aggressive. Naroditsky- also very aggressive.
Theoretical Importance:  9
Novelty: 8
Precision:7
Opening:  Bg5 Veresov.
From where I stood, the opening choice was hilarious. Danny plays as White a line that a 2100 Geary used against himself to obtain a winning game…. 5 moves or so later, using the most illogical looking move:6 a3!!??. Naroditsky played the in most logical way and I thought obtained a slight edge if had squeezed in some a7-a5 break. But the game became much more normal after both sides developed. What happens when 2 tactical guys get a boring position? Hint: no draw. As a result – White gets a totally losing position and then wins in a magical way! Mark was right again- Statistical Rensch proved milestones do happen. It was statistically impossible for him not to win a game. His first win for the Scorpion team and definitely not last!
Board 4: Young-Adelberg
General Styles: Young-active, Adelberg- more normal but still aggressive.
Theoretical Importance:  8
Novelty: 5
Precision: 9
Opening: Sicilian Kan.
I was amazed as to why would David play Kan! The only reason could be to transpose to the English System lines ( Be3-0-0-0-g4 push ) ideas but keep the Bf8 open to jump to b4. I had seen many games of that sort from the Taimanov system ( Nc6 for Black- helping Master Vaishnav Aradhyula prepare for matches) and Najdorf ( d6 for Black) but I knew in Kan that system doesn’t work for White. But he has plenty of options ( just ask Leo to share his worn out Kan book!) So the only reason to play a whole new line was to get White to play the English attack and prove it wrong against Kan? Far fetched, impossible, White is not crazy. Turned out that is exactly what White did! I am not sure if the choice of the system was prepared at home by David (or his coach) completely or just by some guessing method or not, but it ended up EXACTLY how he planned, which was great to see. White was down a piece few moves later. I love when people can prepare for opponents and get exactly what they want. Controlling the uncontrollable ( the opponent’s mind) is a great feeling. Unfortunately, from a complete winning game the game drifted to more unclear and finally in some magical way White won from being down a whole piece from move 12 to 58!. I can imagine how bad it felt for black but that is the chess life. Things can turn bad sometimes. Part of growing up in chess is getting stuff like this- we all go through it.
Overall, somewhere 1 hour into a game:,Board one was in trouble, Board 2 also definitely in some trouble, Board 3- definitely in trouble and Board 4- definitely winning. The word “ definite” apparently doesn’t apply to these guys because none of it turned the way it was supposed to- much to the pleasure of all of the Arizona players and observers as we won the match. I still need to check how many gray and white hair though this match brought to the members such as Robby and Leo collectively!

What a ridiculous, incredulous, and ludicrous (enough -ous’s?) back and forth encounter that I know I will never forget! I have followed the US Chess League since its inception and can honestly say I have never seen a crazier match than this week’s match between the San Francisco Mechanics and your beloved Arizona Scorpions. Fans of both teams and the USCL were treated to a back and forth affair that had the ICC kibitzers going nuts. This match easily could have finished 3.5-.5 in favor of the Arizona, or 3.5-.5 in favor of San Francisco. Click here for a preview of the match by Scorpion’s IM Mark Ginsburg. http://arizonascorpionchess.com/2009/10/week-7-match-preview/

Even though I am keenly aware that many matches come down to the last few minutes and the actual position often doesn’t mean a hill of beans, I am still amazed at what happens in these matches each week. Some players play well at the beginning of the match and lose the thread; some don’t wake up until they are in trouble; some don’t “get” playing online at all; some do better when they have a few seconds on their clock before they make a move and get the 30 second increment. I guess it is this uncertainty that makes the USCL so entertaining.

In the past three weeks, Arizona faced arguably one of the toughest three game schedules in USCL history (though in the USCL each week is so difficult). In Week 5, the Scorpions took on the two-time defending USCL Champions, the Dallas Destiny (tying them 2-2); in Week 6, Arizona defeated the previously undefeated New Jersey Knockouts; this week – week 7, AZ faced the San Francisco Mechanics, a team that seems to own the Western division and a team for which I have the ultimate respect.  And for a bizarre yet funny non-chess video preview of the match click here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NsvwaowPHI Please don’t ask me what possessed Mark to even think of something so ridiculous.

Scorpion Players Awarded GM Title, IM Title, and NM Title!!
Before looking at the matches, I want to make special mention of some great accomplishments of some Scorpion players. First, congrats to now-GM Rogelio Barcenilla for being awarded the Grandmaster title at the FIDE Congress being held as we speak. Also kudos to now-IM Danny Rensch who was awarded the IM title at the latest Congress. Finally, congratulations to National Master David Adelberg, who achieved the master title at the just completed 2009 Los Angeles Open. Congrats to Rogelio, Danny and David! And wouldn’t you know it, but all three were in action this week.

The games are covered in the order they finished to get a sense of what was going through each player’s mind.

Read the rest of this entry »

Scorpions-Mechanics: Not for the Faint of Heart

Wow, I am still freaking out a day later.  The Arizona Scorpions and the SF Mechanics played a titantic match on 10/14/09 that will go down in USCL annals as one of the most topsy-turvy matches ever.

I was really pleased to see David Adelberg play the Kan on board 4 for Arizona, consistent with my match preview! Although he got fatigued and eventually lost his way, I am very happy with how well the fearsome Kan did in the opening.

Here is Board 2’s madness.

IM John Donaldson (SF) – IM Dionisio Aldama (ARZ)

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.d4 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.d5 Na5 9.b3 c5 10.dxc6 Nxc6 11.Bb2 Bd7 12.Qc1 Rc8 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.cxd5 Ne5 16.Qb2 f6 17.Nd4 Qb6 18.Qd2 a5 19.f4 Kg8 20.e3 Nf7 21.Rac1 Rc5?

21…Nh6! and black is fine.

22.Ne6! Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Rc8 24.Rxc8+ Bxc8 25.Qd4 Qxd4 26.Nxd4 Bd7 26…Nh6! to hold white to a small edge.

27.Kf2 Kf8 28.Ke2 Ke8 29.Kd3

Black has an awful position.  His next few moves make it worse.

29…Kd8 30.Ne6+ Kc8 31.Nf8! This should have been the winning move.  Robby Adamson and I were not sanguine about black’s chances.  GM Ramirez also wondered what the hell black was doing.  We were like hens in a henhouse virtually running around in our little cyber barn.

31…Kd8

Snap on h7?

32.Ne6+? What’s this?  There is no way John is going to repeat, I told myself (and others) – he’s just gaining time on the clock.  But then:

32…Kc8 33.Nf8 Kd8 34.Ne6+? Game drawn by repetition 1/2-1/2

Go back to the diagrammed position.  You have very good tactical and positional endgame insight if you can spot the lines which gives white a big plus, which I have posted in the comments.  The solutions (multiple!) are instructive.

Take on h7?  Take on d7?  A king move?  Very tempting possibilities, and hard to work out in the USCL time limit! Scroll down to find the answer but don’t cheat!

The other matchups were equally nuts and very tense for players and spectators alike.  It was only decided in the wee hours when Arizona’s Barcenilla won Q vs R against San Francisco’s Vinay Bhat. 

Answer:

From the diagram, correct for white curiously enough are several different moves. The variations vividly show the power of the long-range bishop over the constricted knight in various pawn structures where white can force a king entry.

The first candidate and clearly winning move is 32. Kc4!.

32…b5+? 33. Kd4 Ke8 34. Nxd7! Kxd7 35. Bf1! b4 36. Kc4! and wins.

Tougher is 32…b6 33. a4! Ke8 34. Ne6 Nd8? 35. Nc7+ Kf7 36. Na8! and wins. Or, 34…h5 35. Bh3 Nh6 36. Ng7+ Kd8 37. Bxd7 Kxd7 38. h3! and white will win.

For those who like simpler solutions, by the way, also very strong is the simple and straightforward 32. Nxd7! Kxd7 33. Bh3+! Kc7 34. Be6 Nd8 35. Bg8 h6 36. Bh7! g5 (black is now very soft) 37. Kc4 b6 38. a3 Nb7 39. b4 axb4 40. axb4 Kd7 41. Kd4 Nd8 42. Bf5+ Kc7 43. Bg4 Nf7 44. Bh5! Nd8 45. Ke4 and white’s king walks in and wins. Very methodical and nice domination of the B versus the N.

Not correct, on the other hand, is the tempting 32. Nxh7? Ke8 35. e4 Nh6! 36. e5 Bf5+! and there no advantage for white.

Thank ye, thank ye, good to be hither.

From the USCL website, the tale of the tape for Arizona’s week 7 match:

Arizona plays white on boards 1 and 3.  Due to some obscure rule, the Mechanoids play white on boards 2 and 4.

Robby predicts, “Arizona Scorpions vs. San Francisco Mechanics
Let’s see – I picked against them last time (though I really didnt). Lets try sort of picking them again – ok thats dumb. AZ wins.”    This is a toughie – a veritable Minotaur’s Maze to predict.

The Minotaur's Maze

Well, we can attempt a prediction. Let’s try the board by board method and thorougly confound matters with a heavy dose of perplexing Alburtian percentages. You might also like a quick video preview.

Board 1. Our RoBa, fresh from a nice spanking of IM Ippolito, looks to revert to form after a couple of losses to Nakamura and Bercys.  His opponent, though, is a very tough and experienced international competitor, GM Vinay Bhat aka VB aka Visual Basic. I am very impressed with how VB calmly makes a move on a physical board then deliberately wheels himself around in a chair to then duplicate that same move on a computer screen, even when low on time.  Nerves of steel!   RoBa is very opportunistic and usually has a time advantage, but VB usually does not let a time disadvantage lead to his defeat.  RoBa is very tactical but Visual Basic is no slouch at calculation – an excellent matchup.  This USCL time limit does work well for RoBa though unless he falls into a Naka funk and plays something he’s not familiar with.  In summary, as GM Alburt used to say, “75% chance of draw”.  For a decisive result, the other 25% I divide up equally between the two players.

Board 2. Here we field a mystery man, never before seen in USCL play, IM Dionisio Aldama aka Aldo Nova aka Freshmeat aka New Guy.  At tournaments, I’ve only seen Aldama’s games from a distance and they are often sharp.  He is playing black against Joe Solid, or should I say John Solid, IM Donaldson.  I note Freshmeat’s relatively high rating but cannot speak to his USCL skills – although he does ICC blitz a lot.  Does that help?  Maybe.  John is not “Danger Man” to use European tournament parlance and is not terribly ambitious in his opening schemes.  It is a question of whether our mystery man will meet him on solid terms or go all out for a black victory which can, as we know, sometimes not work out.  As GM Alburt would say, “perhaps a napkin” (GM Alburt’s introductory ‘food order’ at a communal Lone Pine lunch).  What else would Alburt say?  “60% chance of draw.”  For the other 40%, we’ll have to give some credence to New Guy’s relatively high rating but also note that John is white and New Guy might go nuts trying to combat some sleepy-time system.  Let’s give John Solid 15% of the decisive pie and Freshmeat 25%. I would hasten to add that it’s important for us to learn New Guy’s favorite food and drink ahead of time and provide them at the playing site.

Breaking news:  New Guy is blitzing on ICC Tuesday at noon vs. IM Cyrus Lakdawala. And I learned something, he has an extra name “Degournay”!

Statistics for maton(IM)         On for: 2:25     Idle:    0
maton is currently involved in a match against Kawas(IM).

rating [need] win  loss  draw total   best
Wild            1779  [6]     1     1     0     2
Crazyhouse      2082  [6]     0     1     0     1
Bullet          2126  [8]    35    41     4    80   2181 (06-Aug-2002)
Blitz           2388  [4]  1753  1839   269  3861   2998 (06-Jun-2003)
5-minute        2345       1389   887   193  2469   2544 (12-Oct-2009)
1-minute        2001      12195 11150   919 24264   2381 (21-Jan-2004)
15-minute       1300          4     3     0     7

Name   : Dionisio Aldama Degournay
Groups : Mexico IMs

Board 3. Here we see a newly minted IM, Danny “Statistical” (“Stat”) Rensch, go against Lil’ Talent, Daniel (Danya) Naroditsky, aka Shortbread. I’ve watched Danya’s chess improve palpably over the last few years and it is a pleasure to behold.  No more g4?? butcheries such as a 2008 Shortbread-Angelo Young game best forgotten. Instead, clean, logical chess and better opening prep.  From Stat, likewise, we see more confidence following the IM result at the Spice cup.  He held a tough game against Molnar last week and this has to be a confidence booster after his bad luck early in this season and last season. On Stat’s side, statistically unseen numeric forces are at work to improve his USCL record to date.

I do know this:  these two guys are very sharp and we will be looking at a crazy tactical battle here.  And Stat is much better with white than black.  OTOH (on the other hand), Shortbread has shown excellent prep as black in recent times.  It will be a battle royale to be sure.  To quote Boris Spassky, we have here “drunken machine gunners.”  Boris meant the players fling pieces around and que sera, sera.  At the time, (historical note), Spassky was referring to Swedish wild man GM Ferdinand Hellers.

Shortbread was on the wrong side of a drunken machine gunner in the NY – SF match and I am sure he is looking to correct his ledger in that sort of game.    I would only award this game a 30% peace proportion, and for the remaining 70%, I will give Stat a very slight nod 36% to 34% over Lil’ Talent simply because he is white.

In case you are wondering what happens if BOTH players are drunken machine gunners – well then we have a classic DDMG (Double Drunken Machine Gunner) battle.  The victor is usually the more ‘drunk’ (you can take this to mean utterly random) player. – cf. the Fernandez-Zaikov USCL game from this week’s action

Board 4. Here we have David Adelberg aka Kid Cactus aka Astroboy (“I was made ready!”) playing black against another kid, Gregory “Youngster” Young aka G-Yo.  I was unfamiliar with G-Yo’s  play and looked up his USCL games.  He has a pretty good score but one time fell into a sweet tactic and got mated in the opening vs NM Chris Williams. Did you happen to notice the opening in that debacle?  It was a foxy Sicilian Kan!  Kan Konquers Kiddies because the positional complexities required to handle the white side are usually far beyond the pale of the kiddie tactician. I also found another, fairly bizarre, effort of his in a Dragon.  He held that game, but his opponent Zorigt was one of Astroboy’s victims this season. And, as we all know, young David has been a revelation and a tremendous addition to Arizona’s team this year on the bottom board.  Well, it looks like it’s going to be a Kiddie Najdorf. since that is what Kid Cactus plays and it looks like G-Yo always sticks with Open Sicilians.  I am not sure who Ehlvest’s handlers are in Tennesse, but they should tell him “don’t play into Kiddie Najdorfs!”  He would have come out of the opening better against Ludwig if he had avoided theory altogether. There’s a time for theory, Jaan, and a time for understanding.  The USCL with its fast time limit should be a forum to claim superiority based on understanding, not whip out oodles of theory – unless we have two juniors playing and then it’s practically inevitable – cf. this board 4 encounter.  OTOH, if I had to make one Caissic wish, it would be that Astroboy retools and whips out a Kan!   Kiddie can ken* Kan!

* Ken (v): Chiefly Scot.

It’s funny how tight matches often come down to a fourth board that is utterly unpredictable before the first move. Kiddie temperaments and energy at the board wax and wane** frequently; there is no way to know  who will be more engrossed in chess iron logic when the moment comes to fight – truly Chaos On Board. And once again Board 4 might be the crucial matchup! As Lev Alburt would say, “only 20% chance draw.”  I would divide up the decisive portion almost equally between these two young combatants. I will say Kid Cactus 38% and Gregory 42% as a nod to G-Yo’s  master rating.  Dateline Weds.: Incredible postscript:  Kid Cactus just became a NM after the LA Open.  So now it’s dead heat, 40% to both!

** Wax and wane: Increase and decrease, as in size, number, strength, or intensity, as in Enrollments in these programs wax and wane from year to year. This expression alludes to the phases of the moon, with its periodic changes in size. It was first recorded in the 1300s.

And Did You Know?

To make absolutely sure that you learn something from this post, I recently visited a Harley dealership and complained that my 883 custom “Sunglo Red” paint job was distinctly less lustrous than new.  The mechanic brought out a bottle of “Throttle Body” (a product made by Würth Industries).  “Throttle Body”, dear readers, is an amazing automotive and motorcycle cleaning product!  An arbitrary tidbit?  No!  I first rode dearly departed “Wild Black”, a CB750, on the streets of San Francisco getting tangled up with the cable car groove on Market St.  And Arizona is playing SF… well, you get the picture . Now go out and buy your own “Throttle Body” and let the USCL games begin.

The third week of Predictions between the Managers is below! The scores after the first week were tied 19-19 but after the second week’s disastrous result from myself (Leo) the score is now Leo 36 – Craig 42.  Good luck trying to criticize these predictions!

and

Welcome to the 2009 United States Chess League!  I will be providing predictions on all of the matches each week (though I may duck predicting for the Arizona Scorpions some weeks, since I might be biased).  Please note in my predictions that I do not mean to be too critical of any team or player on a particular match – just one person’s thoughts. Without further ado, here are the predictions for Week 1.

Queens Pioneers v. Boston Blitz

Boston has a nice average rating advantage in this match (2461 to 2401). A nice GM match-up on board 1 with Alexander Stripunsky vs. Larry Christiansen. As happens so often in a game between 2 strong GM’s, the game can be a push. I think Queens needs a victory from Stripunsky in order to win the match. GM Perelshteyn with white against IM Eli Vovsha gives Boston the upper hand. On Board 3, IM Marc Esserman has a rating edge against FM Andrei Zaremba, but Andrei has white, so this is probably a push. Board 4 features expert Shaun Smith and youngster, Andrew Wang – this game might well decide the match. Boston wins 2.5-1.5

Miami Sharks v. Dallas Destiny

Miami has a big advantage both in strength (GM vs. IM), and color (Julio has white). I am looking forward to seeing what GM Julio Becerra plays against IM John Bartholomew’s world-famous Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.ed Qd5). Board 2 features new UTD student and USCL rookie, Daniel Ludwig against  FM Bruci Lopez. White has a strength advantage and has white, so I give Ludwig the edge. Comparing just boards 1 and 2, I think Miami has a small edge. With board 3, Eric Rodriguez has white against FM Keaton Kiewra, who has not played in a while. Keaton is known for good preparation, so it will be interesting to see how this game goes. Finally, Nelson Lopez has color and slight rating advantage over Miguel Recio, someone I know nothing about. Overall, I think Miami has a very small edge here, though a tie would not surprise me. I predict a tie.

San Francisco Mechanics v. Seattle Sluggers

In the final Monday match of the night, San Francisco catches a break against the Nakamura-less Seattle Sluggers. With that being said, Seattle actually out-rates San Francisco  – something that I don’t think matters for this match. Pruess is at a ridiculously low rating of 2410, and having Donaldson on board 3 is as good as its going to get, even though he is facing FM Michael Lee. Board 4 features the debut of SF’s newest master, twelve year old, Yian Liou. Overall, I predict a 2-2 tie.

New York Knights v. New Jersey Knockouts

Upon a quick look at this first match of Wednesday, I was amazed at how stacked and high rated NY is. Kacheisvili v Benjamin is a great board 1 match-up, and Pascal Charbonneau on board 2 is quite strong, especially when Pascal has played board 1 many times. What is interesting is that Yaacov Norowitz on board 4 is now higher rated than their board 3, though of course not per the rating list used by NY. With a rating edge on boards 1 and 2, the Shen brothers are going to have to come up big for NJ. I predict NY wins 3-1.

Carolina Cobras v. Baltimore Kingfishers

Carolina by default has to resort to a balanced lineup (Boards 1-4 all within 150 pts of each other) while Baltimore sports GM Kritz, not an easy match for IM Schroer, as well IM Enkhbat, GM Larry Kaufman (Board 3!), and an expert on board 4. For out-ranked Carolina to have a chance, there will be a lot of pressure on the bottom boards (All-Star Ron Simpson and Craig Jones), and Oleg Zaikov will have to continue his incredible USCL success. I predict Carolina falls a little short in this one, and loses 2.5-1.5.

Philadelphia Inventors v. Tennessee Tempo

Philly has upgraded a lot since their disappointing season last year, with abnormally high rated players on boards 2 and 3 (GM Lenderman and IM Bryan Smith). The always dangerous GM Alexander Shabalov will have to carry the day for Tennessee since they are out-ranked on boards 2 and 3. Philly wins 2.5-1.5.

Arizona Scorpions v. Chicago Blaze

Arizona welcomes GM Alejandro Ramirez to board 1, while IM Levon Altounian moves down to board 2. Arizona welcomes the first junior and almost master, twelve year old David Adelberg to the team. Chicago features a balanced lineup lead by GM Mitkov, and 2 IM’s. Arizona wins a squeaker, 2.5-1.5.

SUMMARY OF WEEK 1 PREDICTIONS

Queens Pioneers v. Boston Blitz            Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

Miami Sharks v. Dallas Destiny               Tie 2-2.

San Francisco v. Seattle Sluggers           Tie 2-2.

NY Knights v. New Jersey Knockouts   NY Knights wins 3-1

Carolina Cobras v. Baltimore Kingfishers    Baltimore wins 2.5-1.5

Philadelphia Inventory v. TN Tempo     Philly wins 2.5-1.5

AZ Scorpions v. Chicago Blaze                  Arizona wins 2.5-1.5

A quick look at the matchups for Week 7.

Monday Matchups:

1. Boston Blitz vs New York Knights

Boston bounces back to beat NY – Boston wins 2.5-1.5.

2. Queens Pioneers vs New Jersey Knockouts

NJ hands Queens its 2nd loss in a row. Gulko on 2nd board is a bigger edge for NJ than Lenderman on 3rd vs Ippolito. NJ knocks out Queens 2.5-1.5.

3. Tennessee Tempo vs Chicago Blaze

I picked Tennessee to win 2 straight weeks, but without Ehlvest, Chicago wins 3-1.

4. San Francisco Mechanics vs Seattle Sluggers

Big match for Seattle with the G-Double Lineup. Going safe here, Seattle and San Fran battle to a tie 2-2.

Wednesday Matchups:

5. Baltimore Kingfishers vs Carolina Cobras

Carolina can put a stamp on their playoff ticket with a win – it doesnt happen this week. Yes, another tie match. Baltimore and Carolina fight to a 2-2 tie.

6. Dallas Destiny vs Philadelphia Inventors

Dallas faces a tough lineup this week against a Philly team that might creep back into playoff contention, and draws Philly 2-2. In much better and more exciting news, the Phillies beat Milwaukee!

7. Arizona Scorpions vs Miami Sharks

AZ wins 2.5-1.5. Go Scorpions!

A very quick look at Week 6

Monday Matches:

AZ over San Francisco 2.5-1.5 (Isnt a Scorpion more threatening than a Mechanic? Go Scorpions!

Seattle over NY 3-1 (2 GMs (Nakaserper) is greater than 1 GM (Fedorowicz) Therefore Seattle wins)

Wednesday Matches:

Carolina ties Queens 2-2 (Carolina may win this one, especially because of Queens’ weaker than usual lineup)

NJ over Baltimore 2.5-1.5 (NJ is loaded and will show their stuff against a struggling Baltimore team)

Boston over Philly 2.5-1.5 (Philly has a chance here if Kudrin can defeat Jorge, if not, turn out the lights on the Inventors, and say “Hello Phillies”)

Miami ties Chicago 2-2 (This should be a very competitive match – both teams need it)

Tennessee over Dallas 2.5-1.5 (TN really has a great chance to win this match, given the great success of the Ehlvesanator.

Until next week….

Arizona squares off against what is probably going to be the the Scorpions toughest match so far. San Francisco is loaded and has underrated players on every board.

Board 1 – IM Rogelio Barcenilla (2560) – IM Vinay Bhat (2481)

Rogelio finally gets to play white, after facing 2 strong GMs (Ehlvest and Stripunsky) with black. This time he will face off against GM-elect Vinay Bhat. If Rogelio can pull out a win, the Scorpions have a great chance.

Board 2 - IM David Pruess (2479) – Mark Ginsburg (2410)

Youth vs. veteran IM. Expect fireworks here, as David is especially proficient in tactical positions and is not afraid to mix it up. Mark will do his 70′s version of defend!

Board 3 – FM Danny Rensch (2411)- FM Sam Shankland (2364)

Again, a battle of two players who love to mix it up. Expect a decisive result for someone in this game.

Board 4 - FM Daniel Naroditsky (2321) - NM Leo Martinez (2209)

Finally, Manager Leo Martinez takes a break from his manager duties and squares off against ultra-stud young Daniel Naroditsky in an appealing fourth board match-up. Daniel continues to get better and better with every tournament (He is almost 200 points higher rated than the rating being used for this year). The key to victory for Arizona however is that Leo is at least a foot taller than Daniel – that has to count for something. In all seriousness, Leo is anxious to bounce back from his first so-so effort in Week 3 against Queens.

Scorpion nation, please rise!