Baltimore-New York: Baltimore could put together a few different lineups that approach the rating limit, but they nonetheless are well under it this week. Perhaps they think they hold the Indian sign over New York and so can give afford to rest their GM’s. My worldview, though, rejects superstition and trusts in science. New York, 2.5-1.5.
Philadelphia-Miami: I wonder why the Philadelphia Inventors don’t call themselves the “Reinventors”, as they seem to think they can do away with their history with a simple name change. This would probably work better if they had also changed cities, or at least their logo. I suppose they didn’t want to insult their new top board Sergey Kudrin, who was the model for the current logo. Miami, by contrast, had a disappointing season in ’06, but they are back with the same name, the same logo, and for the most part, the same players.
History aside, the teams look well-matched today, so I predict a 2-2 tie.
Dallas-Tennessee: Benjamin Lee Eckstein had a sports betting column in the New York Daily News for many years. I remember him from at least as far back as the early Eighties. He would always give you his won-lost record for the season, to let you know just who you were trusting with your hard-earned betting dollars. He was always solidly in the plus. How did he manage? Well, his specialty was baseball games. Baseball betting, unlike football or basketball, is based on money odds rather than a point spread. In fact, I just googled Mr. Eckstein, and I see he is still being paid to pick games today!
I pick Dallas to win.
San Francisco-Carolina: There is an art to showing contempt or lack of seriousness to your opponents; you want to show enough to make them see red without actually handicapping yourself too much. So you may open with something like 1 g4 but then follow up sedately, or bring a bottle of beer to the table but quietly refill it with tap water. I admire Carolina's strategy here but fear they may have gone too far giving the defending champs this big a rating handicap. San Francisco, 3-1.
Seattle-Boston: This one, at least, is easy to call. Boston has a former US champion on Board One. But Seattle has a former Japanese champ on Board THREE. Seattle, 2.5-1.5
2 comments:
As manager of the Tempo - I try not to hound or dismiss any prediction, because it goes against my team having a positive result. Sooner or later, perhaps someone will be bold enough to predict a Tennesse upset. Any true odds-maker would realize that there are many external factors to making a proper prediction besides previous results from last year. Since the chess league concluded more than a year ago - basing last year's results on this weeks' matches seems unreasonable. I would believe that current tournament activity and recent results should play a larger role - because even if there is no money or rating points on the line - we play harder in league matches and the pride of playing for our state is more important. Burnett is coming off a strong New England masters event and we can't forget he was tried and tested in the US Championship this year too...something that no one else in this match between Dallas and Tennessee can claim. I am 9-0 in my last 9 USCF tournament games after coming off some strong performances in the World Open, Foxwoods and the US Masters. Bereolos has just returned from winning the Billy Colias Memorial. The Tennessee results are on the up and up and I, with all the reason and non-bias I can muster, predict a Tennessee upset this week. Take a look at the Dallas players - Boards one and two have a total of 4 USCF events played in 2007. Also, with the "European Union Squad" recently arriving from which ever former yugoslavian state it is they came from - there is sure to be some jet lag. We look to take advantage of this. Consider that even on board four - Bayraa (who has hardly any games in the database) is well known to the Tempo, since she played boards 1,2 and 4 in the US Masters event and I even interviewed her on www.uschess.org. We know a lot about this Dallas team.
Besides this though, what the hell is Ron Young talking about in this match's prediction??? Whats the point with this sports writer anecdote?
yo this is chris williams, and u suck at predictions, bo yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
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