Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Eastern Division Final: New York vs. Boston

What do the moon landings, the Iraq war, and the Eastern division semi-final have in common? They were all directed from Texas. Of course, both Boston and New York have a player there; Perelshteyn beating Krush in their game (of course, Irina is still the #1 Spice girl). Some have claimed this will give Boston a psychological lift, but I think New York’s (not only Charbonneau’s) motivation for revenge is stronger. Also, New York must feel they dodged a bullet in that the game didn’t take place in this match, as it well might have.

New York chose White on boards one and three, which creates rematches on those two boards. Last time, Christiansen drew comfortably with Nakamura while Shmelov drew uncomfortably with Bonin. Obviously, NY plans to do better this time. On the whole, I think they made the right choice.

Though it is not my job, I want to take this opportunity to note Martha Fierro’s great work on board four for New York. Often the players on the lower boards toil in obscurity, and I would not like them to think they are unappreciated. So once more, great job, Martha! I knew you were a player to watch.

Alright, time to make a pick. I mentioned New York’s revenge motivation, but Boston has one or two bad memories themselves that they’d like to erase. There’s too little to pick from, so I won’t. 2-2 is the way I see it, with Boston advancing.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

martha fierro?

Anonymous said...

ron,i've noticed that usually nobody ever advances on draw odds in the semifinals when people predict it will happen.

Ron Young said...

I agree that either team winning outright is more likely than a tie, but I didn't know which way to go. This way, if I'm wrong I don't get any points but I don't look as stupid as if I'd bet on the loser.

Ilya said...

Go BLITZ, actually NY is lucky it wasnt 3.5-.5 as Shmelov looked to be winning and certainly not losing before the celebrations started to rudely interrupt his game.

Anonymous said...

yes ilya, i'm sure new york is thanking their lucky stars.