Week Three

New York vs. Philadelphia:

Though my job here is to predict the match outcomes I am going off the meter for a bit to announce that my best bet, lock of the week is that Charboneau-Kudrin will be a draw. Meanwhile, GM Fred Horowitz makes his debut on board 2. I assume he is Al’s kid, in which case, Smith had better watch out for those bishops! With a slightly smaller rating difference, White would feel honor-bound to play for a win and perhaps overpress, but at about 100 points he’ll feel it’s ok to play safe, so a draw is the likely outcome (see, read this blog diligently and once in a while you’ll stumble upon a really profound insight). White has a comparable edge on the bottom two boards, but standing on Isaac Newton’s shoulders, I see that teams at rest tend to stay at rest. Philadelphia, 2.5-1.5.


Carolina vs. Baltimore:

I switched the mouse settings before doing this drawing because, like Da Vinci and Michelangelo, I am left-handed. But after so many years of being too lazy or stupid to change to the lefty setting, I think I am asking for trouble doing it now so I will remain a right-handed computer user and desk sitter.







INLYV
O O _ _ O

LEMAC
_ _ O O O

FUDERS
O _ O _ O O

LUMINA
O _ _ O O O

Answer Here:

THE "_ _ _ _ _ _ " ALWAYS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _





Carolina, 2.5-1.5.


Chicago vs. Tennessee:

Look for Strunk to demonstrate the elements of style as the Blaze amaze, 3-1.


Queens vs. Arizona:

Is Lenderman the guy who plays the Morra Gambit? Too bad he plays Black here against the man who has been teasing us with talk of an exciting new refutation. Speaking of Morra Gambiteers (I wonder who invented that word? Has a nice swashbuckling ring), there is on youtube a clip of Ken Smith at the final table of the WSOP in the 1970s. A poster commented “what’s with the Monopoly guy?” (i.e., “Rich Uncle Pennybags” of whom see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Uncle_Pennybags . Close resemblance, one must admit). Arizona, 2.5-1.5.


Seattle vs. New Jersey:

[color=white]I wonder what “rating” list these “Knockouts” are using [/color] Oops, didn’t work. Moving along, though, this great matchup of team names may actually be overshadowed by the matchup of players. Gulko is still very strong, but are the Gulkos still America’s first chess family? Two GM’s give New Jersey the edge (sorry, I’m out of profound insight for this week). 2.5-1.5, NJ.