Quite a long break since the division finals, hasn’t there been? I hope the players don't show as much rust as I felt putting this jumble together. To quote one of my less prescient jumbles (which is most of them, granted), the end is coming just in time.
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Mindful of the possibility of a marathon tiebreaker such as we saw last year, the league has scheduled this match for the reasonable time of 3PM Eastern. I’m afraid the image conveyed by those old USCF catalogs showing little Davey Gertler tearing open gift-wrapped Informants and Heuer Chess Champions (too good to be called a mere clock) handed him by Santa Bisguier never really reflected the reality of chess in this country. But the league seems determined to do its part to make the game more family-friendly, so I applaud them for that, and I’m sure Phil Mushnick* does too (or would, if he knew or cared about chess).
But who will win this rematch of last season’s final, where callowness prevailed over experience? I think that this time, youth will be trumped by senescence. Boston, 2.5.1.5. Thank you and good night.
* New York Post sports/media columnist
