I got tired of reading nonsense from other team’s blogs and decided to write my own masterpiece today, I think, I didn’t get enough sleep or something so please forgive me in advance. All is good in Blitzland. We jumped out of the gate again this year and find ourselves at the top of the standings. We are at the same location this year so all Bostonians are welcome to swing by (don’t even think of coming without bringing us beer or at least coffee). Yet the team is somewhat different: new editions namely Jorge (call him heywhore at your own risk), the Bee, and the Bear add personality and color. All three new editions have been carefully selected and groomed from the vast talent pool that we are so fortunate to have here in Boston. All three have performed remarkably well, Jorge is 2/2, the Bee 3/4 (no losses), and the Bear is 3/3! Kudos to Matt Phelps, who is already drawing comparisons to Bill Belichick. Let’s break down the matches so far…

Week 1, Seattle: The match was preceded by some carryover hype from the previous season, when Seattle’s then-in-charge manager Mr. Ballard made a number of bold statements, namely that the League is biased toward the East (I hope the sun isn’t biased also) and that I should play him down a rook for some reason, for money! He kept threatening to play all year and, despite being on the roster in 2006, he didn’t play a single game. When 2007 rolled around he had found something better to do and the match-up so many have been waiting for, never materialized… oh well. I was scheduled to play in this one but knowing how badly the Bear wanted to play, I conceded my spot to him. He surely didn’t disappoint, coming through with a big and the only win of the night, handing Boston its first victory of 2007. Uraaaaa… 2.5-1.5 Boston

Week 2, Queens: My game vs. Coleman is still giving me nightmares. I completely outplayed him from a bad opening position, missed some winning chances and then threw away a draw too in severe time pressure. (Qd4+ followed by Ne4, instead of Ne2+?? And also d3!, instead of Bb5). However, my teammates had my back, both Larry and Jorge winning on bds 1 and 2. Larry won a smooth game against Ibragimov, where it looked like Ildar missed some nuances, and Jorge was in big trouble, but defended well and won. It all came down to the Bee and the infamous mouse slip. Missing in all this chaos was the fact that Denys was reemerging from any troubles he may have had and at the point of the slip he looked like he was going to hold a draw, thereby giving us the victory. In general, I have got to say that he is one tough player; and some of the positions he has managed to salvage in this young season, look very impressive. 3-1 Boston

Week 3, Philadelphia: The battle between the leaders and the only perfect teams in the League wasn’t close at all. Boston played confidently and purposefully from the start. On board 2 Jorge’s relayer played 1.e4, instead of the intended 1.d4 but Instead of allowing Philip to take the move back, Jorge saw it as a sign and overruled him, who cares what move you win with right!? Looking at the board 15-20 moves later, I was quite happy with his choice and by the looks of it, so was he! Denys was nowhere to be found, his time kept ticking away, and then as I was outside, having a cigarette, I see a figure emerging out of the darkness. It was Denys. He mumbled something and ran into the playing room, his game was the first one to finish as he trapped his opponent’s Queen on move 25 or so, forcing immediate resignation. On board 4, the Bear was possessed or something because he really tore up Philadelphia’s Elvin Wilson, sacking his piece on a6, and then finding the cute Qe4 move which forced a winning endgame, which he easily converted. Not to be outdone, Jorge defeated Bryan Smith on board 2 in a game that particularly stood out for its many fireworks, Bxa6, Rxc3, Rxd6, Qc4! etc. Most amazing was his ability to play the very best moves in a complex position and in time pressure for the second game in a row; maybe we ought to take away some of his time in the beginning of the game, cause he seems to play stronger when he doesn’t have any. Eugene drew comfortably despite feeling sick that day and the rout was finished, the match separated the men from the boys. 3.5-.5 Boston

Week 4, NY: As many guessed beforehand, it would be the first match in League history to pit two GMs a-piece on the top boards. NY came into the match having scored a miserable .5/3 and Boston was sitting on top of the mountain. It was important for us not to have a let down. Nakamura-LC game was the first one to finish. Larry initiated complications with 20…e3!, which lead to an exchange sac for several pawns, soon fizzling out to draw. With the black pieces, it was a result the Blitz was quite satisfied with. However, the Bee’s game looked like a wreckage of a derailed train; it didn’t seem likely he would hold against Jay Bonin. Eugene had a typical kind of English position that I couldn’t yet assess and Chrissy looked worse after the opening. However soon, Boston started making a run, we always do. Vicary seemed confused after banging out her opening like a robot, she started retreating on all fronts and lost quickly after a few precise moves by the Bear. Boston was in the lead. The Bee, as I mentioned before is one tough player and he kept digging in and digging in, what seemed like a sure loss no longer seemed certain at all. Then the game Bonin-Bee reached a point when it looked like Bee was going to secure a draw with perpetual. Bonin, having woke up, I think decided to play for a win with Kh3!?, given the team score. As a result an interesting endgame arose, which was up and down and at one point, Denys came one square away from finding a beautiful textbook win based on zugzwang (the move was Rh3! instead of Rg3). However, Denys found a cute draw trick that we had all anticipated and so it now all came down to the match up between former UMBC buddies Eugene and Pascal. Unfortunately Pascal’s knight (no pun intended) was a real pain in the butt and the time factor didn’t favor us as well. It was a position I am sure Eugene can hold in a normal game, but here, given the time the pressure and the overall exhaustion, he eventually ended up in a mating net, a hard fought battle, 2-2.

I am sure the rest of season promises to be even more exciting. Tune in to watch your beloved Blitz kick butt all over the country, and if you live close, come by and cheer us on. Be sure to keep checking our new home: www.Boston-Blitz.com for all official team information and photos, as well as Blitz merchandise. Big thanks goes out to Chris Bird for creating and maintaining this page.

In case you still didn’t get it… Bee = Denys Shmelov (Shmel – bumble bee in Russian) and Bear = Chris Williams… Chrissy Bear or Exiled Bear, so many names I get confused myself!