Well, the regular season just ended but not before a lot of drama in final rd 10 action where Boston took on Queens. It was a strange match from the get go because both Queens and Boston had already clinched a playoff spot, yet the result would determine whether we play again or not. We brought a two GM lineup along with Marc and myself, I was a bit surprised to see I’m playing because I told Matt that I am taking this week off. Why such overkill I asked Esserman on Sunday night… he murmured something about them disrespecting us and that we need to teach them some respect… OK I guess we did.

The match didn’t start so well for us as it was clear Esserman was suffering in his game vs Lenderman aka the only true Professional. I don’t know why but Lenderman has a penchant to suck up to other players but in this instance he was shouting things like GO Knights and I will beat hated Boston for you… He also said Esserman has no technique and that he is no more than 2250-2300 strength. I am sure Marc prepared quite seriously for Lenderman, addictive style he calls it. Yet it was Lenderman with a huge edge out of the opening. I kept hearing grunts behind me, it was quite “heavy.” At some point Marc put on his heavy winter coat that looks warm enough to withstand Alaskan winter and even put a hood over his head, this evoked heavy laughter from Chrissy the Bear Williams sitting in the first row who almost collapsed.

We drew first blood when Larry plowed through Schneider’s position like a bulldozer, the game was soon over.  Larry tried to downplay the win in speaking to local fans, OK Schneider is not Karpov but I was quite impressed.  In the meantime my game (will be annotated later) was going quite well, I had a good position and built up quite a significant time edge due to probable confusion of Mr Katz. It became especially acute after I played 11…f6!, which killed another 25 minutes off his clock, the clocks now read 61 Black, 21 white. Katz decided on a pawn sac which I anticipated but that didn’t bring him much relief. My technique in converting my advantage was quite terrible, I missed many chances to completely shut him down. I went for complication grabbing pawns on b2 and a3, 24…e4! instead of Qxb2?!. Eventually Katz uncorked a stunning 27. Nh4!! which after my inaccurate 29…Kh6 (but even Kg8 isn’t so simple to win) should have led to a draw with a simple Rf4. In time pressure, to my amazement Katz missed this opportunity and played the very greedy and bad 30. Qxd4???? after which I played the decisive 31…Qe7!. That was a game winner because White is unable to regain back the piece due to a back rank mate! After taking once on f8, Rxf8 Katz realized this and resigned… too bad as I would have loved to mate him

Eugene played a very strong all around game and mercilessly ground down Vovsha in one of his favorite systems, the Accelerated Dragon, which he covered in his book Openings for Black Explained. We didn’t know this at the time but a draw in Eugene’s game meant a date with Carolina in rd 1 of the playoffs and a win – another date with the ladies (Queens).  Meanwhile I guess some kibitzers online thought it was wise for us to “throw” a game in order to play Carolina. I was later told by a member of team personnel that Greg threatened to forfeit Boston from playoffs if he deems we threw that game, i.e. did not win it. Furthermore our team staff were not allowed to mention to us any scores from other matches, as to not influence our decision making. Now, I am completely against throwing games but isn’t this is a bit harsh Mr. Commissioner, don’t you think? I never heard of a rule forbidding the players to find out the scores of other matches and excuse me but if you forfeit us are you going to simul the other team in the first round of the upcoming playoffs?  In fact when I play I often see my opponent game being watched by his playing teammates, while I personally never do that. I also didn’t like that Greg openly cheered for the NY Knights the last time we played them, I was already done with my game and he couldn’t hide his joy when the Knights turned the match around in their favor.  All right enough venting, lets take a look around the league and towards upcoming playoffs matches.

After the match Beer and food was consumed at our usual venue– Charlie’s Kitchen.  Blitz alternate Chris Williams attempted to steal my beer by means of sucking it out with a straw,  while I wasn’t looking . He also failed for the second week in  a row to impress a cute and flirtatious waitress who studies at Harvard University and sports some interesting tattoos. Last week Williams tried to impress her by showing off his own tattoos but ran into trouble when she quickly discovered they were fake. Next week Chrissy, don’t forget a bouquet of black roses…

QUARTER FINALS

THE (WILD WILD) WEST

Miami vs Seattle

Miami has a very strong team with multiple lineup combination, Beccera is almost unbeatable, they also have a little known Perea who seems very strong to me, their board 4 – Eric Rodriguez is the best bd 4 in the US Chess League.

Seattle has Nakamura and although he claimed Seattle doesn’t get enough respect, the way they stumbled into playoffs wont awe anyone I think. Respect isn’t given, it is earned. A while back ,looking through Slugger’s photos, I was struck as to how out of sync they all looked. They say a picture is worth a thousand words– to me the players on those pictures looked awkward, uncomfortable and unfamiliar with one another. Team chemistry is key in these events and I think Seattle also lacks in this department compared to their opponents who are quite a cohesive bunch it seems.

SF was leading the division for most of the year and looked like the best team but a hot Miami team in combination with Shankland’s and Naroditsky’s absence due to World Juniors allowed Miami to overtake them. San Francisco is clearly stronger and it doesn’t look good  when Dallas captain John Bartholemew is 0-4 in his last matches. On a personal note I am 3-0 since he came on to BCC Blog to try to insult me, not very wise Johnny. However as much as I would love a rematch with Dallas in the Finals, I just don’t see it happening.

Prediction: SF Advances

THE EAST

Carolina vs NY

I hope Carolina fans can forgive me for this, but I never liked sugar-coating and lying so I’ll just say it straight up CAROLINA IS A WEAK TEAM. Boston beat them this year with their usual lineup and probably not our strongest lineup 3-1. It’s an accident that they won the EAST and I was recently shamed about this by a fellow USCL player who happens to reside in the Western part of the country…How is Carolina going to deal with Charbonneau, Krush, Braylovsky and Herman , I  just don’t see a board on which Carolina can win. The bottom line  is Carolina had a nice ride but the train stops here as they will not be able to overcome NY, draw odds or not.

Prediction: NY Advances

The GLORIOUS BOSTON vs Queens

Well, after a drubbing Queens just received they must be scratching their heads real hard, so hard all their hair is fallout out What went wrong? Also, I believe they will have a better lineup next Monday. Probably a combination of Stripunsky, Schneider (Vovsha ), Lenderman and the little kid. Although it’s also possible that if the kid wants to watch his cartoons or something that he may have to be replaced…  The potential highlight of this match  is of course  a rematch  of Esserman-Lenderman ( we already know color assignments). Esserman went to Connecticut this weekend when he saw that Lenderman was preregistered, now it may seem like an obsession  of sort and perhaps it is but you gotta at least admit the man is “very serious“.  Of course I believe in our chances to win, overcoming draw odds, but I don’t expect an easy match.

Prediction: Boston Advances

Finally lets talk a bit about those who did not make playoffs.  Philadelphia and Baltimore simply lacked firepower this year. Although Phily gave us our worst loss of the season if not our entire existence, perhaps it wasn’t so bad as it served as a wake-up call. Baltimore’s Sergey Erenburg held board 1 quite honorably, which cant be said for the rest of his teammates. But the real surprise in the East was New Jersey. I kid you not that for most of the season I believed them to be the strongest team in the East. They had lineups which were simply scary to look at. Their leader Joel Benjamin wrote a lengthy article for Chess Life online boasting about how great his team was and to be quite honest I was intoxicated by the level of commitment and enthusiasm he showed in that article. Unfortunately they went away from using strong lineups, even when they needed it most vs NY in week 10 and ultimately they are not with us.

In the West, Tennessee was the most improved team by far. They actually did not finish dead last in the League and I think its a huge accomplishment. Ehlvest showed how strong he can still play and that made a big difference.  Chicago and Arizona were expansion teams which I know very little about, perhaps Arizona could have made in the East since the West clearly seemed stronger this year.

All the best and I personally invite all Boston fans to attend our playoff matches. Ciao.