Can it be? Is it really the beginning of another season? I guess when you get to my age, tempus fugit, space warps, and obviously won games are incredibly lost. My sympathies to Queens and GM Stripunsky and, most of all, to the relayer, who, I assume, was most unceremoniously beaten with fine strips of bamboo.

Oh, the horror of having lost your team’s draw on a relayer’s mouse slip; well at least that’s the story we got. But, more on that later.

It was a match of sorrow and elation as the Boston Blitz met the Queens Pioneers, that other New York team, on a night of the Good… the Bad… and the Ugly! Looking at things from the Boston perspective, let’s start with the first game to finish… and my candidate for “the Ugly” part of the evening.

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“All the World’s a stage…” and, yes, we’re merely players… chess players, that is… and thanks to Chris Bird’s Boston Blitz Picture Show… we’re in show-biz.

“Who is that guy with the Australian accent?” was the most common question I got from viewers…  “That’s no Australian.”  I replied.  “Martian is a closer description.”  But, hey it was one heck of a good time as the Blitz proved once again… they are in the running for the USCL cup… or whatever it’s called.

Chris hosted the first ever Live Webcast of any USCL match, specifically, the Boston Blitz vs. Queen’s Pioneers round one playoff match, in elegant style… dressed in Armani tee shirt and matching Gucci sneakers… he was, to say the least, impressive.  The analysis was crisp and incisive as a cast of thousands (would you believe hundreds?) joined in during the four hour… let’s all bash the dumb moves and pretend we saw the good ones coming… number one rated webcast.  Such Boston chess luminaries as Paul MacIntyre,  Charles Riordan,  Vadim Matirisov,  Chris Williams… and of course, team Captain Jorge Sammour-Hasbun… who openly admitted that being made captain was the only way Matt could keep him on the bench this night.

From the beginning Jorge had it pegged… “Ilya must win.”  I thought it was too much pressure to place on Boston’s secret weapon… but, it turned out to be the correct strategy and the only way to a happy ending on this night of the Stars…

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Time for props on another successful season for the Blitz… and first on the list is “Fearless Leader” aka. Matt Phelps… who fielded Boston’s strongest lineup in the last match of the year, even though this was not a critical match for us, resulting in a 3½-½  win over Queens, thus, allowing Carolina to sneak in as Eastern champs.  I’m sure Matt got some kind of kick-back from the Cobras for this… and he deserves it.  Matt does an enormous amount of work to setup and organize each match… he gives up his weekly chess club night at MCC… and usually gets rewarded with unfounded criticism and insane penalties when he forgets to do something… really a thankless job… except that he knows that all the players know and appreciate his efforts.

Next on my list is Chris Bird, who has done more to publicize and popularize the Blitz matches than anyone.  He puts in incredible amounts of time creating, maintaining, and writing for the Blitz website.  He even had live webcam coverage of the match and live games on the site for a while, until, disappointingly, for some of us, he just couldn’t continue this practice… due in no way to his unwillingness to do so.  Well, I’m told the webcam may be back for LIVE analysis of ongoing playoff games by Chris and guest analysts… if he can get set up in a secondary room so as not to disturb the players.  Keep your eyes on the Blitz page for confirmation… just another example of the insane amount of work this guy puts in for the team.

Thanks, also, to Philip Nutzman, who assists Matt with the setup and makes the random first move for board two.  He somehow fits time into his busy schedule to help out the team.

There seems to be no end to behind the scenes work.  There is the blogger group… Chris, Me and Ilya… Matt chimes in when he has time.

And last, but not least, the players who put an enourmous amount of prep time into their games and produce some gems for us patzers to enjoy.  But, hopefully, they will gather their thanks at the end in the form of championship glory… we’ll see.

Now, on to the games… as first to finish, GM Larry Christiansen, seems to be rounding into form at just the right time as evidenced by this fine attacking game against Queen’s IM Dmitry Schneider.

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