Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Ready, set ...

So we are not going to see the two GMs from Boston after all. The lineup for the US Chess League Eastern Division playoff match is out and team manager Matt Phelps opted for the alternative to the two GMs mentioned in my previous post. Matt was quick to point out that the post and related discussion was not a factor in his decision, and there is no reason to think that this isn't true. Nevertheless, his choice to characterize the piece and the opinions of his team's fans as "wild rantings" is rather surprising. A kinder, and I think more plausible, description would be that reasonable people looked at the same data set and came to similar conclusions.

[Note: Matt would like to clarify that the phrase "wild rantings" was intended to be a joke.]

Here are the matchups versus New York; the Blitz have White on Boards 1 & 3:


The Knights' decision not to put a 2300 player on Board 4 is rather surprising given the ratings disadvantages they face on the top two boards. This is not to say that New York can't win the match. In fact, from a fan's perspective the match should be quite exciting with competitive games on every board.

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