Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Boston Clinched Playoff Spot on Monday; New England Can Clinch Division Wed


Boston chess fans have a lot to enjoy, as both local teams have clinched playoff spots. The New England Nor'easters can clinch the division title-- an amazing feat for the newcomer team-- with either a draw in the next two matches or by scoring a total of 3/8 game points over the two matches. Meanwhile, the New York Knights stumbled to local rival, the New Jersey KOs, putting New York in at least some playoff danger, as Manhattan and Baltimore can still bypass them. New York's falter ensures that New England and Boston will be the 1 and 2 teams in the East division, earning both teams first round playoff draw odds.

EASTERN DIVISION W L
@ - New England 7.5 0.5
@ - Boston 6.5 2.5
New York 4.5 4.5
Baltimore 4.5 4.5
Manhattan 3.5 4.5
New Jersey 3.5 5.5
X -Carolina 2 6
X -Philadelphia 1.5 6.5

One possible unusual situation could arise next week, when New England faces Manhattan-- They could play kingmaker, lose to Manhattan with a bid to avoid the ostensibly stronger New York Knights team. I've heard certain other teams consider losing on purpose to try to face New England in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, such Machiavellian tactics are just as likely to bite the team then help them out, and maybe Boston, who plays New York, will counter-sandbag.

And now a recap of Boston coupled with a preview of New England on Wednesday. Since my last two previews were of a literary nature, this week I thought I'd turn to a more accessible style for my audience-- the comment section of an internet post.
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1. George M. 4AM First!

2. rihel 4:10AM If I were playing the Blitz's Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, I don't think I would have chosen to play the Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. Sasha Kaplan of Baltimore was just begging for Jorge to prove that his loss last week was a fluke. It got crazy in there, but then White just ended up with a winning endgame.

3. NMIK 4:13AM Rihel you dont know what you are staking about. stoopid comment. Jorge lost the week before but he was winning easily many times. Playing te Marshall was the only choice to have a chance. Iodiot.

4. Esserman why so serious? 4:30 AM I refused to play this week, which gave Denys Shmelov a time disadvantage. Good thing he found a draw to clinch the match for Boston.

5. Mike 4:31 AM Why did Shmelov start with such a time disadvantage?

6. Erenburg sucks 4:40 AM I wonder if that boring Christiansen-Erenburg drawn game will win Game of the Week, since the GOTW judges are so dumb, it probably will. And then Erenburg will complain about how it won, and Larry will complain about how it won when it didn't deserve to win. Then the judges will change their minds, because all the fights in the comment section are so convincing that the judges just throw up their arms and say your are right comment section, we are dumb and you trolls are so smart. And then someone will complain about Jeff Ashton's diatribes, and then someone else will say that Jeff Ashton is a genius, and then Esserman will win Game of the Week for refusing to play on Board 3.

7. Mike 4:45 AM Never mind, I saw Esserman's comment now.

8. Anon 4:50 AM I bet esserman why so serious? is Marc Esserman.

9. rihel suxks 4:55 AM look at me i have a moocow and then that moocow pooped on the floor and i thought i saw a good poem to recite for chessplayers. But i'm really an idiot.

10. julius g 5:00AM This comment was removed by the administrator.

11. huh? 5:10 AM What happened on Board 4? I don't know how to use ICC or the Internet except for posting in a comment section so I couldn't find out the answer for myself. Thanks!

12. to huh? 5:15 AM Grant Xu forced a draw by repetition on move 25. Given the 200 point ranting difference, that was probably a good move.

13. to to huh? 5:20 AM No, you are an idoiot.

14. to to to huh? 5:25 AM No, you are an idiot. Learn to speel. And Grant forced a draw.

15. to to to to huh? 5:26 AM WHY DON'T YOU? LOL

16. rihel 5:45 AM Actually, several of the commenters here have made excellent points. I am glad that I wasted my time to read these, because the erudition was most informative. As a result, I have altered my thinking about my predictions for the New England- Carolina Cobra match. Orginally, I thought that Carolina has a good chance to draw, but, now that I have irrefutable proof that I and everyone I respect is an idiot, I withdraw my drawn prediction. We will now crowdsource for a real prediction. Leave a comment below how you think the New England match on Wednesday will go.

17. troll. 6:00 AM That sounds like something Hitler said once.

18. 1-800-I-hate-you 6:10 AM This comment was deleted by the administrator

19. 1-800-I-hate-you 6:20 AM Why was my post deleted? I guess there is no freedom of speech in this country anymore.

20. booked-up-lawyer 6:25 AM This is a private blog, and the admin can exercise his own freedom of speech by censoring you.

21. what?! 6:30 AM Isn't it weird what these comment sections can become? What is this crap?

22. what?! 6:35 AM And isn't it weird that everone is up at 4-5AM making these comments?

23. so what?! 6:40 AM The timestamper is broken. I am writing this at 1AM, not 6:40 AM.

24. Ashton for President 7:00AM. I hate Greg Shahade. I really like the USCL, but it stinks that Shahade actually wants to enforce rules and makes up whatever he wants for the league. I mean, where does he come off acquiring sponsors to support bloggers, volunteers to judge Game of the Week, money for Game of the Week prizes, and a website that is constantly updated with new League information? Who does he think he is banning computer analysis from the ICC games? Well, guess what? I use a computer when I am watching the game, and then I tell everyone the best moves but I lie and I SAY that I came up with it MYSELF!! Ever think of that, Shahade? Huh?! That's right, I flaunt your rule and you can't do anything about it!

25. back to the topic 7:30 AM. Here's a prediction: Chase and Cherniack blow away their opponents on boards 3-4 and then Hungaski and Van de mortel immediate resign (since New England clinched 1st) so they can start their 2 hour drive home early and get some sleep for a change after the match.

26. more predictions 7:45 AM. New England must be cheating. no way they are this good.

27. rihel 7:50 AM. That's right. They must be cheating, but all the people watching the matches live somehow haven't noticed it yet.

28. New England! New England! 8:00AM Go NE! Beat the snakes! Hungaski over Schorer, van de Mortel draws with Simpson (the only drawback to the draw offer was that van de Mortel took it!), and Chase wins over Agner but forgets that there is a 30 second increment. He starts blitzing, accumulates 40 minutes on his clock, and then gets too tired to continue the rest of the game. Finally, Cherniack switches back to d4 and can only draw, having forgotten that he was playing with the Black pieces.

29. CindyXXX 8:10 AM I was reading your hot story and want to send you a pic of me! Give me your bank account information and I'll send you my hot pic and we can be friends or more!

30. NE sucks! 8:20 AM Carolina is going to tear you up! Simpson is going to drawback method all over you and collect another tee-shirt from Endgame Clothing.

31. bad concept. 8:30 AM Jason, I liked your literary posts better. This one is boring and too easy to understand. And predictable! Your heart isn't in this one.

32. rihel 8:35 AM I agree. What can you do? Can't please everyone. And I'm not a kid and not a USCL manager or player, so you can forget any Blog Post of the Week award!

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