Adventures in NY, Boston and elsewhere

The Road to the 2012 Parsippany Chess Party

2012-02-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Does this place ring a bell to you?!

Yup, that's right: it's that time of year again when 250-300 teams of chess players flood the Parsippany Hilton! Last year I had to miss my first USATE after 8 consecutive appearances since I played my first one in 2003 with the likes of GM Michael Rohde, Kevin Murphy and his son Aaron Rohde, as I was studying abroad in Israel. Fortunately I will be back in business this year as a member of The Parsippany Chessboard Massacre!

Our line-up (using January 2012 ratings) is:

Board 1: Ben Goldberg (2230) from Rhode Island

Board 2: FM Nathan Resika (2200) from New York

Board 3: Thomas Pattard (2183) from Germany, now living in New York

Board 4: Evan Rabin (2179) from New York, now playing under Massachusetts

Alternate: Nick Panico (1988) from new York

Average Rating: 2198

Recruitment Madness

As I mentioned to IM Justin Sarkar the other day, likely the most stressful part of the USATE is what is done before the event begins: coming up with a team. This year, things started out normal. Back in October, Resika, Panico, our original board 1 and myself decided we would likely play with each other. We made that plan “definite” in the end of December. To the contrary, disaster struck this past Monday night when we found out our original board 1 unfortunately had to bail due to other commitments.

And so it goes, I had to turn on my recruitment hat to search for a replacement first board. I made several pleas to chess players on the phone and Facebook. Luckily, this savior named Ben Goldberg ultimately came to the rescue!

Then, Panico and I decided it would be beneficial to add Pattard to our team to not only increase our team's average rating but also to give us the ability to sit out when tired or not feeling well. Having an alternate proved to be effective when Panico and I were members of the winning team “Beavis and Butvinnik” in 2007. It should be noted that Resika is a two time USATE champion himself!

The Bus Ride to New York (En route to Parsippany): Bus Etiquette

I opted for change form my normal routine trip to New York: taking the Commuter Rail to Porter Square, taking the “T” to South Station, and getting on either Megabus or Bolt Bus. This time around I took a cab to Riverside Station in Newton to catch a World Wide Bus to New York.

For those of you who never took it, its about the same quality as Megabus or Boltbus. Just as those usually do, the bus left 20 minutes late. My one main concern though was the WIFI didn't work too well.

As a frequently traveler, I think it is proper to keep conversations en route to a minimum, especially on night and morning buses when people tend to relax or sleep. However, I find almost every time there is at least one couple who continually talks. I intended on catching up on sleep on the bus ride, but ended up writing this post. What do you think about bus etiquette? How much talking on busses is too much? I don't expect quiet but I also don't expect people to essentially share their life stories.

Stay Tuned!

In contrast to the the 2007 USATE winning team name “ What Happens in Parsippany Stays in Parsippany,” I will be reporting my takes on the tournament on a blog near you!

The Best of All from the Grammys: A Lifetime Achievement Award for the Allman Brothers

2012-02-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

Any loyal reader would note that I am somewhat of an Allman Brothers fanatic; to the contrary, I am a bad fan as I did not watch the Grammys yesterday and had no clue they won a lifetime achievement award! To carry on from yesterday's post, things couldn't have got much better for the Allman Brothers last night: three separate nominations and a life-time achievement award!

I've heard the Allman Brothers jam out to 25 minute songs before but never give 25 minute speeches!

Sir Paul's Pre-Valentine's Day Greeting at the Grammys

2012-02-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you like your modest blogger who missed Sir Paul's performance at tonight's Grammys, here it is. He played "My Valentine" out of his his new February 2012 album Kisses from the Bottom.

To top things off he helped finish the Grammys with his usual Abbey Road sequence Golden Slumbers-Carry that Weight- The End with the help of Bruce Springsteen and David Grohl

Congrats to the Tedeschi Trucks Band on a Grammy!

2012-02-12T18:09:00.001-08:00

How often does a band get a Grammy on its debut album?! Okay, Derek Trucks, who is now a full-time member of the Allman Brothers and has recently toured with the likes of Eric Clapton is no "amateur musician." After all he did win a Grammy last year for Already Free: http://www.derektrucks.com/news/already-free-wins-grammy. However, Trucks, his wife Susan Tedeschi and the rest of the Tedeschi Trucks Band members deserve full credit for winning the 2012 Best Blues Album!! I expect many more excellent albums from them in the future!

I'd also like to note something pretty dam awesome: out of the 5 nominees for the Grammy, 3 or 60% were associated with the Allman Brothers! Gregg Allman was nominated for his 1st album in many years, Low Country Blues. Warren Hayes was nominated for Man in Motion.

Better Late Than Never: Sweet Revenge in Albany

2012-02-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

A month ago I had to get a new hard drive losing all my data, including my masterpiece and not so great chess games. Thus, I have recently been re-entering a lot of my games on my computer and came along this interesting one I played against Dore Sheppard in last year's New York State Championship. While the game was certainly somewhat topsy-turvy, the ending was nice. Furthermore, it was a nice bit of revenge as beforehand I was 0-2 against Dore lifetime.

A Game of Pure Comedy at the Brown University Open

2012-02-06T00:42:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I played in the 2012 Brown University Open in Providence, RI. The Brown Student Erdenetulga Rentsen and the young master Christopher Gu topped the open section each scoring 3.5/4. To the contrary, I had a mediocre performance scoring 2/4 against a 1700 and 3 relatively strong masters.

A normal blogger would show you one of my games against the masters, but that's not me.. Instead I am going to show your my first round madness, where my opponent and I shared a large mental lapse.
Out of the opening I obtained a large opening advantage and ended up winning a piece. Afterwards, my opponent shockingly castled queenside immediately, with my bishop being on Bg5 attacking the d8 square. Yes, I do teach beginners that they can't castle through check. However, I did not think of it being illegal at the time and quickly took his rook on d8. As he was now a down a clear rook, he resigned a few moves later...... Not too make a silly excuse for such a silly mutual mistake, but a few years ago when playing an IM in New York ( I won't mention the name to save face), he tried to castle after he already moved his king. So I'm not the only one to miss simple illegal moves!

Sir Paul's Likely Worst Song

2012-01-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

As Sir Paul is one of my favorite musicians, I have no issues making fun of his song Mull of Kintyre (1977). I never heard of it until just this morning when it was alluded to in a review of Star Wars, which first came out in the same year.

After not particularly caring for it, I can see why I likely haven't heard of it.

Clear your Calendars: February 2nd Zilbermintz Gambit Theoretical Match

2012-01-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

VS.

Match Arbiter Nick Panico's Description:
MATCH HEADLINE: NM Evan Rabin (ICC: swlabr) will be taking on gambiteer Lev Zilbermintz (ICC: Levius) in a theoretical Zilbermintz Gambit Blitz match to be held on ICC, February 2, Thursday, 9PM 2012. This is a 10 game match, 5 0 time control, with Evan playing all games as white, and Lev playing all games with black. The opening moves are 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nge7!?; the starting position of the Zilbermintz Gambit. Personally, I find this move to be a better reply than the historical 3...Qe7 known as the Englund Gambit or 3...d6 Blackburne Hartlaub Gambit. I look forward to watching this match and and hope we have a good turnout in the ICC room that evening. If both players agree to a short 10 minute break after Round 5 that can be accommodated.This match is promoted to spread awareness of the Zilbermintz Gambit. Evan is debating it is unsound while Lev is debating that is sound despite the claims of recent NIC author, Valery Bronznik, of 1. d4 Beating the Guerrillas.
The match is now featured as an upcoming live event on ICC: http://www.chessclub.com/activities/relays.html

Californiacation Part 1: Northern California International/San Francisco

2012-01-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

Last June I went to California for the 1st time when I taught at a chess camp in Pasadena, near LA. I spent the second half of this past winter break going to Cali a 2nd time, but this time, things were different: I was in Northern California, staying in Union city and playing in both the Northern California International and Golden State Open.

My journey there was an adventure by itself. Note to self: Redeye flights are madness ( I knew that already) .... However, redeyes are even more crazy when they are on New Years Day. Of course I wanted to go out in New York for your New Years Eve, however time was limited. Therefore, I left my suitcase at the Marshall Chess Club, where 40 or so maniacs were duking it out in the Insanity for a few hours when I went out to a few bars before heading on a Supper Shuttle from the Marshall at 4:30 AM. Of course I hadn't slept all night and I had to deal with a young kid sitting next to me on the flight, whose mom wouldn't quite him down... Such is life. Anyways, I did end up getting a few hours of sleep and was able to sleep a lot the next night before starting the tournament on the 2nd.

Kudos go to the organizers Arun Sharma and Ted Castro, who made the event professional and exciting. All rounds started on time and players: the GMs and lower rated players alike had great accommodations including food and drinks at every round, sometimes even complete meals, access to rides, and advice about the Bay area. As a sub-2200 fide player, I had to pay somewhat hefty entry fee for the event but it was certainly worth it due to the great conditions and high-level competition. Here are two of my games from the event: one one of my tough losses against IM Piasetski, whom I actually met during my spring break while playing tournaments in San Sebastian, Spain and Lille France, and my win against the talented youngster NM Daniel Gurevich.
<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

In other chess news, any chess traveler's visit to SF is not complete without a visit to the Mechanics Institute, which hosts the world's *2nd* largest chess library. (Thanks to John Hartmann and Brian Karen from the Nassau Chess Club Facebook page, I stand corrected. The largest is the Cleveland Chess Club). To the contrary, east coasters should not run to the Market Street outdoor chess scene, which does not compare to the likes of Washington Square Park in NY, Harvard Square near Boston, or Dupont Circle in DC. When I visited, there were only two games going on... Maybe I went the wrong day but the spot didn't seem great.

That's all the chess for now: my next blog post will likely be about my not so great appearance at the Golden State Open. For now, I shall share with you a few of the pics I took around San Francisco and elsewhere:

Okay, not really my picture, I admit it. However, I wanted to share with you Ohsa, a Thai restaurant in Embarcardero, SF, where I had one of the better meals of my trip.

A not so Kosher restaurant in the SF Ferry Building Marketplace

Alcatraz in the distance from the Fisherman's Wharf

Ghirardelli Square

The Bush Monster: This homeless man supposably makes $50,000+ a year hiding behind this bush and scaring tourists . My friend and I watched him for like 15 minutes scaring everyone: young and old and thought he was quite hilarious.

San Jose Caltrain Station

Our Chef at Benihanas in Concord near the Golden State Open: Eating there was a fun experience with a nice show and good food.

Truly unbelievable: The guy throws up the egg in air and drops it to create this rooster!

Tommy Album Review

2012-01-20T00:19:00.000-08:00

Hello readers.. It's been a while since I blogged and I have a lot talk about my trip to the Bay Area.. I played in the Northern California International and Golden State Open. More on those events to come soon. For now, I wanted to share a review of The Who's Tommy, I wrote for my Arts Journalism class. It was influenced by Daltrey's Tommy concert I saw in September at Boston University's Agganis Arena.

A Review of The Who’s Tommy (1969)

On September 17, I was one of the thousands of people astonished by Roger Daltrey’s concert at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. He played songs such as “I’m Free”, “Overture”, “Pinball Wizard” and “Cousin Kevin”. What do these songs have in common? They are all on The Who’s 1969 album, Tommy. It was a particularly successful album because of its unique genre. It is widely known as the first “rock opera”, a paradox. How often has a band as successful and famous as the Who collaborated with an opera great such as Luciano Pavarotti. On YouTube, one can find videos from a 1996 collaborative concert between Eric Clapton and Pavarotti; however, Tommy does not star any opera luminaries. To the contrary, through a series of 24 rock songs, The Who shares the story of a deaf boy named Tommy who grows up to lead a messianic movement. The album was so successful that in 1975 a movie was produced and 43 years after it was released, Daltrey has sold out a number of shows on his 2011-2012 tour, in which he played the full album each time. Tommy is a fantastic album that classic rock aficionados and others alike should appreciate because of both the collaboration of Pete Townshend’s guitar riffs and Daltrey’s voice, and its creative opera form.

One aspect that makes Tommy a unique album that is worthwhile to be in anyone’s musical collection is the melding of the guitarist Pete Townshend’s riffs and Daltrey’s voice. The first of Townshend’s phenomenal riffs occurs in the album’s opener “Overture”. Its upbeat tone with a rapid tempo sets the tone for many of the following songs. Another striking riff occurs in “Amazing Journey/ Sparks”. A common thread is the amount of repetition Townshend uses. In each of these songs, he repeats a heavy sounding riff many times. In contrast, in songs such as “Eyesight to the Blind”, he plays higher-pitched notes repeatedly to provide a sort of yin-yang event with touches of both of light and dark, thus producing a balanced mixture of positive and negative sounding effects. However, Townshend did not provide these effects alone; he required the help of the lead vocalist Daltrey. While Daltrey’s recent tour starred Townshend’s brother on guitar, not Townshend himself, it conveyed the importance of Daltrey’s ability to hit softer notes as in “Tommy Can You Hear Me?” and hard notes in others such as “Welcome”.

While the combination of Townshend’s guitar playing and Daltrey’s in Tommy is exceptional, it is not what makes it better than other The Who albums. Other terrific The Who albums such as “My Generation” and “It’s Hard” have similar quality. On the other hand, while these albums have songs that relate to each other, they do not convey stories. In contrast, if Tommy is listened in its entirety one can grasp a clear plot. For example, the album’s plot begins, when Tommy is born in the second song “It’s a Boy”. As he grows up, he faces certain obstacles such as deafness as conveyed in “ You Didn’t Hear it” and drug influences as seen in “Acid Queen”. To the contrary, he develops a talent in pinball as portrayed in “Pinball wizard”. Especially as the Who performed “Pinball Wizard” at the 2010 Superbowl, it is clear many people have heard of at least some of these songs in Tommy; however a far smaller number have likely listened to the album in its entirety. After seeing Daltrey perform all of the songs in chronological order, I can assure it is worthwhile for anyone to obtain the album and experience its complete story.

New Blog to Check Out: "On The Road to Chess Improvement"

2011-12-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

Hello readers. My friend Kuberan Naganathan recently started a new blog:http://kubiyakontheroad.blogspot.com/. In the few posts he wrote so far, he shared a few of his recent games and his views regarding computers and cheating. I recommend you all check it out.

2 Free Online Bob Weir Shows Wednesday Night!!!!

2011-12-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Good News! : I have the perfect way to celebrate the end of my exams tomorrow. On Wednesday night, Bob Weir and his trio "Scaring the Children",along with TRI, is doing two free shows at 6 and 9 PM:

Tune in Wednesday, December 21 at 6 PM and 9 PM PST for a special Psychedelic Christmas present from Bob Weir's trio "Scaring the Children" and TRI!

The show will be FREE, but you must sign up to be a member on our website. It will also require a promo code.

To watch the show, simply follow these steps.
-Click http://www.tristudios.com/upcoming
-Click event Psychedelic Christmas
-Click "Buy Now"
-Enter promo code to keep event FREE:
jolly for 6pm
merry for 9pm
Make sure you use these codes or you will be charged
-Click Checkout
-Login or Sign up
-Go to your purchases to watch event.

Guns N' Roses to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

2011-12-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

It has been announced that the Guns N' Roses will be one of the 2012 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While they aren't the most talented band, their stage presence is pretty amazing and they put on great shows. In 2006, I enjoyed seeing them with a few old friends at Madison Square Garden.

Their fellow inductees, of less interest to me, will be the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys and the Small Faces/Faces.

Rolling Stones Article

Another week, Another Pretty Good Outing at the Boylston: Back over 2200:)

2011-12-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Some of my greatest chess results have happened in my spur of the moment tournaments. Just the other night I was on the phone with my friend Rob Guevera, congratulating him on his recent tie for first at the National Chess Congress U 2200 section, and we talked about the fact that I haven't been playing as much recently. While my relative inactivity is due to tons of school work and the job search, we agreed that along with making a tournament schedule in advance, it has likely made be more consistent as a chess player. Despite our agreement however, my body woke me up at 7:20 today just in time to run to the 7:51 commuter rail to make the Boylston on time for the 1st round of today's Quad.... While I didn't make too much progress on my papers, I played pretty well and jumped back over the magic 2200:)

For the second week in a a row, I played the infamous FM Chris Chase. I'm still in the clear (-) against Chase, but fortunately minimized that minus score by 1. In a Reti, I relatively easily equalized and successfully launched a quick attack which ended in him having to sacrifice his queen to avoid forced mate!

In the second round, I played Robert Perez, whom I have recently struggled against a few times at the Waltham Chess Club.. Fortunately, this time I did a little better drawing. However, white the white pieces and a relatively dry position from a closed position, there's nothing to ride home about, Anyways: here it is:

After chickening out for a quick draw in the last round, I let Perez get clear first in the quad 2.5/3. I finished with 2/3 and picked up 27 pts though... Ill take it.
In other interesting news, while I was waiting for the shuttle back to Brandeis I was amused to see that Occupy Harvard has caused the yard to be closed to the public:

Rabin' s Somewhat Sucessful Return to the Boylston Club

2011-11-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

While I procrastinate a little more from all these final papers I have to write, I'll prove to my readers that this blog hasn't become a USCL predictions blog and that I haven't fell out of the blogosphere.

In other news, I played at the Boylston Sunday for the first time since the summer in the 2011 Greg Hager Memorial and tied for first with FM Christopher Chase. Other than our fought-out round 3 draw ( see below), we each beat three lower rated opponents. One notable player though was the fellow Brandeis King Killer Adam Grossack who is severely underrated at 1175 and beat an 1800 in the first round. Most of you probably don't know he is a national bridge champion---- Skills will transfer over to chess!

Here's my madness (OK. not quite) against Chase. In short he played a sideline which led to a pretty level endgame early on. I played a little too passively and gave him a slightly better game but he never had any serious winning chances.

Play online chess

Rabin's Prognostics of The End of the End: The 2011 USCL Championship

2011-11-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

As Mr.E predicted last Sunday, we shall see a NY-Chicago final! Surprisingly, Chicago did not bring out there monster GGGg 2500+ lineup. Furthermore, NY faced difficult missing almost 1/2 of their roster (Fedorowicz, Bodek, Williams and Gershenov) thanks to the World Youth and K-12 Nationals. Thanks to Chicago however, JFern who technically isn't eligible to play, was agreed to be able to play..... Without further ado, lets answer the golden question: "Who shall the 2011 USCL Champions be?

Board 1: GM Mesgen Amanov vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili:

Amanov has had a solid season all season long and has the white pieces. However, last week he faced a minor setback when he lost with the white pieces to Conrad Holt, showing he is isn't entirely invincible with white. Kacheishvili had been playing well too until he suffered two consecutive losses in the last week. However, with a nice rating edge and a dynamic style with the black pieces, I sense a victory for Kacheishvili in either a complicated Nimzo Indian.

Board 2: IM Irina Krush vs GM Dimitry Gurevich

Both players have had high performance ratings this season and had a 66% score, despite the fact Krush played 3 games, when Gurevich played 6. While Krush, has a miniscule rating edge, Gurevich's GM title definitely counts for something. I see Gurevich equalizing relatively easy and the game eventually ending in a peaceful draw.

Board 3: IM Angelo Young vs Matthew Herman

This game is a close call as a well established IM who has had a consistent season with a fantastic 5/6 score and 2624 performance rating faces a topsy-turvy player Herman who divides his time working hard at a hedgefund (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/good-at-chess-a-hedge-fund-may-want-to-hire-you/), swindling 2300s to help qualify NY for the finals (http://www.uschessleague.com/games/hermanmartirosov11p.htm) and tagging GMs left and right (http://main.uschess.org/content/view/11076/626/) . While it depends what mode Herman is up to, Ill give Young the nod here to pull out a win, as he has the white pieces and will likely obtain a small edge and try to grind Herman down.

Board 4: John Fernandez vs Gopal Menon

NY's chances on this board largely depends on if Fernandez is in shape. With the exception of the Bermuda International this past February, he hasn't played a tournament since 2006, when he unfortunately beat your loyal blogger in a long theoretical battle at Steve Immit's somewhat ridiculous Insanity at NYs home-site the great Marshall Chess Club. For those crazy chess maniacs around the the NY area, this another one of those all-night chess fests coming up as we await 2012! Anyways back on track, I unfortunately have to predict Menon to win with a rating edge and more recent tournament experience.

Thus, to be objective, I unfortunately have to predict Chicago to win 2.5-1.5 and win the 2011 Championship. Come on Knights, please prove my prediction wrong!

The End is Looming: The 2011 USCL Semi Finals!!!!

2011-11-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

The Subway Series: The Mighty Manhattan Applesauce vs the Nauseating New York Knights
With last week's swindle against Boston, NY appropiatlely gets the quality of "nauseating"
GM Stripunsky- GM Kacheishvili 1/2-1/2 They drew three times in USCL history- why not again?!
IM Krush-Bartholomew 1-0 Krush drew two games thus far this season with black and shall prove her point with the white fellows!
FM Mandizha-"GM" Pressman 1-0 I hate to predict against the "gm" but with white, I forsee Mandizha increasing his mini winning streak to 3 games
Williams- Black 1-0 Two schoolmates who were mentioned together in the NY Times duke it out for what will likely decide which team will move on to the championship. With the white pieces and a more solid style, I'm gonna go with Williams winning. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/crosswords/chess/chess-three-young-african-americans-earn-recognition-as-masters.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share

and Krush and Williams will lead NY to a 2.5-1.5 victory!

The GGGg Dominating Chicago Blaze vs the Underdog LA Blaze
Too be honest, I think with draw odds, even LA's best lineup wouldn't be so great, but with this surprisingly u2400 line up, I think LA's chances are grim.
GM Shulman- GM Khaciyan 1/2-1/2 I don't expect Shulman to push too hard due to match conditions
IM Amanov-GM Friedel 0-1 Close call as Amanov has an incredible 100% score with white but I predict he'll go a little too crazy here due to draw odds and Friedel will earn the full point
GM Gurevich-WGM Abrahmyan 1/2-1/2 similar logic to Shulman-Khaciyan
Lu-Schmakel 0-1 There's no stopping the "5-0 perfect" Schmakel!

and Chicago will win 3-1 too challenge NY in the Championship!

Who Shall Remain Supreme in the 2011 USCL Eastern Division?: Quarterfinals Edition

2011-11-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

Okay...... My margins we're quite off last night. As a matter of fact I predicted both match points wrong but with my friend named "Draw Odds" I guessed the two teams who were fortunate enough to qualify for the semi-finals: the Chicago Blaze and LA Blaze. Game points wise I was at 4/8: 50%.

The Surprising Division Champs the Philly Inventors vs the Power Hungry Manhattan Applesauce
GM Panchanathan- GM Stripunsky 1/2-1/2 Its a hard call as Strip won with with black in week 9. However, numbers wise I don't think he'll lose again.
IM Bartholomew-FM Bartell 1-0 They drew their week 9 encounter.... This time with draw odds on the table, Bartholomew will be hungry for the point!
IM Bonin-FM Mandizha1/2-1/2 The Bone said it himself: he'll be fine with a draw!
Black-Fisher 0-1 There's no stopping Fisher's dominant (8.5/9) record... To boot, he also went 5-0 in last weekend's Eastern Team Championship

and a drawn match 2-2, will send Philly to its first semi-finals!

The Real Deal that is Bound to Send Criticism My Way:): The NY Knights vs the Bahstan Blitz
GM Kascheisvili-Sammour 1-0 Last time, Sammour pulled of an upset, but Georgi is still a favorite!
IM Catdog Esserman vs HOF Fedorowicz 1/2-1/2 another Morra declined shall lead to peace!
Herman-Martirosov 1/2-1/2 Herman is overall a stronger player than Martirosov but has some trouble against him (0-2 in the league)... Lets take baby steps to build back his score-- draw this time!
Krasik-Bodek 1-0 Krasik is angry he lost a dead-won game in their last encounter: Rematch time!

and another drawn match 2-2 sends NY to play Philly for a third time in 4 weeks!

The Beginning of the End of the 2011 USCL Western Division: The Quarterfinals

2011-11-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

The Back to GGGg Status Chicago Blaze take on the Challengers: The Dallas Destiny
GM Shulman- GM Chirila 1-0 Shulman's win against Molner last week shows he is serious business!
GM Sadorra- GM Friedel 0-1 At first I was going to say draw here, but with draw odds, Sadorra will push too hard.
GM Amanov-GM Holt 1/2-1/2 I'd give Amanov an edge but I don't think he'll push too hard after Holt equalizes
FM Xiong-Schmakel 0-1 There's no stopping the 4-0 Schmakel

3.5-.5 seems like too big of a margin... I'll take some moe and say Chicago will win 3-1!
( I made a small correction here as I meant to say Amanov would draw Holt)

The Other GGGg team the SF Mechanics Seek to Overcome LA Vibe's Draw Odds
GM Wolff-IM Matikozyan 1-0 Wolff is historically stronger with white and has a nice rating edge!
IM Amanov- GM Bhat 1-0 Both have had great seasons so far.... I'm gonna go with my first instincts and say Amanov will score an upset!
GM Kraai-IM Abrahamyan 1-0 GM Kraai will go for a slow positional grind.
Kavutskiy-Byambaa 1-0

thus, as the white pieces score 100%, a drawn match 2-2 will say good bye to SF's season

Who Shall Play Chicago in the Championship: The End of the 2011 Regular Season for the East

2011-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight the Western playoffs were decided: Chicago, LA, SF and Dallas... However, too be honest as I claimed a few weeks ago, I honestly don't think any of them have a great chance against Chicago, assuming they will show off their dominating 2512 line up: Shulman/Friedel/Amanov/Schmakel throughout......... (That's my take- Please try to convince me otherwise!)

The New Joisy Knockouts Seek to Play Spoiler Again Against the Serious Business Bahstan Blitz
GM Benjamin-GM Perelshteyn 1-0 was a toss-up to me between Benjamin winning and drawing and Perelyshteyn hasn't played much lately...
IM van de Mortel-GM Gulko 1/2-1/2
IM Kapengut-Krasik 1-0
Mosiyenko- Matlin 1-0
and NJ shall be a spoiler again! NJ Wins 2.5-1.5

My Chums the NY Knights Seek to Take Over the #1 Spot From the Impressive Philly Inventors
GM Charbonneau-GM Erenburg 1-0 a toss-up between two strong dynamic GMs but given Charb's impressive win against Akobian, I think he'll continue his winning ways!
FM Bartell-IM Krush 1/2-1/2 ( there won't be too many complications here- quiet queen-pawn opening)
Herman-IM Bonin 1/2-1/2
Fisher-Gershenov 1-0 (they drew two weeks ago but with the white pieces, Fisher should be a favorite: Prove me wrong Ben!)
and a Drawn Match 2-2 will give Philly the 2011 Eastern title

More Spoilers : the Carolina Cobras take on the Ever-so-solid Manhattan Applesauce
I truly was excited for Carolina, when they started this season 2-2 showing they had a contending team.. Hopefully next year they'll get some more recruits and make the play-offs again.
IM Schroer-IM Milman 0-1(why go against last year's result between ex-teamates?!)
IM Bartholomew-FM Korley 1-0
FM Simpson-FM Mandizha 0-1 Mandizha will want to prove him self after 3/4 draws and Simpson is a wild player who will give him winning chances!
Prilleltensky-Jones 1/2-1/2
and with a moe in mind, Manhattan will win 3-1 contending for a play-off spot

And Yet Another Spoiler Team The Baltimore Kingfishers Duel The NE Nor'easters
GM Margvelashvili-GM Shankland 0-1
IM Hungaski-IM Enkhbat 1-0 ( A repeat of last year's result!)
Defibaugh-FM Bournival 1-0
Brattain-Zimmer 0-1
and the Baltimore Kingfisher's will succeed in being spoilers as we shall see a Drawn Match 2-2

Thus we shall see in the playoffs 1)Philly 2)NY 3) Manhattan 4) NE
Yup that's right we shall see a Subway Series in the quarterfinals!!!

How the West [will be] Won on!: The 2011 USCL Finale Part 1

2011-10-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Live or Let Die: The Dallas Destiny and the Miami Sharks Duke it off for a Critical Playoff Spot
GM Chirila- GM Becerra 1/2-1/2 Becerra will equalize in a theoretical Ruy Lopez.....
GM Sadorra- FM Rodriguez 1-0
IM Holt-FM Pelaez 1-0 Pelaez has shocked me in previously but I'm gonna go with the rating favorite
Rosenthal-Xiong 0-1

With a moe in mind, The Dallas Destiny shall win 3-1.... till next year Miami

The Other Play-off Contender the SF Mechanics vs the Spoilers: The St Louis ArchBishops
For the second time in three weeks, St Louis threatens to place Naka on board 1 and changes their line up: Perhaps a Hollaween taunt?
GM Kraai- IM Vojinovic 1-0 With the white pieces and last week's GOTW under his belt, Kraai's chances are good!
FM Banawa- IM Naroditsky 0-1
Liou-Eckert 1-0
Karlow-Rumph 1-0

Since SF shall be hungry for a play off spot and has a big rating edge no moe here.... SF wins 3-1

The Smoothly Sailing Chicago Blaze vs the Ever-so Desperate Arizona Scorpions
With last week's loss, Chicago has come back with a strong line-up (but is still saving its heavy 2500+ lineup for the playoffs!)
GM Shulman-IM Molner 1-0
IM Altounian-IM Felecan 1-0 Felecan will go for complications and end up down too much material!
IM Young-FM Adamson 1-0
FM Atoufi-Menon 0-1

and Chicago says goodbye to Arizona's season as Chicago Wins 3-1... no moe of here because Arizona will play desperate to win-- no draws

The One game with Little Play-off Implications : The LA Vibe vs the Seattle Sluggers
WGM Abrahamyan-IM Orlov 1-0 Very close call between two tacticians: Tatev has the momentum!
FM Milat-FM Casella 1-0
Kavutskiy-WGM Rohonyan 1/2-1/2 Kavutsiky won their 2010 encounter... Now is time to make peace!
Feng-Lu 1-0 Don't much about either of these kids but Feng surprised me with a few upsets this season

and Seattle wins 2.5-1.5 (disclaimer: last week an anonymous commented I've been predicting against LA too much... Maybe perhaps so but with a low avg 2278 this week, its hard to go in their favor)

The Destined Results of the 2011 USCL Season's Penultimate Round Part 2

2011-10-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

My success (or lack of it) of my predictions last night was somewhat strange.. Usually I score higher on match points than game points.. This time around however, I predicted 11/16 game points right and a mere 1/4 match points accurately... Shall I fare better or worse for tomorrow night? - We shall see!

First off, we have The Too Little Too Late NJ Knockouts vs the Dominant NY Knights
When NJ is finally eliminated, they produce a super solid team: a little too late
GM Benjamin-GM Kascheishvili 1/2-1/2 Kashi won last time but with black it'll be another draw!
GM Fedorowicz- GM Fishbein 1/2-1/2 a relatively boring GM draw here: less exciting then Benj-Kasch:(
FM Shen-Herman 0-1
Williams-Wu 1/2-1/2 (Williams has a miniscule edge, but Wu is playing awesome in the MCC championship---- I think he'll equalize out of the opening and neither side will push for much.

and the the final verdict is Herman helps NY win 2.5-1.5 setting up a critical match next against against Philly to determine the Eastern champion!

The still Shanklandless NE Nor'Easters vs the Absolute Desperate to win Carolina Cobras
IM Vigorito- IM Schroer 1/2-1/2
FM Korley- IM Yedidia 1/2-1/2
FM Bournival-FM Simpson 1-0
Jones- Goldberg 1-0 ( nothing personal Ben!- extra motivation to prove me wrong!)
and a hard fought match is mutually detrimental: Drawn Match 2-2

The Even Steven Teams Fight to go in the Positive: The Dallas Destiny vs the SF Mechanics
IM Bercys- GM Bhat 1/2-1/2
GM Kraai- GM Sadorra 1-0
IM Holt-IM Pruess 1-0
Rumph-Lapedz 0-1 As far as I can tell Rumph isn't so active anymore Lapedz is rapidly improving.

and.............The Dallas Destiny wins 2.5-1.5

The Weakened St. Louis Archbishops vs the Relatively Balanced Seattle Sluggers
Naka threatened to play but with him out, St Louis's chances look pretty dim this week
GM Finegold- FM Cozianu 1-0
FM Mikhailuk- Karlow 1-0 ( 400 rating pts+ white= win)
Rich -Sinanan 0-1 (300 pts+ Sinanan dynamic with black=win)
Kelley- Hua 1-0
And Seattle will slide to victory with a 3.5-1.5 margin (moe). St Louis would need miracles to pull of an upset For either of these teams to have objective play-off chances next year I think they need new recruits... Right now they have all their eggs in one basket: Naka and Akobian and respectively.

The Expected Results of the 2011 USCL Penultimate Round: Part 1!

2011-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Co-Leading Philly Inventors take on the Trailing Manhattan Applesauce
GM Panchanathan-GM Stripunsky 1/2-1/2
IM Bartholomew-FM Bartell 1/2-1/2
IM Bonin-FM Zaremba 1-0 I underestimated Jay the last two weeks predicting draws.. This week he's going for the FULL BONE!
Smith -Fisher 1-0 I had Fisher drawing Black but with the late lineup change and time odds I'll give Fisher the point! (However the expected match result does not change!
and all in the end the Bone leads Philly to victory 2.5-1.5 (moe here)

The Caught up Boston Blitz take on the Still Slacking Baltimore Kingfishers
SM Sammour-GM Kaufman 1-0 In the battle betwen the wild tactician and computer, the human style shall take precedent!
IM Enkhbat- IM van de Mortel 1-0
Martirosov-FM Zimmer 1/2-1/2 They drew in last year's Semi-Finals and they'll draw again!
Schoch-Krasik 1-0
and Boston will go back into the (-) as Baltimore shall pull of an upset 2.5-1.5

The Close to Even Miami Sharks take on the Light Version of the Chicago Blaze
Chicago had enough winning at least for now and finally produces a soft line-up. Don't be fooled though: the other GMs will be back for the Playoffs though!
GM Becerra- GM Friedel 1-0 ( Becerra has perfect score against Friedel in league history: Psychological Edge)
IM Young- FM Rodriguez 1-0
FM Pelaez- Rosen 1-0
Shmackel-Rosenthal 1-0
and an all decisive games will lead to a Drawn match 2-2

The Arizona Scorpions Look to keep their Playoff Hopes Alive against the LA Vibe
IM Molner- WGM Abrahmayan 1-0 Mac=BEAST enough said.
Gupta- IM Altounian 0-1
FM Adamson-Kavutskiy 1-0
FM Yanayt- FM Atoufi 1-0
and Arizona will remain in the game as Arizona shall win 3-1 ( no moe of here!)

Rabin Returns to NY for the Weekend: World Famous 4RGT!

2011-10-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am in NY for the weekend for tonight's Tedeschi- Trucks Band concert... Post on that to come up soon.

Here's one of my games from last night against GM Kekelidze. I sacked a pawn in an interesting line of the Queen's Indian and had my fare of chances at one point... At one point, he agreed I was likely winning but in the final mutual scramble, I tried to simplify into what I thought I was an equal endgame without many winning chances for either side.. However unfortunately, the GM begged to differ and convincingly took out the whole point...

Play online chess

I won my three other games and tied for the 3rd and the u2200 prize with Leif Pressman, Edward Kopiecki and Vladimir Polyakin. GM Kekelidze drew IM Bonin in the last round in a long struggle that led to an opposite-colored bishops ending to tie for first.

Rabin's Perception of the 2011 USCL Season's Week 8: Part 2!

2011-10-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

In pure match points, I was PERFECT last night 4/4.... With a little bit of luck:) I only got 6/16 match points.
The Rather Successful Comeback Kids aka. the NE Nor'easters vs the Rather Desperate NJ Knockouts

IM Hungaski-GM Benjamin 1/2-1/2 I'm expecting a relatively quiet Caro- Kann draw
IM Kapengut-IM Vigorito 1/2-1/2
Cherniack-Ng 1-0
Matlin-Fikiet 0-1

and New England will survive, ending NJ's playoff chances as with a moe, NE will win 2.5-1.5!

The Middle of the Pack Manhattan Apple Sauce vs the Strikingly Distant Baltimore Kingfishers
IM Vovsha- GM Margvelashvili 0-1
GM Kaufman-IM Schneider 1/2-1/2
FM Zaremba-IM Enkhbhat 1-0
Yang-Prilleltensky 0-1

and Manhattan will solidify a third place position as Manhattan will win 2.5-1.5

The Unpredictable Miami Sharks take on a Ridiculously Watered-down St. Louis Arch Bishops
If it was one of the Amateur Team Championships, St. Louis would have a decent team... wrong event
GM Becerra-FM Banawa 1-0
Cao-FM Olivera 1/2-1/2 I'm thinking Olivera will leave the game = as his teammates have big edges..
FM Rodriguez-Karlow 1-0
Hua-Rosenthal 0-1
and Miami wins 3.5-.5: Any reader knows I rarely predict such big margins but with such a big rating gap, its seems likely.

The Dallas Destiny vs the Relatively "Weak" Chicago Blaze Duke it Out
Chicago's team is by no means weak at super strong 2456 but is slightly weaker than previous weeks.
GM Chirila- GM Friedel 1/2-1/2 ( Friedel won't push as a match draw clinches the division)
GM Gurevich-IM Holt 1-0
FM Kiewra-Rosen 1-0
FM Dean-FM Xiong1/2-1/2 ( same reasoning as Chirila-Friedel!)
and Chicago's "weak" team clinches the Western division with a Drawn Match 2-2!

We are 8 miles (weeks) High!: Rabin Predict's Wk 8 Part 1!

2011-10-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Battle for the Top: The Solidly Performing Philly Inventors vs My Homies: The NY Knights!!!
GM Panchanathan-GM Kacheishvili 1/2-1/2 Panchanathan is a rock who won't get any real advantage against Kaschi out of the opening with his Reti or similar opening but Kaschi won't push any further!
GM Charbonneau- FM Bartell 1-0 Charbonneau will win after wild complications in an advanced Caro
IM Bonin- "GM" Pressman 1/2-1/2 These players have amazingly played each other about 130 times otb. It is the Bone himself who gave Pressman the "honorary GM title"- if your gonna be a GM, your gonna have to be be bad the the Bone! Anyways' I'm gonna go with a draw here since both players are relatively solid in the league and in the last 12 months, they have 7 draws out of 13 games!
Gershenov-Fisher 0-1 Fisher will take advantage of some unsound sacrifice- Thats 7-0 for Fisher!

and at the end of the night, Philly and NY will be tied for 1st as there shall be a drawn match 2-2

Two Teams Fight to Even up Their Scores : The Carolina Cobras vs The Boston Blitz
IM Schroer- GM Sammour 0-1 I often have trouble predicting games between strong solid IMs and GMs but if there's one GM in the league that is good at mixing up positions for the win, its Jorge!
FM Griego-FM Korley 1-0
FM Simpson- IM van de Mortel 0-1 He beat Simpson with black pretty convincingly last year in 26 moves- why not again?
Mosiyenko-Jones 0-1

and with a moe in mind, the Boston Blitz will keep their playoff hopes as Boston will win 2.5-1.5

The IM storm (3 IMs!) SF Mechanics vs the Slightly Behind Arizona Scorpions!
IM Naroditsky- IM Molner 1/2-1/2 Mac seems to be crushing anyone who crosses his path with white and making peace with anyone good player as black!
FM Banawa-IM Zilberstein 1/2-1/2
IM Pruess-Adelberg 1-0
FM Atoufi-Liou 1-0
and Arizona shall remain slightly behind as we will see a drawn match 2-2

The Teams with Inverse Scores face off: The Seattle Sluggers vs the LA Vibe
IM Orlov-IM Matikozyan 1-0
IM Amanov-FM Mikhailuk 1-0
Sinanan-WGM Abrahayman 0-1
Kavutskiy-Feng 1-0

and with a moe in mind, LA will win 2.5-1.5 leaving Seattle in the black

Rabin predicts the 2011 USCL Season Week 7 Round 2

2011-10-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night's prediction's weren't too shabby. I predicted 2/4 matches and 11/16 game points correctly. Furthermore, I predicted NY-NJ and LA-Miami(despite their last min changes) perfectly.

The Slightly Above Par Manhattan Apple Sauce vs the Comeback kids: The NE Nor'easters
IM Milman- IM Hungaski 1-0 in the battle of two GM strength IMs, I think the one with a better season so far is gonna win!
IM Vigorito-IM Vovsha 1-0 Vigorito is going to win with a long grind after a theoretical Gruenfeld duel!
FM Mandizha- Cherniack 1-0 Farai is just a beast!
Fikiet-Black 1-0

and 4 decsive results will lead to a Drawn Match 2-2. The last time, I predicted a drawn match with all decsive wins, Manhattan drew NY with all draws, so let's see what will happen:)

The Baltimore Kingfishers and Carolina Cobras Fight to See Who Can Go Back to an Even Score

GM Kaufman-IM Schroer 1-0 These players drew in 2007, when Larry was "mere" IM, This time they'll repeat their 2010 result: Mr. Rybka wins!
FM Korley-IM Enkhbhat 1/2-1/2 Enhkbhat will equalize relatively easy but nothing more
Defibaugh-Simpson 0-1
Jones-Zimmer 1-0
and Carolina pullls off a slight upset with a 2.5-1.5 margin, equalizing its score

The Absolutely Dominant Chicago Blaze vs the San Francisco Mechanics
I said it a few weeks ago- I'll say it again. The Blaze is hand's down the strongest team in the league now.
GM Shulman-GM Bhat 1-0
GM Kraai-GM Amanov 1/2-1/2
IM Young-IM Naroditsky 1/2-1/2
Byambaa- Schmackel 0-1
With a moe in mind, Chicago wins 2.5-1.5 to obtain an astonishing 7-0 score and assured playoff spot

The Slightly Behind the Game Arizona Scoprions vs the Slightly Ahead of the game Dallas Destiny
IM Molner-IM Bercys 1-0:two strong IMS who both used live in the NY area: Mac is currently on a tare.
IM Holt-FM Banawa 1-0
FM Adamson-FM Kiewra 1/2-1/2 pretty much a toss-up but they had two decisive games in the past leading to an even score- why not draw this time?!
Xiong-Adelberg 0-1
and both teams will be tied in the middle of the pack as Arizona shall win 2.5-1.5

Congrats to Sir Paul on his Wedding!

2011-10-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

All you need is love!: Congrats to Sir Paul on his new marriage with Nancy Shevell!!

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/all-you-need-is-love-beatle-proves-as-he-ties-knot-again-20111010-1lheq.html

Erab's take on the 1st 1/2 of the 7th week of fun in the USCL 2011!

2011-10-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

The 2011 USCL season is winding down as the teams stiffly compete for playoff spots!

The "Bad" Boston Blitz in the middle of the pack vs the Leader of the Pack: The Philly Inventors
GM Perelshteyn-Erenburg 1/2-1/2- two rock gms
FM Bartell- IM Jan van de Mortel 1-0 ( going with my first instincts here: wake up guy and go for a win!)
Martirosov- IM Bonin 1/2-1/2 a game between two rocks usually leads to a half bone!
Fisher-Krasik 0-1 I'm going with my gut here and will predict the board 4 mvp will finally fall to the league's trash talking mvp

and Philly slows down, letting NY take first, as there shall be a Drawn Match 2-2

The King Killing NY Knights takes on their "foreign" neighbors the New Joisy Knockouts
GM Kacheishvili- GM Benjamin 1-0 In three USCL Games, these solid gms have three draws- i think its time for Kachi to go for a nice long positional squeeze.
IM Ippolito-GM Fedorowicz 1/2-1/2 The Fed shall equalize and offer a draw relatively early on
Herman-Ng 1-0
Wu-Bodek 1/2-1/2

and NY takes 1st the in the East as with a moe in mind, NY Shall win 2.5-1.5!

The LA Vibe seek revenge against last year's loss to the Miami Sharks
GM Khaciyan-GM Becerra 1/2-1/2
FM Olivera-IM Matikozyan 0-1
WGM Abrahamyan- FM Rodriguez 1-0: last week I very much regrettably predicted Rodriguez would lose when he had a very nice Catdog Esserman style Morra win. However, with black I objectively don't like his chances much here. But surprises happen so we shall see!
Rosenthal-Lu 1-0 toss up here between two players I underestimated in the past

and in the long run, Miami's playoff chances will be slim as LA shall win 2.5-1.5

Two teams - Their Big Guns Duke it Out: The Seattle Sluggers vs the St. Louis Archbishops
FM Cozianu- GM Finegold 1/2-1/2 ( close call between Finegold winning and drawing)
IM Vojinovic-FM Milat 1-0
Sinanan-FM Eckert 1-0
Ruan-Feng 1-0 ( complete toss-up, gonna go with rating and white pieces as an indicator)

and St. Louis shall keep microscopic chances of making the playoffs as St. Louis wins 2.5-1.5

Civil War Part 2

2011-10-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

I did pretty....pretty....pretty....pretty...pretty....pretty..pretty... pretty.. good last night. ( name the reference for Rabin brownie points:)) Game points not so much: 7/16 but Match Points Yes: 3/4

Before I share reveal Rabin's great prophecies for tomorrow night, I thought I'd mention something about Klein's incident last night against Holt. I think if it was clearly a mistake that he resigned (which it obviously was since he had sufficient compensation for just one pawn( not a lot of material), he should have been granted permission to continue playing. For next year, this policy should definitely change.

Without further ado:

Last Year's Division Champs Fight to Stay in the 2011 Race: The Miami Sharks vs the NE Nor'easeters
GM Becerra-IM Hungaski 1-0
IM Yedidia- FM Olivera 1-0
FM Rodriguez- FM Riordan 0-1
Fikiet- Alvarez 1-0
With a MOE in mind, NE beats Miami again with a 2.5-1.5 margin!

The Unstoppable(?!) Chicago Blaze vs the Average Joe Baltimore Kingfishers
GM Amanov-GM Margvelashvili 1-0
IM Enkhbat- GM Gurevich 1/2-1/2 (Enkhbat white against any 2400+ in USCL=draw)
IM Young- Defibaugh 1-0
Schoch- Menon 1-0 and Schoch remains a solid contender for bd 4 all-star with a 4/4 score!
and Chicago wins yet again: 2.5-1.5

The Underdog St. Louis Arch Bishops vs the Somewhat Surprisingly Super Strong Philadelphia Inventors ( yay for alliteration:))
GM Finegold- GM Panchanathan 1/2-1/2
FM Bartell-FM Banawa 1-0
Cao-IM Bonin 1/2-1/2 Given a good match situation on the other boards, Bonin shall play it safe and go for the 1/2 Bone!
Fisher- Hua 1-0 Fisher's record so far= phenomenal, playing his lowest rated opponent yet, he shall remain 100%
and the final answer is.......... Philly wins 3-1!

The Statistically Identical from both sides of the US face off: The SF Mechanics (3-2) vs the Manhattan Applesauce (3-2) with average ratings this week with a mere 7 pt difference
GM Wolff- GM Stripunsky 1/2-1/2 On a side note, if you haven't seen it yet, check out an interesting article from Thursday's New York Times about the relationship of finance jobs and chess, which also mentions the USCL participant Matthew Herman http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/good-at-chess-a-hedge-fund-may-want-to-hire-you/
IM Milman ( another chess/finance wiz)- IM Zilberstein 1-0
IM Pruess- FM Zaremba 1-0
Prilleltensky- Sevian 1/2-1/2
and both teams maintain a plus 1 score in their perspective divisions as the match shall be drawn 2-2

Mr. E's take on Interdivision Week: Let the Rumbles begin!!

2011-10-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Before we start, lets just give it up for the YANKS!!!!!!!!!!!! SHIP IT DETROIT!!!!!!! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS 2011 HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!

First off, we see The Roller Coaster Carolina Cobras vs the 2 GM strong Dallas Destiny

Dallas must have been influenced by the likes of NY, Chicago, St Louis etc... putting up 2 GMS.. Don't think they ever did that before- feel free to correct me on that one:)

IM Matros -GM Chirila 1/2-1/2 A few weeks, not knowing Matros, I incorrectly predicted he'd lose to the GM strength Milman... That time he was black... Having white he should hold down the fort.
GM Sadorra- IM Battaglini 1-0
FM Klein-IM Holt 0-1 Holt's been playing monsterly this season with a 3.5 score and GOTW to boot
FM Xiong- Mabe 0-1 Mabe has a dismal USCL history with 0-3, all with the white pieces.. With a rating edge and the white pieces, he's gonna show some power.

One for the West: Dallas wins 2.5-1.5

Love (or Hatred?) at first Sight: The Boston Blitz and the Arizona Scorpions Duel for the 1st time
Boston is likely going on tilt here after two losses putting in a sub-par line up
GM Christiansen- IM Molner 1-0
IM Altounian- FM Griego 1-0
Krasik-FM Adamson 0-1
FM Atoufi- Mosiyenko 1-0
That's two for the West: Arizona wins 3-1 (I'm relatively confident in my predictions so no moe here)

While the Yanks will be handing the Tigers their 3rd consecutive Defeat, the NY Knights Shall Hold No Forces Back against the Seattle Sluggers

GM Charbonneau- GM Akobian 0-1 (Prove me wrong Pascal!)
IM Orlov- GM Fedorowicz 0-1 Fed= big Yankee Fan as the Yanks win, Fed will follow suit!
Herman-Kelley 1-0 With a new Jewish year and a nice mention in the NY Times, Herman will get a nice new fresh start!
Feng-Gershenov 1/2-1/2

Mi Amigos the NY Knights shall take the lead in the East as they win 2.5-1.5!

Another Blind Date: the Under-performing NJ Knockouts meet the So So-performing LA Vibe!!!

GM Benjamin-GM Khaciyan 1-0
WGM Abrahamyan-IM Ippolito 1/2-1/2
Sherer- FM Casella 0-1 ( I'm surprised NJ couldn't find someone closer to 2000)
Kavutskiy-Matlin 1-0
and my prediction is forced to change: The LA Vibe win 2.5-1.5

And the West shall unfortunately defeat the the East 3-1

Rabin's Prognostics for Week 5: Part 2

2011-09-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Monday Night, I did not fare to well with only 1/4 match points and a mere 5/16 game points correct. Let's see I if I can redeem myself through my predictions for tomorrow night!:

First of all we see the subway series in which the World Famous NY Knights take on the 2nd rate NY team the Manhattan Apple Sauce
I will be mainly watching this match, on a Boltbus from Boston to NY!

GM Kascheishvili- GM Stripunsky 1-0 These top level NY GMS duked out two draws the in the last two years in USCL... Both of those times Kaschi had the black pieces. Now Kaschi take order with white.
IM Vovsha- IM Krush 1-0
"GM" Pressman- IM Mandizha 0-1 (close call knowing both players well)
Smith- Gershenov 0-1
In a match with all decisive games, the result will be peaceful : Drawn Match 2-2

The City of Brotherly Love's Inventors vs the Balanced Baltimore Kingfishers

GM Erenburg-GM Kaufman 1-0: Erenburg shall prove him self worthy of playing on a different team.
IM Enkhbat- FM Bartell 1/2-1/2
IM Bonin- WGM Foisor 1-0: In the words of Jay himself, he's gonna go for a full bone!!
Defibaugh- Fisher 1-0 a tough call between the likely two strongest board 4s in the league but my instinct said Jared would win (the white pieces help out his cause)
but at the end of the night, Erenburg and the Bone shall lead Philly to win with a 2.5-1.5 victory

The Bullet-proof Chicago Blaze vs the Hikaruless St. Louis Arch Bishops
Unfortunately for St. Louis, Hikaru is too busy drawing the likes of Ivanchuk and Anand in St. Paulo and not playing in the league... ( Shows the problem of putting all their eggs in one basket)

GM Friedel- GM Finegold 1-0
IM Vojinovic- GM Gurevich 1/2-1/2
IM Young-FM Eckert 1-0 Eckert has shocked me of times in the league so far, but its hard to predict him to score against one who is 200 points higher rated and has the white pieces..
Karlow- Schmakel 0-1
With a margin of error in mind, Chicago will win 3-1 Can anyone stop Chicago?!

The Balanced Bunch that make up the SF Mechanics vs the Akobian-led Seattle Sluggers
With Akobian back in town, Seattle has prospects, but as we shall see, probably not enough to handle the Mechanics:
GM Kraai- GM Akobian 1/2-1/2 Kraai is quite a rock with the white pieces- he never lost a game with white in USCL history--- if Seattle wants to win, Akobian may have to deal Kraai his 1st USCL loss with white.
FM Mikhailuk-IM Naroditsky 0-1
IM Pruess-Kelley 1-0
Golub-Sevian 1-0
And the Sluggers shall face a difficult time making the playoffs as San Francisco shall win 2.5-1.5

In other new for those of you observing Rosh Hoshanah: !לשנה תטובה

Rabin's Predictions for the End of the First Half of the 2011 USCL Season: Part 1 !

2011-09-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Under-performing New England Nor'easters take on the veteran New England team the Boston Blitz
GM Shankland- Sammour Hasbun 1-0 Last week, I underestimated Shanky's abilities... this week I shall not, with the white pieces, he shall bust out some nice novelty and smoothly win from a nice opening advantage.
IM Catdog Esserman- IM Vigorito 1-0: Advanced Caro, Morra?! Not sure what, but I'm sure Catdog will have something up his sleeve... GOTW material?- just maybe
Cherniack-Martirosov 1/2-1/2
Krasik-Goldberg 1-0
and for the first time I all season I predict a win for Boston leaving NE with very minimal play off contention: Boston wins 2.5-1.5

The Also Under-performing NJ Knockouts take on the Balanced lined up Carolina Cobras
GM Benjamin- IM Schroer 1-0
FM Korley-FM Hansen 1-0
Shen-FM Simpson 0-1
Jones-Wu 1-0 Despite Wu's GOTW last week, Jones' large rating edge and white pieces will rule.
and Carolina get back to their winning ways after two consecutive losses as with a margin of error in mind, Carolina shall win 2.5-1.5

The Arachnida vs Sharks: The Arizona Scorpions vs the Miami Sharks
IM Molner- GM Becerra 1/2-1/2
FM Rodriguez- IM Altounian 0-1
IM Ginzburg-Hernandez 1-0
FM Palaez- Mateer 1-0
And the Scorpions shall keep their playoff hopes alive as Arizona wins 2.5-1.5

The Dallas Destiny bring out GM Chirila against the Desperate-to-Win LA Vibe
GM Chirila- GM Khaciyan 1/2-1/2
IM Amanov- IM Bercys 0-1
WGM Abrahamyan-Vaidya 1-0
Lu-Labedz 0-1
and with a MOE in mind, The Dallas Destiny shall win 2.5-1.5!

The Second Half of Week 4!

2011-09-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't do too bad tonight... 2/4 match predictions correct and 9/16 game points correct:) Let's see how I shall fare Wednesday night!

The Secondary New York Team the Manhattan Applesauce duke it out with the other side of the Hudson River: The New Joisy Knockouts
GM Stripunsky- GM Benjamin 1/2-1/2 These GMS have an even score in USCL history.. In 2007, Benjamin outplayed Stripunsky with the white pieces. In 2008, they had a relatively boring draw and in 2009, Stripunsky brought home the full point with the black pieces. It's time for another draw!
IM Berezovsky-IM Bartholomew 0-1 I know absolutely nothing about IM Berezovsky, as he doesn't even have a USCF rating, but he must be out of practice.
IM Mandizha- FM Hansen 1-0
Wu- Black 1/2-1/2
All in all, Manhattan cruises to victory with a 3-1 score

The Unpredictable Carolina Cobras vs My Homies: The New York Knights
IM Schroer-GM Kacheishvili 0-1 Giorgi shall seek revenge for his disappointing loss to Schroer which led to GOTW in last year's week 7 and stir up some nice home preparation.
GM Fedorowicz-FM Korley 1-0
Simpson- Herman 0-1 Considering the fact that in the last two years, Simpson had 15/15 decisive games with his crazy style, and Herman shall seek to re-raise his self-esteem after a sub-par start for this season, I can only see a good result for him Wednesday!
Williams- Jones 1/2-1/2
Without further ado, with a moe in mind, NY Shall win 3-1

The St Louis Arch Bishops Dying to Get On the Scoreboard vs the So-far Sub Par Arizona Scorpions
GM Finegold- IM Molner 1-0
IM Altounian- IM Vojinovic 1/2-1/2
FM Eckert- FM Adamson 0-1
FM Atoufi- Karlow 1-0
and the Arch Bishops shall remain with a big 0 as Arizona wins 2.5-1.5 ( Where in the world is Hikaru Nakamura?!)

The Middle of the Pack The LA Vibe take on the Perfect Chicago Blaze
Without Chicago's GGGg line up, the LA Vibe stand a chance, but let's see how much of one....
GM Khaciyan- GM Shulman 1/2-1/2 Shulman opened his USCL career last year with a GOTW win over Khaciyan but that was with this white pieces.. This time I predict a quieter game and a draw to boot.
GM Amanov- IM Amanov ( the Battle of the Amanovs although not related ) 1-0
WGM Abrahamyan- FM Dean 1-0
Menon-Lu 1-0 ( don't know either player so I'll go by rating on this one)
Unfortunately for LA, Chicago is still a favorite, only being a GGgg team, as Chicago shall win 2.5-1.5

Rabin Predicts Week 4: Part 1!!!

2011-09-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Boneing Philly Inventors( with the great Bone) vs The Tail-ending NE Nor'easters
GM Erenburg- the Brandeis Judge GM Shankland 1-0 (Sam please prove me wrong!!)
IM Hungaski- FM Bartell 1-0
IM Bonin- FM Bournival 1-0
Brattain-Fisher 0-1
And the Nor'easters shall remain in the dark as Philly win with a 2.5-1.5 margin (Margin of Error)

The Middle of the Pack:The Baltimore Kingfishers vs the Sub-par Bahstan Blitz
Perhaps the Blitz got a little cocky this week with a sub-par lineup as they are leading the East.
GM Kaufman- FM Griego 1-0
Martirosov- IM Enkhbat 1/2-1/2
Defibaugh- Krasik 0-1
Gu-Schoch 0-1

Baltimore wins 2.5-1.5!!

Miami with GM Becerra back vs the Ever-strong SF Mechanics
GM Becerra- GM Bhat 1-0 These players drew the two times they played, once in 05 and once in 08. This time I think Becerra will out play Bhat in a long positional struggle
GM Kraai-FM Rodriguez 1-0
Hernandez- IM Naroditsky 0-1 Perhaps Hernandez could pull of an upset here as he did surprise me last week when he beat WGM Rohonyan, but I'm gonna give the IM an edge here... Rohonyan did after all make a somewhat dubious sac on f7.
Byambaa- Alvarez 0-1
And the final answer is...... a tied match 2-2

The Last night duel of the Night: The Akobianless Seattle Sluggers vs the Talented Dallas Destiny
IM Orlov- IM Bercys 1/2-1/2
GM Sadorra-FM Cozianu 1-0
NM Sinanan- IM Holt 0-1
WFM Labedz-Kelley 1-0 ( It's a little ridiculous that Labedz is now 2387- soon to be over 2400 as she beat two 2300s and 3 2500s in a row at the Southwest Open and is only rated as 2141.)
With a margin of error in mind, Dallas shall have a smooth 3-1 victory

Chess and music readers alike, stay tuned for my review of Roger Daltrey's killer show in Boston last night!!!

Rabin Guestimates the Results for Week 3 Part 2!!

2011-09-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Monday night I did Ok.. a lackluster 6/16 game pts correct and 2/4 match pts correct: 50% I'll take it.

My Home-team the New York Knights Looking for a Juicy 3-0 vs My Old Teammates The Bahstan Blitz

GM Kaschi- Sammour 1-0: Last year Sammour beat Kaschi in a wild tactical melee that was GOTW material.. This year though, Kaschi has the white pieces and Sammour will never quite equalize out of the opening and slowly get outplayed.

IM Catdog Esserman- GM Fed 1/2-1/2: Morra? Morra?- just maybe.. Catdog has been quite a beast in the league but take note this his first USCL game ever against a GM... Fed won't go for a complicated Morra and the game will end in peace.

Herman- Martirosov 1-0: Back in 09, Herman lost to Martirosov as white--- with two years, comes 200 rating points for Herman and he will sure be trying hard to even up the favor as he will likely outplay Martirosov in another Rossilimo Sicillian

Krasik-Bodek 1-0 : As Bodek makes his league debut, I predict he will face a hard time against Krasik, who steer the game away from main-line theory, which Bodek knows very well.

All in all NY wins 2.5-1.5 to dominate the East 3-0!!

The New Joisy Knockouts and the City of Brotherly Love Inventors duke it out to avoid the tail-end of the East

GM Benjamin-GM Erenburg 1/2-1/2
FM Bartell-GM Gulko 1/2-1/2
IM Kapengut-IM Bonin 1/2-1/2
Fisher-Matlin 1-0
and Philly leaves NJ in the hole, winning with a 2.5-1.5 margin

The Two-time Champs the Dallas Destiny vs the Tail-ending St. Louis Archbishops
If St. Louis, wants to start winning, they need some more help from Hikaru...
IM Bercys- GM Finegold 1/2-1/2
FM Banawa- IM Holt 0-1
FM Kiewra- FM Eckert 1-0
Hua-Xiong 0-1
With a margin of error in mind, The Dallas Destiny shall win 3-1.

Last but not least, we see the California Civil War: the LA Vibe vs the SF Mechanics

GM Khachiyan-GM Bhat 1/2-1/2
GM Kraai- IM Amanov 1-0
FM Casella- Liou 1/2-1/2
Sevian-Kavutskiy 1-0 : complete toss up to me, but I'll say Sevian wins with white

SF wins 3-1....m.o.e....2.5-1.5

And for the music bit, please download from Itunes Clapton and Marsalis's new live album from their 2011 show at Lincoln Center Asap as it is just amazing! (Review of the album to appear on the blog soon after I listen to it some more)

Let the streak Continue: Week 3 Predictions Part 1 ! ( and a music update:))

2011-09-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

I did pretty awesome for last Wednesday... I guessed %100 correctly for match points and 12/16 (75%) correctly for game points. Let's see if I can keep it up for Monday night:)

First things first, we have the duel between the Silly named Manhattan Applesauce vs the Surprisingly Strong Carolina Cobras

IM Milman-IM Matros 1-0 I don't know much about Matros, but I saw he had a few good recent results.
IM Battaglini- IM Vovsha 1/2-1/2 Battaglini makes his league debut but he has extensive experience playing for Haifa in the Israeli chess league... With white he is rather solid.
IM Bartholomew-FM Klein 1-0
Mabe- Black 1-0

And at the end of the night, Cobra's fantasy streak ends as Manhattan wins 2.5-1.5

The NE Nor'easters trying to get back on track vs the Baltimore Kingfishers in the middle of the pack

GM Shankland-GM Kaufman - it feels good to call my fellow Brandeisian a GM this year:) 1-0
IM Enhkbat-IM Vigorito 1/2-1/2
FM Bournival vs Balasubramanian 1-0 Last year they drew with the same colors but I predict this time Bournival will come through with the win
Schoch-Brattain 1-0

NE shall get on the scoreboard as they win 2.5-1.5

The Seattle Sluggers vs the Miami Sharks duke it out without each teams' heavy hitters ( Akobian and Becerra perspectively)

FM Cozianu- IM Moreno Roman 1-0
FM Rodriguez- FM Mikhailuk 1-0
WGM Rohonyan- Hernandez 1-0
Alvarez- Kelley 1-0
Tied Match 2-2

The Ever Dangerous Arizona Scorpions take on GGGg ( i.e the Chicago Blaze)
Although, Arizona now has a rather dominating 5-1 record against Chicago, Chicago's GGGg style team is just too heavy: perhaps USCL should make a rule for next year against stacking 3 GMS on one team- Please comment on your opinion)
GM Barcenilla vs GM Shulman 1/2-1/2
GM Friedel- IM Molner 1-0
Adelberg- GM Amanov 0-1
Schmakel- Thompson 1/2-1/2
Chicago wins 3-1

For thy non- chess playing readers, here's a music update:) September, 16 I'm seeing Roger Daltrey play the entire Tommy album at BU's Agganis arena!

Next up on the agenda is Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi at the NJ Performance Arts Center on Octomber 21!

Rabin's second round of 2011 USCL Predictions!

2011-09-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

I'm only going to explain a few of my predictions this week for the sake of time...

Tuesday's Matches

The finally beaten New England Nor'easters vs the Good Guys (The New York Knights)

IM Vigorito- GM Kaschi 0-1

GM Charb- IM Yedidia- 1-0

FM Riordan- Pressman 1/2-1/2:: The great "GM" Pressman makes his USCL debut.. He shall have some solid preparation for Riordan and for a long time defend a slightly worse position to hold a draw.

Williams- Goldberg 1/2-1/2

With a margin of error in mind, as Williams- Goldberg is a toss-up, the NY Knights will give the Nor-easters their second loss with a score of 2.5-1.5!

The battle of the revitalized teams: Philly and Carolina

Both teams are revitalized this year and have much more potential than in the passed. However, things aren't looking to good for Carolina with the time odds they face..

GM Erenburg- IM Schroer 1-0... (You never though as Schroer did woe the crowds last week beating Fishbein)

FM Korley- FM Bartell 0-1

FM Dehmelt-FM Simpson 1/2-1/2

Jones-FM M. Shahade 1-0

Philly wins 2.5-1.5

St Louis( with Hikaru back!) vs the smooth LA Vibe

GM Nakamura- GM Khaciyan 1-0 (time odds for Hikaru speed Nakamura--- no difference)

FM Casella- GM Finegold 0-1

Cao- Kavutskiy 1-0

Yanayt- Ding 1-0

With Hikaru in town, St Louis is no doubt a strong contender: St. Louis wins 3-1

The Vicious Arizona Scorpions vs the Seattle Sluggers (w/o guest slayer Akobian)

Perhaps, influenced by Akobian's draw last week, he's not making the trip tomorrow.

GM Barcenilla- Cozianu 1-0 ( Akobian was needed here)

FM Mikhailuk- IM Aldama 0-1

Adelberg-Sinanan 1/2-1/2

Feng-FM Atoufi 0-1 ( too big of a rating gap)

Arizona wins 3-1..Margin of Error.....Arizona wins 2.5-1.5

Wednesday's Matches

Bahstan vs Manhattan*

*Before I go on with my predictions for this match, I want to make two things clear to all:

1) I'm trying to be as objective as possible with my predictions and not siding for which teams I am rooting for and hope the players do not take it personal whether I predict they win, lose or draw.

2) Although as I previously pointed out publicly I am currently disappointed with the Blitz, I neither hold any grudges with nor blame any player for anything.

Anyways, without further ado:

Sammour- IM Milman 0-1

IM Bartholomew- IM Esserman 0-1

IM Van de Mortel- IM Mandizha 1/2-1/2

Black-Mosiyenko 1/2-1/2 (On a side- note, please check out a nice article about James Black's celebration party this past weekend for becoming master on Vicary's blog: http://lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com/2011/09/james-blacks-master-celebration-party.html) Congrats James!!

Another Drawn match at the end of the night

Baltimore and New Joisy Fight to Get a Point of the Scoreboard

GM "Rybka" Kaufman-GM Gulko 1/2-1/2

IM Ippolito-IM Enkhbat 1-0 ( with a higher rating, the white pieces and a 1-0 record in the USCL against Enkhbat it's hard to predict against Ipppolito)

Defibaugh- A.Shen 1-0

Wu- Shoch 0-1

Baltimore wins, leaving NJ in the black with a 2.5-1.5 margin.

GGGg Chicago vs the Underpar Miami Sharks
Chicago's 3 GM team is just a little ridiculous of course brining back memories of the 2008 USATE team GGGg, which featured GMs Izoria, Perelshteyn, Dzindhi, and a little 300 rated kid.
GM Shulman- FM Olivera 1-0
FM Rodriguez- GM Friedel 0-1
GM Gurevich- Alvarez 1-0
Allen vs Freitag( g) 1-0
Chicago wins 3-1 ( if Miami has any chance of holding Chicago the match to a draw, Allen must must win, and one board 1-3 needs to score an upset. Chances are though, I can see them at best getting one draw out of the 3 boards)

The Old-time Rivals The SF Mechanics and the Dallas Destiny Duke it Out
GM Wolff- IM Bercys 1/2-1/2
IM Holt-GM Kraai 1/2-1/2
Naroditsky- Kiewra 1-0
Zorigt- Byambaa 1-0
Just Another Hard-fought Drawn match!!

First USCL Predictions of 2011

2011-08-31T00:29:00.000-07:00

Ok- so I skipped predictions for Monday Night as I have not blogged for a while... This year I am no longer as USCL player, rather a curious onlooker:) I am proud to say that I'm officially a New York Knights fan again! I will openly say that I'm slightly disappointed at the Boston Blitz for not giving me a chance to redeem myself for having a bad season last year (.5/2), but that's their call..... LETS GO KNIGHTS!

Lets get the ball rolling: Here are my Predictions for Wednesday's matches!

My old compatriots (The Boston Blitz) vs the Reigning champs ( The NE Nor'Easters):
After the NY International, my respect for Hungaski quadrupled-- 8/9=heavy.... Hungaski wins.
FM Griego hasn't played competitive chess for a few years... IM Vigorito wrote 3 books in the last 3 years.... Vigorito wins.
Battle of the Rocks on 3... Martirosov and Cherniack both had solid seasons last year... Martirosov had more bd 3 experience though and has the white pieces so I'm gonna say Boston gets the point here.
Fikiet and Gu is really a toss up, which very well might end up deciding the match.. I'm gonna go with Fikiet as he has a long trip from CT and will be more hungry to play and has the white pieces
At the end of the night, the reigning champs will open their season with a victory by a 2.5-1.5 margin.

The Rejuvenated Carolina Cobras vs The always strong NJ Knockouts
Schroer is solid but Fishbein is a strong GM and will be hungry to win in his USCL debut and prove him worthy to his GM teamates Benjamin and Gulko.... Fishbein wins in along positional struggle.
NYer Korley vs experienced IM Kapengut... Korley is a great contribution to the Cobras as he starts at Duke... He's had a good summer of chess and Kapengut is pretty solid.... I predict a draw.
Simpson and Shen: neither had a particularly good season last year and will be trying to redeem themselves... At the end of the day I predict experience will win here giving Simpson the point-- really toss up though. Matlin will have her work cut out for her against the ever strong bd 4 Craig Jones... If she plays well she can redeem last year's loss to Jones but I give Jones the nod to win again...
All in all, the ( finally higher rated ) Cobras to win 2.5-1.5 !

The Baltimore Kingfishers vs My Rebeloved New York Knights
The Battle of the Georgians: I do not know much about Margelashvili and Kaschi is higher rated... Yet Marge has white... I predict draw!
Fed with white+ lower rated opponent = money 1 point for NY
Defibaugh is sharp but Herman is a killer on board 3: His extreme rating gains in Europe as seen in Chess Life recently were just too impressive... One more point for NY
Williams vs Balasubrumanian... Gonna take a long shot that Williams goes for a minimal risk game and draw is the end result.....
NY wins by 3-1---(margin of error)--- 2.5-1.5

The St Louis Arch Bishops( w/o Hikaru) vs the Longtime good SF Mechanics

The Arch Bishops are considerably weaker when Hikaru isn't playing.. Both Finegold and Kraai are pretty solid GMs and are very close in rating----- draw at the end of the night.. Gotta give newly minted IM Naroditsky and IM Pruess nods for wins being a clear rating favorites... Lets say things don't go perfect and they score 1.5/2 ... Bd 4, at least in my view, is a complete toss up... I'll go on a whym and predict Sevian wins with white.... All in all, the SF mechanics shall win 3-1

The Seattle Sluggers w/ their mighty guest killer Akobian vs the hot Chicago Blaze

Like the Arch Bishops, the Sluggers rely on Akobian making up a trip to Seattle- Fortunately for them Akobian is coming to the rescue tomorrow. He shall travel far and beat the ever solid Gurevich. Thats 1 for Seattle. Felecan shall see Akobian slowly grinding Gurevich and play sharp and shall upset Cozianu a good win but not over his horizions as he upset Shulman last year, good enough for GOTW material. Kelley is new to the league but I saw him analyze in Vegas two years ago... still he's a severe rating underdog-- gotta give the nod to IM Young... He may have underperformed last year but I expect him to revive his awesome results in 08 and 09 this season. In 4 tournaments Rosen gained 100 rating points, (3 in practice, as he lost a few in one--- Thats Heavy... Rosen wins ......With Margin of Error in account, the Chicago Blaze shall win 2.5-1.5

SIR PAUL ROUND 2 Review Along with a Wee Bit of Chess

2011-07-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all from Buffalo, NY. I just landed a little while ago as I will be teaching here for a week, before I head to Rochester followed by the suburbs of Boston. Without further ado, I give you my brief review of Sir Paul's excellent concert at Yankee Stadium.
So two years ago, I saw Sir Paul perform the first concert at Citifield. Although it likely was the best concert I have ever been to, although compared to the Cream Reunion in 2005, it was a close call, it had to be in the silly Mets Stadium.. This time around though, on the 2nd night of the "McCartney on the Run tour", it was in the best baseball stadium in the world:) LETS GO YANKEES!

Sir Paul began the excitement as he walked on stage and rocked out "Magical Mystery Tour", a song I appreciate more than "Hello, Goodbye", which he opened up the Friday night show with. Speaking of which, I generally like to see the previous setlists before the show but only quickly glancing at them just to see the general gist of what to expect. With Sir Paul though, no matter what you know what your getting: a bunch of the top Beatles hits always including "Yesterday", "Get Back", " Back in the USSR", among a few others, and a few solo hits, always including "Live and Let Die", " Band on the Run". His similar shows have ups and downs: you always know what your getting, but the setlists can get a little dry. As I saw Sir Paul two years ago, I realized he repeated alot of the stories I thought were very interesting two years ago. For example, after playing a cover of "Foxy Lady" after playing "Let me Roll it", as he did two years ago, he rementioned how Jimmi played "Seargant Pepper" two days after the album was released and how he asked Eric Clapton to come on stage and tune the guitar.

Despite the repetition in the setlist though, McCartney was amazing playing old hits that aren't usually played like "I will", " ob-la-di-bla-da" and "I Will". Even more exciting though was when he played " The Night Before", a song the Beatles never played live before and in fact "the night before", Friday night was the first time Sir Paul played it.. Too top things off though, was during the first encore when Billy Joel came up to help him play " I Saw Her Standing there".
Now for those chess readers, here's a little bit of chess: another one of my games in the World Open, in which I outplayed my opponent in a typical Maroczy Bind fashion:

Rabin's Success in the City of Brotherly Love: Part 1

2011-07-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here is part one of my World Open review, dedicated to Ringo Starr as today is his 71st!! birthday.

Here's a video of Sir Paul playing "Birthday" for him last year at the show I was at at Radio City!:..... Speaking of which---- next concert on the list: Sir Paul at Yankee Stadium July 16- I'm excited!

A year ago, loyal readers might recall I just visited the World Open as a tourist hanging out the last day with time to meet up with a Brandeis friend, watch a few July 4th festivities and watch the open section......... This time around, things were different. I did not my USA chess traveling get in the away from Philly.. Friday the 1st, I took a train directly from DC to Philly to begin the 5 game set of G/45 crackation( as Polly Wright (Castling Queenside) would call it) that starts the three day schedule of the tournament.

In the long run, things went my way as I tied for 2nd with Levy Rozman, Ricardo Perez-Billinghurst, Andrew Ryba, Anthony Parkerand Michael Yuen as we each picked up $2532. However, such winnings were not without controversy as first place Joshua Mu may have likely taken a deal with his last round opponent, in which his opponent who was a half point by would dump the game if Mu would give him a 40% share of clear first. There was no clear evidence that Mu accepted the deal and congratulations to him in the case that he didn't, but it is widely accepted that his opponent offered the deal and should be banned from USCF. If you do know anything about the offer, please do inquire me or CCA directly.

Anyways, here is likely my best game from the tournament, certainly the most important in the tournament standings, as I beat David Justice, who was then tied for the lead with Anthony Parker.

More to be continued... I'm headed to Harrisburg, PA next week, followed by a tour of upstate- NY- Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse.

The Return of Rabin's Adventures!

2011-06-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

In the words of Kurt Vonnnegut, "So it goes": I have officially stopped my almost 3 month hiatus from the blogosphere. I have been extremely busy although that is no valid excuse. On June 6th, I returned from Tel Aviv, where, as many of you know, I lived for 5 months while studying at Tel Aviv University. Then, after spending 6 days in NY, I twas in LA from June 12-17. It was nice visiting Cali for the first time and hanging out with some Taglit-Birthright friends whom I haven't seen since the trip...I can't believe its been almost three years since the trip. After LA though, I have been spending this week in Pottstown, PA. Old readers may remember exactly a year ago while I was here after spending a weekend in Allentown and excited about getting into the Brandeis business major. Yup, not much exciting going on here. ... I am looking foward to Arlington, VA next week followed by the World Open in Philly.... I get some time off, and what I do?:::: TRAVEL MORE. I'M AN ADDICT I KNOW.

Tel Aviv was truely an amazing experience, which I will blog more about in the future. For now, here's a list of important points:
1) It was awesome living half way across the world from home, taking a break from my ":regular" college life in the 'great' land of Waltham
2) It was nice actually seeing places in Israel for more than a few hours at a time as I did on Taglit.
3) I enjoyed becoming better friends with some of the ex-soldiers who were on my Taglit trip.
4) I met some awesome internationals ( mostly Americans though) who were on OSP.

Anyway enough ranting for 1 post.... Heres one game I played the same day I arrived to NY.... Yes, I was insane to arrive in NY from Tel Aviv at 6 AM NY time and that night head out to White Plains to play a tournament.. Fotunatelly things went my way actually bumping my rating back over 2200 as I tied for first in the Quad with the usual nemesis Leif Pressman. Without further adue, I show you my first round madness with the great Michael Amori:

Play Online Chess

Check back for more of Rabin's adventures soon!

New "Electric Unplugged " Version of Layla!

2011-03-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while although I have a lot about Israel to say.. I went on an TAU trip to the South this weekend... I have a bunch of photos, which I will share soon. Anyways, one of the highlights of the trip was jamming in the hotel at night with some of the people on the program and medics from the trip. With one of the medics, I discussed the song "Layla" as we played for it a while. With that in mind, here's a new version I heard of the song that Clapton played in Singapore last month. As one youtube user aptly described it, its an "unplugged electric version".

In the end of May, I am highly considering going to London to see him with Winwood!!.. I saw them in New Jersey in 2009, when they were incredible.

More Tel Aviv/Upcoming Excursion to Haifa

2011-02-08T11:16:00.001-08:00

In short, life has been still busy but very good. I've met a bunch of American and other international friends through the overseas program. If I have any regret, its that I haven't met as many Israelis I wanted to. One thing I didn't realize until a few weeks before I got here was that only the Fall semester internationals and the one's who study all year round live with Israelis.

However, the TAU's student union has a cool Buddies program where they pair TAU students with internationals. I had dinner with mine, Yuval, the other night and he's gonna introduce me to more Israelis. Also I've reconnected with one of the ex-soldiers who was on my Taglit Birthright trip. Speaking of which, registration for summer trips is coming up soon: any of you Jews 18-26 who haven't been on an organized trip, nows your time! 10-day free trip- absolutely no cons.

Next week, I will be playing in my second Isreali tournament up in Haifa. My Ulpan friend and I will stay one night and I might stay an extra one... Any advice on places to stay, food, stuff to do etc would be appreciated. I was there for a few hours on Birthright but clearly thats not enough.

Until next time, here's a photo of a funky sculpture/ writing tool that is part of the Diaspora museum on campus. I haven't been around the museum yet but thats definitely on my bucket list:)

Overdue First Israel Post!!!!!

2011-02-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

So its been almost 3 weeks since I've arrived in the Holy Land and until now, I've yet to make a blog post. Life has been busy. Ulpan 4 days a week is tiring and having class on Sunday is something to get used to.

Last Sunday, (יומ ראשון ) I played in my first Israeli chess tournament at the Isreali Chess Federation's headquarters in Ramat Aviv.... yeah thats the same area as my university (only a 10 minute walk away). It was a little bit of a roller coaster.. I started out well beating two strong masters. I lost a tough game against a strong IM Dan Zoler. I then beat an expert giving me a solid 3/4 score and a chance to likely tie for first as Zoler gave up one draw already. Things were looking good for me as I was up two pawns in the last round against another expert but then hallucinations kicked in and I hung a queen... At the end of the day though, I tied for 4th place and won 150 shekels, double my entry fee and about $30 profit. Here's my up and down first round game against FM Ari Axelrod:

A funny little tidbit was the way I recorded moves kind of ridiculously. I bought an Isreali scorebook: hence לבן (white) is on the left, rather than left of שׁשחור (black). I didn't know the names of the chess pieces in Hebrew so I wrote in English but right to left:Yesterday I studied the names of the pieces in Hebrew so I shall try to record in Hebrew the next tournament I play here. Much more to come later but for now are some of the few photos I've took since I've been here:
I just had to show this awesome quote Jack Bruce said in an interview for Uncut Magazine, which also has a incredible 40 year celebratory article on the Allman Brothers. On that note, I downloaded Gregg's new album that I previously mentioned on the blog on Itunes and he's still got the blues down pat!!!!

Last Monday, the Overseas Program organized a group trip to Jerusalem. It was cold and raining but it ended up being a great time. We saw a 3D Time Machine Movie, ate lunch at the Shuk ( which has a ton of cheap food,clothes, jewelery, luggage..... etc you name it), toured the Old City a bit, and enjoyed a nice dinner buffet before heading back to Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me but here's a shot of the Old City from my I-pod.
More Shall come Soon!!

Allman Brothers Beacon Tickets go on Sale Tomorrow!

2011-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

I've been somewhat of a lazy blogger lately I know, but I am back to share awesome news. The Allman Bros are coming back to the Beacon this year and tickets are going on sale 10 am tomorrow, January 8th! Go ahead and get tickets before its too late.. They'll be jamming from March 21-25.. BYE BYE CIRCUS SOLEI!

Jorma Kaukonen performed in Tel Aviv with Hot Tuna!

2010-12-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

Talk about Bad Timing!: Hot Tuna did a show there last week and I'll be there in 2 weeks from now. I saw them during the beginning of this year at the Beacon-- They might not be what they were during the Jefferson Airplane days with Slick but Kaukonen and Cassidy still have innovation and the Blues. Check out this awesome article, which discusses Kaukonen's Jewish roots:
http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Music/Article.aspx?id=200017

Gregg Allman is coming out with a new album!

2010-12-10T09:18:00.001-08:00

For those unaware or not Allman Brothers fanatics like me, Gregg is coming out with a new solo album January 18th, his first since 1997!!! It will be titled " Low Country Blues". When Gregg mentioned the new album at the Allman Brothers show at the Orpheum in November, everyone including myself went crazy.. He's gonna be promoting it on tour in January. First stop NY Jan 18. I am leaving to the holy land Israel the day before but readers, please go and give opinions. Ill surely be buying the album asap.

Happy Hannukah!

2010-12-06T08:41:00.001-08:00

Its been 3 weeks since I blogged last: its not that I haven't had much to say: I saw an Allman Brothers' concert and played the National Chess Congress-- two possible posts right there. With finals rolling around though, life's been busy. In the spirit of Hannukah though, here's a pretty cool video thats been floating around the internet by the "Maccabeats" an acappella group from Yeshiva University:

Countdown until Israel: 1 month ,11 days! Until then, 3 more finals and a paper and a 1 month internship at a travel pr firm in NY Imagine Communications.

Predictions for the 2010 USCL Finale!!

2010-11-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Expansion team the New England Nor'easters takes on 2 time Championship contender the Miami Sharks
Now, if this was a North vs south matchup that would make up a nice civil war; however, Miami is "in the West", so that's what is the dual of the Eastern and Western champs. Both teams will undoubtedly strive for the very best as NE would love to make history being the first expansion to team to win the Championship, although they already clearly made history with their kind of ridiculous 11-1 score so far, and Miami hope to win their first championship after losing to Baltimore and NY In their two championship outings: So lets, see who shall be the victors!

Bd 1: IM Shanky takes on GM Becerra
I have always viewed Becerra is a rock, Sam begs to differ..... Sam wants to win. I still say Becerra is solid with black... Drawn match in a classical KID.

Bd 2: FM Martinez takes on IM Hungaski
Both players have had great seasons so far: Martinez 6.5/8 and Hungaski 6/7.. Both of Hungaski's draws came when he had the black pieces. Hungaski will get a slightly worse position out of the opening in his normal Scandinavian but will hold things together to hold a draw.

Bd 3: FM master of tricks Chase vs FM Galofre
These players' styles are pretty much as different as can be. As seen in his Galofre's wk 5 GOTW, he is perhaps one of the most wild players in the league, although with good rewards as he has a strong 2.5/3 record and a 2540 performance rating, thats 240 points above his rating...... Chase plays his normal KIA and Galofre gets bored in a taticless game... Lots of maneuvers will happen but neither players will get anywhere... Another draw.

Bd 4: The Shocker of the League Rosenthal takes on Cherniack
Ok, so the last three weeks I regretfully predicted Rosenthal to lose. Instinctively, I would say Cherniack is a clear favorite with his vast experience. The other day, Krasik and I agreed that Cherniack is likely the strongest board 4 in the league.Rosenthal certainly has chances to shock the crowds yet again, but Cherniack is somewhat of a kid killer.. Out of the 5 games he played against 18 yr olds/under this season so far: Shen, Katz, Herbsts, Ostrovskiy, and Xu, hew scored a heavy 4.5/5:: Cherniack wins!

And NE becomes the 2010 champions! Sure, it wasn't fun being eliminated by them last week, but they've been a strong team all season long and didn't get some of the credit they deserved: Lets go NE!!

With that in mind, as the Championship will be taking place, I will be at the next concert on the agenda: The Allman Brothers at the Orpheum. Here's a video of "Hot Lanta" at their AC show two nights ago:

Good Falafel spot in Boston

2010-11-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

I went on a short excursion into Boston today to get my student visa for Israel. With the Middle East in mind, I picked up a chicken shawarma wrap for a lunch at Falafel King on 48 Winter Street right near the Park St Green/Red line stop at the Boston Common. The place's appearance isn't all that appealing and doesn't have places to sit , but if your on the go, its has some great food.

Readers, please share other good falafel/ME food spots around Boston, or NY for that matter.

Also, here's a pretty cool mural I saw in the Downtown Crossing area:

Please help a blogger out and do this survey!!

2010-11-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Bing vs Google!!!!

A small request from your modest blogger: Please fill out to this survey and pass it along to your friends:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8HH7VQC
For my final Marketing Management presentation, my group is doing an analysis of how Bing can challenge Google and we want your input:)

Excursion to the Other Side of Waltham

2010-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Friday night, I went to the other side of Liverpool( oh I mean Waltham). With that to start off this post, I give you a segment of Ringo's awesome birthday show he did this summer playing his new song "The Other Side of Liverpool off his 2010 album Y Not

On to chess though!! I tied for first in the Waltham November G/20 with SM and fellow Boston Blitz player Denys Shmelov. On a side note, congrats to NE and good luck against Miami. Here is my first round win against expert Edward Astrachan:

"The Primary Elections" of the Championship": That is the Semi-Finals

2010-11-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

The New England Patriots take on the Boston Red Sox in the Eastern Finale tonight!! Oh wait, I mean the New England Nor'easters and THe Boston Blitz: There is a Civil War going on tonight between the north and south sides of Porter Square! Lets see, who shall be victors:

Up first, we see Several Time US Champ Boston long timer GM Christiansen take on a fellow Brandeis Judge yet USCL "enemy" IM/GM Shankland:
At Brandeis chess club last week, Sam told me I should have predicted he beat GM Lenderman rather than the reverse: OK yeah I probably should of... I went on to tell him, " I tell you one thing, there's no way I am gonna predict for you next week":) NO going back.... Larry wins!

Next, we see another SM/GM (a newly made up title for GM strength non- GMS:) , Sammour-Hasbun take on another IM/GM Hungaski.... I lost to Hungaski this past weekend at the BU Open ( game to come up soon) Long story short.... I was worse early in the opening with white ( not so good) and Hungaski never let me back into the game. in wild tactical melee where he easily could of went wrong.... This game will be willd, I am sure of that as it is between two great tactical players. This is Jorge's 1st black game in the last two yeras in the USCL... Somehow I predict this game will be a draw.

On board 3, we see CATDOG IM Esserman...... Catdog with the white pieces= Dominance+ Rating Gap= Dasha... FM Chase will cause some difficulties but at the end of the day, there is no stopping Esserman 1-0 (GOTW perhaps)

Lastly we see, Grant Xu take on the experienced Cherniack.. Cherniack objectively is a favorite with his experience and strong 5.5/7 score.. However, Xu can not be counted out: He does have 1.5/2 this season thus far and a 2382 performance rating.. With that said, Cherniack will most likely squeeze out the point with the white pieces..It helps that he knows Xu's French down and out...

The Bahstan Blitz shall win 2.5-1.5 and advance to the Championship!!!!!!! Sorry NE:)

The West Coast Finale: The Playoff experienced Miami Sharks vs The Arizona Scorpions looking to appear in their first Championship

IM Altounian challenges 4 time! league MVP Rock GM Becerra : This is a game between two rock solid players... GM Becerra has the title and rating nod but Altounian is a rock, especially with the white fellows: This game shall be a long played out draw.

Next GM Elect Barcenilla has the black fellows against GM Gonzalez who had an impressive win with black against Amanov last week: Barcenilla has been having a sub-par season so far and Gonzalez has been playing quite solid... This one is a kind of a toss up but I am gonna go with Gonzalez pulling through.. One pt for Miami.

On battle ground 3, Underrated IM Elect Adamson takes on the higher rated FM Martinez... Adamson drew 4/6 games this season thus far.... I Say he'll draw another one... Draw

Lastly we see underrated expert Rosenthal vs NM Thompson... Rosenthal shocked the crowds the last two weeks upsetting two higher rated masters consecutively.. Can he do it again? Perhaps, but I am gonna say Thompson stops the streak: By statistics an expert, underrated or not, shouldn't beat 3 masters in a row ! One Pt for Arizona...

Arizona's team is just rock solid with a nice balanced lineup.... Drawn match leading Arizona to their first championship!!

A Metal version of Eleanor Rigby!

2010-11-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

I am really not much of a metal fan, but a friend linked to this video among other metal covers of the song and I liked this one the best as it is not too hardcore.

The Wild Wild West: Battle in the Quarterfinals

2010-11-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Miami Sharks take on the Chicago Blaze looking for serious business in their first playoff match ever

On board 1, we see perhaps two of the more solid GMS in the US taking on each other: GM Becerra and GM Gurevich... Becerra is nothing but a rock: To win MVP 4 times out of six seasons thus far, is an extraordinary accomplishment.. Winning MVP once is one thing but to win a majority of seasons thats just out of the blue.... Beccera with the white pieces wins on board 1.

Next we see, another GM duel between Gonzalez and Amanov. Amanov is lower rated but at the same time underrated---- see He beat Gonzalez with black in wk 9 and had a great result in the Midwest championships a few weeks ago.... Amanov shall slowly outplay Gonzalez... Thats 1 pt for Chicago.

On board 3, one of the strongest FMS ( certainly IM strength) Martinez against Chicago's underrated IM... Its often hard for me to predict games between players who's rating difference contrast from their tittles ( Martinez is higher rated but is an FM).. Last time, I incorrectly predicted Felecan would win..... I am gonna go on a whym and predict a draw....

Last but not least Miami's underrated expert Rosenthal takes on FM Shankar... Rosenthal shocked a lot of people last week as he effectively outplayed SF's underrated powerhouse Yian Lou.... This time though, I think Shankar will come through with a win as he has the white pieces and more experience

And as Vonnegut wrote " so it goes" in Slaugtherhouse-Five", Chicago will end Miami's season as they succeed 2.5-1.5.

The division champs, the Arizona Scorpions challenge the higher-rated "middle of the pack team" that snuck into the playoffs, the Seattle Sluggers

Firstly, we see one of the US's most solid IMS Altounian take on MTV star Akobian aka, US Olympiad Coach: Altounian is a rock but with Akobians kind of ridiculous 2814 performance rating, I see Altounian not getting anything out of the opening and slowly getting outplayed... Seattle Wins

Then, GM-elect Barcenilla ( whom I apologize for incorrectly stating as IM a few weeks ago), takes on a VERY strong FM Cozianu who drew Barcenilla's teamate Altounian in wk 1... This one's kind of a toss-up as I really don't know how to to judge Cozianu, I am gonna predict hes gonna nab the full point... making Seattle 2-0 on boards 1-2

Next, we see FM Mikhailuk vs IM elect Adamson... Robby had impressive results this summer earning his status of IM-elect. With the white pieces I think he is fully capable of doing damage, especially as Mikhailuk has been having a lackluster season thus-far... Adamson wins... If Arizona, can win board 4, they will head the to the semifinals.... Can they do it?:

Board 4!: Good news for AZ: Thompson beat Wang with black in round 1. Anything could happen of course, but Thompson shall take care of business again wheeling in the full point...

Drawn match

What shall happen in the "T" Series between the Blitz and Nor'easters and the semifinals between Arizona and Chicago? : Thats for next week... I will say for now though, I am looking forward to the match next Monday, whether I play or not..... Its kind of ridiculous that the two teams play about a mile away from each other, but it sure will be a great match!

The Intensity of the Eastern Quaterfinals is upon us tonight!

2010-11-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Don don da don..............

Certainly an interesting 1st round match up: My crosstown revivals vs my past beloved NY Knights: No one can argue what an accomplishment NE's 9.5-.5 record was, especially considering it was an expansion team

Firsthand, a fellow Brandeis student Shanky, who seemingly likes Shrek, takes on GM Lenderman... Objectively I think Lenderman is a bit stronger, but Shankland has the white pieces and had three impressive league wins in a row against 2 GMS and 1 strong near GM strength IM..... A draw is likely.

Next, we see NY's powerhouse GM Charbonneau take on IM Hungaski, who also seems to be near GM Strength... Charbonneau has been known as a Boston- Killer: It seems as that might be translating to the NE region... He will be tired from working since early morning but Hungaski will be tired from the long drive from CT to Boston...... Charb wins

We then see one of the trickiest masters around Boston FM Chase take on a more of a rock FM Getz... I have played both of these players a number of times and think overall they are in close in strength... I see neither Getz pushing for a win with black nor Chase being unsatisfied with a draw considering NE has draw odds.... Draw

Lastly wee see another Youth vs age match up Ostrovskiy vs Cherniack... Both are known to calculate alot and this will be a crucial match up... Ostrovskiy needs to come back from his tough result this weekend and pull through which I think he can as he has had an impressive 3.5/4 record this season thus far..... I predict Ostrovskiy draws here. However, if Cherniack can pull through with a win, NE will head to the playoffs.

The second duel of the night shall take place between my fellow soldiers the Boston Blitz looking to hold down the fort against the Baltimore Kingfishers( Or as Krasik wrote on his Facebook, "Kingfishes":):

On board 1, we see GM Erenburg fighting IM Christiansen again with the white fellows... Woa-- Larry surprised everybody last time with the Phillidor: I am not sure what he will play tonight but certainly something else! Erenburg shall hope for victory pressing slowly but Christiansen's resistance will hold strong... DRAW

On board 2, we see none other than Harvard Square Specialist IM Catdog Esserman, who has played solidly this weekend in the Marshall Championship, drawing his Smith-Morra nemesis GM Lenderman and IM Sarkar, leading to a 4/5 start, takes on a solid IM from Baltimore Enkhbat...... Enkhbat is solid with 2.5/5 but when Catdog plays, all hell breaks lose, especially when he has the white pieces... Thats one pt for the good guys... Just one more draw on the bottom two boards, and Bahstan shall cruise to the semifinals!

On the next board, our rock Martirosov takes on the slightly higher rated Zimmer... This will be a battle of two solid players: I expect a relatively boring Queens-Indian here... Not much happens and draw is the end...

Last but not least, we see Krasik take on the mighty Balasubramanian who may have the longest name in the league.... These players are about equal in strength... The former has a significantly more experience in the league and the latter has been preforming better this year. At the end of the day I see Balasubramanian pushing for the win to overcome draw odds and Krasik taking the whole point....
For that matter, Zimmer and Erenburg will likely end up pressing more than normal so when the dust clears, my fellow Bahstan Blitz takes on NY next week!

Final Predictions of the 2010 main season!

2010-10-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, its a bit of a cliche by now, but welcome to the "First round of the playoffs" in the West: Here's my humble predictions:

"Lord, I was born a ramblin' man

Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can":
Just to get in the mood of my humble nature:) ( Allman Brothers, "Rambling Man" )

Opposite ends of the spectrum coming together fighting to squeeze in the playoffs: The Chicago Blaze vs the Dallas Destiny
GM Gurevich has been having a solid season so far and has beaten Barcenilla's KID a few weeks ago.. A lot depends if IM Bercys holds down the fort.... Gurevich should have a slight edge.

IM Sadorra vs GM Amanov should be another interesting match up... Sadorra has had a great season so far and has the white pieces but is facing a higher level of competition than he has thus far this season: I predict a solid game leading to a draw.

IMS are always scary on board 3 so I give Felecan a clear edge, especially as he has the fate of the white pieces

Dallas has a slight edge on 4 as Lopez has more experience in the league:
Overall, anything could happen, but I predict Chicago will qualify for the playoffs for the first time with a 2.5-1.5 margin.

The SF Mechanics on the verge of not qualifying for the playoffs for the first time who will certainly be looking for revenge against the Miami Sharks who beat them in the Semi-finals last year

As I said in the past, GM Kraai seems to me much stronger with white and Becerra stone: A draw seems very likely. Bds 2 and 3 seem like slight edges for Miami and last year's 3rd team allstar Liou seems like a clear favorite over Rosenthal.....
History is to be made: SF doesnt make the playoffs for the first time losing the match 1.5-2.5!

The Sluggers who will be diehard to win against the St. Louis Bishops who does not have Naka present at a key time

Akobian- Shulman: its always hard to play friends...... they will make a fight but at the end of the night: DRAW will be the outcome.... Bds 2+3 splits and Guo holds down Finegold's attack leading to victory...
Seattle wins 2.5-1.5 making NE being the only expansion team to head to the playoffs.

Coincidentally the same situation as NE vs Carolina from Monday.... 1st place Arizona vs the out of contention LA Vibe

As nothing is really on the line, both teams gave their top players a rest... On the other hand, Arizona has a rating edge on 3/4 boards but draw offers are likely due to a lack of motivation..... Arizona will have one victor and the rest of the boards will draw....
Arizon wins 2.5-1.5

Predictions for Tonight's East Coast Mayhem

2010-10-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ok in reality, its not quite Mayhem in the east as the play off positioning is pretty much decided.... IF NJ wins 4-0 that would just be ridiculous but hey I guess anythings possible:)

Without further ado, here's my first prediction!: The Bankers and Kids that make up the eliminated Applesauce vs the Locked in 1st place Nor'easters

It looks like Manhattan is tossing in the towel as they are out of playoff contention... Milman- Shankland equal chances... Vovsha's a favorite and Manhattan would be lucky to get .5/2 on the lower boards... If Manhattan has any chance, Vovsha must be Riordan who proves to be a solid player who has scored considerably stronger as white...
As the night approaches its end, the Noreaster's cruise to victory 3-1 finishing the season with an astonishing 9.5-.5 score.

The consolation battle to avoid the rear of the East: Carolina vs Philly

Both teams repeat their line ups from last week..... On the top boards, white wins 2 times.... Same pattern repeats on 3 and 4...

The match shall fizzle in to a drawn match leaving Carolina at the rear...
Side note: As Carolina pulled numerous drawn matches this season, they must be applauded for their effort. However, hopefully next year they can get a strong IM/GM to hold down the fort on bd 1 to be more competitive for the playoffs.

The hardest of matches for me to objectively predict: My fellow Boston Blitz vs my old compatriots the NY Knights

Sr. Hasbun vs the rock named Kachei: a very interesting encounter between a great tactician and a stone solid positional player: very hard to judge but I think this will be a sharp Nimzo-Indian that will fizzle into a draw

Shmelov seeks revenge against Pascal: not sure what hes gonna bring under his sleeve tonight... Hopefully he can hold down a draw... Gotta give the GM the edge here though to come out with the win.

Another rematch: Experience vs youth ( although the not the typical kind as Getz is one of the few kid positional masterminds) : Since Vadim lost to him in round 1 , he had a nice string of wins and draws and is white this time arounds... Vadim shall obtain revenge bringing home the full point.

Yet another rematch: I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that Krasik fully seeks revenge against Ostrovskiy as his first round loss ended his perfect score against Alex in the league... Alex has improved greatly as of late, finishing with an outstanding 6/9 result in the Continental Championship gained 60! rating pts.. On the other hand, Krasik as well all no can play anywhere from 2000-2600 on a given day... With his motive for revenge, Krasik Wins

All in all, the good guys ( I mean the Boston Blitz) win 2.5-1.5

Last but not least, The desperate Joisy boys take on the almost unthinkable role of trying to beat Baltimore 4-0 to qualify for this playoffs

NJ will be going all out thats for sure!
GM Benjamin shall try for ever to grind out GM Erenburg but peace arises... Ok, right there, NJ already wouldn't Qualify, but Benjamin may win... IMS Molner and Kapengut are favorites and Finn has to be seen as an underdog; although as we seen in previous seasons, FInn can be a great attacker...

Normally, Id say each team has equal chances but with the terms of the match, I see NJ pressing to win on all boards and Baltimore winning 3-1.

Rare Hendrix Video: "Hey Joe"

2010-10-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

Trivia question: Who actually wrote "Hey Joe"

Tidbit of NYC Trivia

2010-10-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Yankees won tonight and are still contenders! With that in mind, here's a bit of NYC Triva:

Identify this picture: time period, location, building.... any details you can come up with. I KNOW alot of you can figure it out:)

Hope is still on!: Predictions for Tonight/ Tribute to Petty

2010-10-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Along with the other predictors, I didn't do so well with Monday night's predictions; hopefully, tonight's will be better.... In all 4 matches one side has a big rating edge.

1st place vs last: Our crosstown rivals vs the Cobras who held us to a draw last week

Schroer fell down to Christiansen last week.... Somehow I think he'll draw Hungaski.... Carolina drew their last two matches and NE secures clear 1st in the division with a draw... A drawn match it is!

The team from the city of the Brotherly love vs the heavy hitter Applesauce looking to squeeze into the play of action

Manhattan shows one of their strongest possible line ups that is pretty stacked... James Black also had an impressive showing this last weekend drawing IM Bonin and drawing IM Lapshun so he cant be counted to lose although FM Shahade is a favorite........ Manhattan wins 3-1.

The confident Arizona scorpions in 1st place vs the three GM muskateer trio the St Louis Archbishops

This may be the first time in USCL History that 3 GMS played 3 IMS!s this line up is just too good. I generally like balanced line ups but against ST Louis, one should have a GM on bd 1.... St. Louis wins 2.5-1.5

The battle of the Christmas Colors: The Dallas Destiny vs The LA Vibe

Dallas has IMS vs FMS on 1 and 2(and rating edges).. They score 1.5/2 (although Tatev played very well in the US womens championship gaining a ton of points so with the white pieces is can be potentially very dangerous. I know considerably less about the players on bds 3 and 4 but I say they split...

Dallas's playoff hopes stay alive as they win 2.5-1.5

In other news, Happy 60th birthday to Tom Petty!!!!!

Express Predictions for tomorrow night

2010-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Last week, I faired at 37.5% accuracy. Work is piling up but I couldn't help procrastinating to write these prediction:)

1) New yawwkers vs the Joisy boys: (LETS GO YANKS!!!!!!!! Kick some Ranger's Ass)

Gulko beat GM Sasha in the Morra before..... He wants revenge and has the white pieces: 1-0.... Other matches are interesting but with the Knights having rating edges and with three Alexes, they got this one.
NY wins 2.5-1.5

2) Baltimore passes the middle vs The stalked Bahstan Blitz

Hard fought draw on board 1, Bostons got nice edges on 2 and 3 and faces the consequences of a stalked line up and board 4..... Boston wins 2.5-1.5 ( Shmelov is fast: time disadvantage is nothing)

3) A great start vs a a terrible start: which is better?: Chicago vs Miami

-Two GMS Fight it out: they split the two points
- IM Felecan is scary with white and Rosen has a nice edge on board 4
Chicago wins 3-1 ---- 2.5-1.5 ( as I do think their GMS are slightly weaker then the Shark's Gms collectively)

4) Seattle has a chance to prevent SF from coming to the playoffs for the first time!: Can they do it?

Akobian has white against Friedel: thats one win for Seattle.

Pruess is much stronger with white and Mikhailuk is having a tough season... Score is even.

Lee vs Naroditsky : even match: two positional(!) kids duke it out........ DRAW

Guo vs Liou: 4 letters in a last name is greater than 3... Liou wins

SF wins 2.5-1.5 and keeps its chances to make the play offs!

Predictions for Tonight's Action

2010-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

My marketing professor told me the other day to keep case study write-ups succinct: I'm gonna apply that advice to my predictions for tonight!

Super Heavy NYERS (quite possibly influenced by the Yanks who are soon going to win the World Series!!!!!!!) vs our local competitors the Nor-Easters: Last week, I spoke to Shankland about how good NE was doing: We agreed that 6.5/7 is a great score but their opponent's average ratings was significantly lower rated than that of any other team at 2342. This will be NE's true test.

With rating edges on 3 boards, I say NY wins 3-1... Things depend on whether or not Shankland holds down Kaschi after his great result in VA this past weekend.

The Upsetter Cobras vs the Good Guys( The Blitz)

Schroer won last week: Can he shock the crowds again? Can I hold down the fort on board 4?: No Jinxing here but Overall Boston will win 3-1 with rating edges on every board.

GGGg St Louis vs "the Kids" named the San Francisco Mechanics

THE GGGg format (USATE 2008 for those of you unaware of the reference) shall be held in tact by the youngsters : Match will be drawn 2-2... SF will score 1/3 on the top boards and win on board 4.

The Battle for 4th place: The Mighty Miami Sharks vs the peaceful LA Vibe

2 GMS are not as great as 3 but are still scary and when board 3 has a rating edge too thats worse..... Miami wins 2.5-1.5

New Boylston Chess Club Facebook Page

2010-10-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

To help promote the Boylston, I began a new Facebook page. If you are a member and/or chess player in the Boston area please join and ask your friends to do the same: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140670005978897&ref=mf

Monday Night Predictions!!!

2010-10-10T18:09:00.001-07:00

With three weeks left, USCL Action is coming down to the wire! Here are my prognostics:

The battle of the West and East Sides of the Hudson:
-GM Joel takes down up and coming near GM strength Milman" With Milman working in finance lacking time to significantly prepare I don't think he will equalize out of the opening.... Joisy wins on this board.

-The recently IM crowned beast Mac attacks slightly more experienced Columbia grad student Vovsha that doesn't have all that much time for chess.. I predict a draw here.

- Older brother Shen (WO u2400 champ) shall ultimately surrender to the more experienced macho man Braylovsky... I once heard FM Hoffman say he was annoyed that he wouldn't take a draw for a tie for first... His fighting spirit shall win the full point.
- Shen JR shall take the full point against Mr. CIS Smith after a long tiring day with students...
All in all... I predict a tie leaving both teams out of any decent play off contention.

Baltimore right in the middle of the pack vs The Inventors ( with Bartell back)
-Erenburg is annoyed that he didnt win GOTW last week (who I agree should Have)= Erenburg will be on the top of his game with excellent prep and beat down on Bartell (guy)

-Zimmer take son the Bone!-- I predicted Bonin would win last week against Hungaski--- They drew when Bonin was much better... ZImmer is 300 pts lower rated= Bonin wins ( Bonins 2 hr trip to Philly= more motivation=150 rating pts)
- Balasubramanian vs Dehmelt: a classic example of youth vs experience... Dehmelt's 15 chess hiatus is 3/4 of Balusbramanian's life time... At any rate... I predict a draw as Dehmelt is a solid player with black.
- Selzler vs Costigan: An IM playing on bd 4 is kind of ridiculous: Costigan wins..

When push comes to shove, Philly wins 2.5-1.5 and maintains miniscule chances to go to the play offs

The 2008-2009 champs vs the 2009-2010 Western Division champs ( The Dallas Destiny vs the Seattle Sluggers)

- after not making post-season last year I can't imagine them not making post-season this year !

IM "Beer Cheese" Bercys takes on the "previously unknown" FM Cozianu

A few weeks ago I would say Bercys would be a clear favorite despite a rating disadvantage; however, after Coziano beat Benjamin a few weeks ago I can't say anything for sure... Im gonna go with a draw here as Bercys is solid with the white pieces.

IM Sadorra( who was the first to stop Simpson's miraculous upset run) against FM Milkhaiulk: who scored his 1st solid win last week): Im gonna go with Sadorra coming through here in a wild tatical melee.

FM Kiewra vs FM Milat:two strong FMS, neither of which have a great score so far this season... Its a toss-up but considering I saw Kiewra have a successful outing in a ST Johns Masters back in the summer taking 1st with Lenderman Im gonna go with a win for him..

Zorigt shall start impresing as she did in past years with a rating and age edge... Zorigt wins after Guo goes makes some positional concessions with white.

Dallas wins 3.5-.5...... I mean 3-1 The previous score just seems to good.

The Battle for 1st in the West: Chicago wants to get back to #1

Solid IM Altounian vs New to League GM Amanov

I expect Altounian not to take many chances and Amanov not doing anything crazy for the win making this game a draw.

Tactical IM Aldama vs More positional IM Young who had a magnificent peformance last year but is suffering a bit this year

I expect Aldama to play super sharp trying to mix up the game with black and ultimately suffering defeat... Thats one for Chicago

FM ( SF killer Adamson) vs IM Visnuvardhan ( whom I know absolutely nothing about except the that he beat FM Dehmelt back in Week 6)--- Robby is higher rated though... I predict draw

League Newcomer Gurczak who surprisingly drew Galofre in wk 1 against More experienced and higher rated FM Shankar
As the FM has white and a 200 rating pt edge I have to give my him the win.. although you never know...

Chicago shall get back jo jo ( honoring John Lennon's 70th bday this past weekend although "Get Back" was primarily by Mcartney) to 1st place with a 3-1 margin

Funky Music at the Honkfest in Davis Square Yesterday

2010-10-10T11:21:00.001-07:00

In between rounds of the Boylston Tornado yesterday, I had fun watching some funky music at the annual Honkfest. Here a few photos of the event. I also tasted some good Indian food from Diva as they had cheaper selections outside by the music.. If your in the Somverville area, they have some pretty good Indian food.

For a short write-up of the tournament of the tournament look for the CLO national Chess day write ups in the next few days.

Two of my favorite all-time Beatles Covers

2010-10-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

With John Lennon's 70th! birthday coming up (October 9) and the fact that I haven't posted any music posts in a while, I thought I'd share possibly my two favorite Beatles covers of all time.

The First, is Jeff Beck's 2009 Grammy winning instrumental rendition of "A Day in the Life", John's masterpiece that is listed the #1 Beatles song in this month's Rolling Stone Magazine top 100 Beatles song edition

Next, is Richie Haven's folk version of "Here comes the sun", which he first played in 1970.

This past summer, I saw Ringo and Paul together on stage when Paul sung "Birthday" to Ringo celebrating his own 70th birthday... RIP John and George..

Week 7 USCL Predictions

2010-10-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Before I get started, here's a trivia question: Whose the guy in the photo down below? :

If you from either of the Boston area teams, U'd sure know: the infamous Murray Turnbul at Havard Square. I went to play the action tournament at the Boylston today and was unfortunately one the two players to show up so no cigar for a tournament, so I decided to head over to Harvard Square before my journey back to Brandeis... 2 1/2 years ago when I told IM Jay Bonin I was going to college in Boston, the first thing he told me was to go to Harvard Square and play the guy in the straw hat... Thats one thing of my bucket list of things to do around Boston:) See my Bucketlist review from my Tokyo flight post a few months back:

http://adventuresofrabin.blogspot.com/2010/06/post-in-transit-at-tokyo-intl-narita.html

Anyway, on to the important stuff!! With four more matches left, play off spots are in the making!

Monday Night Matches

The Vicious Carolina Cobras looking for an upset vs my previously beloved NY Knights:

Bd 1: A solid IM holds down The Georgian GM who once told me that all chess players should make at least IM easily... That was a pretty heavy statement... Im gonna go with Giorgi here.

Bd 2: Lenderman squeezes Simpson with a Catalan... With white, I think Simpson has upset potential as clearly seen in the last few weeks, but with white, Alex has to be a favorite... 2-0 for NY.

Bd 3. Agner- Getz... Agners an underdog by rating but has the white pieces... Getz isn't the most agressive player meaning a draw is likely here.

Bd 4: The Board 4 killer Craig Jones with a 2505 performance rating of 2505 vs newly crowned master Justus Williams... If I had to guess experience will take over here, but things can go either way...

Overall, The Big Apple ( not to be confused with the silly name "The Manhattan Applesauce" wins 2.5-1.5

The team with a silly name, which needs to win to have play-off potential vs the slightly ahead of the pack Baltimore

Stripunsky- Erenburg- a rematch with a reversal of colors... Erenburg shall hold down the fort and the game will end in a treaty.

Kaufman-Milman- as I predicted last week against Rensch, Kaufman will have another prepared Rybka novelty and cruise to victory although Milman is a very strong IM and has a rating edge.. Close call here.

Zimmer- Vovsha.. Zimmer came through with an impressive win last week but with almost a 300 pt rating disadvantage its hard to go against Vovsha winning..

Black vs Balasubramanian - Im gonna go with Balasubramania winning here after a sharp tactical struggle mainly due to more experience at longer time controls and a nice rating edge...

Overall Baltimore shall win 2.5- 1.5 leaving Manhattan in the black for a playoffs spot

The Miami Sharks ( whom to this day don't understand why they fit in the West division but thats another story) vs the ever-dangerous Dallas Destiny... These teams are now tied 5.5-5.5 lifetime and have identical average ratings this week so this will be a very interesting match.

Rock Solid Becerra vs slightly more agressive Ramirez- A tough call: I think Becerra will look to grind down Ramirez for many moves before conceding the 1/2 pt.

GM Gonzalez fights with the black peices vs IM Fernandez during his 2010 USCL debut.... With Gonzalez's more recent practice and GM title I expect him to come out with the victory. However, with Fernandez's dismal lifetime USCL record, change is due at some point... Will this be the time?

The battle of FMs on board 3: Martinez vs Kiewra: I expect Martinez to pull through with the rating edge and white pieces ( perhaps I over-estimate the importance of colors)

Dallas board 4 superstar Zorigt vs Miami new recruit Rosenthal: With her great USCL experience and a heavy rating edge.. Im going with Zorigt cruising to victory here.

Overall thats a 2.5-1.5 victory for Miami keeping their playoff hopes alive... Things were looking much more grim for them a few weeks ago.

The Battle for 1st/2nd/3r place ( depending on Chicago's result): SF vs AZ

GM Kraai vs might as well be GM Barcenilla... From past results , it seems like both of these players are considerably stronger with the white pieces .... Kraai should get a slight edge out of the opening and squeeze it out to victory..

IM Pruess vs IM Rensch- two solid IMS, one who relatively recently made the push to the title.. Its a close call here, but with a phenomenal record so far this season, and the white peices, Im gonna go with Rensch winning ( assuming he can recover well from his loss last week)

Young Positional Master/recent author FM Naroditsky vs more experienced FM Adamson Both have solid records so far this season.. Mainly cause of the white pieces, I expect Naroditsky to pull through with a 1-0 but a draw is a likely result as well..

On board 4, two of the most talented kids are dueling with one another.. Its a toss up in reality, but Im gonna prdict Liou wins due to his success on the all-star team last year

Overall thats a 3-1 victory for SF------> with room for error 2.5-1.5

Wednesday NIght Matches

The Heavy-hitter Catdog team commonly known as the Boston Blitz vs the Revenge seeking NJ Knockouts

Two multi-US Champ title holders duke out for the second time this season with colors reversed... for the same result.. Larry will try to squeeze Joel in a Caro-Kann advanced variation as he did against Shankland but to no cigar. 1/2-1/2

US/USSSR Champ GM Gulko takes on fellow Blitz player Shmelov..... I have to give Gulko an edge here and a likely victory although, I will certainly not count out Shmelov out. I am sure he will have something prepared in the Nimzo....

Another rematch: Martirosov takes on Kapengut... I doubt Kapengut was very pleased to draw Martirosov with white the last time and will take some chances as black... He has a rather solid 3.5 score in the league but was white 3 out of those games... I'm expecting another draw here.

Finally on to my replacement ( from the last NJ match) Krasik versus Matlin.... I doubt Krasik will play a London system like me not knowing exactly what I was doing... Im not quite sure what opening to expect for that matter but I do expect Krasik to bring out the full point...

All in all - thats a 2-2 tie ( I tried to be as objective as possible on this prediction)

A suprisingly watered down Philly team vs our Crosstown rivals leading the pack..

The- Ex-NY Knight/ player to beat more GMS than any non-GM Bonin vs Hungaski... In the words of Jay himself, I think he will achieve a " full-bone"... Thats 1 pt for Philly ( However, Hungaski is a very strong ( near GM if not fully there strength IM) so I think this game is definitely a toss-up.

FM Dehmelt faces ex Chicago star IM Van De Mortel as black: Here, I think the white pieces, and the 150 rating pt gap will kick in with IM Van De Mortel coming through with a victory... However, as FM Dehmelt demonstrated to me when I played him in PA over the summer, he is very solid and can hold resistance.

IM Costigan faces the higher rated solid FM Riordan... I could see Riordan equalizing out of the opening but not gaining much more afterwards: a draw is in order.

A rematch with the same colors: Wilson vs Cherniack: I think this will be the deciding result and this one can go either way... I predict another long draw in a QID.

Despite a 100 point rating edge, Im gonna go with a tie, especially as NE has a clear lead and won't want to take too many chances.

ST Louis with Naka Back in town vs Chicago the 1st place team that admitted an upcoming hard match (http://www.chicagoblazechess.com/2010/09/indecisively-decisive/)

Naka coming back from a solid Olympiad rematches GM Gurevich.... If he beat him last time with black, I can't imagine Naka not winning whith the white pieces.. One for ST Louis.

GM Amanov makes his USCL debut at the right time against GM Finegold... This game will partially depend on how Amanov adjusts to ICC... Assuming he could get the handle of it., I wouldn't be surprised if he goes for the win with white... That'll equate Naka's Win.

Battle of Ims Brooks and Felecan on bd 3.. I am not very familiar with either of their play but Felecan came to my mind as I am sure many others minds as a sharp IM when he beat Shulman with black in week 2 winning GOTW... I say Felecan will go ahead and pick up this point too.

FInegold JR seeks revenge against Cindy Tsai with white again.. I am sure he will have something up his sleeves in the Sicillian... however, I am sure Tsai will as well... The winner will likely be the one who prepares better, but I'm gonna go with the rating favorite Tsai...
All in all, I see a 2.5 victory for Chicago despite a minimal rating disadvantage... The 40 points isnt that great a difference considering SL's ratings points are mostly coming from one basket with Naka's edge on Gurevich.

Last but not least, I shall attempt to predict the result of the scramble between the Vibe and the Sluggers for a share of 4th place.

The Vibe assigned FM Kretchetov bd 1 duties despite his lower rating than Banawa likely as he is more experienced and can play solid with the white pieces.. However, playing our Olympiad captain Akobian is no easy task... I predict Akobian to wheel in the full point for Seattle.

Next, we have FM Milkhaiulk taking on the aforementioned Banawa with the white pieces.. As mentioned on the Seattle blog,
Milkhaiulk has not been doing so well so far this season, but he is facing slightly lower rated competition this week with the white pieces.. I see Milkhaiulk coming through with his first win of the season.

Board 3 sees Konstantin Kavutskiy, previously nicknamed Mclovin, fighting against Rohonyan.. I know next nothing about "Mclovin"'s play as he only played one game so far this year, but with a 80 point rating edge, Rohonyan will pull through a victory.

Then we see a show down of Gupta who is slightly higher rated and Sinanan who has substantial USCL experience.. THis a toss up to me but,, Ill somehow predict Gupta to win this game... Overall, I expect Seattle to win this match 3-1, although, Id say this is the match I feel lest confident about in my predictions.

Last week, I did reasonable in my predictions.. Im hoping to do better this time... It definitely adds more excitement to watching the matches.

Watching my team win from Nowhere Land

2010-09-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

"He's a real nowhere man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody."
Ok, I had some predictions, but I was no where to be seen watching the USCL games.. Normally, the USCL is a big distraction... Half the time time USCL games are on, I'll be "studying" with my friends with several ICC windows open on my comp. screen. Friends will think I am crazy playing multiple games at once... When I tell them, I am actually watching several games live, they just look at me on awe..

This time around was different: While four of teammates were sweating away ( or not- don't quite know) at the Harvard Astrophysics center dueling the SF Mechanics, I was sweating away dancing at the Brandeis Chabad for Shemini Atzeret with no eyes on the games until afterwards... Here am now at 3 am sleeping like a normal human being ( I mean writing this blog post)

To start off here's my failure/sucesss in my predictions
I can't complain about my predictions for the night: 3/4 results correct... Different margins but it turns out Ron Young predicted the exact same results as me: Nyers think alike:)

Heres my results on individual match ups:

New England: 2/4: Shankland and Chase won.. Vigorito won, which I predicted was going to be a draw. Theil drew but it seems to me, he offered a draw since NE was already winning the match... I wasn't watching the match though so correct me if I'm wrong:)

Boston Blitz: Larry won in a nice attack as expected... I definitely underestimated the Catdog/ Havard square power of Marc on Bd 2... Heavy ( GOTW maybe) material there! Corke didn't manage to draw.... and Krasik drew rather than winning.... Overall, I only scored 1/4 on individual match ups but got the right result:)

Seattle: I think all the predictors got this one wrong:) With a rating edge, 1 Gm and 2 IMs vs 3 FMS it was hard to pick against NJ. The one match I predicted wrong: I got 1/4 of the results right here as Finn-Guo went exactly the way I said it would with Finn going for an all-out attack..... Cozianu shows he is a serious fighter and is clearly IM strength.

Baltimore Kingfishers:3/4 predictions right ( best of all) : Barcenilla drew as expected.. ok not too quick as I said before but there weren't too many fireworks in the game. Rensch lost to Kaufman who seemingly prepared well and had a very strong attack out of the opening.. Harper- Kaufman was my one mishap here... and Zimmer played a slow positional game with 1.Nf3 and his experience took over against Adelberg..

Overall Game Predictions correct: 7/18 -

Now on to the Blitz's Damage for the night! :

As I was sweating away dancing at the Chabad of Brandeis for shemini atzeret understanding maybe 15% of the Hebrew being chanted, 4 of my teammates were doing business against SF.

On board 1, Larry won with a typical one of his attacks... He played an off beat 2.b3 against Kraai's French and after move 5, the game was completely out of theory: even unnormal for USCL games to go out of book that fast!

On board 2, Marc ( Cat Dog gives no draws) Esserman takes the full point from IM Zilberstein:

I am at fault for underestimating the great powers of Catdog... I never knew he knew how to play with taking pawns... I thought he only knew how to sack them!

Board 3: Corke as far as I can see didn't get much of an advantage from the opening and got outplayed.

Board 4. Krasik plays Dragon but many possible fireworks didn't occur and ultimately peace was the result.

A solid match victory overall bringing us to 2nd place... Next stop is not letting NJ get revenge next week!

My first crack at USCL Predictions

2010-09-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

After a topsy-turvy affair last week which ended in Boston's favor, I am sitting on the sidelines this week. Here I go with my 1st set of published predictions:

Our local "enemies" the New New England Nor-easters vs the St Louis Archbishops-Naka-Shulman

With St Louis's weaker line up this week ( only 2228) I can't imagine NE having a tough time winning this match.... My fellow Brandeis student Shankland shall at least draw Finegold with the white pieces. The battle of IMs Vigorito and Brooks, two experienced previous US champ players should lead to a draw. Chase and Theil will win against their 200+ lower rated players...

All in all 3-1 New England.

My newly beloved Boston Blitz vs Shankland's old team the Mechanics

Experienced several time US Champ winner vs relatively new GM.... Expect a sharp attack by Larry 1-0

Catdog Esserman fights Zilberstein as Black- Less crazy attacks here with the black pieces... Expect mayhem anyhow that somehow leads to peace

Underrated college student vs high school star-- Less of mayhem than Zilberstein- Esserman and another draw...

Boston's greatest talker vs underrated kid from SF: Experience takes over ( albeit being lower rated by 1 pt)

Thats Boston wins 3-1----- Margin of Error Adjustment ( using Marketing/Accounting skills) 2.5-1.5

Seattle vs New Jersey ( the battle of the teams needing to win to make the playoffs)

Unknown ( at least to me) very high rated FM Cozianu vs Benjamin- cant help thinking Benjamin is a favorite here: 1 pt for NJ

FM Mikhailuk vs Newly formed IM Mac Molner:

I first heard of Mikhailuk's power when he beat Shabalov with black last year.... This year he has been struggling though with a score of 0-3... With the white pieces and rating edge I expect Molner to squeeze out the victory..... Thats two pts for NJ.

FM Michael Lee vs Albert Kapengut: Up and coming youngster vs experienced IM coming off of a crazy draw against teamate Martirosov... I predict a draw here as Kapengut will play solidly as black and Lee won't push too hard.

Guo vs Finn.....
I haven't seen much of Guo's games and have seen FInn's crazy sacrificial games in the past.. Guo is playing well this year: 2 wins with the french... Seattle shall get their lone win of the match on this board as Guo will take advantage of Finn's material deficit after an all-out gruesome looking attack

In the long Run... NJ wins 2.5-1.5 and its playoff hopes stay alive with a -1 record of 2.5 3.5

The leaders in the West named the Scorpions vs the Middle of the Pack in the East also known as the Kingfishers

IM ( GM Strength) Barcenilla vs Erenburg : I expect peace relatively early as Barcenilla won't try for much.

IM Rensch vs GM Larry Rybka Kaufman- Rensch this is year is making up for his previously struggles in the league with an outstanding 3-0 record/2794 performance rating.... However, with the white peices and the outstanding Rybka-based preperation that I expect, I see Larry coming out with the full point.

FM Harper vs Kaufman JR ( IM Ray Kaufman):

Kaufman will outplay Harper in a QID ala his previous game this season against Dehmelt but Harper will hold out the draw ( The Kaufmans will score 1.5/2 in total)

Another up and coming Adelberg vs Zimmer... Busy student vs busy father.... Im gonnga go on a whim and expect the experience to take over here....

Baltimore wins 2.5-1.5 ( although a lot has to do with how Arizona will play after their loss last week: I know for me one of the hardest things to do in chess psychologically is to play after a loss)

Thats 4-0 for the East: Quite a reversal of Monday night's results with the West winning 3.5/4.. Lets see how much of these predictions hold true:)

Success in Albany

2010-09-10T11:21:00.001-07:00

Adventure to Albany:
After my first full week of school, do I stay on campus like a normal student would?- NO.. It seems as over the summer I became addicted to traveling and can not stay in one place. Before Albany, I haven't played in a few weeks since the the Continental Open, where I finished with a modest but solid performance of 3/6 gaining 3 rating points. My final calling was my 2199 rating for September. I had a string of bad results in July and figured it couldn't hurt to try and take advantage of the rating so I decided to enter the u2200.

For now, I will show my 1st round game, where I won rather convincingly. Other than one significant mishap, I won rather smoothly. I played Ernest Johnson, someone I knew for a long time as he is a friend of my old coach and team-ate Alan Kantor but we had never played before. Speaking of which look what I found in a nice pile of Chess Lifes:
Yes the one actual National title I won was the USATE of 2007 along with Alan, Evan Turtel, James Critelli and Nick Panico.. LONG LIVE BEAVIS AND BUTVINNIK!:)

Anyway back to my road to a NY State title:

After this game. I thought I was playing decent chess.. Except for the one relatively major mishap with f4, I thought I calculated pretty well and was prepared in the opening. After this game however, I was dead lost in my next two rounds, and both games ended in draws so although I had a decent score 2/3 the quality of my games were not very high. After I drew Lohrman, an interesting opportunity arose. There were only two people playing in the 2 day schedule so I was offered to re-enter for free. Although many people thought I was crazy to play 4 games in one day, I figured it couldn't hurt to take the opportunity. Luckily, it went well as I finished the 2-day portion of the day with 2.5/3 ( taking a bye in the 1st round).

After that, I won with the black pieces with Chandran and became a half point ahead of the field with 3.5/4 as Ainsworth drew Guevara after drawing Chandran in the morning.

In round five I played Ainsworth, a clearly forced pairing as I was the only 3.5 and he was the only 3. It was annoying however, as it meant my third black in a row. I had prepared to play white but then realized him playing black would mean 4 blacks out of 5 games. It was aggravating to get my third black in a row but after Goichberg and Immit showed me the color priorities in the rules, I knew it was a fair pairing. He played passively in the opening in another Nimzo Indian and ultimately the game petered out to a draw after 70 moves. Of course the last twenty of moves were nothing moves in an opposite-colored bishops endgame. Of course, I was stubborn and didn't want to give a draw.

I will be very blunt and say it was because I don't like it when lower-rated players play for a draw from near the start of the game, especially with the white pieces. Now, I may be somewhat of a hypocrite as in the last round against Guevara I didn't take many chances as white, considering the fact that I was a half point ahead of the field and a draw meant at least a share of first place. However, I made sure I developed a slight advantage rather than sacking a pawn to trade into a bishops of opposite color endgame.

In the long run however, Ainsworth played very solidly and well and deserved a tie first as he demonstrated in his last round against Sells. Not only did he tie for first, but he was playing up a section and cracked expert for the first time.

Thanks to Polly Wright ( Castlingqueenside.blogspot.com) for the pictures.

I must also point out that all of the three-member Boston contingent did well ( Yes, I am a New Yorker as conveyed through the pic YANKEES STILL IN 1st!!!!) but I did come from school in Boston and am a member of the Boston Blitz which is coming back to business witha 2-1 score! Catdog Esserman used his newly Harvard Square wisdom to destroy the Open and his student Daniel Bromberg cracked 1700 for the first time.. Being 1597, he didn't wimp out lie me playing in the u2200 and played in the u1800 as he was 1671 unofficial. He had a poor start 0-2 but then turned the tables going wining 4 in a row to earn a respectable 4/6. HEAVY

I'm alive and back in Bahstan as a member of the Blitz!

2010-08-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly a month since I posted last... Did I live a dreadful boring life since then?: Not exactly, but with work and travel, I have been exhausted and have not been in the mood to blog. To the contrary, today is my last day of work as I am now on the commuter rail to Willmington. I won't go on one of my long travel rants but I will say it is not fun waking up at 5:30 am to get on a train to Boston, to take another train out to Willmington rather than taking a 20 minute drive directly from Brandeis to Willmington.

Other news:

I am an official member of the Boston Blitz! Last Monday, I trekked to the Harvard center of Astrophysics to spectate the first game of the season. I was proud to tell my teamates and the Blitz fans that I was rooting for Boston in the league for the first time against my not-so-hard-to-guess previous team the Knights. Of course I was not happy how Boston went down in flames going 0-4: However, just as the Yanks destroyed the Sox this season after losing several games, Boston will pick up!

****** Disclaimer: Just because I am on the Blitz, does not mean I am a Bostonian.. YANKEES in 1st Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More on USCL and other events coming soon!

In and around NY/ Lackluster Result in White Plains

2010-07-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

And so it goes- I failed to keep my promise to myself that I wouldn't play until I analyzed all my games from two Thursdays ago. When I realized I had three local camps in a row, I told my self I would take advantage and play a few tournaments- but no cigar. I am finally realizing why so many chess teachers don't play chess in the year- I'm hanging pieces left and right! Here's my utterly disgustingly embarrassing blunder against IM Sarkar last night:

I finished with a win against another nemesis of mine, although we only played a few times and evened up my lifetime score against Alex Eydelman.- Overall, it was a lackluster performance of 1/3 and a 2114 performance rating, but it will do... Im now 2192 and still just under the radar of master again.

Here's a few photos I took from my phone around NY the last few weeks. I'm having issues with my camera: more concert reviews to come up when its fixed.... Btw any advice from my readers on a type of new camera I should get?
Two funky street performers at the Columbus Circle Subway Station

A cool new sculpture next to the MET I saw walking through the park yesteray

A Killer Jazz jam band and one of my favorite spots in NY: the Fat Cat

A relatively new extremely cheap and good pizza place on 8th street and 6th ave

The slices are a bit small but with two slices and soda for $2.75, you can't complain especially considering NY prices these days! For breakfast this morning I got a bagel and and ice coffee thinking it might be a bit expensive as it was on 88th and Lex, a good location: I didn't think it would be $6.75 though!- That was just outrageous.

I'm alive and seeing lots of great concerts!

2010-07-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't posted in the last few weeks, I have been doing quite a lot. After Ringo, I saw Robert Plant down in Little Rock and saw Winwood open for Santana last Sunday. Both of them had their ups and downs but were great shows altogether. More to come soon, (this time I promise:).

I'd post more on them now, but I am exhausted- chess camp does tire you out and the traveling doesn't help. Chesswise, I am in a little bit of a losing streak or in the words of my friend Jeremiah Williams "freefall". I played on Tuesday rather miserably in the Marshall Masters scoring 1/4 and falling just below master. Therefore, I decided to skip out on tonight's 4RGT and Bradley this weekend. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't play until I fully analyze my games from the Masters and the Thursday before I left to Little Rock and put a few up on the blog. On the other hand, as I walking home today down Broadway a bookseller near Fairways asked me if I wanted to play a game of chess. I did not know the man so I figured he had known me from my blog or had seen me around at tournaments... NOPE I guess he saw me quickly glance at the computer chess board that he was trying to sell for $30. Albeit being tired, I figured it couldn't hurt. After I beat him in about 20 moves, he said I was a "good chess player". Little did he know I was actually coming home from teaching a chess camp!

Ringo rocks out on his 70th birthday! Part 1

2010-07-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ringo's show on Wednesday was nothing short of incredible. I can't explain fully how so many friends did not want to see him because he wasn't the "best Beatle".I would not argue with this statement, but that is a relative one. Ringo may have wrote only a few songs for the Beatles, the ones he did and/or covered such as "Act Naturally" were some of the Beatle's biggest hits. Not only that, he did the perfect job at holding a steady beat, which is all the Beatles needed in the long run.

Perhaps,because Ringo knows he was sort of a "sideman" of the Beatles he is very modest on stage at times. He does make a lot of arrogant jokes very deservingly so. For example, when he pointed to a sign that said "Happy Birthday Ringo", he said "That's nice, but where is my gift?". He is different from Mccartney (oops I mean Sr. Paul) who at least at Citifield last year dominates the show. On the other hand, Ringo takes full advantage of the enormous talent his Allstar bandmates have.

I regret not knowing Rick Derringer's music well sooner. I have heard of his song "Hang on Sloopy" which he played phenomenally, but never knew how good of a guitar player he was. He evened pulled out some Steve Vai style shredding at the end of "Rock and roll Hoochie Koo".

In addition, I learned about the great voice of Wally Palmer, of the Romantics who performed excellent renditions of "Talking in Her Sleep" and "What I Like About You". Not only that,he had my favorite kind of guitar, a Rickenbacker. On the off chance that any of my readers are feeling generous and want to buy me an extra birthday gift, you know what to get:)

Before I get on to my favorite parts of the show, I need to share my one objective not so great part of the show: the songs Richard Page played. He is a great bass player but I wasn't too big on the 80s songs he played: "Kyrie" and "Broken Wings".

The Dark Horse who almost stole the show:The Mighty Edgar Winter

This multi-instrumentalist is just extraordinary- no questions asked. I've listened to plenty of his music before, but seeing him lie is something else. He played "Freeride", right after Derringer's "Hang on Sloopy",so the bar was raised pretty high. He certainly met his task. He raised the bar much higher however when he playeed possibly his biggest hit "Frankenstein".

A close contender to Winter however was Gary Wright with his one major hit "Dreamweaver". I always knew this song but never actually knew who sung it. I thought it was interesting how he explained it was influenced by a poem George Harrison showed him while traveling in India. RIP GEORGE.

Part 2 coming soon!

Short Birthday Excursion to Philadelphia/King of Prussia

2010-07-06T15:23:00.001-07:00

It took me a long time to decide whether or not to play the World Open. I wanted to play a nice long tournament but because of work last week, I would of had to play the 3 day schedule.Considering the fact that I was exhausted working three weeks in a row and the steep $350 entry fee, I decided not to play.Instead,Sunday I ventured out to King of Prussia to play in the two quick tournaments and spend my 20th birthday.

I got to Philly pretty easily via Megabus,which is a great means of transit: It was $12 and it has free wifi and outlets unlike the more expensive Greyhound. I then met up with a friend from Brandeis and I wanted to go to a great Kosher Israeli restaurant Hamifgash.We walked over there and it was closed: I tried going there twice before this time and one of those they were closed as well, so I would try calling them first to see they if they are open. If they are though, you certainly won't regret going there.

Instead,we had a great lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Philly, the Imperial Inn:
Not surprisingly on July 4th, there was a big patriotic gathering by the Liberty Bell, in which many people protested against Obama's call to bring home the troops in July of 2011 as they wanted them to come home sooner. I am going to refrain from the politics on the blog, but here are some photos I snapped there:

My birthday in King of Prussia was fun, but I played rather miserable in the g/5 and g/10 tournaments. In the g/10 I hung pieces left and right and withdrew after going 0-3 against one a player and two experts. The g/5 was a little better as I went 5-5, but wasn't great. That's life though- I can't expect to play with out so many blunders after teaching kids three weeks in a row. I am going to try to do some tactics training before my next event to try and not blunder so much.

The Rambling Man in the DC Area

2010-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Lord, I was born a ramblin' man
Trying to make a living and doing the best I can
When it's time for leaving, I hope you'll understand
That I was born a rambling man.
(Ramblin' Man by the Allman Brothers: A shameless plug of one of my favorite songs of all time by one of the best rock bands)

I may have not been "born a ramblin' man, but since May I certainly have been. Since I left to Asia, I have stayed in 11 hotels, went on 12 flights (including conections), and took 4 bus rides.

This past week, I did a camp in Potomac, Maryland and stayed in Gaithersburg. Here are two places I enjoyed eating at in Gaithersgburg:

1) Ricky's Rice Bowl: A small Asian joint in the Gaithersburg Square Shopping Center

At first, I was a bit wary of trying this place as it was Korean owned and had Korean, Japanese, Thai and other kinds of food. Generally, I find places that dont specialize on one cuisine don't make great food. This place was an exception. The two nights in a row that I went there I had peanut chicken and brocoli and it was excellent. It was also reasonably priced at $8.00 for a large portion.

2)The Silver Diner

This diner is located In the Lake Forest Mall of Gaithersburg had a pretty good hamburger and french fries that I ordered. However, I had one complaint:their boombox had one of CSN's best songs spelled wrong!:
It should be Teach Your Children!

The last night I was there, I took the metro to Alexandria to meet my aunt and uncle for dinner. Here is some photos I took along the way including one of a great underground street performer band. I have a new policy that if a street performer actually grabs my attention in a positive manner and I have some change on me, I will give some.

I am now on a bus to Philly to spend my birthday in tradition at the World Open. Look for some upcoming posts on Ringo's concert at Radio City Wednesday night and Little Rock next week!

Summer Concert #1: Further rocks out Cyclone Stadium!

2010-06-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

One of the main problems I always have to face when going to concerts is finding people to go with.Most people my own age have barely heard of the Grateful Dead.Some friends that do either don't want to see them because they are too old or don't have enough money. There are problems with disliking my own generation of music:(

At any rate, I greatly enjoyed going to the concert with Jerry Graham (no,not Garcia: RIP Jerry), and his cousins who we ran into:

I particularly enjoyed their renditions of "St.Stephen" and "The Eleven" among others. I am certainly a fan of the Grateful Dead but I am far from an expert on all of their songs. Luckily, on the other side of me stood Jerry's cousin who helped me decipher the plenty of songs I did not know.

John Kadlecik is a great guitarist,who also played with the GD tribue band the Dark Star Orchestra and did a great job, but he is no full-on replacement for Garcia. However, I am sure Jerry would admire Lesh and Weir for still touring without him.Here are a few more pics from the show:

I am in Maryland now until Friday. Next concert on the list: Ringo Starr at Radio City Hall on July 7th(2 days after I turn 20)!

Two more things:
1) If you haven't seen it yet, my article "Chess Adventures in Vietnam" is on uschess.org
2) I have to point out that last week in Pottstown, I corrected someone about 30-40 years older than me that "All Along the Watchtower" is a Dylan rather than Hendrix song.

I'm going to be a businessman!

2010-06-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

IBS: Here, I come!

I got an email yesterday from Professor Bayone, the head of the Brandeis Undergraduate Business Department that I got accepted into the first annual class of the Brandeis Business major! To do so, I had to show them my resume and write an essay about a challenging task I had to deal with either on a job or in a extracurricular activity. I wrote about how I needed to market the aloevera juice that I sold two summers ago.

With that in mind, there's not much happening in Pottstown. The camp is fine, with only slightly more than a dozen campers, but there isn't a whole lot to do at night. Last night, when I was at the laundromat, I figured I would read up on the business section of The Mercury, the local Pottstown newspaper.

I came across two interesting articles. The first one was about a new start up company Cupditino, which is a dating website recently founded by Mel Sampat. He creatively used Apple as a marketing tool, realizing Mac users around the world actually have much in common and would likely make good couples.

The other article I found interesting was how the market leader in English muffin sales Thomas recently sued Chris Botticella for giving secrets about the product's recipe to one of the company's greatest rivals Hostess.

Botticella was one of the seven Thomas executives who knew the formula and recently obtained a job offer at Hostess. THe other Thomas executives does not want him to switch jobs. I think it depends on the terms of his contract at Thomas, but either way it is interesting to note whether or not he will be able to go to Hostess. If he does and gives them the formula. Thomas may no longer be the market leader in years to come if Hostess can produce English Muffins as well.

Chess in the Lehigh Valley and Jealousy over Taylor/King

2010-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

I am one crazy chess player... What would a normal person do after being stranded in transit for over 12 hours and not catching sleep?- mostly likely get some rest... NOT ME

Instead,I take the hotel shuttle to the Lehigh Valley chess club. I ended up getting there just in time for round 3 and the director Bruce Davis invited me to enter the tournament with two byes. Of course, I entered as I was already there. In the third round(my first) I ended up almost falling a sleep and blowing away an easily winning position against Kevin Santo although he did put up good resistance after having a troublesome position from early on in the opening.

After the round,Davis told me I was in contention to tie for first as there was only one 3 and no 2.5s. Things were in my destiny as I was about to play the 3 (Karl Dehmelt), but unfortunately, I could only manage to draw the game:

The last game I played in this variation against Carey Theil I also drew (http://adventuresofrabin.blogspot.com/2010/02/boylston-quads-today.html). However that was another last round situation where a draw meant first place for me. Such is life. It reminds me of song "Leela" by the Israeli-American band Soulfarm:"Leela Leela, this world is but a game.Winners lose and losers win,and the game is still the same". I played the same level of a boring draw against two players of similar caliber;yet my game against Theil felt like a win and this game felt like a loss, yet in reality I played about the same strength in both games and scored the same result...

At any rate, I'm glad I made the right decision to not go crazy playing for a win and possibly end up losing. Also I looked up Dehmelt afterward and learned he is coming back into chess after a 20 year or so hiatus. Before that he was a rather strong player with 3 IM norms, but a too low rating. Its good to see a strong player getting back into shape; maybe he'll get back in form and achieve the IM title:) While looking him up, I came across an interesting top 50 list of US juniors in 1977 on IM Mark Ginsburg's blog:http://nezhmet.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/the-fabulous-70s-news-of-the-weird/. On this list Dehmelt was #16. I played 4 out of the top 10: Rohde(#2),DeFirmian (#4),Fedorowicz(#7), and Christopher Chase(#9).

Here a few photos I took walking around Allentown:

In other news, I am extremely jealous as I don't think ill be able to catch a show of the Taylor/King tour. My mom and a few friends said great things about it and I just watched a few amazing Youtube videos from it such as the following rendition of Taylor's hit "You've got a friend"

The land of Cincinnati and Disasters getting to Pottstown

2010-06-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

One week down! I'm exhausted but it was a good first week camp.Other than teaching, Cincinnati is a nice city. We didn't spend much time around the city as by night time each day we were rather tired. Waking up at 3 am the Sunday I left for a 6:05 am did not help.

Alanna and I flew into Dayton and were surprised to see a "Boston" restaurant right after we get off the plane:

Of course we had to get in our Israeli fix (yes, we did finally convince our director Bill to go to Kinneret, a great kosher Israeli restaurant in Cincinnati). Before that however, we found a rather disgusting hummus at the grocery store. I failed to read the flavor, which was tomato and shitake mushrooms, which doesn't sound particularly appetizing to begin with(at least to me):

How could I resist taking a picture of Evan's Autocare?:(Evan Power does exist in Cincinnati)

Not surprisingly, the chess bug hit me in Cincinnati as well, and I made sure we went to the Cincinnati Grandin House Chess Club. Here's us, with a nice fellow George Elgin, and another Bill, who didn't particularly look highly of Brandeis as he went to the "more prestigious" MIT several decades ago.:

Notice, I am wearing a Michigan hat: Throughout the trip, I must have seen about 5 Michigan fans: There may be few looming around the land of Ohio, but there a few:)I saw one of them at the Cincinnati Reds game we went to, when they got absolutely destroyed by the Dodgers 0-12. We only stayed for half of the game as there ended up be a long rain delay which ended up being 2.5 hours, but it was fun to root for the away team:)

That's mostly it for Cincinnati.. I am now continuing my travels to Pottstown,PA, but it has been a rough ride so far. We drove to the airport yesterday at around 6 as all of our flights were within a half hour of one another. Of course it was not that convenient though:( I checked in at United and they said both of my flights were to be delayed and I would get in Allentown at 3 am. Although, this would have been annoying, it would not have been the end of the world.

Things got worse though... The flight ended up not leaving the gate for another hour. I feel asleep when it finally boarded and woke up about an hour later around 11:30. I saw we we were in an airport and assumed we got to Chicago... Then I saw the guy sitting next to me seem to be kind of annoyed. Sure enough, there were heavy thunderstorms in Chicago and we were still in Cincinnati at another gate. The pilot announced that he would be able to leave to Chicago in about a half hour but it would be a 3 hour flight as he would have to make a detour in Nebraska. I ended up in Chicago at 4 am and waited online at United until 5. Then the guy told me all flights to Allentown were cancelled- just great:( Finally, he told me to get on a 6 am flight to Washington to connect to Allentown. Here, I am writing this post at Dulles Airport after staying up all night in transit. I am about to board( at least hopefully!) to Allentown. Be posted for a final Asia post ( that Ive yet to do) and one on Pottstown/Allentown:)

Arrival in Cincinnati

2010-06-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

I admit I'm a liar:( no posts on Singapore or Siem Reap.. Lots have been going on: for one getting adjusted back to the US time frame. I played two tournaments this last week. I scored 3/4 on Thursday after being upset in the second round to Nikita Panasenko by hanging a queen in one move in an unclear position- the game with analysis will come soon.On Saturday, I did decent: drew scored 1.5/3- beat an 1800, drew Bonin and lost to Margulis: more details to come soon.. Lots of blunders this week- I have to get back into shape.

A few bits of good news though:

1) Arrived safe in Cincinnati and ate some Skyline Chili: somewhat negative as I messed up in regards to meat and dairy, but it was delicious. No more meat and dairy for me though:In the last few months Ive been doing relatively o.k but I do slip here and there.

2) Ringo Starr here I come:

I mentioned I hoped I'd get to see him a few months ago. Fortunately, I will be off July 2-9 and will be seeing him at Radio City Hall on the 7th! At least, Ill get to say Ive seen half of the Beatles live. RIP John and George.

Camp starts tomorrow and I am exhausted. Final Asia post and more in Cincinnati coming soon...
.

Post in Transit: At Tokyo Intl Narita Airport

2010-06-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Wow.. This three week adventure is coming to an end.. I am looking forward to a week of reality/overcoming jetlag in NY. Then early Sunday morning, I am flying to my first chess camp of the summer in Cincinnati. I am starting to feel like a jetsetter: during this trip alone, including my last leg to NY I am about to take, I took 8! flights. Siem Reap and Singapore pictures I will post this week.

Here's a quick rant about the flight from Singapore to Tokyo:

Pros: - watched The Bucket List for a second time.. I watched it when it was in theaters a few years ago and forgot it was a pretty good movie. Its story line is kind of lame: basically Morgan Freeman' and Jack Nicholson's characters go on wild adventures instead of sitting in the hopsital while awaiting death. However, they are two great actors: Its certainly a worthwhile film to watch.

-Watched first few minutes of Intolerable Cruelty
It seems to be a pretty bad movie, but it starts out with a plus, the main character driving to Paul Simon's tune "The Boxer". With that in mind, congrats to Paul Simon as a member of Brandeis's class of 2010 with an honorary degree! .. Here is him playing none other than "The Boxer" at the Brandeis graduation:

Nuetral: -Breakfast: I can't complain... It did have shrimp and noodles which I obviously wouldn't eat but better than the flight from NY to Tokyo I complained about a few weeks ago coming here, there was some nice fruit , yogurt and a croissant on the side. Ill report very soon how the food is on this flight from Tokyo to New York:)

Pro/Con: Berlitz Language program in flight:
Con- had about 15 languages on it: No Hebrew
Pro: did practice my spanish a bit as I regrettably haven't used it the slightest bit since I want to Puerto Rico slightly over a year ago.

Thats all for now... I am about to board the flight to NY. I shall blog more about Asia as promised next week and about Cincinnati after on..

More adventures in Cambodia: Battambang

2010-06-01T19:33:00.001-07:00

I have lots to catch up on,but this post will be on Battambang,Cambodia. Posts on Siem reap and Singapore will come soon. Check back in the next few days. Also look out for an article I wrote for CLO on my Chess experience Vietnam, coming to uschess.org within the next few days.

Battambang is an underrated small city in Cambodia with a nice river front,nice places to see in the countryside with plenty of Buddhas, bats to see at night time etc.. Here it is on a map: about 5 hours of a drive from Phnom Penh and 2-3 hours from Siem Reap:

The bus ride to Battambang from Phnom Penh was not very fun.. The bus company said it would be about 4-5 hours and it ended up being around 6. One hour is not so bad, but no what there was little personal space. Be warned:on buses around Southeast Asia, atleast from what I seen, bus companies tend to underestimate their travel times by at least one hour. Much of the delays were due to people chasing the bus, trying to get on, as seen in the following picture:

Here's one of the smelliest fruits around that are actually banned from most hotels:

:Be aware of the Durian!

Monastery:Orange everywhere- even orange towels!

Thousands of Bats flying just after 6 PM:

When we arrived by this mountain via our tuktuk, a motodriver tried to convince us to take his moto up the mountain to see the bats with a birds-eye view. It would have been nice but it seemed kind of risky. Eventually, we just waited about a half hour to see them fly out of the whole pictured.

No Bamboo Train,No!: Another popular thing to do in Battambang is the bamboo train, which is a man-made train out of bamboo. For some reason, a guy began screaming "no bamboo train,no!" Our tuktuk driver drove us to another part of the track and we got on. The same guy who screamed followed us on his moto and again screamed at us but we continued to go anyways and it turned out to be a fun time: Im not sure what his problem was.

Lastly for Battambang,here is your loyal blogger pulling a pretty cool looking fence around the corner from the hotel:

Overall, Battambang was a pleasant experience. Admittedly, there was not that much to do and it shuts down at night, which is why I wouldn't want to spend much more time there but it was a quite, pleasant town without a lot of tourists. In this regard, there weren't nearly as many harrasing street vendors and beggers.

Rabin's visits to Vietnam and Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2010-05-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been fun but rather exhausting. Almost every day I have told myself I would do a blog post at night as I have so much to write about but each night I have ended up konking out,putting off posts to later. On the bright side, here I am in the Siem Reap Hostel's computer lounge writing this post which will be more like a photo gallery with entertaining captions.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Fun,education and harassment from street vendors

Culture Shock #1: Amount of Motorbikes on the road

Good ice cream spot in District 1 of HCMC

Freedom from the French:Independence Palace

Catering to differing cultures: Asian and American Dining under one roof

"And it's one, two, three,What are we fighting for ?Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam"(I feel like Im Fixin' to die rag by Country Joe and the Fish)-unnecessary US involvement in Vietnam-American subsidized helicopter

Handicapped veterans in the workforce:Handcraft Factory

Live salsa band playing some great Santana covers at one of HCMC's most famous hotels the Caravelle

The Buffalo Bar: an extremely visually appealing club that turned out to be almost empty

Tour of Cambodia:Adventures in Phnom Penh,Battambang and Siem Reap

In and Around Phnom Penh

My temporary office on a bus to Phnom Penh:analyzing my games from a tournament I played in HCMC with a set the organizers gave me

More culture shock: Bugs for sale on the ferry the bus went on on the way to PP: Question- Are fried bugs kosher?

The tuktuk: the best(cheapest)way to get around town- negotiating from a few dollars to less dollars

*Side note:On my anthropology final I wrote about Tuktuks as a defense to globalization as it is one example of a good that was founded in the East and brought to western nations diverse as the UK, Netherlands and Guatemala.

Remembering the "Cambodian Holocaust",the Khmer Rouge: Skeletons at the Coeung Ek Genocidal Center

://4.bp.blogspot.com/_A6Wx9VjG8wk/TAJZ6wmgcyI/AAAAAAAAANM/D-ayN49QVNs/s400/P1030082.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477038962849641250" />

Chinese/Communist influence: Mao Tse Toung Blvd

Divine powers in the temples of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

Am Yisrael Chai!:Israeli flag in PP!

"There she was right a-walkin' down the street, Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy" do: That's right- an elephant walking along the sidewalk!

That's all for now. I am waking up at 4am(4 am!) tomorrow to visit Angor Wat tomorrow. Ill post Battambang and Siem Reap pics soon. I am flying back to the US from Singapore on Tuesday and we are not exactly sure of our plan until then. We are debating how long to stay here and whether or not to go to Bangkok before flying to Singapore. It is safe now but flights are expensive and I don't particularly want to take a 9 hour bus ride.. Any advice?

Quick WIEF Review and more of Kuala Lumpur

2010-05-25T05:38:00.000-07:00

I would like to start off this post with an apology to any loyal readers as I admit I've been pretty lame in updating my blog about my trip. I have only done one real post about it since I've been abroad... Anyways, Ill make up for it up in the next few posts.

Wow- in the last two weeks I have been in about the same number of countries than the amount of other countries Ive been to in my lifetime.

WIEF Conference

The WIEF was a unique experience for me. I have met many Islamic people in the past and learned about their culture and religion but never really learned about their economic interests and goals. Here a three key concepts or frames of concepts I appreciated.

1) Emic(those of the inside viewer) vs Etic Tensions(those of the outside viewer: Considering about 85% of my anthro course was discussing these, I figured i should give a few examples of these I came across during the seminar

a) Dr Amhed Mohamed Ali (President of the Islamic Development Bank)

Foreign Forces in Afghanistan: Etic "peacekeepers", Emic "occupational forces"

b) Natalie Day (Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation Project based in United Kingdom)

Science: Emic "ease" vs Etic "tensions"

c) Prof. Datin Paduka Dr. Khatijah Bt Mohd Yusoff (Deputy Science General in Malaysia)

Spilled glass of Milk: Western emic: a learning experience vs Eastern Emic: a wacking

2) Importance of Innovation in Business:

a) Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar(Chairman of the Securities Commision in Malaysia)

Innovation= Human Capital+Research/Development= Value Added

b)Dr. Halil Kulluk (Chairman,Intekno Group of Companies, Turkey)

-Requirements for Innovation: technology, talent, tolerance
-"You can have innovation without branding but you can't have branding without innovation" - Companies must be innovative in their branding in order for it to be successful in the long run.

3)Expanding Halal[and Kosher] markets to non-Muslims [and non-Jews]

Dato' Seri Jamil Bidin (CEO of the Halal Industry Development Corporation, Malaysia)

-Halal: more than just food- also part of many other aspects of life,e.g, finance, cosmetics, drugs, insurance
- Islamic Finance: something I need to learn more about, from what I learned already:No interest rates:no concept of present value
-Reasons for Halal:wholesomeness, quality, clean,assurance,
-expansion to non-muslims: Halal food currently worth $1.3 trillion in the US
My own input: Kosher companies can also market to non-Jews for extra revenue as many already do and more will also consume kosher products solely because they know they are healthy and of high quality

Here's a few interesting photos I took around Kuala Lumpar:

Frangipani:one of the "best" restaurants in KL

The restaurant certainly did look nice but I didn't particularly care for the food.

A reggae bar featuring the late Bob Marley

Another Example of Glocalization: Seaweed Pringles

a Malaysian fast food restaurant: Marybrown

A chess set in one of the few non-western stores in one of KL's biggest malls next to the Petronis towers

Eric Clapton's Autobiography Review

2010-05-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Before I get into to discussing the trip, I want to discuss Clapton's autobiography (2007) that I have been reading while Ive been travelling:

Later on, I will write more about the book, but for now just want to share with you why it such a great book.:

1) Great Anecdotes:
Whether you are a Clapton fan or not, you will learn a lot of interesting stories about his interactions with a number of other bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. One particularly interesting albeit insignificant story I appreciated was when he first met the Beatles backstage of the Odeon theater in 1964: "Paul[Mcartney] played the ambassador... I remembered him playing us the tune of "Yesterday", which was half writtten and, asking everyone what they thought. He didn't have the words yet. He was calling it "scrambled eggs", and singing " Scrambled eggs, Everbody calls me scrambled eggs"(Clapton, 51). This statement is typical of Paul's humor.. will take a random subject such as scrambled eggs and make humor our out of it. Kudos to Sir Paul!:

2)Personal Experiences-Nothing to Hide:
It is truly amazing to me how much of his personal experiences Clapton shares when it comes to his development as a musician along with other aspects of his life such his sex life and drugs. For examples his discusses his love for Pattie( George Harrison's wife at the time): "One night I called up Patttie and told her "the truth", that it was not Paula(Pattie's sister) I was interested in, or any other gil she might seee with me, but that she was the one I reallly wanted. in spite of her proests that she was married to George and that what I was suggesting was imposssible, she agrreded to my coming over to talk to her. I drove over there, ad we talked about it over a bottle or red wine and eneded up kissing, and I sensed for the first time that there was some kind of hope for me"(Clapton 123). I always knew about the love triangle between Clapton, Harrison and Pattie, but the way he describes it in the book is truly touching.

One husband to the next:

Hello from Kuala Lumpur!

2010-05-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have to lots to say, but will keep it short for now as I am about to attend the second day of the World Islamic Economic Forum. I left New York Monday at noon and arrived in Tokyo 14 hours later at around 3pm Tokyo time. The flight wasn't miserable, but I am not used to such long flights. My only big complaint however, wasn't there wasn't much for me to eat: Dinner was pork curry and Lunch the next day was a chicken and cheese burrito. Considering, I recently stopped mixing meat and dairy, this was unfortunate.

I then arrived In Tokyo and ordered a steak, which looked amazing and I was extremely looking forward to devouring it:
However, IT did not taste very good and I had to run on the flight... Maybe there was going to be much better food on the Singapore: No Luck there either: They had chicken that was mediocre.. However, when I got there and met my dad we went to a nice restaurant by the hotel where I ate noodles and chicken.

The Next day, we went to the first day of the WIEF, a global economic forum of all the Islamic countries. We have media passes. I will discuss the forum a lot more in my next post, but here is a few pictures for now:

An example of glocalization(putting what I learned in anthropology to use) : A potatoe puff- Starbucks catering to Singaporean consumers

Dad and I in KL, in front of WIEF poster:

Petronas Twin Towers

Faraz Yousufazai: A great songwriter/guitarist from London: Performed at the Creative Arts Festival segment of the WIEF

Fairfield Masters(U2200), The Meetles

2010-05-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

I am currently at JFK waiting to board my flight to Tokyo followed by the rest of the way to Singapore. Expect some posts about my travels in the next three weeks. Until then, here's a game from the Fairfield Masters and an introduction to a great Beatles tribute band.

Fairfield Masters/U2200
Last weekend, I played in my (hopefully last) u2200 event, the Fairfield Masters U-2200 section and tied for first with Ian Harris and Tony Blum. We eached picked up $233. In the Open, GM Ibragimov,IM Hungaski and unofficial GM Pressman tied for first, winning $333 each.

Admittedly, I did not have that tough of a playing schedule, I beat three players over 300 points lower rated than me and drew Michael Finneran in round 2: Here is that struggle, which admittedly I should likely have lost:

With that in mind, it is quite impressive that Finneran is almost u-2100 having only played 40 rated events. To the contrary, I played about 40 events within the last year.

The Meetles

As I was taking the subway home last night, I ran into the end of a great performance by the NY Beatles tribute band "The Meetles". I never actually heard of them before, but they were quite impressive. Check out their website for some upcoming free shows off theirs. Here are a few pictures I took of them last night. Forgive the quality as they were from my cell phone.

The Band:

An awesome older aged couple dancing with some Columbia graduates in the background:

Before getting on the train, strangers singing "Amazing Grace" in Washington Square Park:

Schools over/ Trip to Asia!!!

2010-05-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

"Schools out for the summer!!" - A corny allusion to Cooper, but it was the first one that came to me. I finished my final exams yesterday and am in New York until Monday.
Asiabound!

On Monday, afternoon, I am flying to Singapore: a 21 hour flight to Tokyo and a 6 hr flight from there to Singapore... The longest flight I took so far was to Israel(11 hours) and that was by far the longest flight I took at the time, so it will be a true adventure. I am meeting my dad there, and are then going to go to Malaysia and possibly Vietnam... Look out for some posts while I am there.

Why I love Clapton

2010-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

This video pretty much sums up why Clapton is my favorite guitarist:

" I think um what happened to me last year (and the loss of my son), the audience, my audience would be very surprised if I didnt make some sort of reference to it. And I wouldnt want to insult them by not including them in my grief in a way"

Clapton insists on being personal among his listeners and won't hide his personal experiences in his songs.

Bill Clinton singing "Imagine" with Isrealis!

2010-05-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Clinton sings "Imagine" with 40 Israeli students and 40 Arab students in honor of Shimon Peres's birthday!!! Whether he was a great president or not.. that is up to you, but I found this video very moving.

Santana and Winwood going on tour!!!!!!

2010-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

One more addition the to the great concerts going on this summer: I got an email today about Santana and Winwood going on tour in July.

Side Note... I just wrote a biography of Eric Clapton for my Hebrew final writing project!!... It's awesome not having analytical skills in a language and getting away with writing about a great guitarist in an essay.

More exciting concerts coming to locations near your this summer!

2010-04-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, I wanted to share some incredible concerts coming up this summer that I hope I get to see:

1)
Beatles are back! There going to open Shea Stadium this summer with a new great show!... No- but I did find a surprisingly somewhat accurate list of the top 50 classic rock bands not surprisingly with the Beatles on top: http://classicrock.about.com/od/recommendationsandreviews/a/top100_bands.htm

I do certainly have some personal criticisms of the list however: please share your opinions.
For example:
- Led Zeppelin should replace Pink Floyd as #2
-The Allman Brothers should replace The Eagles as #6
-Cream should be higher, possibly ranked #9 instead of the Moody Blues although I don't know nearly as mouch about them

Unfortunately, I cant quite buy tickets yet as I don't know where I will be throughout the summer; however, these are some more concerts I want to see:

1) Crosby Stills and Nash and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant stress enough how much I want to see this show that I just found out about today. About a month ago I mentioned on here that I wanted to see Tom Petty but him going on tour with CSN sounds just priceless.. 4 of the best guitarists/songwriters of all time
2) "A modern-day warrior
Mean mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean mean pride"!!!!!!!!!!!!
...... Rush!!!! Never saw them live yet and there going on tour for the first time in a few years..
3) "Welcome to the Hotel Califfornia... Such a lovely place, such a lovely place..."
another great band Ive yet to see going on tour... The Eagles!!!

Its hard for me not liking my generation of music. The guys whose music I love aren't going to be around touring for much longer; I have to see them while I can!

Beginning of Anand-Topalov Match/Predictions

2010-04-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

For a change, I will discuss high-level chess instead of my own foul-play. I will by no means attempt to analyze the games as much stronger annotators such as Yermolinski on Chessfm and Giri on Chessbase.com gave gave their input;however, I do want to my put some my insights.

Personally, I think Anand is a clear favorite to win the match. I predict he will win the match 7-5 as Topalov will try to hard to win some key games toward the end of the match. Before the start of the ridiculous bathroom scandal in his 2006 match against Kramnik, which I am sure you are all aware of, I rooted for Topalov to become World Champion because of his entertaining tactical and interesting style.

Oh No!! Kramnik is not at the board! He must be cheating in the bathroom!

I remember I went to a lecture Joel Benjamin gave at the Marshall about half way through the match. In his introduction, he asked how many people were rooting for Topalov before and after the bathroom controversy. Beforehand, about 3/4 of the 20 or so people there said they were rooting for him and few if any were afterwords.

Perhaps my prediction that Anand will win is biased but the two factors of their overall lifetime score and the fact that Anand beat Kramnik are in Anand's favor. Feel free to share your predictions.

As to the first two games: Somewhat amusing, somewhat not so amazing

To a certain degree, it was an incredible start to the match in terms of excitement:two consecutive decisive games. On the other hand I don't find two players rattling off 22 moves in the 1st game and Anand blundering on move 23, at least according to chessbase.com,so interesting. Obviously, preparation is a large factor in such a prestigious match I don't find a game so heavily based on it to be so interesting. I would even prefer a long-fought draw with a lot of positional nuances. Of course, I could be criticized for bias for Anand again by saying this, but I truly did appreciate his victory more as although the game wasn't perfect, he did play some high-level nuances such as 27.bf3 that a weak player like myself would likely ignore.

According to IM Malcom' Pein's article on Chessbase.com, Anand played some questionable moves such as his "not so great" novelty 15.Qa3. Yermolinski does agree with Pein on this annotation as he expressed on his ChessFM video. On the other hand, I think this was a great physcological blow to to Topalov going back to the principles of Lasker, which I learned about in the 1st chapter of "Counter Attack" an excellent new book by Gm Zenon Franco. Lasker would often purposely play "inferior" moves if he thought his opponents would not react in the best way. Whether this is what Anand was thinking or not, its a good explanation that I would like to believe!

Thats all for now.. Check back for more reactions to the Championship in a few days.

Blues Great meets Opera Great and Question for Readers

2010-04-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Clapton and Pavarotti: Two of the best musicians in their perspective genres.. I never thought they would have played on one stage though.. In this video, Pavorotti's opera voice gives Clapton's underrated song "Holy Mother" an interesting twist.

Question: I had this blog for a few months now and seems to me most of the comments I get are from chess articles and not ones that discuss music. Please share with me what you expect on a blog, and what types of posts would interest you. I am relatively new blogger and am open for new ideas.

Hartford Open: Youth vs the Aged

2010-04-21T20:18:00.001-07:00

When I boarded the bus at South Station to Hartford, I ran into Libardo Rueda, who unsurprisingly also going to play in the tournament. See my old post regarding the USATE for psychological warfare against his team! On the bus, we had a conversation regarding young and older chess players. When we both said we were playing in the u2205 section, and he said we may play, I automatically said it would most likely be in the 4th or 5th round and he said that showed overconfidence as we both would have to score high in the early rounds to do so.

With that said, I did keep some degree of self-confidence as necessary. In round 2, I played Barsky, who I lost two twice previously and many more times years ago in the Marshall Friday Night Rapids; however I did not let these losses get to me and managed to keep strong self-confidence. Here was one of the game's most critical positions:

After this game, I drew Meredith as seen as in my last Hartford post. Now, myself, Meredith, Plotkin and Patrick Chi had 2.5/3. I find my game against Chi heavily influenced by his high level of self confidence. Patrick Chi is a great talent, who recently won the NYS Elementary championships and broke expert. Assuming he goes, he will have a great shot of winning the Elementary nationals too- best of luck to him. Without question he is by far stronger (1000 rating pts!) stronger than I was at his age so I give him my utmost respect but perhaps he could use advice when it comes to his super high confidence that may lead to his downfall sometimes as shown through my game against him:

Thats all for now...For all your non-chess readers though, heres a rather hilarious video I saw recently of Ringo saying to his fans to stop sending fan mail.... If you don't remember from a few posts back, yes, I am currently possessed by a craze for Ringo's music.

Best Beatles Cover Ive seen a long time!!!!!!

2010-04-19T17:42:00.001-07:00

This is the first time I am posting more than once in one day but couldn't resist to post this absolutely fantastic rendition of "Hey Jude" by the incredible up and coming blues guitarist Derek Trucks who won a Grammy this year for Best Contemporary Blues Album and his wife Susan Tedeschi.

If you haven't heard of Derek Trucks yet, who is now a regular part of the Allman Brothers, check out his new excellent cd, Already Free