USCL Nicknames

In the tradition of sportscaster Chris Berman's nicknames for baseball players, here are some of mine for USCL players:

• Larry "Born Again" Christiansen
• Charles "In Charge" Riordan
• Ilya "Classic" Krasik
• Jenn/Michael/Greg Shahade "They Fall"
• Josh "Live" Friedel "or Die"
• Vadim "The Dream" Martirosov
• Jan "Close to the" Ehlvest
• Eugene "At Your Own" Perelshteyn
• Pawel "No One Else to" Blehm
• Irina "Orange" Krush
• Matt "Your Mission Mr." Phelps
  

Add others in the comments section!

Back to playing

The duties of Team Captain/Manager of the Blitz had been keeping me from playing any chess for a few months as I can't afford two weeknights away from home/family a week. This month I started playing again at the MCC, and entered the Open section again. My current rating is only 1653, but I've been getting good positions against players as high as the 2000s and want to see if I can convert some to actual wins.

So, round 1 I get white against a 2050ish player and after the moves
1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. exd5 exd5 5. Qe2+ Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 the following position is reached:



I mentioned the moves to Larry Christiansen and he said "gxf6 and your better!" But is white better? How to exploit the weak pawns? Which side (if any) should white castle to? They both look a little loose. Fritz 9 thinks black is up half a pawn.

Discuss.

P.S. I managed to bungle it tactically fairly quickly, but I'm interested in the strategy here.

Blitz get Knighted

Well, we done got beat. That's all there is to it. New York played a very strong match, whupped us on boards 2 & 4, while our Canadian nemesis, Pascal Charbonneau, held Larry to a draw in a 2. c3 Sicilian. Charles was doing fine against Hess when NY scored enough for the match so they shook (electronic) hands and called it a (k)night. I'll (maybe) post a more detailed account of the evening later.

Feh!

I'm sure there will be second-guessing of my lineup choice for the match, but I still believe it gave us the best chance to win. It just didn't happen. That's why they play the games.

Congratulations to the New York Knights. Good luck in the finals. Take that freak Friedel down!! :)

-Matt

Playoffs are here!

The Boston vs. New York rivalry hits the Chess World tonight as your Boston Blitz take on the "Evil Empire" NY Knights in the USCL Semifinals. This looks to be a classic matchup:

GM Christiansen (BOS) -- GM Charbonneau (NY)

IM Krush (NY) -- IM Foygel (BOS)

NM Riordan (BOS) -- FM Hess (NY)

Herman (NY) -- NM Krasik (BOS)

It should be a great match! Be sure to watch on ICC starting at 7:00 PM EST.


-Matt