USCL Week 6 Recap

I blew it this past week against Tennessee.

I had a comfortable edge out of the opening that translated into the win of an exchange with 25.Ng3!, a move that Todd doubtlessly missed. The win was still there all the way up until the dubious move 44.Rg2?! and the horrendous 45.Nf3??. Somehow I blanked out on the fact that my h3-pawn can simply be taken. As Greg Shahade pointed out, 44.Rf3 Be8 45.Rxe3! is simple and good.

This was a frustrating game in a non-chess sense. To make a long story short, I was forced to play on three different computers during the course of the game. The whole process of trying to find a suitable internet connection cost me a ton of time in disconnections, and - worse yet - put me in a pretty stressed mood for most of the game. Still, the position after 25.Ng3 is one in which I expect myself to win probably 95% of the time. I take full responsbility for our loss this week.

Marko, Igor, and Bayaraa all played solid chess. Marko in particular surprised a lot of people by easily neutralizing Jaan Ehlvest with the Black pieces, even obtaining a pawn-up ending. Igor did well to pull himself out of a passive position against Bereolos and Bayaraa recovered from an opening misstep to draw with McCarthy. These last two games can be viewed here and here

We have Philly this week. The lineups indicate a pretty evenly-contested match. The Destiny will definitely come out firing this week.