First half review

Hola!

Arun promised a very easy season in 2011 if I blogged. Who I am to say no to that?

So far it's been like a bad, bad dream. Seems like nothing is going our way (I am not helping).

Let's quickly review first 5 weeks.

Week 1

San Francisco - Dallas

Great start! Got bashed. I over pressed a position where I was up a pawn but basically had no advantage. I remember thinking I had chances but Danya found a precise equalizer with 24...Qd7. At the same time I saw Nelson was suffering greatly and I was very unsure about Keaton's craziness. Puchen seemed like the only one holding his own. Seeing that, I decided I had to win to have a chance for a draw even and pushed. Denied!

Week 2

LA - Dallas

I didn't play but I remember our Blizzardeer held his own against Melik in the same opening that they played just 3 weeks ago in US Open. Keaton held his ground and drew as well. Nelson delivered a nice win while Tyler won a rollercoaster game with time pressure. Dallas on board!

Week 3

Dallas-St. Louis

Wasn't playing once again, but I was in the playing area after my class. I remember seeing Alejandro going for the sac but I was unsure if he could consolidate his position before GM of the year regrouped. Sadly, latter happened. Meanwhile, Keaton held his own but Tyler was getting positionally outplayed. Soon it was all over and Nelson was last playing for tiebreaks. Setback.

Week 4

Dallas-Arizona

Very, very painful loss. It was a must win match and everything went wrong. I won a pawn rather easily but missed a breakthrough with d5 that would have basically finished the game. Later I also messed up an endgame. Shameful game.

Ino made his USCL debut and rocked with his usual crazy position. Bottom 2 boards lost 2 close games and that was all she wrote.

Week 5

St. Louis-Dallas Part II: Revenge of the Nerds (should have been anyway!)

If there was a single match that we should have won it was this. However, as tragedy struck again, 4 white wins later it was 2-2. I (for who knows what reason) decided sacking a pawn would be fun.

I remember looking at 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Rx6 Be4 but 20. Nd4 left black hopeless. Once again, I don't know why I sacked. Rf3 was just a follow through that offered some chances and I almost made them work. But I completely missed a tactic associated with h3. Oh well.

Really tough part was when Tyler let a pretty nice position slip with his 36...g4? I am not sure as to what he saw but I was very confused why he went for such complication when Bayaraa was up a queen. Team matches make people do crazy things. I won't even mention the really unfortunate end to this match.

So here we are...1.5-3.5. The universe is conspiring against us...or maybe it's all Arun's fault. Somehow. Do you know he enjoys torturing his calculus students? Pure evil!

Tomorrow vs Carolina. I won't be predicting anything because there is nothing to predict. Every match we come expecting a win. Whether board 1 is "Why did you keep playing after your team lost?" GM or IM Schroer.

I'll review other matches sometime soon too. Maybe tomorrow.