Oct 15

Written by: Hikaru
10/15/2008 12:47 PM

Greetings from Seattle! Tonight I will be playing in the US Chess League for the last time during the regular season. So far it has been a great run and I've enjoyed it immensely. Since I have not commented on last week, I will make some brief comments. Unlike last year when I lost to Bhat, (largely because I wasn't paying attention) this year was simply that I made a very stupid blunder in a much better position. However, despite my misfortune, our board 3 Readey also missed plenty of wins in his game so it wasn't solely my fault. Another note which I'd like to comment on is that I recently noticed GM Wolff annotated the game Esserman-Lian and said the Smith-Morra is a bad opening. I do not believe someone like Wolff who has been retired from chess for so many years and would rather make money at a hedge fund than play chess has any right to comment on the current state of chess theory. I would also straight up say that in a 10 game match in the Smith-Morra, Wolff would lose to Esserman if he played black.

In other news, I will be doing a simul out at the Brooklyn Chess&Games Shop at 192 Flatbush Avenue this upcoming Sunday. For more information, you can call (718) 398-3727. This will be my last public appearance before I return to the board and look to start playing well again after taking a break. My last few tournaments have not been particularly memorable but I was bound to slow down after winning virtually everything I played in from last September-May. So I simply view it as a stabilizing period. Hopefully I can play well, but that is all for right now. Until next time, all the best to everyone and may the markets finally stabilize.

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