All cars fixed until next year

The mechanics are now US CHESS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS! In our most intense and definitely scariest match yet we managed to fight back hard in worse positions and draw the long chess part 2-2. On board 1 Josh was playing very well and got an advantage but blundered badly with ne7 passing the advantage over to Charbonneau. He pushed hard and actually had slight winning chances at the end but the endgame was just drawn with best play, which Charbonneau demonstrated. On board 2 we were missing Vinay but David stepped up to the plate, played a new opening, and defeated Irina Krush in a long, hard game. Dima was looking good out of the opening but somehow his position got bad and he lost. My game was ridiculous. After I played f5(?) rg3! qxh5 bg5! should be great for white. Fortunately herman missed this shot. 2 moves later after be2 i repaid the favor with nxe2?, when nxc2+! would have won on the spot. nxc2+ kf1 rxd2 -+, nxc2+ kd1 e3 -+. I then repaid the favor again the very next move with qxe2+? I wrote down nxf5 on my scoresheet (which should give me a solid =+ in the endgame) then somehow decided it was bad and took e2. The resulting ending was slightly better for me until the rooks came off. Once that happened i was worse, and Herman showed great technique and soon after that I was dead lost. I somehow managed to miracle draw with a cheap tactic, I'm such a lucky patzer.

So then we went in for the blitz. Im a better blitz player than regular chess and it showed when i beat Herman (with the help of having white) and then drew Hess. I think i was winning against Hess for a while in the endgame and i really wanted to beat him but oh well, i can't do everything. With those 2 out of the way Dima made a quick draw with Krush and then David and Josh would each get a chance to play Charbonneau.

David got a great position and had what looked like a crushing attack. He misplayed it mildly but maintained a better position. Then Charbonneau defended VERY well and somehow managed to beat David. My heart sank the same time Josh's butt sank into the chair of the computer with the best(!) mouse. To make a long story short, Josh solidly defeated Charbonneau and gave us the USCL championship. Way to go Josh!

Folks, That is all for this year. I'd personally like to congratulate New York for playing so well and they deserved to win the championship, and their team will only get better. Also a special thanks to Robert Hess, Matt Herman, Michael Lee, Luis Barredo, and Gainer Phay for playing, we had many good games. Hopefully I'll see you all around next year.

THE MECHANICS FIXED SOME CARS THIS SEASON