Champagne Tonight!

Wow, the mechanics had a seriously good night tonight. In the beginning, I know I was a little stressed out because it looked to me like the sluggers were better in the openings. On Board one Josh got a dubious looking position that i didn't like very much after Be6, but he showed me i was wrong by being the first to finish with a nice win over Serper, a very worthy opponent. On board 2 Vinay was doing his usual thing, but when Orlov played nf5 I was worried about a possible pawn storm. David's position didnt look that great after f5 and bb7. I had no clue what was going on, on move 5 i was already out of book and i thought i had some problems, 4. ne2 is an intersting novelty that looks strong. When Lee played nb3 I was relieved. I was worrying about nb5 bb4+ bd2 qxb2 bxb4 qxb4+ qd2 qxd2+ kxd2 na6 rc1 c6 nd6 with an unclear position. I have a pawn and can win another with nb4 but my queenside is stuck, and this kid already had taught me a lesson about nto developing my queenside back in week 7. As the game progressed though I realized a strong point of nb3. After bf5 white is very cramped, but his move nd2! opens everything up as he can play nc4, protecting b2 so he can develop his c1 bishop and then his a1 rook as well as possibly taking b6.

As the match progressed it started to look better. Once Josh played h5 i knew his attack would be too much. He was the first to finish with a win. Vinay seemed to be playing well, after e3 i thought he was much better. David looked like he was in trouble but he fought off all cheapos and managed to draw despite his slightly worse pawn structure. He was the second to finish, at that point we were up 1.5 to 0.5. After Lee played kh1 (instead of e4 bh3 rf2 bc8 qd4 f5 f4 c5! with an unclear position) and bd3 i knew i was better and could draw the game at least, probably win, but a draw was all we needed. The clock helped as well, i was up 10-20 minutes.

So then there was me and there was Vinay. We only needed a half point between us, and it looked like both of our positions were better. However, Orlov is not a 2580 IM for no reason. He fought through an uncomfortable position and then reached a slightly better endgame (qe4 would have been a nice shot for Vinay and was winning almost instantly instead of qc3, but aside from that it was very good defense by Orlov). Vinay defended it well but it still looked like he might lose when my game was nearing the end. I had a better endgame for a long time, but michael lee is very crafty, he has tons of tricks and is dangerous in every position. Even though i was way up on time i was still uncomfortable. When I played nf6+ I knew I was winning, and a few moves later it was over. By that point Vinay was doing better and he managed to draw the game. Final score: SF 3 SEA 1.

THE MECHANICS ARE FIXING CARS.