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October 15, 2008 • General

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.

3 Comments

  1. Good luck in France Hikaru. We’re pulling for ya!

  2. casellaKid

    Put me down for 10K on Wolff, despite his lack of knowledge on the latest GM theory of the Smith-Morra.

  3. teddylegbreaker

    Wolff is a former two-time US Champ who played the morra himself– I bet $500 on him (my bankroll is smaller than CasellaKid’s). Esserman-Sarkar should give heart though to those looking to back Naka’s claim.

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