Rallying the troops
Dear chess friends,
I always enjoyed making predictions before a tournament.
Dear Chess Friends,
STOP!!! If you’ve never read a Team Canada Chess Club announcement before, scroll down to the sign-up link, and go from there. Otherwise….I am about to rouse you from a fitful sleep since our Romania match in September…
BEEP-Beep-beep-beep this is the alarm going off in the chess house for the 2024 season. If you are just waking up with a bad egg nog hangover from last season, we do indeed find ourselves in new digs on the Division B floor, the furniture is a little older and opponents a little sparser and meaner. That friendly person wishing you a “God morgen!” is simply one of our Danish roommates, we shouldn’t have to worry too much about them. Plotting down the hall are the Czechs, Poles and Germans with the Slovaks caught in a delicate balancing act. The bickering in the elevator is probably the Italians and the Bosnians about who should get out first - “Po tebe.” “No, dopo di te!” Strange noises from upstairs? That could be Australia and Iran. Greek food? Go downstairs, but they will have their jars full with the new República Argentina team. All told there are 108 teams checking-in for the World League, with a good 19 milling around the lobby (Division F). You could say that Canada is seeded 11th, crème de la crème, the team to beat in Division B. You could say that.
Please click here and JOIN our 1st Round match versus Czech Republic starting January 15th!!
Just remember what they said about predictions. If you really want to stir the pot, go ahead and do so in the match comments (thanks @Whisper for the second stir)! You might see I already wrote something about the difference between Moravians and Bohemians, just to get the thread started.
PREVIEWS: The Good
World League 2024 Preview - Team Scotland
We played Scotland twice in 2023. They are clearly an up and coming team and tore apart Division C last year.
Apr 16, 2023 - Dec 25, 2023: Team Canada vs Team Scotland U1400 friendly
A 133.5-176.5 walloping, I was not expecting @Jules64 to find a highly motivated army of 155 tartan chess players, but that he did! We diverted some of our forces to the U1400 India match happening at the same time, but nonetheless this match was a good wake-up call about the merits of Team Scotland!
Oct 29, 2023 - in progress: Spooky Halloween Special - Team Scotland vs Team Canada
I think Scotland played coy a little bit in this Open match with only 145 sign-ups, and still had some biggish matches going on in Div C at the time. Still their admin requested a re-match to get more Div A flavour in their mouths, but ended up sprinkling their pawns for a Div B preview.
Their admin are out for bigger fish this season, let's keep the Canadian salmon where it belongs! Swimming upstream of course, and not in the hands of Scottish anglers. Scotland is our opponent in May.
World League 2024 Preview - Team Slovakia
Team Slovakia has had so many nailbiters (Belgium, Denmark, Australia) that I don't think they have any nails left for 2024. Toenails might be a factor.
The last time we played,
May 2, 2022 - Apr 14, 2023: WL2022 R5: Team Canada vs. Team Slovakia
we were super fortunate to be awarded the win in the year-end Dec 31st, 2022, Div B standings. Notice they only had 3 players U1200.
Let's stay sharp against Slovakia this season, as with most Div B teams they have a lot of classy players on the top 50 boards and not much of a tail to shake at the bottom of the beast. We play Slovakia in Round 2, February 15th.
World League 2024 Preview - Team of the Czech Republic
You can stop the press right now because we are playing the Czechs in the first round of WL 2024! They're not just a thorn in our side at the WJHC, but also in WL Div B.
For those who have woken up in the middle of the night screaming "we should be in D1" let's not forget this 2021 match that denied us promotion:
Sep 2, 2021 - Mar 17, 2022: WL2021 R9: Team Canada vs. Team of the Czech Republic, 150-178
The Czechs will be eager opponents. They played the biggest match in Div C last season, a 175 boarder against Scotland. A stern test for us as we start our 2024 campaign!
