Shark Attack and Defense! A Week 8 Recap

Absurdity and destruction took place as the Los Angeles Vibe took on the Miami Sharks in a crucial Week 8 match-up. The winner of this exhibition would earn much greater playoff chances while the loser would be in some hot water regarding playoff contention. A loss would not end the season mathematically for either team, only heavily discourage and disillusion for going on with any semblance of hope. SO YEAH, this match was important! Yours truly was heavily out-rated on board 3, looking for lightning to strike again after last week's win on board 3. However I was outplayed in the complications and lost, as did Team Captain GM Melikset Khachiyan, who played much too aggressively out of the opening against the ultra-strong GM Julio Becerra. FM Alexandre Kretchetov was able to hold his favored opponent to a draw, and NM Ankit Gupta, our secret weapon all season missed a one-move-win and ended up drawing his lower rated opponent in a very up-and-down game. The result was a Miami win, 3-1, which puts the Vibe in a very tough position for the remaining 2 weeks.

Here are the games:

The game Gupta-Rosenthal will be up soon, next time the Vibe face the Dallas Destiny, where we will look to avenge our week 2 loss!