PRO Chess League Week 1 prediction
Hi guys
I am looking forward to the most exciting online event ever: the PRO chess league. And yes, it's no joke and I mean that as we will get to see some of the world's best players facing much lower rated opposition. I think we will be treated with spectacular games and a lot of upsets. Before every round I will share my thoughts on the upcoming matches. Here my predictions for the matchups in Week 1:
Blue Division:
Atlanta-Miami 6-10 Miami wins. Dominguez brings home the points to South Beach with 4-0.
Buenos Aires-New Jersey: 9-7 Mareco contributes to victory with 3.5/4.
Carolina-Philadelphia: 2-14. Overwhelming rating difference: Vovk & Erenburg with clean sweep 8-8.
Columbus-Patagonia: 6-10. I always fear heavy underrated Latin American players. Juan Cruz Arias (3-1) brings home to points to Patagonia!
Monteal-New York: 9-7 Close call, but free agent Li Chao decides the match by contributing 4-0 to victory.
Toronto-Montclair: 10-6: board Roussel-Roozmon shows his value with 3,5 out 4.
Red Division:
Dallas- St Louis: 7-9. Despite Dalles average (2499.75!) I can't bet against World #4 who delivers 4-0.
Minnesota-Portland: 10-6. Board 2 John Bartholomew guides his guys to match victory with a solid 3-1.
Rio Grande-Las Vegas: 7-9 Blindfold King Gareev is able to focus on one single game at a time and strikes with 4-0.
San Diego-Seattle 10-6: free agent Dreev is a fantastic pick! 3.5-0.5 for him.
SF-Pittsburgh: 7-9 Upset of the day as it's Shaba time as he contributes with 4-0.
San Jose-Webster: 8-8: What a matchup! Mamedyarov is my man this match with 3-1 individually.
Green Division:
Belgrade-Odisha 6-10. Board 2 the Swayams bounces back 4-0 after disastrous event in Groningen end December (-3.99 elo performance...)
Budapest-Mumbai 10-6 if the Budapest Gambit keeps word and plays this opening on all boards with Black throughout the match. Mihok makes scores 3 points.
Delhi-Ljubljana 9-7: Gupta will be man of the match and shows his leader role making 4 points.
Gorki-Johannesburg 6-6: Quite an upset (2370 vs 2175 average!) as Cawdery is on fire!
Riga-Norway 7-9. Tari shows that he is ready for Tata Steel Challengers starting on Saturday and scores 100%.
Shymkent-Amaravati 6-10 as I go with the heavy underdogs in this match. I believe in team spirit so can't they all make 2.5 point each?
Orange Division:
Abuja-LondonLions: 5-11 as you can't mess with the young Lions from London. Board 2 Fan-Yang Zhou is unstoppable!
Amsterdam-Stockholm: 9-7 win for Amsterdam and yes I am biased being a local;-) Line-up with GM Klein (in great shape as he beat me today in 3 min game and will make 4-0!) and IM Kleijn will confuse the powerhouse from Stockholm.
Apeldoorn-Cannes: 10-6 Quite an upset judging by rating, but Apeldoorn has some young guys in their line-up. Max Warmerdam is a force to reckon with and makes 3-1 individually.
Dublin-Lagos 11-5. Free agent GM Maze makes the difference with 4-0
.
Hamburg-Reykjavik: 10-6 win for the young squad from Hamburg. Board 3 Kollars is the man to watch (3.5 out 4 games) in this match.
London Towers-Marseille: 7-9 as Marseille take revenge for damage done by English football hooligans. Who else than MVL (4-0) is made for this job to lead the group of French chess hooligans? :)
Read more PRO Chess League blogs:
