Peanut M&Ms and the PCL Matchups I Can’t WAIT to See
Ever see that kid in the grocery line yelling at his mother because he just HAS TO HAVE THOSE PEANUT M&Ms or he’ll die. That’s me, and mamma just gave me ‘dem M&Ms.
The Pro Chess League takes my two great loves, chess and sport, and slams them together into some mighty freolie guacamole. So what’s got me all titillated, you may ask? It’s all about the matchups.
First on the list is the Hawtlanta Kings vs. the Miami Champs.
The big ATL and I have a long and loving relationship, and I’m huge fans of Elshan Moradiabadi and Maxime Dlugy, but that beings said, the Miami Champions are STACKED. Hikaru Nakamura takes up board 1 and is followed by a SLEW of 2600+ talent. Oh, and they've also got women’s US Champion Nazi Paikidze. I took a quick average of their ELOs and it’s not looking good for the Kings.
KINGS: 2388
CHAMPS: 2537
My magical prestidigitation prediction?
7-9 for the Missing in Action Champs (both Naka and Nazi will be absent I hear!)
Cakalaki Cobras vs. the Philly Inventors
Let’s be honest, I’m only interested in this one because I live in South Carolina! One day, I hope to be up on that Cobra team. Fortunately for them, that day is not today. Even without me weighing down their roster, and despite the Inventors have the WORST TEAM NAME EVER, the Cobras are outgunned.
COBRAS: 2142
INVENTORS: 2355
My prestidigitation?
3-13. And those three points will be made up of 4 draws. I mean, I love my people, but they’ll get smashed. Don’t worry folks, I’m training my skills. I’ll be ready to join the team in a year or so!
Montreal Chessbrahs vs. NY Knights
New York City has been a historical home for Chess in the USofA, but will they be able to field a team nasty enough to face down the mad skills of Fabiano Caruana and the total brotitude that is the Hansen led Chess Brahs?
My prestidigitation?
11-5 For Montreal. Come at me Brah!
St. Louis Arch-Bishops vs. Dallas Destiny
Wesley So vs Jeffery Xiong is the matchup on board one, but don’t let the power of So fool you, these teams are darn evenly matched:
ARCH-BISHOPS: 2494
DESTINY: 2486
My prestidigitation?
9-7 So is a dangerous dude, but Dallas has some secret weapons just waiting to spoil the day. You can’t mess with Texas.
Tune in this WEDNESDAY to chess.com/tv to see the epic season opening of the new Chess Sport!
And the REST, a quick rundown of my full predictions:
Buenos Aires-New Jersey: 7-9 because NJ smells worse.
Columbus-Patagonia: 7-9. It’s hard to root against Ohio. Wait, no it’s not.
Montreal-New York: 11-5 Come at me Brah!
Toronto-Montclair: 10-6 Clearly I’m biased towards Canada.
Minnesota-Portland: 9-7 for the Minnesotans. Their rainy season is shorter :D
Rio Grande-Las Vegas: 6-10 Always bet on Vegas. ALWAYS.
San Diego-Seattle 10-6 Three cheers for San Diego! I was born there, dontchyaknow?
San Franksdisco-Pittsburgh: 9-7 for the bridge.
San Jose-Webster: 7-9: Webster is a bunch of friggin’ sleepers, just you wait and see.
Belgrade-Odisha: 7-9 Odisha
Budapest-Mumbai: 9-7 Budapest. They’re hungrier for the title.
Delhi-Ljubljana: 9-7 Gupta in the HOUSE!
Gorki-Johannesburg 6-10 Let’s go Daniel!
Riga-Norway 7-9 Magnus watches over Norway like Wotan, except with an extra eye.
Shymkent-Amaravati 10-6 No contest here.
Abuja-LondonLions: 6-10
Amsterdam-Stockholm: 6-10 for the Syndrome!
Apeldoorn-Cannes: 9-7
Dublin-Lagos 10-6
Hamburg-Reykjavik: 9-7
London Towers-Marseille: 7-9
So what do you think guys? Which one of these predictions is dead wrong? I'll toss a free month membership to the first comment who guesses where I'm wrong AND gets the score right!
See you all on game day!
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