Blitz Bitz

GM Christiansen's win over IM Milman was designated as the US Chess League Week 5 Game of the Week.

*****

It looks like a fair fight this week against Baltimore. In fact, the Kingfishers actually outrate the Blitz by an average of two points per board (2410 vs. 2408). You'll notice that both teams have exceeded the 2400 average rating limit this week -- Boston benefiting from the round down to 2590 rule and Baltimore taking advantage of the ten points for girls bonus.

Here are the matchups; the Blitz have white on boards 1 & 3:

GM Larry Christiansen - 2633 vs. GM Pawel Blehm - 2593

FM Steven Winer - 2422 vs. FM Bruci Lopez - 2433

FM William Kelleher - 2402 vs. IM Larry Kaufman - 2359

NM Ilya Krasik - 2162 vs. WGM Katerina Rohonyan - 2260

*****

JG continues to kick butt on the "official" USCL prognosticators. Maybe it's time for the commissioner to give him some space on the website? On the other hand, he may be losing his touch. How else do you explain his picking against Boston this week?

Update: The power of the press -- the commissioner gave JG a mention in this week's official picks article.