Kenilworth Chess Club annotates KO vs Blitz

For the Blitz fans, a nice set of annotations from the Kenilworth chess club is linked below.


Blitz-Knockouts annotated


Some food for thought:

1. Given Larry's early blunder, should Shmelov have allowed the draw anyway? Several of us watching at the BCC thought Shmelov's 17. Qe1! was a shocker, and maybe?! a good decision based purely on the chess position. A quick draw would have put a lot of pressure on Charles (and Marc) to pull out 1.5. On the other hand, see point 2.

2. How much of Charles's late game decision-making was due to the match score? If Denys had accepted the draw, does Charles take "safer" routes to steer the team to a tied match? Where might those safer paths have been?

3. Does Marc Esserman's game contribute to Smith-Morra Gambit Theory? Will his next opponents be willing to accept the gambit after what looked like an effortless victory for Marc's Smith-Morra?