Category Archives: daniel parmet
Blaze Go Deep to Repel the Feisty Sharks
The Miami Sharks put up a good fight against a deep Chicago lineup consisting of 3 GM’s and last minute pinch hitter Todd Freitag, but in the end, lost to the Blaze by a 3.5-.5 margin. While the match score may suggest otherwise, there was no shortage of excitement at Skokie’s North Shore Chess Center yesterday evening.
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Florida Hurricane
The Chicago Blaze are swept from the playoffs by a surging storm from the Sunshine State.
The Chicago Blaze beat a sad and hasty exit from the 2010 USCL playoff Wednesday night, when they were defeated by the Miami Sharks in the first round by a score of 3-1. For the Blaze, the season is now over.
Wednesday night’s match was an uphill battle for the Chicago squad from the very beginning. Early in the night, FM Gauri Shankar dropped a miniature on Board 4 to Nicholas Rosenthal after playing an unfortunate 19.Be3.
On Boards 1 and 3, GM Dmitry Gurevich and IM Florin Felecan, both playing Black, manages to hold draws with higher rated opponents, but that left GM Mesgen Amanov that task of having to beat GM Renier Gonzalez on Board 2 to secure the match draw the Blaze needed to advance in the playoffs. Several knowledgeable observers said the position in that game was drawn, but Mesgen struggled mightily to turn it into a win for the team, and in the course of that attempt Gonzalez emerged with the victory. Continue reading
A Manager’s Reflections
By Blaza Manger Daniel Parmet
“In victory you deserve Champagne; in defeat you need it.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
A manager, who is not also a rostered player, just lurks in the strangest shadows. It is an interesting position because you have a huge invested interest in the team’s success, but no chance to drive in the lineup. Instead, you just make the lineup. In my case, being unrostered is a very good thing! As a patzer, I would be enormously outrated by all the board4 stars.
Needless to say, some of the best blog posts in my opinion I have read in the USCL’s history have come from a managers (in particular one manager that of San Francisco’s Mechanics Manager IM John Donaldson has always impressed me). Every time I read a blog post by John, I feel like I’m really seeing things through his eyes with a respectful yet honest assessment. Yet I’ve never stepped up to the plate to post because I find it hard to describe my point of view. Well after the heart wrenching loss last week to Arizona over the fight for 1st in Western Division standings… I decided it was about time I gave this blog post a whirl. The Chicago Blaze is coming off a 2 week loss but is ready to face off toe to toe with the Miami Sharks. The match showcases’ the Blaze’s strongest lineup yet.
Indecisively Decisive
Three draws will win you a USCL match—as long as that fourth game is a win.
The Blaze’s quest for the best season in the team’s history continued Monday night as the Chicago squad beat the Eastern Division’s Philadelphia Inventors by a score of 2.5-1.5. It was the second victory in a row for the fire makers, raising their 2010 record to 4.5-1.5. And while only six weeks in the ten-week regular season are over, this is, in fact, the best Blaze season every, the first time they have cracked the four-victory barrier since joining the U.S. Chess League in 2008. Continue reading
An Interview with Cindy Tsai
An interview with WIM Cindy Tsai, a new member of the Chicago Blaze who her played her first game with the team last week, conducted by Blaze Manager Daniel Parmet. Cindy talks about how she go into chess, its role in her life, and coming back to the game after a long hiatus. Continue reading
Blaze Shines at USAT
98 players forming 23 teams showed up for this year’s edition of the US Amateur Team North held at the wonderful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee. The spacious and nouveau hotel was an excellent upgrade for
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This Match Promises to be a Scorcher
By Blaze Assistant Manager Daniel Parmet
The Blaze is an eternal fire that will forever burn strong…. we start off slow with a 1-4 record, but now the heat is reaching as a fiery phoenix out of the crowd. Victory…
Next Up: Jersey
Can the Garden State powerhouse keep it up, and is the Blaze manager their Board One?
This week, at long last, the Chicago Blaze come up against the New Jersey Knockouts, the Eastern Division leaders and…
The Blaze Ignite
Chicago finally gets on the board with a 2.5-1.5 victory over Tennessee
Photos: Daniel Parmet
It’s good to win. That was the sentiment at the Holiday Inn Skokie last night as the Chicago Blaze finally posted their first victory…
Deja Vu
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