Philadelphia Inventors vs. Boston Blitz Week 2 Recap

Well, they lost. They didnt get 4-0ed though! My prediction of 2.5 in favor of Philly wasnt all that off, as in the end Boston beat Philly 2.5 to 1.5.



Considering Panchanathan had Black against an opponent rated about 100 points higher than him, this is actually a good result.



Smith played hard and well, but in the end his structural problems proved to be too much. As expected, though, and happily, it was certainly an exciting game!



If the Inventors were only going to get one win in a match, you would want it to look something like this. An excellent use of position and tactics by Bartell. It will be interesting to analyze what other possibilities Shmelov had other than returning the exchange sacrifice. Also interesting to note that all 3 games so far have come down to some form of Knight vs Bishop in the ending.



Well, to be honest I dont understand the pawn sacrifice on move 24. It will be interesting to analyze that a bit. Like Smith, Sivakamur fought hard for the draw, but he couldnt hold back the Queen side pawns.

All in all, it is disappointing that the Inventors lost, but there is a lot of good stuff in this match to look at as well. Both the Inventor's losses were close to draws, and if just one of them had been able to hold the match would be drawn as well. Magesh Panchanathan looked good, and Bartell got another win. This match perhaps solidifies what may have been initially thought about the Inventors: they would be a tough team that could give any other team troubles.

I want to do some more in depth stuff with something from this match, but as the vagueness of the previous part of this sentence may indicate, I have no idea yet what that will be! Maybe endgames? Anyway, next week the Inventors are going to be playing a very good New York Knights team. Good luck to the Inventors!