1. Hello David! Tell us about your experiences so far on the 
San Francisco Mechanics, and our thoughts on the US Chess League 
in general.

  The US Chess League so far has been good. This 
isn't a great surprise, since I like chess and I like winning, and 
last season I got to win a few games. The League also adds a lot 
of excitement for me due to the team competition aspect. I like 
playing for the Mechanics, as I like the Bay Area, and also have a 
lot of friends on the team.
 

  2. Your team is off to a hot start this season, do you think 
you can ride this wave all the way to the Championship?

Obviously.

 
  3. In 2005, the Mechanics had an unfortunate collapse in the 
Semi Finals to the Miami Sharks, in a match that looked easily 
won/drawn for your team, when all you needed was a draw to 
advance! How did this painful loss affect you and the city of San 
Francisco?


	This was extremely frustrating for me. All year I had planned for 
a single result: winning the league championship. I was confident 
that we could field the best lineup in the league, but you know, 
there is reasonable parity in the league, such that a favored team 
can lose any time. Three of our players simultaneously had off-
days in the wrong round. Several of our players were improving, 
and their ratings would increase, so I was not sure what lineups 
we'd be able to play with the next year. I did not know how long 
we might have to wait for the league championship after this 
disappointment.

	San Francisco's feelings tend to mirror mine, and this was no 
exception. Everyone wore black for two weeks, and there was 
widespread concern (I should really say panic, but I have a 
preference for the understated) about what our team would look 
like this year. Luckily things have worked out so that we can 
again field probably the best lineup in the league. But you know, 
this is by 1% or 2%, so we could easily lose. I hope we don't, 
because who knows what team we'll be able to put together next 
year, and because there's a rather large cult in San Francisco 
which has declared they will have a mass suicide on the day we are 
eliminated from the playoffs.


   4. Were you bitter at your teammates since you were the only 
one who won during that match?

	No, that never occured to me. However, San Francisco was less 
forgiving. Dima was recently released from prison with a stern 
warning to participate in this season, and Andy Lee is still 
unable to squeeze any matches in to his heavy schedule of court-
ordered community service. (Fittingly, much of his work is with 
fans suffering from depression as a result of our match-- their 
pained wails of "Nf4!" will never leave him).


   5. You recently won the 2005 Samford Fellowship award, a prize 
which effectively pays you $32,000 per year, for two years, to 
study and play chess. How has this been for you so far? What are 
your plans for these two years?

	Well, it's been great, again- obviously. I'll mention for the 
first time (I haven't even told my friends this) that I was at an 
extremely low point in my chess career after I was not allowed to 
play in the US Championships this year. It's easy to believe that 
you've been wronged or that you deserve a lot, so I may be falling 
into a common trap here, and if so, I apologize for my selfish 
opinion, but I thought that I had qualified, and that failing 
that, I had a strong claim to one of the wild card spots they gave 
out.

	At that point, I was really down for two reasons: that one could 
cheat in a fairly obvious way in a tournament and reap the rewards 
for it, and that I continued to have trouble getting breaks from 
organizers. I thought to myself, if I don't get the Samford this 
year, I don't think I can make it. When I got it, I was thrilled, 
and I appreciate so much the members of the committee selecting 
me. I will show that I was a worthy choice.

	My plans are pretty simple: I'll be studying a lot, along with 
some of my strong friends in the Bay Area. I'll travel to a lot 
more tournaments than I've been able to afford in the past. I 
already had a useful weekend training session with a Grandmaster, 
and I'll have the chance to work with a few more in the future.


   6. Your teammate, IM Josh Friedel, also applied for this 
fellowship. Does he hate you because you got it and he didn’t?

	Yes. This is the Mechanics' secret weakness, which I must ensure 
never makes it to the league website, so that other teams don't 
hear about it.

	Have you seen Josh's games so far in the league? He came out here, 
having sworn a secret oath to make sure I did not win the League 
Championship this year. Every time John puts him in the lineup, 
the other team can count on a point on board 1. Currently, there 
is a nasty battle going on within our team over our playoff week 
lineups, with one faction trying to ensure Josh won't be able to 
sabotage us in those rounds.


   7. You actually started your own chess club in the Bay Area, 
tell us about that and how it’s going for you?

	The East Bay Chess Club is a reasonably ambitious project. We are 
trying to run a variety of events, with something going on almost 
every day. Tournaments, lectures, slow chess, fast chess, 
children's events, GM level internationals, an after school 
program, private lessons, simuls, and the local league on which 
you modeled the US Chess League are among the things we have 
organized. Beyond this, we are trying to create a nice spot where 
people can hang out and enjoy chess together, casually, any time. 
It's exciting when we can feel this wonderful atmosphere of all 
these people who are gathered together and love chess. It's also 
wonderful when we get to see people, young and old, growing before 
us.

   8. What do you feel has been your best game in all of the USCL 
thus far, including 2005

*plays through them all thoughtfully for a couple hours*
Most of them are far, so very far, from art; I'm definitely still 
hoping to play better than this. A couple of them do give me a 
good feeling though. I think I was improving a little most weeks, 
so I was at my strongest in the Divisional Playoff game against 
Lugo.

   9. You told the USCL prognosticators that they should pick San 
Francisco to win 3-1 every single week, however immediately after 
making this bold claim, your team won only 2.5-1.5 against 
Philadelphia. Do you have anything to say for yourself?

	I did not mean that we would win 3-1 every week. We are extremely 
likely to lose matches. We'll have bad days like we did against 
Philadelphia. I was simply saying that blindly predicting a 3-1 
win for SF every week would, over the course of the season, score 
many more points in their competition than predicting an SF loss. 
I still think that's true, as we shouldn't lose a ton of matches.

  10. Ok, assuming some wacky alternate reality where San 
Francisco doesn’t win the Championship, pick one team that will 
win it all. One team only please!

	Well, you know, it's hard to say; politely speaking, Baltimore, 
Boston, Carolina, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, San 
Francisco, Seattle, and Tennessee could each--- wait, did you say 
"one"? Seattle.

 
	Thanks for your time David, and good luck to you and your team in 
the remainder of the season!