After losing to Baltimore in the 1971 NBA semifinals,
the Knicks traded for the Bullets’ star Earl Monroe,
and so the Knights lured the MVP of the team that beat
them in last year’s semis to their side. Should
Charbonneau fail to become the media star Manager
Shahade promised he would be in New York, then who
knows where he’ll be next year but for now his
presence should give New York some of the confidence
that mere rating points and FIDE titles can’t provide.


Philadelphia can field a wide variety of lineups
without losing anything, but they all include Ehlvest
and Smith, neither of whom are available this week. So
they are playing for game points, and I think they’ll
get half of one. New York, 3.5-.5.

 

The key to this match may be whether enough time has
passed for Enkhbat to recover from the shock of 50
...Nc6 in last year’s Week 8 game with Milman. I think
not, and pick Carolina to win 2.5-1.5. 

Miami seems to find this particular lineup muy
simpático, so it is no surprise that they try to set
the tone for the new season with it. Boston looks
quite imposing with Larry C on board 1, but he faces a
tough opponent in Becerra. Just when you’ve stormed
his barricade, you find he’s still got a rampart to
rock. A tough one to call, but luckily ties are
allowed, so that is what I forecast.

This is another very tough match, and I’m tempted to
call another tie. However, my editor forbids me to
predict more than one tie per week. I have found,
though, that to pick the team whose player names have
the highest Scrabble® values works surprisingly well.
Dallas wins comfortably by this measure, and would win
even bigger if Shneider spelled his name properly with
a “c”. Dallas, 2.5-1.5.