You’re very charitable in your interpretation of the Zierk-Kraai draw. However, lest my comments be interpreted as a criticism of them, I should say that I would probably do the same thing if I were in their shoes. In fact, I was once sort of in that situation. Back when I lived in Ohio, I was once tied for first place at a tournament with one other player, going into the last round, and we were paired against each other. We agreed to a draw in about 8 moves. Some of the other players criticized us for the “GM draw,” but all I could say is, wait until you’re in that situation with that pressure on you, and see what you do.

I’ll probably do a blog post pretty soon on the game with Liou. You can either force him to read it (as his punishment) or tell him not to read it, as you see fit. I will be gentle on him.

If Kraai had won on tiebreaks, then the qualifying spot to the state champions tournament fell to the next in line, being Shankland.

When two French specialists play the Exchange variation, there’s little else to do but share hands after three moves. It was also a sign of respect towards Zierk, who now has a 2600 performance in his last 12 games, including 4 GMs and 4 IMs.

Arthur and Yian are not related, only in the fact that they occasionally move way too fast. I’ll have to chew him out some more.

Michael Aigner