Final Thoughts

Ahhhh man, we didn't make the playoffs!!!! :( :( :(. Now, we have to sit on the sidelines and watch. However, I think this would be a good time to reflect on how it felt to be a fan of the Vibe during their first year of play.

The Vibe was certainly a fun team to watch and be a fan of. What makes the Vibe so unique, in my opinion, is the team chemistry. Our dynamic team leader GM Melikset Khachiyan, with his upbeat and spirited personality, always made us excited to play even if we were favored to lose. NM and occasional 4th board Ankit Gupta, provided awesome games on fourth board for us, including a marathon rook endgame win over NM Joshua Sinanan. FM Alex Kretchetov was consistently available and motivated, playing for us almost every week. FM Joel Banawa was always enthusiastic to play, studying for his games each week. As a fan watching from home, I could just envision what was going on at the chess palace and the "vibe" during each and every move. Teammates were supportive of one another, sometimes staying quite late after their game had finished just to see how the team ended up faring. Overall, I think this Vibe team has a lot of potential and with a few more IM's and GM's, will be able to compete well for the playoffs next year. Thank you guys, it was a great run!!!!

Before I conclude this blog post, I'd like to inform my readers of an upcoming, prestigious norm tournament coming to Los Angeles. This nine round tournament will be held at the new, luxurious Metropolitan Chess Club in downtown Los Angeles. The address of the new club is: California Market Center, 110 East Ninth Street, Los Angeles CA 90079. The tournament starts on Friday, November 12th at 7 PM. The remainder of the rounds take place over the next two weekends, November 13th-14th and November 20th-21st. In addition to this tournament, several side events will be held. The time control for the main event will be 40/90 + G/30 with a 30 second increment. In addition, all games will be relayed live on www.chess.com, with our very own GM Melikset Khachiyan providing live commentary for round nine. The average rating of the ten player field is 2334 FIDE. The ten participants are: IMs Enrico Sevillano, Tim Taylor, Zhanibek Amanov, FMs Jouaquin Banawa, Joel Banawa, Alexandre Kretchetov, WFM Tatev Abrahamyan, NMs Ankit Gupta and Konstantin Kavutskiy, and 2381 rated Roman Yankovsky. Spectators are welcome and encouraged to attend. You don't want to miss this great event, so come down and check out the newest chess club in California!

Until next year, it really has been a pleasure blogging for you guys!!!!