Pardon our Blunders recap for 10/27/2011

   Welcome back gang to another weekly recap of Chess.com/TV's flagship show Pardon our Blunders, which was open to Platinum/Diamond members!

   This week, the guys tackle many topics from the upcoming Wijk aan zee/TATA Steel tournament to the match between Hou Yifan & Humpy Koneru for the Women's World Chess Championship.

   Now the last time I did a recap I tried a new format, with all of the topics listed in one thread, since the guys now do 10+ topics a show.

   So here is the topic list for this week's episode in the order they will be discussed in:

• Anand's lackluster form; what is going on with him? How will he do in his last 4 big events before the World Championships?
• Should Vallejo Pons be proud of his result in Bilbao?
• Would you invite Sebastien Feller to a tournament?
• Robson not making fast enough progress to satisfy American fans?
• Lenderman making a breakthrough in Hoogeveen?
• How much blitz is too much blitz?
• Wijk aan Zee reduces Dutch participants in the A group from 4 to 2; good idea?
• Wijk aan Zee makes an effort to include a lot of female players;  good idea?
• Are you excited for the Hou Yifan v. Humpy Koneru match?
• Have your USCL championship predictions changed?
• What teams will make the playoffs?
• Blunder of the Week!

   Now obviously I will be adding to it but for now, take a look at the topics and decide what your opinions or ideas are and I will add to them during/after the show.

   Topic #1:  Anand's form:  Could it just be a small spot on Anand's career heading into the World Championship Match that begins in May, 2012. Should we worry about Anand or think about how strong he'll be going into the above two mentioned events? If he goes into his match vs. Gelfand on a downward spiral, will anything along the line of an upset happen?

   Topic #2: Vallejo-Pons at Bilbao: Pons had some great results with some high-profile wins in Bilbao with three wins against stronger players, one of them being robbery victim Vasily Ivanchuk. Despite not being amongst the top leaders, Pons still had a pretty good tournament even though he still has things to work on. As Danny said during the show: "A win's a win."

   Topic #3: Sebastien Feller: In my opinion, NO!  Unless you have security guards and metal detectors and you frisk the heck out of him before and after each round and have cameras in his room. Here's my blog about it that links to the articles that have been written about this on Chessbase.

   Topic #4: Robson: According to Danny, he's not making fast enough progress and has been the same rating for over 12 months, even more than that. He scored in the middle of the pack in the recent SPICE Cup, which Quang Liem won. David thinks the problem is the American fans and the U.S. fans expect too much of him since U.S. fans are hard to please when it comes to progress.

    Topic #5: Alex Lenderman: While playing in several European tournaments, is this a big breakthrough for him in his improvement and should he be on the way to 2600 FIDE? With wavering interest and focus, he's not always *into* chess but then suddenly puts a lot of effort into his play and preparation. He has aspirations of 2700 but might not make it on this "burst" of improvement.

   Topic #6: You know when you play too much blitz when...: 

•    You forget your wife's name?
•    Your house is being foreclosed?
•    Your dog is pooping all over the floor?
•    You start walking in diagonal lines...
•    You start peeing in your own pants or pass out from your own bad breath?

   Give us more to add to this in the comments...

   And go here for the contest that relates to this topic!!!

   But seriously, no more than an hour. And if you go 3 or 4 hrs, you have a problem (those are David's words.) According to Danny, no more than 2 hours per day is substantial.

   Topic #6: TATA Steel Dutch players Down from 4 to 2: It's important to have at least 4 Dutch players instead of 2 but Danny thinks they should focus on making the tourney stronger having at least 2 Dutch players. Anand and Kramnik are not participating, but Veselin Topalov, who has been inactive lately, returns to competitive chess. Dutch GM Jan Timman is playing in the B Group.

   Topic #7: More women at TATA: There are 8 women players in the upcoming TATA Tournament scattered around Groups B & C. This is a good sign for women's chess in playing alongside the men in major chess tournaments like this.

   Topic #8: Hou/Koneru Match: This is a highly anticipated match between two young and talented women's players and many chess eyes are going to be watching this game. Koneru is 23 and Hou Yifan is about 17 or so. Danny is choosing Humpy to win this match. I think the winners here are the fans.

   Topic #9: USCL Predictions: Seatlle and St. Louis no in the West. Baltimore, Carolina and N.J. are out in the east. Danny and David both pick Chicago over N.Y. in the Championship. Danny picks N.E. to barely squeak into the playoffs and then go on a tear.

   Topic #10: Blunder of the Week:

   Danny's choice: His Simul yesterday during The BIG Show broadcast, adding 3 more games to his already played 5, totalling 8. He lost 2 of the 3 he added in shorter time controls.

   David's choice

   I hope the recaps are easy to read and it's not too long for everyone. Have a good night guys and let the comments roll out!

   -Mark