Next Monday is game 9 in our Match

With three victories in a row -the last 2 of them in a very unexpected way-, we'll begin the 2nd half of this 2012 chess war between 2 real friends and toughest opponents on the chessboard.

The "third quarter" begins with a 2 point advantage for me, but I'm not sure that such difference in the score means that the last 8 games will be so easy to play, nor for Jose, nor for me either...

I think it does make it a little harder for Jose to play 2 points down, yes, that's true, but I remember last year, when I was doing badly at the beginning of the Match and was able to pull it off and at the end I won the event by the smallest of all margins.   Just like I don't believe in nonsense like gods, unicorns, and little green men, I also don't believe in "walks in the park" chess battles. I respect my opponent and I will be very careful to preserve all or at least some of my advantage, and if I have a chance to win the fourth battle in a row, I take it!

Jose is very dangerous but even more with the white pieces and precisely this upcoming game I'll have to face my great opponent and his scary white army. Of course, I am not sure what he'll decide to use this time around, but I'm betting on the English Opening, where he feels the strongest, and has had great results against me specifically. I am preparing something interesting for this scenario, but of course, he might go crazy and play 1.e4 just for the hell of it! I don't know, that's what makes this matches with Ramirez very interesting, he's always trying new things even within the openings he plays regularly.

Well, we'll see what happens.

I think that in case of a draw I'll be very comfortable with that result, specially since I have black, but in case of a loss I guess I can still feel confident in myself and my chances of winning the match once more. It's only after a black victory, a fourth win in a row for me, that the match would become very, very bloody in the rest of the games, Jose would have to fight for victory under any circumstances and disregard of colors, and that's when he becomes either very weak, or very strong, when he's cornered and in danger of losing the whole thing.

I would like to wish you good luck Jose, but I can't.

Luck plays no role in chess.

However, I wish you strong moves and I hope you'll have fixed the problem that tormented you the last two times with the clock. As soon as you take care of that, I will be -AGAIN- in danger of losing every game, as usual between us, where there's nothing but a fight to the death, and draw games only until there's nothing else to play for...

LET'S FIGHT HARD MY FRIEND!!