What a weekend that was. It started innocently enough with fast feed Tennis (although I could tell that this was the first drill for me this year) and the kids' Music class on Saturday. The Schach-Bundesligawas on, with two remarkable aspects for me:
1. My team (SF Berlin) did very poor. First, we conceded a 4:4 draw against local rival Tegel, lost 0:8 versus the league-topping team of Baden-Baden (against all odds as discussed here), and rounded off the weekend with an equally disappointing 4:4 against Heidelberg. The 0:8 made me believe that the pre-announced pairings must normally benefit the stronger team: The weaker team would usually be more motivated to prepare against several opponents. The weaker team has more ways to find out the whereabouts of the players of the stronger team (e.g., "X" is still playing in that tournament and will not be available for the team), so the stronger team benefits more from knowing the pairings. The weaker player will typically have less opening lines to choose from, creating a stationary target for the favorite. The better player more easily will sidestep enemy preparation (that actually being a more important part of the chess pro's skill set).
2. The sensational 4:4 draw of Erfurt vs. Werder Bremen. Clearly, the defensive MVP was Thomas Casper who held a deceivingly simple endgame hours after everyone else had finished. Insiders know that this was just the right guy for that job...

As for the afternoon: "If line 38 is 125.100 or less and you did not provide housing to a Midwestern displaced individual, multiply 3.650 by the number in line 6d. Otherwise, see page 37."