Propsect v. Wheeling

Wheeling seems to be one of those teams whose players would rather play chess than study chess (which is probably much healthier than my obsession with the game). My general impression is that their tactical skills are not much worse than Prospect's. Nevertheless, Prospect won the match 62-6 because Wheeling's players did not pay attention to basic opening principles like development, control of the center, and king safety. They found some good moves in the middlegame, but, unfortunately, their positions were already under intense pressure by then. If they put a some time into a book like Discovering Chess Openings by Emms, I think they could be very dangerous. Another good resource is Dan Heisman's article, Opening Principles, from ChessCafe.com. Here are some of the games from the November match: 1st Board; 2nd Board; 3rd Board; 4th Board; 5th Board; 6th Board.