Halloween Gambit Thematic Tournament

TD: Akuni Started on Feb 4, 2009 @ 1:22pm

Players: 81   Time Control: 3 days/move
Max Group Size: 9   Rating Range: Open
# Advance: 3   Tie Breaks: Yes
Points Available: 895   Games Rated: Yes


90% COMPLETE!
Tournament Stats
Starting Players: 81 Completed Games: 826 (tournament is 90% complete)
Eliminated Round 1: 54 (66% of field) Games in Round 1: 648
Eliminated Round 2: 5 (6% of field) Games in Round 2: 184 (96% completed)
Players Withdrawn: 2 (2%) # Timeouts: 146 (17%)
Remaining Players: 22 (27%) Remaining Games: 6 (current round)
Average Rating: 1658 Biggest Upset: 1365 defeats 1850

This tournment is to celebrate spread the word about the best opening in chess, the Halloween Gambit. As chess.com's self-declared leading expert on the Halloween Gambit and related theory (By which I mean I'm the only person I've seen mention it on the site, ever) I took it upon myself to start this tournament.

 

The Halloween Gambit strikes like lightning out of the positional four Knights Opening: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5!! (Exclamations marks denote surprise).

 

Join if you're curious, if you want to learn about it the hard way, if you love the opening or if you just love the game. Because this is chess at its finest.


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Comments:

by RosarioVampire - 3 months ago
Singapore
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 256
[COMMENT DELETED]
by Akuni - 9 months ago
Nova Scotia Canada
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 1213

White so far has scored only about  218/459...

by Gonnosuke - 9 months ago
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2571

410 games completed and there hasn't been any upsets yet.  Pretty unusual.    

Biggest Upset: 1540 defeats 1567

by Akuni - 9 months ago
Nova Scotia Canada
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 1213

Following Extra Bold's groundreabking research  did a new count, pairs in which Black won both games lead Double White victories 41 to 37, remarkably close.

by Gonnosuke - 9 months ago
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2571

"isnt that obvious?"

For players who are new to the gambit, nothing about the Halloween is obvious.  Regardless, my comment was directed at a previous poster who posted about the white/black point totals.

by RosarioVampire - 10 months ago
Singapore
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 256

normally it's white who tries to equalize the position, then push for the win..

by RosarioVampire - 10 months ago
Singapore
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 256

isnt that obvious?
i'm not really expecting to lose in the first round. :P

by Gonnosuke - 10 months ago
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2571
The number of white wins will drastically increase depending on previous experience.  In my group, it was pretty clear that quite a few players had never played the gambit before because they didn't even bother to chase my Knights with the e/d-pawns after Nxe5!  When you sacrifice a minor piece and get zero compensation for it, it's no surprise when you take a beating.

I predict/suspect that the experienced Halloween players will go undefeated or mostly undefeated in the first round and then the subsequent rounds will feature games that are closer to a true test of the gambit.
by ExtraBold - 10 months ago
Sheffield United Kingdom
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 353

So far there are 4 pairs where white has won both games and only 2 where black has won both. Read into that what you will.

Update: Black storms into the lead, now 5-4

by Manchero - 10 months ago
amagasaki Japan
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 2576

great link gonnosuke. thanks for sharing that:)

by Gonnosuke - 10 months ago
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2571
by contrivial - 10 months ago
Holley, NY United States
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 19

I'm getting whupped...

by Manchero - 10 months ago
amagasaki Japan
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 2576

as rosario said, there are actually a few mentions and game references available if you search it...box on top right below logout

by sinke71 - 10 months ago
belgrade Serbia
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 1

jebem vam mater sto da vam dam konja prednosti seljaci

by hansel - 10 months ago
Santa Clara, CA United States
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 1741

I said,"HI!"

by contrivial - 10 months ago
Holley, NY United States
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 19

I didn't realize that everyone's ratings were so high, I think I oughta drop out. How do I resign?

by dlordmagic - 10 months ago
greenville, SC United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 406

Ha- Ha I just did a mini tourney on this very opening.

by carramilo - 10 months ago
rio de janeiro Brazil
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 2

lets go

by carramilo - 10 months ago
rio de janeiro Brazil
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 2

vamos la

by Wildcard - 10 months ago
Charlotte, NC United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 1255

It means that the game will start in that position, from move 5. You won't have to move those pieces because they will already be there.

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