ARC Informer - Sept. and Oct. Results!!
Happy Stuff 
As most of you know, 2 months ago the great TotemMeister was at 99.5 points. Being the 'great' that he is, we all know he reached the amazing milestone of being the first ARC member to reach 100 points! And 2 months later, we can observe that he is not the only one to reach 100 points. 
1st: TotemMeister
117 Points
2nd: checkmategnome
114.5 Points
3rd: Atomic_Rift
88 Points
4th: thismic
70 Points
5th: Palinadias (formerly known to all of us as Grapewine)
56 Points
6th: JQuChess
53.5 Points
7th: nelosantana
47.5 Points
8th: giru-sp
26.5 Points
9th: Lantenak
26 Points
10th: edalprdd
22.5 Points
Now let's look at who's done the best over the past 2 months...
1st: checkmategnome
+21 Points
2nd: TotemMeister
+17.5 Points
3rd: thismic
+13.5 Points
4th: Atomic_Rift
+8 Points
5th: Palinadias
+6 Points
6th: nelosantana
+4 Points
7th: pennycheckmate
+4 Points
8th: azoresknight
+3.5 Points
9th: kesarkarsatya
+3.5 Points
10th: zubr22
+3 Points
Wow, after 2 entire years of being king of the ARC, might checkmategnome actually take over??
Sad Stuff 
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a very beloved member of the ARC's account had been closed: secretexpert. I didn't say anything because system glitches happen all the time and I didn't want to draw attention to this. I was very positive that the #2 ARC player of all time was not a cheater because I had even found their USCF profile, revealing that they were a real 2100 player. For all I know, it still may be a horrible mistake. I won't know until I check with staff, but until then, the ARC does not have it's expert anymore... 
For those who didn't notice, the ARC had the most rapid member change in all of chess.com history. In 1 week we lost 100+ members, then we gained 50+. To be honest, I'm not all that bothered by the member loss. All we did was lose closed accounts. I made the ARC to be an intimate group of active chess players, not show off how big we can get.
More Happy Stuff
I figured it's wrong to end this newsletter on such a sad note, losing #2 and all. So I've decided to do things a bit different. To end, I'm going to commemorate a great player who I know isn't a cheater because I've met him in real life. The ARC's highest rated player... thismic! This man reached the rating of 2281 and has 70 points for the ARC, even though he hasn't received any public commemoration for his hard work. Now, that all changes as we relive one of the greatest, untold stories the ARC has ever lived...
Clubs: Geto-Daci (#345 in the world) VS A.R.C. (#656 in the world)
Time Frame: Dec 21st, 2015 to Jun 23rd, 2016
End Result: 14 - 14 (DRAW)
At the time, it was currently 14-13. All the games had been played out except for one. A game in Board 1 that is. thismic (2250) vs AKacso (2187). In a phone call, thismic told me he wanted to "grandmaster draw" this guy with a locked position in the middle game (or something along those lines). I flat-out told him, "No, no, no. You can't do that. If you lose or even draw this guy, the ARC will lose the club match, taking home 0 points and those 4 draws and 11 wins will be for nothing... unless... you win this last game then the ARC will take half the points and the other team half. Sorry, this is just how the chess.com system works." I really don't want to misquote thismic here because I have a tendency for ticking off people that way. So I'll just say thismic said something along the lines of "that's stupid." but he went along with it anyway, going on the aggressive to get a win for the ARC. And now, ladies and gentleman, here is that miracle, draw-saving game:
Wow, I'm tearing up. That was so beautiful. So, I want to thank you, TotemMeister, checkmategnome, thismic, Palinadias (I'll always know you as Grapewine), JQuChess, nelosantana, giru-sp, Lantenak, edalprdd, pennycheckmate, azoresknight, kesarkarsatya and zubr22, for making the ARC your home chess club. I'm very grateful that you would play under and represent a chess club with my name on it. Thank you.
- SA Atomic_Rift (leader and friend)
