CP NSPBCL Season Review

(I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors and/or typos, and also for how stupidly long this is. I could have finished lots of homework in the time it took to do this )

Hey, guys! Unfortunately, our team in Season 4 of the Not-So Pro Blitz Chess League has apparently come to an end in the Quarterfinals. We had a heck of a run though, I mean, even getting there is incredible! This was the debut season of the Chessical PROdigies Franchise. The main focus at the start of the season was, not to win, but to have fun, and to show that we are a legit, and stable franchise, unlike that of Chess Family. Before the season started, hardly anyone considered us to be contenders. We were just the new kids on the block, led by a 2200 blitz player who changed his status as player to captain with 2 weeks to go in team formation. Hardly a recipe for success, given that most teams were complete by then. However, the lineup that we ended up with was stronger than even I anticipated, and after we picked up a win or two, the rest of the league started to take notice. But first, let's look back at the very beginning...

• Pre-Season: The Formation of The Chessical PROdigies And How Well it Worked

First, I have to thank @jaredjm for letting me play on his NSPCL team, the Destroying Destroyers, in NSPCL S9 (if you like my weekly reports, thank him for those as well, as he let me write weekly reports for DD, and that got me started as a league writer!). That was an amazingly successful season for DD, and I was motivated to become a captain to see if I could lead a team like Jared was, despite lowered expectations. I must also thank @Mightywarrior24 for thinking of such a great team name, and @James-Nguyen for making our fantastic logo.

Mighty/Golden had a stroke of genius with this team name suggestion! The second version of the CP logo made by James is amazing!

     I was going to play for the Chess Snakes, but inactivity plagued them and it never worked out. I had received offers from @SpeedyCylcone and @BoraBoy (and a couple of other captains) to join their teams. Naturally, I knew already not to play for Speedy or Bora, but also that I was running out of options. So, to join a contending Chess Family/Computer Chess Wizards team, or try my luck at captain? Easily went with captaining, no hesitation. Given that I joined the team captain game a few weeks late, and that most captains finish their teams before team formation anyway, I was WAAAY behind and had a lot of work to do in 2 weeks time. Thankfully, I already knew that @acastelino, also my teammate in NSPCL S9 on DD, would play for my team, and that is a good start. Acas ended up going 15/32 this season. While those number may not look flashy, he was almost always playing against higher rated foes, facing (I think) 3 1800s! Acas more than held his own, as he got the results we needed him to get. He ended his season with a dominant 4-0 win that almost made us advance.

With this news post, the Chessical PROdigies kicked off their team formation with 2 weeks to go!

Surprisingly, we quickly got @winyou01 to flip from CM to CP, which turned out to be an important move (both for CP, and perhaps CM!). Despite his lower than average blitz rating registered at 1743, winyou performed admirably, going 14.5/32.
While at first putting winyou on b3 looked like a mistake, after he lost 0-4 in week 1 (vs a 2000), winyou turned it around in week 2 with a win, and proceeded to stunningly 4-0 a 1780 in week 3 and beat a 2100 2.5-1.5 in week 5! With the team halfway complete, it got a bit more difficult to 1. Figure out what team building strategy to go for and 2. Who to actually go for. I decided a balanced team would work, as I put myself on b1, winyou on b3, and acas on b4. As I searched for a b5 and a b6, I got as lucky as you can get. Somehow, @neatgreatfire, who registered with a 1226 peak but had jumped to 1300 then, did not have a team when I saw his forum a day after he posted it. Now, I saw this guy and though, "Oh hey! He's registered at 1226 but is 1300! He'd fit perfectly on b6!" 3 months later, that was proven accurate, and I have no idea how no other captain tried to get him, a neat has since then climbed to a 1600 blitz peak. Neat was an MVP on b6, going 26.5/32, starting with 3 consecutive 4-0 wins (And if you overturn the 2 losses vs a sandbagger in week 5, it's 28.5/32.)! Neat ended up with 4 total 4-0 wins.

Every other captain in the league made a mistake by not asking neat to join their team

Around the same time I posted in neat's forum, I realized that @Tebow2Baker was in a lot of team seeking forums trying to find a team. I figured that I would try and see if he'd join, bc he seemed like he'd do well on b5. It was an interesting situation, as Tebow had apparently already joined another team, but thankfully he decided to join CP to play on b5, as we looked more fun and fresh. Tebow and Neat basically carried the team, honestly. While the top 4 boards got consistent, even results, neat and Tebow just killed it. Tebow finished the season with a 22.5/32 score, which featured 3 4-0 wins! Tebow and Neat combined for a whopping 49/64 points.

Tebow made the decision to leave for CP. SO happy he did!

Now, the final piece to the puzzle was b2. This was the only board I had trouble finding. I actually had to post a forum in the blitz league club about it!! Not many asked to join, as most people were already on teams. It was getting tough, and I wasn't really sure what to do, but then @luisen17 asked to join. And by that, I mean he actually joined the Chessical PROdigies club, and asked in the notes if he could join. That's pretty great lol.

Luisen made a good choice to join our club and NSPBCL team ;) (and yes, yes I did go all the way back through the club notes for this. #Effort)

After looking over his stats, I concluded that he would be a solid b2. He was registered around 1900, and went 5.5/6 in NSPCL S9 on b3, which is no small task (hoping he can do that for CP in S10 ). While luisen was set to be one of the lower rated b2s in the league (a lot of teams stack on b2, which is why I neglected to do so), he helped balance us perfectly across the 6 boards. All we really needed from him, assuming all else went right, was 1 point a week for us to succeed. In that regard, luisen was fantastic! In 8 matchups, luisen was never 4-0ed, failing to score at least 1 point just once (it was 0.5), and he was active enough to never get a forfeit loss, resulting in a couple of 2-2 forfeit draws which would benefit us. Take away the forfeit draws, and luisen still overachieved. A telling fact was when he played people close to his rating, he generally did well, like his 2-2 vs @Night0Sky. luisen was 10/32 on the season. As was the case with acas, the numbers are deceiving here. As previously mentioned, luisen faced a slew of opponents even I wouldn't have wanted to face!

Finally, there's b1 @LightningChess21, who I had a stunningly easy time getting to join the team. Lightning, registered as a 2215, performed just fine throughout the season, starting with 4 straight 2-2 ties, which may or may not have annoyed him a little. Lightning had his moments though, getting 2-2 vs Tani, the young prodigy in New York, 3-1 vs @Cobysters, who somehow proceeded to 4-0 @Chessplayer2093 and @1Ke21-0, the latter of whom Lightning also got 3-1 against. Lightning did not lose a match until the Quarterfinals, where @Yourinsuil1991 slammed him 3.5-0.5, and by slammed, I mean slammed hard. Lightning was never really in any of the games, as his opponent played without making big, critical mistakes. Also, Lightning apologizes dearly for not getting more than 0.5 to save the season

• The Season -- Week-By-Week Review
  
  

Once again, I feel the need to point out that we were not really a team that people were hyped about. Most people saw us and our 1689 average rating, and didn't see a contender. But, we put most doubters in their place quickly after we upset the ROARing Lions 12.5-11.5 in week 1 with dominance on b5 and b6, and balance on b4-b1. 

If anyone was still in doubt of our strength, we changed their minds in week 2, when we crushed the Сдюшор-11 Team 15.5-8.5 behind another dominant showing on the lower 2 boards, and more balance on b4-1. At this point, it's clear that the strategy was working, with a clear rating advantage on b6 and b5, and a slight rating disadvantage on b4 and b2, making for perfect balance.

In week 3, we sealed our status as title contenders with an incredible 16.5-7.5 clobbering of the Dream Team Destroyers, a team that seemed to have all the pieces in place for a long playoff run (which nearly happened)! This was probably our best performance of the season, as our only loss in the match was on b2, but even that was impressive, as luisen was playing a 2300 (who I'm just 2-2 against.) and won 1. We had a nice 4-0 on b6 from neat, an absolutely stunning 4-0 on b3 from winyou, which I honestly didn't see coming (performance of the season, perhaps?), 2.5 from acas on b4, oh yeah, another 4-0 from Tebow on b5, and a nice, simple 2-2 from the Chessical PROdigy himself (hehe not really) vs  a real prodigy who has unbelievable potential (Based on their titles, it was the match of the season ). By now, EVERYONE knew who the Chessical PROdigies were, and they all knew we were contenders.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and that included our winning streak. Regardless of whether they were the better team, or we were a bit over-confident, we finally lost to the Computer Chess Wizards, who, despite often coming off as annoying and unlikable, aren't so bad (maybe outside their captain). Even in defeat, we kept it close, losing just 11-13, which I believe shows the team is good enough to win big, but also good enough to not ever lose big. High ceiling, low floor. This loss should have humbled us to help set us up for a nice run in the playoffs.

In week 5 we got back in the win column vs the Speed Demons, with a 15-9 victory. This win started to look really really good as the Speed Demons closed out the season with a win, and would've made it to the quarterfinals, if it wasn't for their b5 being a sandbagger. This was one of my favorite wins, as it showed our resiliency, and our ability to bounce back, humbled, after defeat. There was also the fact that Tebow won 4-0, winyou impressed with a 2.5-1.5 win over a 2100, and I got my first win of the season. a good performance to set us up for playoff success.

In Week 6, we drew RNR 12-12, but we were a little lucky to get even a draw. We had somewhat of an off week, and we determined that is was ok because we didn't need to win, already being in the playoffs. I retrospect, this is where it went wrong. We were never back at full strength after this draw. However, RNR is a proven NSPBCL powerhouse, and they are still in the playoffs right now. Personally I'm cheering them on, but you can go for whoever you want

In week 7, the Chessical PROdigies made history by winning their first ever playoff match as a Franchise, and it couldn't have been more dramatic, as we defeated the Philippine Chess Avengers by advancing on tiebreaks in a 12-12 match. This match first looked similar to our early season wins, that is, success on the lower boards to build a nice lead, and balance on the remaining boards. This time, it was barely enough, as we needed a last second win in a drawn game to advance. It was dramatic, it was epic, and it was everything you could ask for in a franchises first ever playoff win. Congrats to the players, you were a part of this

In week 8, the Quarterfinals, we had some rotten, bad luck. Neat on b6 got a solid 3-1, and acas on b4 got a fantastic 4-0. But that's about it. Tebow on b5 got 1.5, which is ok, but he later said he should stop streaming his matches, b2 luisen got 0.5, still fine as well, given that he was outrated by 250ish points, but b1 there is no clean excuse. I lost 0.5-3.5 on b1, despite actually playing fairly well in 3 of 4 games, and was pretty much crushed in each one. It sucks, but hey, when your opponent can play blitz that well, you can't win. Me losing that badly decreased our winning chances quite a bit, and b3 negotiation just didn't go our way, as winyou's schedule didn't align with Leon's -- winyou had 1 hour for the first few days, and Leon had 1 hour for the last few days (although he did tell him to not negotiate lolol [I just find that really funny]). It just didn't work out for us, as we weren't at our best, and we couldn't get the job done. (Leon said in the notes he was sure his team would get a shoutout, so naturally I can't make that happen. I will say, however, that they should smash PCG. They probably get a 4-0 on b1 to start, and I don't see where PCG wins big, so yeah. Either way, hope RNR wins )

• What's Next For CP

Looking ahead to what comes next for this up-and-coming franchise, we will enter 3(!) teams in the Not-So PRO Chess League (registration for which should be open soon): The Chessical PROdigies (b1 me, b2 @Roger436, b3 @luisen17, b4 @Sternflotte, b5 @ring-tailed_lemur ), The Chessical Destroyers (b1 @Shona3117, b2 @rkdkchess, b3 @neatgreatfire (captain), b4 @Tebow2Baker, b5 @IKnowDeWae69), and The Elite Force (Lineup tbd. Captain is @winyou01.). Those are some strong lineups for NSPCL in my own, biased opinion. But what about the NSPBCL? Ah, that is tricky. We will be unable to keep the same lineup, unfortunately, because neat's peak is like 350 points higher now, and mine is 150 higher. So change, there shall be! I don't know what exactly our lineups will look like, but we look to have 2 or 3 teams next season. Now, I've been told that isn't the best idea, as it is rare for each team to do well. This is evident with Chess Family. But we are not Chess Family, and I hope we can do better. We have about 4 months until the next season of the blitz league, so I am not in a rush to figure it out. As far as the other leagues go, I believe @neatgreatfire has a team in the NSP Daily Chess League, and if there is interest, we can make another team. As far as the NSP Bullet Chess League goes, I will not captain a CP team there, as I am playing for CM, but if one of you would like to captain a CP team with our name and logo, just ask . I am thinking of making a team for the NSP Variants Chess League, so contact if interested. I most likely will not actually play in it, I will be a sort of team manager, who is sort of the unofficial captain  For now, we have some time off until the NSPCL starts, and I plan to use it well. I advise you to do the same

• Final Thoughts

Well, it's the end of the line, guys. We really did have a heck of a season, we had a nice run. We didn't take home the big golden trophy, but we did place 3rd in the regular season, and figure to finish top 6 overall (we're behind Speed Demons right now, but I hope that changes since their b6 was invalid as a sandbagger.). As a captain, I am truly thankful to all of you, @luisen17, @winyou01, @acastelino, @Tebow2Baker, @neatgreatfire, and you people in the notes, for sticking with us throughout the season. Thank you to the players mentioned above, I am truly blessed to have had such a strong time as a first-time captain, and it was amazing to see how well each of you did. Not only did you help me make CP into NSPBCL contenders, you have also helped me start what will hopefully be a wonderful, successful franchise built on humility, honor, extreme bias from the writer, an awesome writer (lol see what I just did?), and a strong desire to enjoy the game we all love. I truly enjoyed playing along side you guys, and I truly enjoyed participating in Season 4 of the Not-So Pro Blitz Chess League, even if we didn't take home the gold like we wanted. It was a heck of a season, and I wouldn't have built this team any differently, even for a chance at a title. I look forward to hopefully seeing this franchise blossom into a NSP League powerhouse, and a good one at that (not like Chess Family), just as I look forward to seeing how you all will do in your future chess endeavors.