FFCC’s Christmas Classic
FFCC’s Christmas Classic Doesn’t Disappoint, but Which Players Made the Grade?
By Goof Jan 25th, 2022
Hope all of you had a beautiful Christmas. The 4th installment of the FFCC club championship has just wrapped up, and to be expected there were fireworks. While performing interviews for this piece I was surprised by the volume of emotion and love that was put in by each player. Sadly, we’re not graded by effort, rather by results. The only let down was no major upsets (Sorry Clay). Prior to the start of the classic, the Scarlet Witch was sounding off about his readiness, but all this preparation must have taken place in Neverland as only one win could be mustered by the hero. Still, we witnessed brilliant play from the King of the North, a fall from grace among the FFCC top brass, and expectations not filled. The tournament was decided by four players separated by a single point and tie breaker points called second from third. It was one for the history books so let’s get into it.
The Good:
Clayton Ludlum: A+: what can we say about Clayton’s performance that has not already been said, the man was unflappable. It was only a few small errors that kept him from walking away with this title all the way back in December. If you've been covering the FFCC like I have this would not have been a surprise. Yet, the brass of the FFCC appeared to miss his coming. I caught up with Nathan Allen for this piece and asked him a couple questions about the classic and his thoughts on Clayton’s seemingly out of the blue rise to supremacy. “I've seen Clayton pull some upsets before, most notably over Dan, when old Lou Lou had two Queens on the board. It is the greatest upset win in the history of the FFCC. I've also seen him make horrific blunders for absolutely no reason. I was counting on it, but this time it was different. When the game ended, I couldn't say that Clay sneak attacked me or that it happened suddenly. I was flat out outplayed from start to finish.”
It's clear that members of this club will have to start taking Clayton very seriously when it comes to future tournaments. I would be deeply surprised if this was his last club championship victory.
Jordon Nissen: B: It’s true folks, we have Zac Loy Jr. on our hands. Slow and steady won’t always win you the race, but it certainly helps to have it in the bag. In this case, the race was not to get last and Jordon can call it mission accomplished. Picking up a well deserved 4 points and keeping his time outs to only one, the performance was solid. Sure, Nissen is rough around the edges giving up material leads with backward pawns, and other mistakes of inexperience. But the diamond can be seen. Of his 12 analyzed games he boasts a 70.8% move accuracy. I can assure you; wins are coming. When asked about his takeaway from this tournament Jordon said, he just couldn’t believe you could start a chess game in December and still be playing it in February.
Daniel Johnsrud A-: Arguably the best player in the club when he can keep his shirt on, Dan Johnsrud played true to form taking more draws than the rest of the tournament field combined. No question these draws were the correct call and helped bring in his best finish since the FFCC was four members in 2020. One member, when asked about the play of Dan offered this, “He’s out for blood, he won’t give me any draws”. This player, used to getting draws out of losing positions was confused, border line irate at the change in tactic.
In the past Dan has ended tournaments sounding like Eeyore, with quotes like “I just beat who I was supposed to beat and that’s it.” But this time he was different, in a brilliant third act effort Dan closed the gap on a flaccid Allen who was ready to sleepwalk to second. Dan, a typically hen pecked player, crawling for the finish line was replaced with a Dan noted for a line at a fellow competitor stating, “And you have two shitty positions too.”
The Bad:
JR Buffington C+: In the days leading up to this tournament I told anyone who would listen that the out and out favorite to take home Huginn was JR. With club high rating in every game type outside dailies, and a crafty style tailormade to blast the gambit or play a grinder, it was the title or bust for this titan. When the dust settled JR settled for 4th place and a question about stamina.
After the first week I was certain my prophecy would come true. But the well ran dry after a few costly blunders. Still JR was on the only player to beat the King of the North twice, and both in convincing fashion. Smart money takes Duke to win the title pre-season and smart money still takes JR pre-tournament as well.
Shaun McNamara B-: For so many players in this tournament, time and attrition told the story. Playing the top three tough for close to a month Shaun seemed as true as the north star. But the engine blew a head gasket in mid-January, when five precious points were handed out to the Shirtless Rage Monster, Loy, and Allen on time. Still, picking up a draw vs The King of the North and two wins of pure quality vs the pre-tournament favorite JR. Shaun will be a force to deal with in future events assuming the captain stays awake at the wheel.
Mike Martin B-: After a magical 2nd place finish in the summer FFCC championship, Mike seemed poised to take his game to the next level and bring home the biggest trophy. This wasn’t to be settling for a fifth-place finish. This is very respectable, and I would take nothing away from the play, still it did fall slightly short of expectations, only picking up one win against the top three. Mike was unable to string together enough wins to take home a trophy.
When asked how Mike felt about the tournament he stated, “I’m a little bummed I’m not going to get a medal”. It’s difficult to pin down exactly where the wheels came off for Mike, and the truth is perhaps they didn’t. Mike is a man of few principles, but never taking a draw is one of them. Considering fifth place was two points off the leader it was hard to fault the take no prisoner’s attitude.
Beau LaCroix C: It was a quiet tournament for Beau. Letting people off the hook appeared to be the M.O. of this campaign. Prior to the start of this tournament Beau showed off a puzzle rating over two thousand. When this came out, Dan and others appeared to be scared, but this didn’t translate to big wins in the tournament.
Prior to the meltdowns there were moments of brilliance. These moments, if strung together, could make Beau very dangerous and easy to overlook. Possibly another to challenge for the title of King of the North? Unclear at this point. What is clear, Beau gives Zac issues and that is truly entertaining to watch.
Nathan Allen C: After Buffington blundered back-to-back in both games with Allen it appeared this would be his third championship. But in dramatic fashion Allen would only take one game. Deciding on an ill-fated queen swap that put the nails in the coffin of the sadist game played in the entire tournament.
Allen’s tournament would have received higher grades if not for a classless move timing out of a game vs Loy. Deciding to accept a gambit early, his pride and joy pawn line got decimated. In a low class move, he waited on two separate occasions till the five minutes left prior to moving. On the third try “he flew too close to the sun” and timed out. The club had mixed reactions to this low class move, which spot lighted the deep division among play styles.
When pressed on why he would act in such a low-grade fashion Allen said: “Loy had been drinking, I could tell, and sent me the DM via signal with video showing how I was mate in 7. I was unhappy.”
The Ugly:
Shawn Steinberger D: It wasn’t the X and O's that got to Shawn. He was a casualty of the war of attrition. Timing out of 40% of his games was enough to net the newcomer one step over last place, but only by the default of rank. Still, hope can be seen if he continues to play blitz and other game forms before the next FFCC tournament rolls around.
At the end of the day, you must respect his no excuses go get it attitude Shawn brings to the game. Much like the King of the North, you want him to succeed.
Zac Loy D: Spanking Nathan Allen twice in this tournament is no small feat. And the Dr. took those wins with relative ease. But that is where the good stuff ends. We asked Allen to comment on the two losses but after editing them for expletives the meaning was lost. Jordon Nissen would comment, and he added this, “His style of play was what you want, I’m just surprised he didn’t win the whole thing.”
Nissen is making a fair point. What went wrong for this past champion? Does he have the drive to find his way back to the winner’s circle? These are questions without answers, but what is clear, Zac Loy was the first causality caused by the FFCCs changing climate and will not be last.
Dustin Gannon F: Someone had to get last. Silver lining, he timed out of fewer games in this tournament than the last two. Sadly two of those games he had shot at winning and could have gotten out the proverbial doghouse. Now that the dust has settled Mr. Gannon is left wondering how he can get better. Averaging 10.8 blunder per game and giving up one hundred percent accuracy to Mike in a game as white were the talking points of his tournament. Interviews were performed for this article, but in the words of Thumper the Bunny, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.”
The Aftermath:
Team matches have restarted for the FFCC, opening with team Pakistan followed by a match vs a Russian team. Historically the club has played well coming out of intense Club tournaments. This has been no exception. At the midpoint of this match FFCC is up 8-0 needing two more wins to close out their much higher rated opponents. The Russian team match opens on the 31st of January.
Goof is a Senior Editor for The FFCC Chronicle, covering FFCC tournaments and team matches. He previously wrote about getting drunk for nine years. Since 2020, he has served as a studio analyst and moderator for the FFCC and affiliates.
