Hello everyone! Welcome to the latest installment of The Blogger Awards v2.0, covering entries in May 2025! This continues a blogging community tradition that recognizes the best blogs of the month in different categories. 

It's time to announce the results. All those who reach the podium can expect to see the results reflected in The Blogger Awards v2.0 Medal Table in short order.

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Gold: @squirtle for The Cow: The Easiest Way to Troll
Silver: @PokeGirl93 for A Chess Saga In The Land Of Soccer
Bronze: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!

Received votes: @Anna_chess11; @Alina_Bakhtina_24; @ArtyPentti 

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

I chose the most ironic and original titles. Many others were worthy to be awarded anyway.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

I think @squirtle's title is the best because it's quite striking. I like @Anna_Chess11's title because it has a dramatic tone, and the third one is for @ArtyPentti because it's controversial.

DavidGaming08:

I might be a bit too strict when judging, but I didn't find any of the titles extraordinary. The three on my podium are definitely my favorites, though. In my opinion, the ideal for titles is brevity and directness.

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Gold: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11! 
Silver: @Alina_Bakhtina_24 for Fisсher's Nightmare: The Elusive Efim Geller
Bronze: @emateu26 for Andorra Chess – Menorca: Competing in the Crown Jewel of Spanish Opens

Received votes: @ChocoCaramelPawn; @JustGettingThisOffMyChess; @readeroftomes

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

A slot of blogs were worthy to win this category. I gave Alina the Gold prize because I'm a fan of biographies and the story of Efim Geller and his rivalry with Bobby Fischer. Silver to @emateu26 for his ability to describe the Menorca tournament in such an engaging way. It felt like we were there with him. What a great opportunity to play against Faustino Oro... he also draw once!! 😱 Bronze to @readeroftomes for scientifically analyzing knight maneuvers with learned references to Knights Shadow, Karpov distance, endgame theory... I am still studying. Thanks!"⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

I chose the topics that I found most interesting. In order of preference: @nova-stone, @JustGettingThisOffMyChess, and @ChocoCaramelPawn.

DavidGaming08:

Reading @nova-stone's topic was a nice experience. I was a bit unsure about who to give the silver and bronze medals to, but ultimately, I think I made the right choices.

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Gold: @JustGettingThisOffMyChess for Chess is NOT just a Game: Chess Quotes by Casual Players (and Marcus)
Silver: @Dev_singhal_26 for Chess Cheats: Instant Mastery Guaranteed
Bronze: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!

Received votes: @PierreLuc

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

@JustGettingThisOffMyChess was brilliant with his humor; @PierreLuc is unquestionably a prince of comedy. After reading about "to pose a serious challenge to this plague of kids", watching a 1'34" video of a Woodpecker pecking and calling, and seeing the unpublished image of the ostrich egg that is the new world champion, I decided to award a bronze medal to @nova-stone. The other candidate was @Dev_2_6 (now @Dev_singhal_26), so maybe @nova-stone is responsible for others' tears.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

By far the funniest blog was @Dev_2_6's. I also liked the jokes introduced by @JustGettingThisOffMyChess and @nova-stone along the way.

DavidGaming08:

For me, it was clear who the top three competitors were, but I had a hard time deciding the order. Our gold medalist was phenomenal and had a great sense of humor. JGTOMC and Nova also deserved their place on the podium.

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Gold: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!
Silver: @squirtle for The Cow: The Easiest Way to Troll; @NMChessToImpress for Overcome your Fear of Appearing Foolish: What I Learned from Losing (yet again😔) to a GM; @ChocoCaramelPawn for Chess variants from A to Z | Part 1
Bronze: Three-way tie for silver meant no bronze medal was awarded.

Received votes: @TejasKesavamurthy

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

I don't have much expertise to judge the correctness of the analysis of chess games. But @nova-stone is undoubtedly a very strong player, and @NMChessToImpress is a National Master. They commented on the games with professionalism. @TejasKesavamurthy shared his thoughts during games with stronger players, and I really liked the way he did that.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

The analysis by @nova-stone is quite well explained. I like how @squirtle analyses the opening in which there is not too much serious theory. Finally, @ChocoCaramelPawn did a great job analysing the variants, as engines can’t help with that.

DavidGaming08:

As expected, Nova had the best game analysis. As someone who regularly writes about over-the-board (OTB) games, I was really satisfied with this one. No offense to the other medalists, but I don't think anyone can stand a chance against Nova in this particular category.

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Gold: @JustGettingThisOffMyChess for Chess is NOT just a Game: Chess Quotes by Casual Players (and Marcus)
Silver: @ArtyPentti for Opinion: The World Chess Championship Isn’t Interesting Anymore
Bronze: @Chesser1492 for Chess Personality Quiz!

Received votes: @ChocoCaramelPawn; @PokeGirl93; @Anna_chess11

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

Nothing like the WCC to attract attention and open discussion; the Personality Quiz was so nice and was easy to accomplish. I particularly appreciated the blog on "His Majesty the King". Too bad Anna didn't translate some of her thoughts onto the chessboard. They would have been easier to follow.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

@JustGettingThisOffMyChess made me want to read about all the different perspectives on chess. I like how @ChocoCaramelPawn shows uncommon variants in his blog. @PokeGirl93's blog made me want to learn more about Brazilian chess.

DavidGaming08:

From my perspective, JGTOMC's blog was the most engaging because it showed what people at different levels think about a game of chess. I gave @ArtyPentti second place because I was really excited about the blog when I saw the title. PokeGirl gets the bronze medal because I enjoy learning about chess cultures in other countries.

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Gold: @PokeGirl93 for A Chess Saga In The Land Of Soccer
Silver: @JustGettingThisOffMyChess for Chess is NOT just a Game: Chess Quotes by Casual Players (and Marcus)
Bronze: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!

Received votes: @SPK1729

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

Gold medal won by @JustGettingThisOffMyChess, also beautiful the style of @PokeGirl93. I also liked so much the lightness and ease with which @SPK1729 reviewed the history of chess and Indian chess history from its origins to the present day.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

There were many well-written blogs, but I think @PokeGirl93's is the best. I also liked the work of @nova-stone and @JustGettingThisOffMyChess, they both did a fantastic job!

DavidGaming08:

I don't think I need to explain this: these three contestants' writing is almost flawless, which is why they earned a place on the podium.

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Gold: @ChocoCaramelPawn for Chess variants from A to Z | Part 1
Silver: @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!
Bronze: @PokeGirl93 for A Chess Saga In The Land Of Soccer and @SPK1729 for The Indian Chess History: From Ancient Roots to Modern Marvels

Received votes: @Alina_Bakhtina_24

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

It was a challenge to the death; @ChocoCaramelPawn and @SPK1729 were simply the best in editing. I gave silver to @SPK1729 because, for me, it was hard to keep concentration with the Copperplate font style he mostly used, and I am not a big fan of AI-generated images; a well-deserved third place for @Alina_Bakhtina_24.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

I love how @nova-stone structured her blog. Also, @ChocoCaramelPawn did an amazing job with the images and the presentation. Third place goes to @PokeGirl93.

DavidGaming08:

Again, there's not much to comment on. The blogs are well-structured and make good use of common sense.

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Gold: @TejasKesavamurthy
Silver: @Jehtt
Bronze: [See KevinSmithIdiot comments]

Received votes: See KevinSmithIdiot comments.

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

Medals given for improvement in editing and content of the stories. @ChocoCaramelPawn for gold. @AaravRoy_25 was close to winning a gold medal in a lot of topics, and the quality of his blog is high in my opinion. @TejasKesavamurthy is my choice for bronze.⠀

Some words from KevinSmithIdiot:

@ChocoCaramelPawn and @AaravRoy_25 received well-deserved medals in this category in April!

After a discussion with @VOB96 we chose not to award them medals in this category for two consecutive months. Both continue making great strides, but we felt it was important to recognize a few others in this category. 

Therefore, we chose to elevate Doc's third nominee to gold.

We added @Jehtt at the silver level as we felt his entry for May demonstrated a clear improvement in the blog's organization.

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Gold: @squirtle for The Cow: The Easiest Way to Troll
Silver: @ChocoCaramelPawn for Chess variants from A to Z | Part 1 and @SPK1729 for The Indian Chess History: From Ancient Roots to Modern Marvels
Bronze: Not awarded due to tie for silver.

Received votes: @PierreLuc; @nova-stone; @PokeGirl93

Some comments from the judges:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

DocSimooo:

My gold prize goes to @squirtle for his beautiful and funny cow-knights; silver to @PierreLuc for his self-confidence and nice presence in the foreground of the thumbnail with his sly smile; bronze to @nova-stone for her erudite choice of displaying an emotional pyramid of ancestral fears.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

I really like @SPK1729, I think it represents the blog quite well. @Squirtle created a very original one. @ChocoCaramelPawn 's is as mysterious as the chess variants.

DavidGaming08:

I consider @squirtle's thumbnail to be the best because of its high degree of originality. The other two medalists also had great thumbnails. However, they had a little less creativity.

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Gold: Capturing the ultimate recognition was @nova-stone for Yikes! My opponent is 11!
Silver: @JustGettingThisOffMyChess for Chess is NOT just a Game: Chess Quotes by Casual Players (and Marcus)
Bronze: @PokeGirl93 for A Chess Saga In The Land Of Soccer and @Alina_Bakhtina_24 for Fisсher's Nightmare: The Elusive Efim Geller

Received votes: No other blogs received votes for Best Blog.

Some comments from the judges:

DocSimooo:

Despite the word walls, long paragraphs, and complicated topics, @nova-stone's blog was the most interesting for the topic covered and complete. I also particularly liked @Alina_Bakhtina_24's blog on Efim Geller. Amazing. @JustGettingThisOffMyChess reminds us that chess is for everyone, even for ordinary mortals, and he did it brilliantly with an impeccable style.⠀⠀⠀⠀

JugadaBrillante:

I think @nova-stone had the best blog. Her editing and writing were amazing, and she added some humour that made it really enjoyable. The silver award goes to @JustGettingThisOffMyChest, who presented the perspectives of all the players in a very interesting and funny way. The bronze award goes to @PokeGirl93, who presented chess from her country with passion and brightness.

DavidGaming08:

Taking everything into account, I think @nova-stone had the best blog of all the participants, with JGTOMC a close second. Deciding on third place was tricky because I had to choose between @squirtle and @PokeGirl93. Ultimately, I decided that PokeGirl was slightly better this time.

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This is it! Congratulations to all the award winners, all the podium finishers, and everyone who took part! Remember: the competition for June has already opened and we welcome your best blog as you try again to claim a spot on one or more podiums!

We'll see you soon with the June 2025 winners!

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MONTH SUMMARY