The Bulldog Magazine Issue 2: Updates Around the League

Hey Bulldog players! Welcome to the second installment of this series. As you may have noticed, the magazine is about a week early. That's because from now on the Bulldog Magazine will be released on the first day of each month!

16 games were completed over the last few weeks, with 5 of them ending in a timeout. We'll take a look into some positions and even a few featured games. As always, there will be an update on the ratings, and some impressive streaks and trends. Finally, we'll have updates on various tournaments and ongoing games.

Ratings

The number of bulldog players continue to grow, as our latest rating update from Martin included 5 graphs to fit all the active players! This is the first time that's happened

*Current Top 10*

@Martin0 continues to sit atop his throne, enjoying an intimidating 1864. @captaintugwash was able to reclaim his second seed after a win over @rychessmaster1.

@Marks1420 and @haoming09 continue their good fortune and climb closer to the top.

@Bad_Dobby_Fischer makes an appearance on the Top 10.

Trends?

Bad_Dobby_Fischer was struggling, but since late June they've scored an impressive 4 game winning streak, putting them in the Top 10.

@rychessmaster1 and @evert823 are both in slumps. Ry is out of the Top 10 for the first time after joining it, and Evert has lost 4 of their last 6, dropping 150 rating. Will these two veterans turn it around?

Games

Here's a list of all the games completed since my last magazine, which was August 8th. There have been 16 completed games.

@Bigbigbig360 defeated @joeydeng after a 1 move timeout.

@Marks1420 defeated @Sollieman83 after Sollieman blundered mate in 1.

@AwesomeBen defeated @BigBigBig360 after an unfortunate queen blunder.

@PandasAwesome won the Micro Dog #3 after winning on timeout against @MathsMaths0.

@aronian22 defeated @PandasAwesome by timeout.

@Bad_Dobby_Fischer defeated @thegreatauk by timeout (more on this later )

@thegreatauk defeated @Chess_Condor after they resigned. Condor has stopped playing Bulldog (for now) for personal reasons.

@haoming09 defeated @Chess_Condor after a brilliant maneuver.

@Landontu defeated @rychessmaster1 in a devastating opening. 

@kingsindianattack7 defeated @deeper_thinking in a chaotic game.

@captaintugwash defeated @rychessmaster1 after an unfortunate king fork.

@Landontu defeated @PandasAwesome

@PerpertuallyPinned defeated @AwesomeBen.

@aronian22 defeated @TheGreatAttorney after a cool tactical shot.

@kingsindianattack defeated @aronian22 in, by the far the longest game, 48 moves.

Featured Games

landontu (1369) v rychessmaster1 (1470)

1) e4, g5 2) Wd3, c6 3) Ng3, Ng6 4) f3, Wg7 5) Bd4, f6 

Here, landontu played very aggressively, with 6) Nh5

On the surface, it seems like a simple threat to the black witch. However, it is actually a fork. Black is threatening to take on f6. Ryan responded with 6)...Wf7, providing extra protection for the f6 with his light square bishop.

7) Wf5

Landontu continues with this aggressive approach, now threatening to smother the king with Ng7, with only the queen being able to stop it.

7)... Qh6 8) g4, Gc7 9) Qg3, Gd6 10) Ng7+, Kf8 11) Nh5, Ke8 12) Be3, Qi5

Ryan offered a queen trade, trying to get out of this opening alive. Unable to castle and having his pieces disoriented, he went for the trading approach. landontu gladly accepted and snapped up the i7 pawn.

13) Qxi5, Nxi5 14) Bxi7

14)... e6 15) Bxj8, exf5 16) exf5, j5 17) Bh6, Nj7 

A few moves later rychessmaster1 gave up hope and resigned.

aronian22 (1257) v TheGreatAttorney (1225)

1) e4, f5 2) exf5, Qxf5 3) Ng3, Qf8

We could call this the Scandinavian in bulldog?

4) Bg4, Ng6 5) f3, Wh6 6) Wd3, Bg5 7) Nce2, Nd6

Both sides have developed pretty tamely up to this point. An equal amount of space is shared, and both sides have 4 pieces out. aronian22 decides to take the initiative instead of finish development normally. 8) Rd1 was played, which x-rays the black bishop. 

8)... Bc6 9) Nd4, Nf4 TheGreatAttorney jabs back, planting their knight in the center attacking white's witch. 

10) Wc3, Bd5 11) Be3, Bc4+ 12) d3 Ba6

Black's dark square bishop finally finds a stable home, but black has done nothing the last few moves, and white now has a noticeable advantage. White has two options. Develop the guard and castle, or play in the center, where they are better. 

13) Ngf5, Nxf5 14) Bxf5, g6

Black understandably defended his h7 pawn with his last move. Here, aronian22 lashed out with a tactical shot. Can you guess what they played?

15) Bxd7+!, Kf7 16) Bxf4

White is now up a full piece, with black's king out in the open. Make sure to always see what the witch is doing, people! Black does put up a good fight from this point, so let's continue.

16)... Wf6 17) Qe6+, Kg7 18) Be5, Bg5! 19) Qg4, Qg8

Black makes good use of his witch in the defense. Developing his bishop and x-raying white's queen. 

20) Bxf6+, Bxf6 21) Ne6+, Kh8 22) Ng5, Qxa2!? 23) Be6, Qxb2

TheGreatAttorney tries to create counterplay, going pawn nabbing and creating mayhem on the queenside. c2 and c3 are hanging, and white's king can be seen breaking a sweat. However, aronian utilizes his witch once again. 

Can you find a 4 move sequence to end the game?

24) Rd8+!, Kj7 25) Qj4+, g6 26) Ni6+!, jxi6 27) Qxj8

TheGreatAttorney conceded defeat in this position. Mate is imminent. Well played!

Featured Positions

haoming09 (1250) v ChessCondor (1398)

Black has just played 21... Gc7. The position is double-edged. Black has a guard for a witch, and perhaps a safer king. White has more space and black's rook on j3 could become a target. Haoming09 found a very strong maneuver to end the game here. What can you find?

22) We3!, 0-0 Condor is unsuspecting of white's plans. 24) Wg5, i6? 25) Wi3!

Black suddenly has a huge problem. The queen is being x-rayed and the rook on j3 is hanging. As far as I can see, there is nothing black can do. After 25... Rj4 26) Rxj6, black resigned.

Was black doomed after We3 or could they have stopped this threat?

rychessmaster1 (1441) v captaintugwash (1578)

Gotta have some news on the Advanced Micro Dogs, don't we?

White has just played 20) Ngh5?!, presumably going for an attack. However, this move is a big investment, as black can win a piece here. Do you see how?

20)... e5 21) Hj5, exf4 22) Hxj7, Ki8 23) Hi6, Kh7 24) Hj7

White doesn't seem have anything going on besides perpetual hopes, but tugwash was able to end the game after this crafty king fork. 24) Ki6! 0-1

Rule Clarifications?

There have recently been two games which sparked discussions on the rules regarding timeouts. One of them was @PerpetuallyPinned v @Marks1420 and the other was @thegreatauk v @Bad_Dobby_Fischer

In the first, Marks had called vacation while he was on time warning. PerpetuallyPinned didn't think this was a valid time to call vacation, and promptly claimed his win on time. Members of the Bulldog Federation had to discuss and come up with a ruling. In the rulebook, it was ambiguous whether or not a player could call for vacation during their time warning. They concluded that it was legal, and clarified the rule. Perpetual resigned on move six, while this discrepancy was taking place. @captaintugwash decided to play the game out with Marks. After some time, tugwash had a comfortable advantage but blundered it away.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-variants/bulldog-chess-with-witch-and-guard-perpetuallypinned-vs-marks1420

In the other, Auk and Fischer were in the middlegame, where the mod of the game, @PandasAwesome, called a time warning on Auk. Auk didn't meet the warning, and this was called out by a spectator. This ignited a debate on what spectators should be allowed to say. No formal definition exists, but the majority consensus is that spectators should generally be quiet and not point out things about the game. 

https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/giga-dog-tournament-game-thegreatauk-bad-dobby-fischer

Other News

- The Micro Dog 3 completed not so long ago, with @PandasAwesome being the winner.

- The Mega Dog is finally in the loser's bracket final. The game is here: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/mega-dog-losers-final-thegreatauk-justarandompatzer

- After two years and 18 months of dormancy, the Old Dog Final is finally taking place! The tournament is living up to it's name! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/old-dog-tournament-final-supersam1-thegreatauk

- The 30x30 game between @rychessmaster1 and @thegreatauk is still ongoing, with no sign of stopping soon! The game is over 100 moves and 2 year old, and both players seem to just be staring at eachother. When do you think this game will end? 2025?

-And finally, a brief update on the championship.

Martin0 is down a queen! However, he had an incredible move which saved the game. After some deliberation, he played 33) hxg5! Even tugwash was impressed by this deep move.

Thanks for reading!