The Bulldog Magazine Issue 4: New Pieces Galore, 104 Games Later...
Throughout October, I thought to myself "Hmm, seems like this has been a down month." I couldn't have been more wrong. An unbelievable 37 games have been completed this month! That is more than a 50% increase from last month.
Follow the new tournaments and check out the many new piece ideas have recently surfaced here! And an inside look at the player who has played the most Bulldog, by far.
Ratings
*Current Top 10*
@HolographWars has been in a slump, falling from 4th all the way down off the Top 10.
@evert823 has spiked back up to their former glory for the first time in several months, @rychessmaster following their example and is re-climbing the ladder.
@haoming09 makes it back into the Top 10
Trends?
@evert823 has won six straight. More on them later...
On the other side of the spectrum, up and coming player @kingsindianattack7 has lost 5 in a row. Can they get their stuff back in November?
Slow and steady, @wenhuey has started their career 3-0 since June.
New Tournaments
Along with @Martin0 consistently chugging out Micro-Dogs, 3 new tournaments have risen up. Two are already underway, with 1 poised to start soon.
Sponsored by @kingsindianattack7, the Joker Tournament features the Joker, a piece that is seldom used. The Joker can mimic the opponents last piece. Be sure to give it a look!
Halloween Challenge Tournament
Sponsored by @Marks1420, this tournament features the Hunter, Witch, and Werewolf to celebrate Halloween. What can we expect from the results of these rarely used pieces?
The strongest Bulldog players of the age have gathered in this 8-player, single elimination showdown. The games have already commenced, so feel free to drop in and spectate from the best.
New Pieces
Members in the community are excited to make contributions. A bunch of new pieces have been created recently, and some of them are very interesting. See something you like? Challenge the inventor to a game!
The Fisherman: Invented by @PandasAwesome. The fisherman is a very creative piece. It has the joint powers of a king and knight, but cannot capture directly. Instead, pieces on the same rank and file get sucked into it one square at a time. Talk about influence!
The Pope: Invented by @MISTER_McChess. A relatively simple piece with a creative name. It combines the powers of a bishop and king. A game between the inventor and @vickalan has commenced here.
The Influencer: Invented by @JustARandomPatzer. Ever play losers chess? Whenever a piece is within range of the influencer, they go crazy, taking any piece they can. It moves like a hunter, but one square farther.
The Boss: Invented by @kingsindianattack7. Moves as a king, and cannot capture. Seems pretty weak, right? Well, any enemy piece adjacent to it turns into a measly pawn! On the same token, it still can't take that pawn... A game between the inventor and @Oka1493 has started here.
Super Witch: Invented by @PandasAwesome. This modified witch creates a layer of transparency two squares in any direction except diagonal... to both players! This Witch has limited mobility but it can capture.
Trebuchet: Invented by @MISTER_McChess. Probably the most complicated of the bunch, this piece moves like a king. As I understand it doesn't capture directly. Instead, a player announces where the Trebuchet is "aiming." It takes a few turns to build up the range to fire its "projectile." Note that waiting for the Trebuchet to load up doesn't consume a turn. A game between the inventor and @BattleChessGN18 can be found here.
Games
There are too many games too log here without hogging up a bunch of space. Instead, I have created a forum where all games by month will be recorded. I'm sure Martin0 already has a record like this, but its cool to have one available to everyone. Here is the thread: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/completed-bulldog-games-by-month
rychessmaster1 (1395) v HolographWars (1521)
This was a game that featured the Time Thief! The TT is a complicated piece, so I won't go into it. To learn about it, click here.
Black is in check, right? Well, Holo ignores the threat on his king and plays c6!
White took black's king, but the Time Thief restored it and captured white's queen instead!
Seems like Black has swindled away white's queen and with careful play should win easily. Except, white can win the game in one move. Time Thief takes b8!
1-0
HolographWars (1454) v aronian22 (1359)
Here we have the classic "Whoever gets there first wins!" Well, black, aronian22, got there first. They struck with c4, unhooking white's control over f4.
... c4, Nf2, Bf4, Kd1, d5!
Simple and precise. Opening up the d-file so the rest of black's pieces can join the party. White is forced to defend, because even they try to counterattack with a push such as i6, black can simply ignore it. Even if white follows up by capturing on j7, Black's rook still guards the promoting square.
I believe Holo's best chance was to play Wc2. Perhaps they did not want to lose their Witch, but sacrificing the king's safety is too high of a price to pay.
Ne2, Rd8, Nxf4, Qxf4, Gg3, exf4
Black's pieces are swarming around the king. Even if it isn't an immediate loss, white will have king safety problems for the rest of the game.
Ke1, Qf5, fxe4, Qxj1
After the rook blunder, Holo resigned. A nice aggressive approach will often lead to silly blunders!
JustARandomPatzer (1480) v kingsindianattack7 (1259)
Patzer won this miniature in 14 moves, but 9 of them were knights moves! In fact, no other pieces expect for pawns moved until the final blow!
Don't mind the hunter just chilling out on the back ranks, this is where the knightmare starts.
Nd3, c5, Ng3, Ne5, Qxf4!, Nf3
White has dropped a pawn, but if black doesn't act quickly, the initiative will turn over to white. Black decided to not go for enticing Wg4+. White would most likely block with Bf2, but Bb6 seems to keep the pressure on white, or the direct Bh4 could cause an issue. Nonetheless, black opted for Bb6, which certainly doesn't seem like a direct blunder.
...Bb6, Nh5!?, Qh6, Nh4, Wf8, Nf5
White's last 7 moves have all been made by his pair of knights. Right now, they are focusing on g7, but i7 is also hanging. Patzer decides to grab i7.
Nxi7, Qg5, Nh5, Ni6, h3, Be6, Bi3
Here, kingsindianattack7 gave in, no match for white's heroic knights. If black's queen clears the diagonal, Nxg7 will be too much to handle.
evert823
evert823 is one of the grizzled veterans of the game, having dozens of victories under their belt. They've played for years and even at one point held the highest rating. This month, evert crossed 100 completed bulldog games. He has by far the most completed games, sitting at 104. If you were to combine the amount of games completed by the next two spots, held by rychessmaster1 and JohnHS, they would only have one more game than evert823. Here is a Top 10 chart of the players with most completed games:
I interviewed evert823 on this achievement. This is what they had to say.
1) What has kept you into Bulldog chess for so long and caused you to play so many games? Did it just kind of happen?
I like playing variants with fairy pieces in general. It's just my favourite way to spend my time. There are not so many opportunities to play with fairy pieces over the board. By playing Bulldog chess I can do this online. When potential new players come up, I am willing to play them, hoping that they like the game and become frequent players.
2) Do you have a memorable game or moment from your games?
In this game, I was checkmated without seeing it coming. I liked the mating pattern:
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/bulldog-chess-with-witch-evert823-captaintugwash?page=2#comment-36810838
3) Perhaps the most famous Bulldog piece, the witch, is your own. How did you come up with her?
I knew a few pieces from other variants with odd abilities - going beyond 'this is how they move and this is how they capture'-pieces. Then I mean the Superchess pieces Magician, Angel, Femme Fatale. I can say that these pieces have inspired me. For a long time I was determined to invent as many strange pieces as possible, with the sole purpose of finding new kinds of abilities with every new piece. So at some point I thought of transparency. And I thought that the Witch is another medieval figure that deserves to be introduced as a chess piece.
4) What do you estimate your overall record is over 104 games?
I have the feeling that after beating @aronian22, I may reach a new record. In terms of being high in the list, and with the list having so many players. In August, Martin published some stats saying that I have a 64% win rate. 5 days ago, he had told me that I've won 14 games on timeout. I'm sure I have very few draws.
5) As you crossed the century mark, your rating flew back up into the Top 10. Do you think you got better, or have you exited a slump? Why do you think your rating fluctuates much more than other players? Where do you estimate your true strength?
I'm impatient, I tend to move fast, and move while I am not focused or don't have much time. I play stronger when I force myself to take the time and avoid direct blunders. I've had good results when I frequently played rated games with the Time Thief, I'm relatively good with that piece. With the Witch: I try to get the most out of it. I am becoming better in getting a good middle game position where the Witch plays an active role coordinating with my long-range pieces. At least, that's what I myself think.
We will take a look at this game, mentioned by evert.
evert823 (1316) v captaintugwash (1341)
1) Ng3, f5 2) f4, Bd5 3) Wd3, Ng6 4) Bh5
I guess back then, playing f4 wasn't as easily punished!
4)... Bf7 5) Be3, Wh6 6) Bf3, e6 7) Nxf5!?
Interestingly, evert placed his light square bishop on e3. It would seem much more active on a square such as d4, but for now it defends white's f4 pawn. White seems to have won a clean pawn at first glance, but black has a resource if he so chooses to grab it back. White's bishop on f3 is very well placed in light of Black's move.
7)... Wf6 8) Ng3, Nxf4 (grabbing the pawn back) 9) Wf2, g5 10) Gh1 Bh4 11) Gg1
Since nabbing black's pawn, white has kind of gone into turtle mode. evert's guard manuveuring shows he wants to castle next turn, but his lack of space could prove costly.
11)... Ne7 12) 0-0, Bxj2+! 13) Kxj2, Qj4 14) Ki1, Wj6!
After all of that work to get castled, tugwash unleashes his greek gift. After Wj6, opening up black's rook, white is forced to sacrifice his queen for the witch. However, evert plays h3, hoping to slither away.
15) h3, Qj2+ 16) Kh2, Wj3#
Interesting how this was one of @evert823's memorable moments, but a good game regardless! Well played 
Other News
A brand new 4-way Bulldog game is set to start between rychessmaster1, Marks1420, PandasAwesome, and haoming09!
