The Bulldog Magazine Issue 5: Tournament Time

I know I said this magazine would be a few days late, but I managed to make it only a half day . We are approaching the home stretch on the year, with only one more magazine after this for 2020! November broke the record for most played games once again, beating out October by 3 games for a grand total of 40! Six of those games ended by timeout, with four of them coming the same 2 players. We are getting better and better with timeout ratios. 

Some players have been on have been on very impressive streaks, while the second longest win streak of all time was broken. Having trouble keeping track of all the tournaments? Look no farther to see how they are progressing.

Ratings

*Current Top 10*

We have a new player in second! @JustARandomPatzer has been tearing everybody up. Will they become the second player to break 1700?

@Marks1420 win streak of 13 has finally ended after a clever in-between move by @evert823. Marks got right back on track after defeating @rychessmaster1 and @thegreatuk.

@landontu has fallen off the Top 10 while @chessisfunforme, a player who has started their career 5-0, slips into 9th place.

Trends?

As mentioned a second ago, @chessisfunforme has started off strong, knocking out all of their opponents so far.

@JustARandomPatzer has won 6 straight! 

@haoming has also been rising up, with their only recent loss to Patzer.

Games

Marks1420 (1650) v evert823 (1467)

@evert823, not afraid of a higher ranked opponent, played h5. White cannot go back to h3 without losing their bishop to g4. So, white took on d7.

...h5, Bxd7, Kxd7, exd6, cxd6, Qe2, Gb7, Nd4

If white could move again, they would play Qb5!, and black can practically resign. evert was aware of this, and made preparations to hide his king.

...Rc8!, Qb5+, Kc7, a4 (Rc1, Kb8, Nc6, Ka8), We6, a5

Marks1420 opted to get the rook in the game along the a-file instead of going for random checks with Rc1. evert823, cleverly goes We6, bringing the dark square bishop into the defense. 

...a6!? axb6, Kb8, Rxa6?

Marks, smelling blood, went in with the a-file sac. What did they overlook?

Bc4! Skewering the white queen to the rook, winning it. Marks1420 resigned here, losing their win-streak.

JustARandomPazter (1502) v landontu (1518) 

It seems like everywhere you look for the past two months, these two have been dueling.

Nineteen moves into the game, we reach this critical position. Patzer has a witch for landon's rook due to an ealier confrontation. Patzer needs to make something happen, as a slow trade-down would favor black. He goes all in.

Nxe7, Qxe7, Wi6

Patzer threatens mate with Rj8.

...Rg7, j5, Kg8, Rj8, Kf7, Qh5

@captaintugwash and I had a lengthy discussion if Qj8 was a better option for white. Both win the rook, but white's queen can escape after Qxa8 Gb8 as opposed to Rxa8 Rb8. One option momentarily halts the attack to collect lost material while the other goes for the kill.

...Ke6, Qg4, Kf7, Rxa8, Qb8, Rxb8, Bxb8, h3

We reach this interesting material dynamic. With perfect play, who knows who is better? This is certainly a position you'd see in a Bulldog Chess Book if one were to ever be written!

Eventually Patzer pried open the position and landontu resigned here.

AwesomeBen (1275) v HolographWars (1521)

AwesomeBen has played very well up to this point against Holo. Although not clearly better, he is putting a lot of pressure on the king and could win off a small blunder. 

...Qd5, Nxf6!? 

Ben takes Holo's pawn, forking the king and queen. Black can still take with his rook. If white can't find a way to make this work, black will consolidate and win.

...Rxf6, Rg7, Gd6, Qg2, Kf8, Re6!

AwesomeBen is seriously pouring on the pressure. He just disconnected Black's queen from g8 and now threatens Rg8. Holo has to say he's sorry and goes right back to e8.

...Ke8, Rg8, Rf8, Qi4, Wg6

White's attack is starting to slow down. He has one last trick up their sleeve before its over.

fxg6, Gxe6, g7+, Gf7

White can win back a rook, but after that the attack has stalled. Holo won this game in a couple moves. Well played attack, but very well done on defense by @HolographWars. 

Four Player Showdowns

Two 2v2 matches have ended already, and both of them were quick fireworks.

@haoming, playing red, seems to be in checkmate by @Marks1420, playing silver. @rychessmaster1, playing green, attempts to come to the rescue with Rd13! However, @PandasAwesome comes to the rescue with Bxb9#

@Marks1420 stepped out to let @JustARandomPatzer play in the second game. Here we have queen party! All of them are 1 square from eachother, and @haoming09 is actually in mate. Crazy!

Tournaments

All kinds of tournaments are unfolding. There are a lot of games going on and that have been completed. Let's take a look at some progress:

The Giga-Dog:  here

Still the largest Bulldog Event to date, this is what the bracket currently looks like. @Marks1420 awaits either @Martin0, @rychessmaster1, or @musketeerchess2017 in the winner final. The loser's bracket is slowly but surely chugging along. 

Candidates #4:  @JamesAgadir was able to edge out @thegreatauk in a long positional battle. Agadir won Auk's queen in a crafty fork. You can check out the game here.

The Mega-Dog: here

The tournament is over a year and a half old, but we are finally in the final stage! @JustARandomPatzer defeated @thegreatauk to win the loser's bracket final. They now face the engine @Martin0 in the final. Martin only has to win once, but Patzer needs to defeat Martin twice to win the tournament.

Bulldog Chess World Cup: here

The tournament is well into it's knockout stage. @Marks1420 managed to defeat @rychessmaster1 in a 60 move game! @evert823 also managed to win against the solid @aronian22. They both await the results of the ongoing games to see who they will face in the semi-finals.

Modern Dog Tournament: here

A nice, simple little tournament done by @haoming09. 8 player single-elimination with the usual Witch and Guard. Two games have already completed. 

The Halloween Challenge: The tournament is still in the Pool Play stage. Most of them have finished. I don't have a good graphic to represent this tournament, but check it out here.

The Joker Tournament: Another tournament where there is no aesthetically pleasing graphic. The tournament has been moving along well too, check it out here.

Games To Watch

The Championship: Martin v tugwash

The game is in the home stretch!

Candidates #4 Final: JamesAgadir v Patzer

Who will challenge Martin next? Or tugwash if he wins?

Giga-Dog Quarter Final: Ry vs musketeer

Who will play Martin in the semi-finals?

Mega Dog-Final: Patzer v Martin

The final game in this tournament.

4-Player FFA: Here

After two 2v2's, the players are now in an FFA showdown.

Other News

-The Bulldog Chess Federation had one of it's members step down. @captaintugwash retired from the Federation, and @Marks1420 was called up to replace him. Tugwash had originally been the replacement for @Junebug444. When I asked him why he retired, he said this:

"I don't have the time to involve myself in the community like the others, I felt like I was holding a position that someone more active could fill. I really didn't offer a lot, so I felt it was best to let someone else take my role. I'm glad they offered it to you... I prefer to save my aggressive side for Twitter!" 

- @rychessmaster1 achieved NM in the United States! Good work.

- There was a lot of pinned topics hogging up the first page, so @Martin0 condensed it into one pinned topic here.

- Keep your eyes peeled for a new tournament, coming December 21st, the Winter Solstice. The Winter-Dog tournament! It will feature the Angel, Dwarf, and even Bulldogs!! The tournament will also be very special in the sense that it will be a team tournament! There will be four teams of 3 players on each team. Each member plays one member on the other team based on rankings. The team that comes out with the most points advances! Don't miss out on the first ever Bulldog Team tournament