The Bulldog Magazine Issue 6: JARP Mania

Happy New Year, Bulldog Players. I also hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. What are your 2021 chess resolutions?

We had a cooldown this month, with only 25 completed Bulldog games. There is still lots of playing going on, just not many games finished in December. Out of the 25 games, six ended in timeouts, which is a pretty bad regression from previous months. Two steps forward, one step back!

The Winter Dog and 2021 Bulldog Arena have started. Last month, the second-longest win streak was snapped, and this month, the longest win streak has ended. An exciting end to the year.

Ratings

*Current Top 10*

@JustARandomPatzer is the first player to ever defeat @Martin0 in a bulldog chess game. This ends Martin's record of 31 consecutive wins. Patzer has also been on a tremoundous win streak regardless. 

@haoming09 slips past @captaintugwash.

@Bad_Dobby_Fischer sneaks into the 9th spot along with @kingsindianattack7.

Trends?

Do I even need to mention Patzer's streak?

chessisfunforme is struggling since their early 5-0 start, falling all the way to 1253.

TonyL103 is also on a nice win streak, winning 4 in a row.

Games

JustARandomPatzer (1681) v chessisfunforme (1457)

This was an interesting match. JustARandomPatzer at this point was trying to prove if their win streak was justified or just a hot streak and he would eventually cool off. On the flip side, chessisfunforme was trying to prove if they were elite enough to justify being in the Top 10.

e4, e5,  d4, d6,  Nd3, f6, Qc3, Ng6, Ba4+, c6, d5

chessisfunforme showed bravery, starting with e5 and d6, an opening generally accepted to be dubious. White's bishop and queen hop right into the game with the witch's help and we already see black under some pressure. Is black lost? With perfect play, no, but this is not a pleasant position to be in to start off the game.

...Gc7, dxc6, b6, Wa3, a6, Nb4

The game has already turned ugly for black. White is already up a pawn and his pieces are swarming. JustARandomPatzer is showing some opening proficiency, punishing chessisfunforme for their opening choice. If I were black, I would do anything I could to get castled on the queen side. Obviously, this is much easier said than done.

...a5, Wb5+, Ke7, Nd5+, Bxd5, exd5, Kf7

Patzer's attack is hot and heavy. Black's king is trying to escape, and if they do, they might be able to go on to play a solid game. After all, Patzer has only won one pawn. 

Bd7, Kg8, a4, Kh8, Rxa8

Black's king was able to find refuge on the queenside, but Patzer says forget the king, the kingside is still vulnerable! a4 unleashed the a1 rook, and chessisfunforme, still focused on tucking the king away, did not notice this and blundered his rook. Black resigned.

haoming09 (1556) v deeper_thinking (1201)

This game was played in the Joker Tournament. The Joker is a piece that copies the piece that last moved for your opponent. 

10... h6? @haoming09 quickly took advantage of this blunder.

11. Bxg6, Jxg6 @deeper_thinking thought they were clear, their Joker could recapture. However, haoming had a powerful blow to win the queen.

12. Jxi6!

@haoming09 went on to win.

AwesomeBen (1213) v kingsindianattack7 (1210) 

This was a game from the Halloween tournament. It's been a rather evenly matched game thus far, with black having a decent advantage being up a pawn and having better king safety. kingsindian found a very convincing continuation to end the game and begin their ascent into the Top 10.

...Ra1+, We1, Hg6, Hi2, Hf5, Bc7?

@kingsindianattck7 is making great use of his active pieces and surrounding the white king. With @AwesomeBen's last move which seemingly does nothing, kingsindian delivers the final blow. What can you find?

...Nd3!, Re2, Nxe1, Rxe1, Hxf3+, Kf2, Hxe1

Great use of the pieces to finish the game off. Good game!

JustARandomPatzer (1567) v Martin0 (1868) 

And now, the game you've all been waiting for. This was game one of a possible two game match in the Mega Dog Grand Final.

17 moves in, we reach this position. Martin is probably stategically better, with Patzer having isolated j-pawns and Martin having an extra pawn. Patzer has play though, with the files in front of black's king waiting to erupt. 

18. bxc6!, dxc6, Qd2, Ng6, 0-0, Qf7, g3, g4 Ra1, Bc7

Ra1 is not a subtle move at all. The lines in front of the king are open. Now is the time for action. Patzer is preparing to launch a full scale attack on black's king. With a knight, witch, two rooks, and a queen, you can expect quite some damage. Black will have a hard time finding counterplay on white's king because the guard on i2 is a premium defender.

22... Bc7, Rhb1, Bb6, Nb4, Kc8!, d5, Wd6, Wd3, Ne5, dxc6, bxc6

Black is holding up so far. The knight on e5 sits on a solid outpost while his witch helps the queen and possibly the rooks dominate the 7th and 8th ranks. I think Kc8 was a very nice move, which helps prepare a possible king evacuation and also steps out of the way of the b-file. Patzer still has a lot of firepower, and the fight is far from over.

28. Qc1, Kd7, Wb3, Bxf2?

Martin perhaps gets a little greedy, grabbing another pawn rather than further evacuating the king or bringing the dormant j-rook into the defense. Qe6 or Wc7 seem like fine alternatives.

30. c4, Qxc4, Rb7+ (making use of the bishop no longer being there), Wc7, Bc4, Rd1, Kc8?!

In my opinion, Kc8 being dubious is being nice. Instead of continuing to move the king to the queenside, black steps back into the frying pan and right into the heat of things. Perhaps black was afraid to leave their witch unprotected.

34. Qb1, Rd7, Rc2, Qg8, Rxc7+!?, Rxc7, Na6, Rb7

Patzer gives his rook away for a witch, something we also saw from his game against landontu in the World Cup. He has immediate compensation from this, with Na6 forcing the rook to move or be sacrificed, which opens up the witch for prime attacking. It's important not to play Wd5, which would run into Qxd5. 

38. Wb5, Rxb5, Bb6, Rxc6, Nxc6, Qxc6, Kd8, Nb8, Qe8

Patzer is down to his final two attackers, but they are a powerful couple. He hopes for perpetual or even to make up some major material loss. If Martin can consolidate, it should be an easy win with Patzer's fractured pawn structure. 

43. Qb7, Bc7, Na6, Qd7, Nc5, Qc8, Qc6!, e5, Ne6!, Ke7

Patzer was able to craftily maneuver his pieces around and win black's bishop! All the same, if black can trade queens, the rook should be able to outperform and at least make an easy draw white's pieces simply because of the pawn structure.

Eventually, after many checks, we reached this position, where 59. Qe7 was played. This threatens the rook and the queen, shockingly enough. Martin played 59... Rb8?, figuring the queen had to go back to its post of defending the knight, or the knight had to move.

60. Qg7+! Black is in a terrible predicament. If he captures the knight, Qxh7 wins the queen. If he goes Kh5, Qh6 is mate. Martin0 resigned, marking the end of his seemingly untouchable record. Qa8 was the only move to save black in that position, but from there, the position is not very clear. White has looming perpetuals. A brilliant 40 move attack from Patzer.

Interview With JustARandomPatzer

As we know, Patzer has been on an a more-than-impressive win streak, and was well deserving of an interview. Here's what they had to say.

1) You've been on an impressive win streak and defeated the #1 ranked @Martin0. How do you explain your success lately?

I think it has a lot to do with my tenacity. I like to create as many problems for my opponent as possible, and I'll take any edge I can get. My game against Martin was a special case, because it was kind of a "play the opponent" scenario. We have very different styles, and I noticed that he tends to make more mistakes in complicated positions. So I tried to keep the position as double-edged as possible, and it worked.

2) Where do you rank yourself among active players?

As for where I rank myself, I think I'm something of a wildcard. On a good day, I can take the best of the best. On a bad day, I play so badly it's almost unrecognizable. My games in the Giga-Dog against @PandasAwesome and @landontu are the perfect examples of this. I can certainly say I'm a top 10 player, but I don't know if I'm a top 5. 

3) Do you think you can repeat against Martin0 in the Mega-Dog Grand Final to win the tournament?

I'm not sure if I can win against Martin again, and I'd be lying if I said I think my chances are high. I think it largely depends on who gets their 'type' of position first.I can promise one thing though: I'll do my best to make it entertaining.

4) What is your favorite game?

I'd have to say my game against @landontu in the Giga-Dog is my favourite, but I also really like my game against @BadDobbyFischer in the Mega-Dog. I think both were really good reflections of my playing style.

I'm pretty sure Patzer was reffering to his game against @landontu in the World Cup, which was already showcased in a previous magazine. Patzer never played Fischer in the Mega-Dog! Looks like he's got @captaintugwash's memory when it comes to remembering games they've played

Things To Look Back On

I tried to think and also find some noteworthy events in 2020 that we can remember. Of course, I haven't even been around for the entirety of 2020, so there may be some things missing! evert, Martin, any other veterans see things I'm missing?

First and foremost, these rating graphs covered ALL players on January 1st, 2020.

Quite a lot has changed.

@evert823 passed 100 completed Bulldog Games.

@Martin0 defended his championship title against @McGoohan in this game.

@captaintugwash earned to right to challenge @Martin0 for the championship title after defeating @HolographWars here.

The most completed Bulldog games in a month record was set in November, with an amazing 40.

A grand total of 204 games were completed in 2020.

The variant went from 1 titled player in @thegreatauk to 3, as he was joined by NM's @Marks1420 and @rychessmaster1.

@Marks1420 set the second-longest win streak, at 13. The streak was ended by @evert823.

@captaintugwash became a Federation member, but later retired 

@Marks1420 became a Federation member.

4-way bulldog chess had a revival late in the year.

@evert823 invented TheWeirdEngine. A relatively weak but fascinating engine tailored for Bulldog Chess.

The Old Dog Tournament completed.

The explosion of new pieces being invented, some successful, and some not so successful.

The Giga-Dog Tournament, the largest tournament to date, started.

Other News

- @PandasAwesome and @JohnHS have retired, and @rychessmaster1 has said they will retire after they complete their games. These are all valuable members of the community, so we hope to see them return in the future.

- The Bulldog Chess Federation issued an important announcement which can be seen here. 

- In what is perhaps the longest Bulldog game that has been completed in terms of time, @musketeerchess2017 drew @JamesAgadir in their first round match in the Giga-Dog. The game was 68 moves and 8 months long, needed 3 different moderators to keep the flame alive, including @Martin0, @evert823, and @Marks1420. The game even fought through a short muting of one of the players! Agadir is currently a contender to challenge the Bulldog Champion, so don't underestimate musketeer's skill!

- The Winter Dog is now underway. We have already had two quick results, and teams are going at it. 

- The 2021 Bulldog Arena is run by @Sollieman83 and is intended to be a year long arena-style tournament!