Untitled Tuesday 2018 and December Recap
The 2018 recap was written by @MGleason.
Apologies for the delay on the November recap. It should be coming very soon.
2018 was totally dominated by @SmyslovFan from very early on. Playing in most of our events, he collected a total of four tournament wins, two second place finishes, and two third place finishes. That means he placed in the top three in eight out of a total 24 tournaments over the course of the year - a remarkable record of consistency.
Along the way, he collected a total 150 points towards the 2018 leaderboard, nearly 100 points ahead of second place.
The race for 2nd place was much more competitive. @kstorn, on 54, barely edged out @chessguy1012 (51), @Everyfishknows (50), @cjxchess17 (50), and @Carpe_noctum (47).
| Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
| @SmyslovFan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 150 |
| @kstorn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 54 |
| @chessguy1012 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 51 |
| @Everyfishknows | 2.5 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| @cjxchess17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 50 |
| @Carpe_noctum | 3 | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| @CP6033 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 |
| @Lllionking | 0 | 2 | 1 | 43 |
| @KaosKid | 1 | 0 | 1 | 40 |
| @freude34 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 40 |
The full leaderboard can be found here: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/event-history-and-leaderboard-2018
2018 was also unfortunately affected by several prominent fair play bans. @Ast_F, @scacchista89, @guedesirace2, and @SpeedyChess11 all played in several of our events and finished in top spots, although in one case the play in Untitled Tuesday tournaments was probably clean and the fair play violations were elsewhere. Let this be a reminder: cheating doesn't pay. Chess.com has significantly increased the resources going to cheat detection over the last year, and Untitled Tuesday tournaments all get extra scrutiny.
The December recap was written by @dpnorman.
Untitled Tuesday: December 4, 2018
The Untitled Tuesday event for December 2018 was hotly contested at the top between a few familiar names: Everyfishknows, SamuelIFowler, CrackLionIX, and ChessZone9937, among others. But it wasn't clear, at least in the early goings, that it was going to be that way. A surprise name near the top of the standings was that of 1500-player ataquesalrey, who had a rather shocking 3.5/4 start with a few of the tournament's biggest upsets:
Through four, ataquesalrey was in equal first with Everyfishknows and Miss_Tical at 3.5 points each.
Eventually, as the proverb dictates, all good things must come to an end, and it was the frequent Untitled Tuesday participant Everyfishknows who put an end to ataquesalrey's "Cinderella" run and vaulted himself into clear first.
Another contender for the top of the standings was SamuelIFowler, who defeated Miss_Tical with the black pieces to move to 4/5.
For his part, Everyfishknows kept himself at the top of the leaderboard with a short win in the King's Indian in the very next game:
Despite a string of wins mid-event, Everyfishknows made a costly blunder in the ninth game and lost, leading to a tie with SamuelIFowler atop the standings heading into the final round.
Each player won, and the tiebreaker went to Everyfishknows. ChessZone9937, ericbowiereed, and CrackLionIX tied for third behind SamuelIFowler.
Untitled Saturday: December 8, 2018
The Saturday edition of Untitled December saw frequent Untitled Tuesday participant cjxchess17 jump out to an early lead, but soon he would be joined atop the leaderboard by a few competitors, resulting in a race for wins between several of the event's higher-rated players. cjxchess17's hot start included the following win with white over MikeChesser:
However, his run came to an end at the hands of Astraferz, although the game should have been drawn. In the short time control, little Puzzle Rush-style tactics in mutual time pressure can often decide the game.
This allowed Astraferz to take control of the top of the standings for one round, but an upset win by Ochen_Zlaya made things confusing again, and allowed cjxchess17 to get back into the lead.
While the rest traded punches, cjxchess17 started racking up wins again. With the black pieces, he won a smooth game in the Sicilian against patzers to stay at the top of the field.
One of the craziest games of this month's Untitled Tuesday came from Astraferz against Sergezu, where black actually promoted a pawn in the middlegame, blundered away the queen he made, and luckily managed to win anyway!
Despite the crazy win, Astraferz was not quite able to catch cjxchess17, who made a draw in the final round. The player with the best chance to tie for first going into the final round was actually Ochen_Zlaya, but it was not to be:
The final standings saw cjxchess17 finish in clear first, Astraferz a half-point behind, and Ochen_Zlaya a half-point behind Astraferz to round out the top three.
