Week 2 Results

Week two spanned two weeks over the Christmas holiday, and whether due to holiday complications or just players we hadn't weeded out yet, we had quite a few no shows, especially for Team Lake Ontario. All that stuff aside, we did have 10 games decided over the board. Let's dive in.

Team Lake Ontario vs Team Lake Erie

This match had four games decided over the board.

Board 1: @GoPikachu vs @Practicality

This Scotch game went smoothly into the endgame where a pawn blunder lost a pawn and activated @Practicality's king to be always one step ahead of @GoPikachu. These types of losses are tough to digest, especially if you consider how close @GoPikachu was to a really impressive upset. The fact is, when you're playing someone of @Practicality's level, a pawn blunder is all it takes to lose the game. This game went almost 70 moves and ended in a checkmate for @Practicality, maybe this week's MVP trophy belongs with them? Let's continue the results analysis to find out.

Board 2: @lorookie vs @mhm_ham

This was a classical Caro Kann with 4... Nf6, a line I like quite a lot. Rather than 5. Nxf6 @lorookie played Ng3, a slightly slower line that I don't know as well as either of these two players. After some shuffling and some weightless threats, they enetered the middlegame with white having a queenside pawn majority and black with the kingside majority, no sides with any obvious weaknesses. As white was trying to take over the d file, black was maneuvering his rook and queen to meet the threats and on move 24 @mhm_ham misclicked Qc6, to which @lorookie quickly replied by taking the queen, but the very next move they both agreed to a draw! Neither player mentioned this in the forum or to me, so I can only assume @lorookie was disappointed with the game ending like that and decided on the classy draw acceptance. I don't know too many players who default to accepting a draw after a Botez gambit, but I do know that it had me smiling. I love the sportsmanship. Really well done, @lorookie.

Board 4: @a-blunderful-life 0 - 1 @kidcharlemagne420 https://www.chess.com/game/live/33706750675

Board 9: @littleshooters 0 - 1 @mattlicious1 https://www.chess.com/game/live/33363167237

Team Lake Erie won this one by a long shot. As far as games decided over the board Team Lake Erie won 4.5 to 0.5, if you count the forfeit losses it was 6.5 - 0.5. Does Team Lake Ontario have what it takes to bounce back from a blowout loss like this? They have a tall order, as they are playing the very strong Team Lake Michigan in week 3, but the team looks a bit different after the week 2 mixups, so only time will tell.

Team Lake Huron vs Team Lake Michigan

This match had 6 games decided over the board, with some great chess being played by both teams, let's start with board #1 and the league's strongest player, @bluberrie_tea.

Board 1: @neatgreatfire vs @bluberrie_tea

This game started out relatively normally, with @neatgreatfire playing d4 and @bluberrie_tea responding with d6, intending on an Indian setup with g6 Bg7. Everything went as you'd expect it until move 26 when the move Nd5 lost a pawn and opened up the sleeping giant on g7. The next move for @neatgreatfire after recapturing on d5 was to move his rook out of harms way on a1, I'm not sure if this move was a misclick or not, but the rook ended up on a2, where @bluberrie_tea's knight could snatch it up. In a matter of 4 moves what was an even game is now losing for @neatgreatfire, in fact the resignation came in after move 33 where it was clear there was either going to be a checkmate or white was going to lose his queen. This makes @bluberrie_tea's record in the Great Lakes Live Chess League 2-0, and the question still remains, is there anyone in this league that can take them down?

Board 2: @TheKirbster vs @TEwald

This was a queen's pawn game that slowly got worse and worse for @TEwald, starting on move 4 with the move c4. I think @TEwald was hoping for 5.Qxc4 Qxb2, but that loses to Qxc8, so, rather than trading pawns, @TEwald was forced to play Nc6, allowing @TheKirbster's queen back to b3. This game was decided on these types of small mistakes, @TheKirbster took advantage of every one and built up a strong advantage in the rook and bishop endgame, eventually winning by resignation after the move a5 proved @TheKirbster was going to make a queen and win the game.

Board 3: @ngosman vs @blinddd7

This game was tragically decided by a misclick, and with our lack of games being played in week 2 this misclick ended up winning @ngosman upset of the week. I hate putting a spotlight on such a game, but someone has to win upset of the week, right? It was an interesting game nonetheless, so let's take a look. Entering the middlegame it looked like it was going to be a quick and violent encounter, @ngosman's king was in the center, his h pawn doubled on g3 and the c and d files were wide open. Seeing the board and its "win now or lose in the center" message for @ngosman, on move 17 he decided to sack his bishop on g6 in order to pose a threat to black's king. In this position there are two moves that secure the advantage for black, fxg6 and Qxg6, but in a weird misclick situation, @blinddd7 played Qxe3+ and resigned on the next move.

Board 4: @Gherkins54868 0 - 1 @brettkoz https://www.chess.com/game/live/34024846235

Board 6: @Joey759 vs @2288sam

This game gets a spotlight because of the ending. @2288sam had a healthy advantage in the endgame and could have pushed his h pawn for an easy checkmate but he has enough Rook and King endgame experience to realize he doesn't need that queen at all. In perfect endgame play, he locked @joey759's king on the first rank and brought the king in to pin him with opposition, once he had the opposition, the waiting rook could land on the first rank for a checkmate. Checkmate of the Week goes to @2288sam for this principled method of putting his opponent away.

Board 8: @shiverosu 0 - 1 @nb1258 https://chess.com/live/game/33439757429

Team Lake Michigan won this match 4 - 2 over the board and a total of 5 - 3 when including forfeits.

Weekly Awards:

Checkmate Of The Week: @2288sam


Upset Of The Week: @ngosman

MVP For Week 2: @Practicality



The Standings After Week 2 Are As Follows:
Team Lake Michigan: 1 - 0 - 1 : 1.5pts
Team Lake Erie: 1 - 0 - 1 : 1.5pts
Team Lake Superior: 1 - 0 - 0 : 1.0pts
Team Lake Huron: 0 - 1 - 0 : 0pts
Team Lake Ontario: 0 - 2 - 0 : 0pts