Week 6 Results (A HUGE UPSET!)

This week we got back to normality in the sense that every game was decided over the board, but we were thrown a big curveball with a huge upset in one of the team matches. This week Team Lake Erie took the white pieces against Team Lake Michigan, a match to see who's leading the fight for second place, while big underdogs Team Lake Ontario played first against the league leading Team Lake Superior. Can you guess where the upset came in? Let's get started.

Team Lake Erie vs Team Lake Michigan
Board 1: @Practicality vs @bluberrie_tea 0 - 1

This queen’s pawn game was over my head from the beginning. Both players played normally but after @Practicality moved Bg5 on move 10, @bluberrie_tea responded by harassing the bishop with his kingside pawns. It always seems when I move my g pawn I end up getting mated in a few moves, but obviously @bluberrie_tea has a different relationship with complicated chess positions than I do. On move 14 instead of taking @Practicality’s bishop and doubling his f pawn, @bluberrie_tea did the perfect strategic chess move and planted a monster knight on f4. From there he continued to pour on the pressure with the introduction of his light squared bishop and the further advancement of his kingside pawns, until the pressure and actively placed pieces were too much, forcing the win of a piece on move 24 and resignation on move 29. This is another game where @bluberrie_tea just didn’t give any ground at all, he played the entire thing with a 92.2% accuracy, no blunders and only two mistakes. To put that into perspective, his opponent played nearly perfectly as well, not making any blunders the entire game.

Board 2: @Mhm_Ham 0.5 - 0.5 @tewald https://www.chess.com/game/live/36454851139

Board 3: @KidCharlemagne420 0 - 1 @blinddd7 https://www.chess.com/game/live/36388171375

Board 4: @bspencer1967 vs @Miahg 1 - 0

This Vienna game was harmless for the first 29 or 30 moves until @bspencer1967 found a hole in @Miahg’s defense, taking advantage of it with moves like Qf6+ and Nh4. Once he was in a position to drop bombs he maneuvered his queen back and forth with checks until @Miahg misstepped, allowing Ng6#. This game has the possibility of both COTW and UOTW, but we have a bunch of games to go through still. Either way, really nice game, @bspencer1967.

Board 5: @Mathyou86 0 - 1 @2288sam https://www.chess.com/game/live/36615039577

Board 6: @Pawnscum76 vs @nb1258 1 - 0 (you guys played the wrong color. the result didn't affect the match so it didn't matter, but please pay attention to which colors you are assigned) https://www.chess.com/game/live/36549038329

Board 7: @Mattlicious1 0 - 1 @60_Minute-Man https://www.chess.com/game/live/36903004251

Team Lake Erie 2.5 - 4.5 Team Lake Michigan


Team Lake Ontario vs Team Lake Superior

Board 1: @GoPikachu vs @houghton24 0 - 1

This Caro Kann game went out of book pretty early on, with @GoPikachu playing Bf4, probably trying to put an early stop to the placement of @houghton24’s dark squared bishop on d6. @houghton24 didn’t care much about that, playing Bd6 on the next move and summarily developing his army after the inevitable exchange on d6. On move 12 @houghton24 went for an exchange on f3, and @GoPikachu blundered by taking back with his g pawn, creating a weakness that @houghton24 took advantage of almost immediately. He rerouted his knight to f4 with a quick 3 move maneuver, taking control of g2, brought in his queen and ended the game on move 19. Taking down as strong of a player as @GoPikachu in 19 moves makes me feel compelled to award @houghton24 in some way, Knockout of the Night? Knockout with the knight, that’s for sure.

Board 2: @lorookie vs @MinnesotaDude 1 - 0

@lorookie might have played the perfect Spanish game here. If not perfect by everyone’s standards, I do believe this to be the most accurate game in the short history of the Great Lakes Live Chess League. 96.3% just beats out @bluberrie_tea’s week 3 performance by .2%. The first 17 moves of this game feel like I’m analyzing an old Fischer game, because @lorookie responded to all of @MinnesotaDude’s threats with a seemingly prophetic understanding of where his pieces should be when the real battle begins. He brought out his light squared bishop to b5 as is the Spanish way, but when the structure changed, it was quickly brought back to e2. He developed his knight to the seemingly powerful d5 square but when the opposing army changed their look he quickly rerouted it to the more traditional f5 square. All of this tremendous positional play meant that when @MinnesotaDude made the logical looking move d5 (the only blunder committed by either player in this game), @lorookie was perfectly placed to punish the subtle mistake. The next 11 moves are a flurry of exchanges that exploit bit by bit the positional advantages @lorookie had built up, ending with @MinnesotaDude resigning down 6 points in material. I don’t think it’s too early to call this the MVP performance for week 6. Really well done, @lorookie.

Board 3: @CRUSHR vs @Gorgonops 1 - 0

This quick French Defense game felt like an instruction in attacking that you’d find in How To Attack or some other similar book or course. @CRUSHR knew what he wanted probably before this game even started. I imagine he woke up that morning and said “I’m gonna deliver mate to the kingside today”, because every move seemed to take him further toward this goal. The thing I find interesting, and why I am deciding to spotlight this game today, is the unstoppable attack on the h file. Usually when you see something like this it’s an opposite side castling game, or maybe white’s king would still be in the center, not this one. @CRUSHR castled kingside, all the while developing a kingside attack, only to move his king out into the center at the last minute, making room for a game ending Queen-Rook battery. I very much enjoyed clicking through all 21 moves of this game. Well done, @CRUSHR.

Board 4: @a-blunderful-life 0.5 - 0.5 @nd23903 https://www.chess.com/live#g=36375078575

Board 5: @brettkoz 1 - 0 @kmeier45239 https://www.chess.com/game/live/36383367899

Board 6: @68ChessDaddo vs @Srobocop0615  1 - 0

This Pirc Defense game was wild. The evaluation bar shoots back and forth as these players navigate tense, complicated positions. What mattered in this game though had nothing to do with subtle positional techniques as we’ve seen in some of the games previously, in this one it had more to do with direct, in your face attacks and threats. In those types of games it usually comes down to calculation, but when both players decide to stand in the middle of the ring and throw bombs, it usually ends with the threat that hits right to the jaw, as @68ChessDaddo delivered on moves 24 and 25. He offered what looked like a free pawn on a2, and when @Srobocop0615 decided to take, @68ChessDaddo delivered the game ending haymaker, Qg7#. This one gets a spotlight not only because of the great tactical vision of @68ChessDaddo, but the fact that he beat a player more than 300 points higher ranked than himself! Get ready for that sweet sweet post fight bonus, @68ChessDaddo, well done.

Board 7: @littleshooters vs @Cosmosaic 0 - 1 (you guys also played the wrong colors, it didn't affect the match but pay attention to this going forward!)

This game looked like it had the makings of another big big upset, with @littleshooters getting out to a big advantage against the much higher ranked @Cosmosaic. In the middle of what looked and probably felt like a winning endeavor, @littleshooters got a bit greedy, taking material with his queen on the queenside, leaving his king in the open on the other side of the board. @Cosmosaic not only took advantage of this quickly, but did so by delivering checkmate with a pawn in the middle of the board. Certainly a candidate for COTW. If we had “comeback of the week” awards this would be a shoe in. Well done, @Cosmosaic.

Team Lake Ontario 4.5 - 2.5 Team Lake Superior

This week was a fun one to analyze, and boy did it make the upcoming last 4 weeks of the regular season more interesting. Team Lake Michigan took 2nd place by themselves by beating their rivals Team Lake Erie, but more interestingly than that, the absolute last placed, winless Team Lake Ontario managed to beat the league leading Team Lake Superior by a whole 2 points! Team Lake Superior was locked in that first place spot unable to be moved, so they're still at the top, but Team Lake Ontario is definitely making some noise as they start the second half of the season off right, tying Team Lake Huron for 4th place.

Weekly Awards:
This was tough for me to decide on everything but MVP. Sorry for those who I didn't award but mentioned as possible award winners in the analysis, congrats to those who did win.

Checkmate Of The Week: @Cosmosaic



Upset Of The Week: @68ChessDaddo



MVP For Week 6: @lorookie




League Standings:
Team Lake Superior: 4 - 1 - 0: 4.0pts
Team Lake Michigan: 3 - 1 - 1 : 3.5pts
Team Lake Erie: 2 - 2 - 1: 2.5pts
Team Lake Huron: 1 - 3 - 0: 1pts
Team Lake Ontario: 1 - 4 - 0: 1pts