Week 7 Results
This week featured the battle for 2nd and 4th in the league, Team Lake Michigan and Team Lake Erie will both play as white against Team Lake Huron and Team Lake Ontario, respectively. Erie and Michigan are in a battle for second place, as Huron and Ontario are tied at the moment for 4th. The league leading Team Lake Superior has a bye this week. Lets get into the games.
Team Lake Michigan vs Team Lake Huron
Board 1: @bluberrie_tea vs @neatgreatfire 1 - 0
This game was the chess equivalent of being strangled by a massive constrictor snake. @bluberrie_tea got a small advantage early on, used his superior position to catch @neatgreatfire with a beautiful tactic, allowing a temporary exchange sacrifice, but following it up with an attack on a misplaced knight, ending up with two pieces for a rook, and a superior position, with much more active pieces. We know from @bluberrie_tea's history in this league that he doesn't need much, so as you'd expect he poured on the pressure forcing resignation on move 29. 92.6% accuracy, another near perfect performance.
Board 2: @tewald 0 - 1 @theKirbster https://www.chess.com/game/live/37063263139
Board 3: @blinddd7 0 - 1 @ngosman https://www.chess.com/game/live/36887975317
Board 6: @60_Minute-man 1 - 0 @shiverosu https://www.chess.com/game/live/37156878927
Board 7: @nb1258 1 - 0 @Joey759 https://www.chess.com/game/live/37337430815
Team Lake Michigan 4 - 3 Team Lake Huron
Team Lake Erie vs Team Lake Ontario
Board 1: @Practicality vs @lorookie 0 - 1
This Alapin Sicilian was a work of art by @lorookie. He took a purely positional advantage and worked a win from it in a way that I aspire to. When the queens went off the board, his advantage seemed to be his opponent's isolated pawns and passive piece placement. No material advantage or immediate mate threats, just positional weaknesses to take advantage of. To that tune he marched his king into the center, occupied the open files with his rooks, and eventually executed a beautiful attack on @practicality's center and kingside pawns, and eventually his king. This one has the possibility of Upset Of The Week.
Board 2: @Mhm_Ham vs @CRUSHR 1 - 0
@Mhm_Ham played a beautiful game here. They must be watching @bluberrie_tea and taking instruction because this one started with a small advantage, a few too many ineffectual pawn moves by @CRUSHR, and turned into assured destruction by the force of @Mhm_Ham's awesome attacking play. First they won a pawn, and then used that space in the center to force two passers. Eventually the threat of the passed pawns and the weakened kingside of their opponent proved too much and @CRUSHR resigned. This one feels MVPish.
Board 3: @KidCharlemagne420 vs @GoPikachu 1 - 0
@KidCharlemagne420 has been impressive time and time again in this league, this one is no different. He got a free pawn early on and poured on the pressure for the rest of the game. The accuracy at which this game was played by @KidCharlemagne420 is just nuts, I can only imagine how frustrating it was to play against. 95.6% total accuracy (3rd highest in league history), but the truly amazing part is there were ZERO bad moves. That means 0 Inaccuracies, 0 Mistakes, 0 Blunders, 0 Missed wins. The evaluation graph reminds me of a snowboard slope, a continual rise to eventual resignation. Not sure what post fight award this one will win just yet, as @KidCharlemagne420 was 150 points lower ranked than his opponent, but the accuracy begs for an MVP.
Board 4: @bspencer1967 1 - 0 @brettkoz https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/36897624345
Board 5: @Mathyou86 0 - 1 @a-blunderful-life https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/37318888413
Board 6: @Pawnscum76 1 - 0 @68ChessDaddo https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/36809976563
Board 7: @Mattlicious1 vs @littleshooters 1 - 0
We highlight this one this week because of the impressive checkmate in the middle of the board that @Mattlicious1 found on move 21. This game was wild, both players standing in the middle of the ring trading attacking blows, but as games like this tend to do, it ended quickly with an impressive knockout. This surely gets Knockout of the Night. Congrats, @Mattlicious1!
Team Lake Erie 5 - 2 Team Lake Ontario
This week went more predictably than last week, as Michigan and Erie get wins over the underdogs Huron and Ontario. This moves Team Lake Michigan to first place by a half of a point over Team Lake Superior, and a full point over Team Lake Erie. Huron and Ontario are tied in a battle to see who'll play for bronze. These last couple of weeks should be fun!
On to the awards.
Checkmate of the week: @Mattlicious1
Upset Of The Week: @KidCharlemagne420
MVP For Week 7: @KidCharlemagne420
League Standings After Week 7:
Team Lake Michigan: 4 - 1 - 1 : 4.5pts
Team Lake Superior: 4 - 1 - 0: 4.0pts
Team Lake Erie: 3 - 2 - 1: 3.5pts
Team Lake Huron: 1 - 4 - 0: 1pts
Team Lake Ontario: 1 - 5 - 0: 1pts
