Cool and Long Endgames! + Winning a Draw With an International Master?

Hello! It's awesome to see you again on ChessComTakeover!

 Blog Part 1. Welcome!

Today, we will be analyzing cool/long endgames from live open seeks, I will be going about my recent stats, and - you guessed it - A DRAW WITH AN INTERNATIONAL MASTER! Actually, it was more like an accidental encounter with an IM. I'll explain later. Stay tuned!

What my original plan was for today's blog was to showcase long, or at least cool endgames! But I came across an issue. When writing blogs, I usually think this quote from the top blogger Lightning, "Quality over Quantity". I checked my Chess Library and looked at the games I had saved, and I was not sure if I had enough quality games saved to make a blog! What am I going to do??

Coincidentally, right when I was trying to decide on the next topic for this post, I played a game and drew with an IM! That brings us to the next part of this blog! NOTE! I would actually recommend skipping to blog part 3 or 4, because there is really nothing to learn from my draw with an IM. The match that we played you could just consider "a joke".

 Blog Part 2. Drawing an IM is not as exciting as it seems.

You know that I am an artist, right? So, if I "draw" an IM, then-

Okay, fine. Sorry about the pun.

Anyhow, let me explain what actually what happened in the game, it is not even that interesting. In fact, it is probably going to be my only "encounter" with an IM where I do not learn anything!

The user Zivkovicn was the IM in today's "encounter". I simply found him online after he was advertising some kind of youtube channel, then I invited him to play a rated 5 min blitz match.

You probably figured out that he accepted my game challenge!

Now, let's jump ahead to the end of the game. The next photo looks like a draw, but actually this photo...

... looked like this:

Let's make this quick, here is the game:

And here is the game link:

https://www.chess.com/game/live/74289096689 

I promise my life that the link used to work. But Chess.com does not save games which were "aborted", so the link will just take you to the Chess.com "Play" section or Rick Astley. I guess the only thing we can learn from the link is the game number, 74289096689, which proves this was real match.

I even saved this photo of the "game" when the link to the match worked(My background is too light, you can't even read anybody's usernames):

Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Wait a second, Ray! this was not a draw!" "You just sent an IM a challenge and he never moved!"

Well, let's prove the draw! You saw the last photo above, right?

Yep! It's a draw! 1/2-1/2! Or at least Chess.com recorded the "game" as a draw! And no, we did not agree to a draw on the first move (I would never agree to a draw with an IM). It is obvious that this game was not a "stalemate" or a"threefold repetition". Just a good ol' draw.

 Blog Part 3. My stats.

Let's move on. It's been a while since I gave a thorough update on my stats. The last time was all the way back at this blog! It's been about a month since that post.

It's almost my third month of being on Chess.com, so it's about time that I gave you guys an update on my stats.

I have been steadily advancing for pretty much all of the rating types. I even am finally playing more blitz!

Meanwhile, In my league I am still stuck at champion. Again, as mentioned in this blog, what I plan to do is keep studying and analyzing games, and when I feel ready, STEAL the title as LEGEND!

Also, I am almost at 10,000 profile points! Although, I mentioned in previous blogs, those points are kind of meaningless.

Remember, If you want to see more of my stats, you can always head to my profile.

Also regarding my stats, I realized I am really good (or at least pretty good) at 3+ Check. (For those of you who do not know what 3+ Check is, here is an article) I mostly found out that I have lots of potential for being good at 3+ Check because of this tournament. I got 6th place out of 77 players in an official 3+ Check tournament! Not bad I imagine for a beginner like me!

Lets continue on to the next part of today's blog! Thanks for staying with us!

 Blog part 4. Analyzing live open-seek games.

Next I will be showcasing five games (mostly wins) which I chose that either had a long or cool endgame! I hope you can learn something new from them!

Lets start with this game:

That game was just a good reminder about how never to give up. Even if you lost a rook to a bishop early on in a game. Also I find it a good reminder to look for ways to prevent checkmate other then using pawns as protection(because protecting my king with pawns is usually the first thing I do to prevent checkmate threats).

Let's move on to our next live, open-seek game.

Now we have a game that reminds us that there is always the possibility of not winning, even if we have a strong material advantage.

Next we have game #3!

Pretty straight forward that game. Both sides had chances and I came out on top.

Let us keep moving! Forward to game #4!

Not too much to learn from that game overall, but I still consider it cool.

We are getting close to the end! Last of today's matches, game #5!

 Blog part 5. Conclusion.

I was hoping for more losses because we have learned more. But I guess I am still advancing in my chess skills and rating, so it seems as if I am the only one who acts "cool" with tactics in my games. I'm sure that'll change in the future, because there are a lot of other cool chess players out there.

Anyway, I hope you were able to learn a few things (or at least laugh) because of something in my blog! As always, I hope that you stop by my blog again next week! And if you have any requests/suggestions/feedback, be sure to comment down below!

See you later! Now I'm off to eat the rest of my grilled tofu.