"The Knight's Fork Weekly" --- ISSUE 3 --- Live Chess MARATHON Battles!!
It's funny how time repeats itself. Here I am, like last week, once again drained and STILL under the weather after a very long chess day on Twitter and watching the games and our recap shows that I'm sitting here doing another issue of KFW. But this time, I have Metallica blaring in the background, so at least that's different. 
So this is what we are doing tonight chess fiends...
In honor of the 117-move marathon game in the final game of the Leuven Rapids section of the Grand Chess Tour that saw Nakamura overcome Caruana, I am doing games tonight that have that same type of marathon feel to them. They'll be longer games, usually over 70 moves+, and as usual, no analysis but the opening used in each game and the type of result.
I might do more games tonight, to keep with the marathon feel, but I am in LIVE Chess right now looking to shine my bright blue spotlight on some very long games. So without any further chit-chat from me, it's showtime.
This first game was a 1|0, played a few hours ago, between FM KamilPlichta, as Black, from Poland against Gomatte from Norway. It began with the B02 Chase Variation of the Alekhine's Defence, and lasted 74 moves, to which afterwards Gomatte resigned.
Next on the docket tonight, we have an FM battle between FMCASTE from the Phillipines and BiotixJack, hailing from Turkey. This one was a long pressure cooker-type game, going 94 moves in a 3|0, and even though it took place a few days ago, it was definitely one to watch real-time. Good thing for Chessbase that I can save the result and the game so I can retrieve it when I needed it. It started off in an A48 1. d4 Nf6 ine, which included Torre, London, and Colle Systems. It might not have been a decisive result at the end, but it was a lot of fun watching.
Now this one...this one was longer than the last one. At 106 moves, with White flagging on time, it was a little anti-climactic to say the least, but still full of tension. It was a 2|0, with levilish from the U.S. as White and NM Silent_Terror as Black. It was an A47 opening, another 1. d4 Nf6 ine, which included Torre, London, and Colle System line, which ended with that wicked red flag in favor of the NM.
Next, yesterday there was a 3|0 game with another name I've become very familiar with, NM VanishingDragon, from Japan, as he took on FM Nazar-Nazar from Ukraine. The game lasted 77 moves before VanishingDragon was checkmated. We had an A30 Symmetrical Engligh: Double Fianchetto and Hedgehog opening, and after a barrage of Black checks towards the end, the mate finally came.
OK the 5th and final game tonight, as "...And Justice For All" winds down on iTunes, is the one between the two highest ranking players of this week's issue. IM QuestToGM goes head-to-head in a 1|0 vs GM GeorgMeier, who had Black. If you've been around LIVE Chess long enough, you know how strong these players are, well, they did not disappoint here. This game was played yesterday, but I kept it, and was going to go up whether or not this issue had a "marathon" theme to it, but in the end, it all worked out. We had an A14 English Opening here, and after 90 moves...KA-BLAM, flagged. Who was flagged? Check out the game.
So how was that issue? Don't take my word for it about how many great games are being played every day in LIVE. This is a small, *very* small sampling on what's going on here at Chess.com. If you've never been to LIVE chess, whether to play or watch, you're missing out on some fantastic chess, whether the players are Masters or not.
Now that the Tony Robbins speech is out there now, I hope you all enjoyed KFW -- issue 3. Have a great night and a great weekend everyone.
-Mark
(Co-founder/Super Admin of the Official Chess.com/TV Group)
