How I Crushed 11 Opponents in a Row

Hello all, this is the story of how I beat 11 opponents in a row.

This is Round 1 of the 2024 Daily Chess Championship. 

We have 1 day for each move which could result in a single lasting over many months. This was something new for me, because I have always played 3 days a move with vacation, which gives more room to breathe if you forget a day to move. 

One case to see how grueling the tournament is is in group 14 where GM YoreDea (Alexander Bagrationi) timed out in 2 games against 1200 nigelnyc and therefore did not qualify to the next round. Another titled player, IM igorbjelobrk(Igor Bjelobrk) timed out against a 1200. 2300 Rated rbxzz timed out against a 1000 rated player. A fourth example is 2285 rated Octopus also timed out against a 1000 rated player. 

While upsets were far and few, there were still some strong players who did not make it to the second round. In Group 13, a 2200 rated player was found cheating. Another interesting thing in Group 13 was that more than 70% of games ended in timeouts. Group 19 was a similiar case with most of the games ending in timeout. Also in group 8, kasperfoslund, won a game and lost a game against entromaster1. While entromaster1 went on to win the rest of his games, kasperfoslund drew another game which therefore did not make him qualify for the next round. 

My daily rating, standing at around a modest 1600, was not impressive at all. However, I had not played daily chess in a long time so I was aiming for a full score of 22 points. I was against lower rated opponents, but I still had to be careful. I had 11 enemies to beat.

Enemy 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

I had 5 enemies go down in 1 day due to timeouts. Nothing interesting.

5 Down, 6 to Go

Enemy 6 - Brilliant Games

My first enemy that was playing moves was shiyan26

He was making fast moves and I was too. My first game to finish might have been my most beautiful one.

My second game against them was much simpler and my opponent just blundered a pawn and then a rook.

6 Down, 5 to Go

I already had cleared more than half of the people in my group. 

Enemy 7 -  Opening Blunders

My second real opponent was preetham_2461

In the first game, he seemingly forgot that his knight would be undefended once his bishop moved.

My second game against them, my opponent made some bad moves with his bishop and was forced to trade 2 minor pieces for a rook and a pawn. It was smooth sailing after that.

7 Down, 4 to Go

Enemy 8 - Opening Blunders Again

My third opponent was donniebirthday

In the first game, my opponent hung a knight and then their queen for free.

In our second game, I went for a very active approach since their king was out in the open and eventually I trapped their queen.

8 Down, 3 to Go

After 2 weeks of playing, there were only 3 opponents. A close moment happened that could have ended me was on the last day of the second week, I had forgotten to make a move and when I checked my time, I had 1 hour left for 2 games. 

Enemy 9 - Illegal Powers 

On the same day of my close call, just a couple of minutes of my opponent - DR_BHATT - hade made his move, his account got banned for fair play violations. Presumably, he was cheating against me in our daily game. I had not really seen his cheating powers because we were still in the opening. He was one of my major rivals, and I wasn't sure if I could take him down and to see his account get banned made me see the finish line.

9 Down, 2 to Go

I had 2 games left against 2 opponents and I was much better in both games. I was ready to win this group.

Enemy 10 - Weird Opening Gambits/Choices

My ticket to the second round was stamped after wins against my 10th enemy - checksilon003 - 

My opponent played an opening blunder that just loses a bishop. 

In the second game, my opponent blundered a pawn in the opening and I slowly converted the win. 

Enemy 11 - Smooth Finish

I had already secured my ticket to the next round, but I also wanted to end with a full 22/22 score. My last enemy was - Chippy120

In my first game, my opponent blundered a pawn and then with a beautiful knight move was able to win an exchange and my opponent subsequently resigned.

In my second game against the same opponent, we went into a even endgame where he blundered a pawn and I easily converted the win. This game ended up being the longest, but it only actually took 2 weeks.

I have achieved my goal of a perfect 22/22. The second round will be much harder though with stronger opponents. Stay tuned, thank you for reading my blog.