2021 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship Round 3

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome Everyone! 

My name is KnightOnRimIsDim and having made the 3rd Round of last year's 2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship, I am back again this year 2021 to fight once again in Chess.com Daily Chess Championship (tournament link: https://www.chess.com/tournament/2021-chess-com-daily-chess-championship )! This year I cruised though Round 1 and got extremely lucky to be able to get through Round 2 and as expected Round 3 had provided me with many even tougher and stronger opponents!

This year's tournament started at the beginning of 2021 with a total of 16505 players. By Round 3 that started around May 19, 2021, there were 149 players remaining with a total of 13 round robin groups with either 11 or 12 players per group. Only the player(s) with the highest score of each group would advance to the next round and there were no tiebreakers, so the competition was fierce in every group and the usual mentality was try to win as many games as possible and not easily take draws. The time control was 1 day per move no vacation allowed and this was considered to be a fast and demanding pace for daily chess and traditionally the time out rate has always been quite high for this tournament.

For Round 3 I was very lucky(or unlucky) to be able to be paired in Group 1 with International Master(IM) Uffe Vinther-Schou with over 2500 chess.com daily chess rating at the start of Round 3 and is also the defending Chess.com Daily Chess champion from 2020 as well. My Group 1 had a total of 4 titled players and 11 players total with the chess.com daily chess ratings ranging from 1900's all the way up to 2500's at the start of Round 3.

Pairings and Results:

Below shows the pairings and final results of 2021 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship Round 3 Group 1.

IM Uffe Vinther-Schou ended up winning our Group 1 and advancing to Round 4 with a perfect score of 20 points and won every single game against everybody in our group. To put it simply, he crushed all of us. I finished 3rd in the group with 14 points and failed to advance to Round 4. Two players in my group were banned and two other players timed out all their games early on in Round 3, so basically I had a total of 12 relevant games against 6 players in my Group 1 for Round 3 as shown in all my games and analysis below.

Game 1 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus International Master(IM) IMUffeVinther-Schou and last year 2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Champion.

This has to be one of the most heartbreaking daily chess games I have ever played as I was outplaying my opponent and winning against such a strong player all the way up to move 23. However, one of the hardest things to do is to win and convert and close out winning positions against strong players and there was definitely pressure on me and I definitely did not handle the pressure and the chess well after move 23. This game just shows how strong these titled players are and how difficult it is to beat them and if you just give them a small window of opportunity to make a comeback, then they will play very accurate and precise moves and take advantage.

Game 2 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus International Master(IM) IMUffeVinther-Schou and last year 2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Champion.

This game just shows how strong these titled players are and how good of chess positional understanding they have. I thought I was doing OK into the middlegame and then all of a sudden I find myself positionally dead lost even though I didn't really make any obvious or big mistakes in my play. This game was just pure positional chess with not much tactics and I thought my opponent's 13th move idea a3 was brilliant and it was like subtle alien chess to me that I could not understand during the game and was unaware of the danger until it was too late.

Game 3 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus JanihalmiAtti.

This game was played against an aggressive style opponent and he definitely chose the variation of the French Tarrasch that's suitable for his style. I felt that after Black's 16th move e5, Black was already equal if not better and it was me who had to be very careful not to get my kingside attacked under fire. I felt that I did not have much chance at all to play for a win in this game and the best result that I could have gotten was to defend my position and get a draw.

Game 4 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus JanihalmiAtti.

This game was played against an aggressive style opponent and he chose a good opening Trompowsky Attack that's a little bit offbeat and yet still a very good opening and dangerous. My opponent's aggressive style can be shown by his 14th move g4 and that was quite a surprise for me. I managed to fight off my opponent's attacks and tried to create counterplay of my own. However, toward the end I still made mistakes and I think my opponent was even winning but he just wanted a draw and end the game quickly since there were no chances to get 1st in our Group 1 anyways.

Game 5 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus Fide Master(FM) Robert_Oros.

This game was played against a strong opponent and my try with my 12th move b3 Queenside fianchetto setup did not work out well and my opponent was able to put pressure on my position so that I was not able to set up a strong attack against him. It turned out that my opening setup kind of backfired on me and I as White was the one who was struggling more to find good moves. In the end Black even had chances to win but missed the move 24...Na2! and so the game was agreed to a draw since neither player had much of a chance to get first place in Group 1 anyways.

Game 6 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus Fide Master(FM) Robert_Oros.

For this game, my opponent as White used the Haag Gambit of Sicilian Canal Attack and really got a nice initiative against me as Black. My lack of king safety and my opponent's initiative really killed me in the end and this game shows the power of initiative and the importance of king safety and that material of one pawn is not worth that much compared to having the initiative and king safety.

Game 7 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus Candidate Master(CM) novocane.

This game as White I played the Rossolimo against the Sicilian and I tried to be aggressive with my 9th move g4 and also grab an extra pawn on move 13 with Bxc5 and all of this turned out to backfire on me as my King on the Queenside came under very heavy attack. I fought very hard and struggled to defend my King and position and I was lucky to get a draw in the end as my opponent did not find all the best moves to give me that crushing blow.

Game 8 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus Candidate Master(CM) novocane.

For this game I played the Black side of King's Indian Defense Samisch that turned into a Benoni and it is always challenging to play the Benoni well. The game itself was very interesting and chaotic though and I was lucky that my opponent as White did not find all the best moves and execute all the tactical blows against me. In the end the game was fought to a draw and both sides missed some chances throughout the game.

Game 9 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus JIDEMONI.

For this game I played the White side of a French Tarrasch with a more open variation after 3....c5 from Black. I played this game well as I understood the theme of blockading opponent's isolated central pawn with Knights in front of it and also making that square in front of opponent's central isolating pawn as an outpost for my Knights. This game turned into a more positional game that I enjoy playing as I slowly improve and maneuver my pieces and took advantage of my opponent's weak and isolated pawns and exposed king as well.

Game 10 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus JIDEMONI.

This game my opponent as White used a London setup against my Black Kingside fianchetto setup as we see these two setups go against each other. My opponent played quite well though and after my opponent's 13th move c5 I was definitely a bit surprised by the move and felt the danger that White's Queenside pawns have the majority and can all be storming down in the long run and overrun my Queenside. I was rather fortunate that White did not find a4 on his 19th move with the intention to follow up with b5. The game was very chaotic and back and forth and in the end I was lucky to be able to pull out the win as my opponent gave me some chances and did not always play the best and good moves.

Game 11 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as White versus is_ludshego_goroda.

This game as White I played against my opponent's Sicilian Dragon but he chose a 9th move Nxd4 line trading pieces and set a more drawish tone for the game. Queens were traded by move 18 and it was not easy for either side, especially me on the White side, to push for the win and an advantage in this game. In the end the game was settled into a draw and there was not much chance for either of us to get 1st in Group 1 anyways.

Game 12 and Analysis:

Below shows my game and analysis as Black versus is_ludshego_goroda.

This game as Black I played against White's English Opening Four Knights Kingside Fianchetto line and I definitely was comfortable playing this with positional opportunities such as playing the move Nd4 on move 16. White played well though to fight back against my center invasion and regained the control of the center. In the end White thought that he had a chance to win a pawn but missed a tactic that allowed my Queen and Rook to still defend each other horizontally on a straight line despite having an enemy Queen in between them. Thus, I was lucky to win this game due to my opponent missing a tactics trick at the end.

Concluding Thoughts:

Having played Chess.com's Daily Chess Championship for the 2nd time in consecutive years, it does not get any easier and the opponents are still tough as usual. The time control of 1 day per move no vacation allowed is also quite grueling as usual and the time out rate of players in this tournament is quite high. 

Titled players and very strong players in general are tough to play and not only is it hard to get winning positions against them, it is also not easy to win and convert winning positions against them either. They also have very strong positional chess understanding and they make use of the initiative very well and expose opponents' lack of king safety.

Enemy's isolated central pawns are meant to be blockaded and the square in front of enemy's isolated center pawn should be used as an outpost for Knights.

When opponent is starting a flank attack on the side, it is often a good idea to strike back and create counterplay in the center or on the other flank if possible.

It is often not a good idea to be a greedy pawngrubber at the cost of initiative and king safety.

I finished with a similar 3rd Round appearance for this tournament as I did last year and failed once again to advance to Round 4 and it is definitely not easy to get past the 3rd Round for this tournament.

2021 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship had been quite enjoyable and I look forward for an opportunity to play in a fun tournament such as this one in the near future.