Untitled Tuesday and Saturday Recaps - November

The November recap was written by @dpnorman.

Untitled Tuesday: November 2019

The November edition of Untitled Tuesday featured 27 players and a rating range from the 2300s to the 1100s. The field included nine players finishing over 2000 and one of them indeed placed first, but as often happens, it wasn't one of the heaviest pre-tournament favorites who ended up bringing home the gold. 

Miss_Tical, who entered the event with a rating of 1989, was not among the highest seeds in the event, but would end up having one of the more surprising performances we've seen in Untitled Tuesday. Starting off with a bang, Miss_Tical defeated MangoMankey in the second round, who was by some margin the highest-rated player entering the event. 

Although the highest-rated player in the event suffered the above early loss, the second highest-rated player, on the other hand, got off to an excellent start. SamuelIFowler started on 3.5/4, including some very clean and convincing victories. 

But SamuelIFowler's hot start didn't last. After starting 3.5/4, he suffered consecutive losses in the middle of the event to lower-rated opponents. 

Meanwhile Miss_Tical, after losing in round three, went on a 5.5/7 run to end the event. Some of the games were dominant.

Others were a little trickier:

Heading into the final round, Miss_Tical had 6.5/9, good for shared first with SmyslovFan and SamuelIFowler. With none of the three playing each other, each would have a chance to secure at least a tie for first by taking care of business in their individual games. First SamuelIFowler:

Then SmyslovFan:

and finally Miss_Tical, who, with this win, finished on 7.5/10 and in clear first.

As the only player with 7.5/10, Miss_Tical won the November 2019 edition of Untitled Tuesday, with chessguy1012, Mazetix, and MangoMankey, three players who entered the last round on 6/9 and won, tying for second through fourth. In all, seven players (the last being RicardoFagner) finished with between 6.5 and 7.5 points, meaning that this was one of the closer and more tightly-contested of our Untitled Tuesday tournaments.

Detailed results:https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/untitled-tuesday---november-1117647

Early in the Saturday event, it appeared as if Miss_Tical was on track to win once again, starting with four wins to open the tournament. However, it wasn't to be, as another player dominated the field and went undefeated through all ten rounds to earn clear first.

Miss_Tical was in clear first through four games, making use of some tactics related to king safety:

In the fifth round, Miss_Tical faced MikeChesser in a battle of the top two players in the standings, both at the time and in the final crosstable. A very early blunder was the biggest factor in the latter's victory, which gave him sole control of first place in the tournament from that point on.

MikeChesser went on to turn in one of the more impressive performances we've seen in Untitled Saturday. He scored many convincing wins, including this one against fellow recap author and Untitled Tuesday ironman SmyslovFan...

...and this against chessguy1012:

From round three on, only SamuelIFowler was able to avoid defeat against MikeChesser, who finished the event on a 9/10 score, decimating the field on the path to clear first.

Miss_Tical, despite a last-round loss, was able to secure second, while SamuelIFowler and MangoMankey, the two highest-rated players in the field, both late-joined and managed to get six points, tying patzers for third place.

Detailed results at https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/saturday-event---november-1117648

The November recap was written by @dpnorman.

To join future tournaments, join the Untitled Tuesday club: https://www.chess.com/club/untitled-tuesday