Battle of the Species: 1 Penguin vs. 11 Humans

Hello there to the human (or fellow penguin, or any other living organism) reading this. I decided to write a blog about my experience at the 2023 Chess.com Daily Chess Tournament, regardless of how it goes. Win or lose, I hope there's lots of great things to discuss about.

I write this blog while sitting on a nice, cool piece of ice in an undisclosed location in Antarctica. It is currently summer time here, where it is a balmy -25°C (-13°F) with 24/7 sunlight. If anyone is wondering how I can access chess.com from the frozen continent, well, there are these 2 Canadian scientists with a research station here. One of them dropped a phone of some sort in the ice (I hope it wasn't for anything important, like data collection), and I took it. I also am stealing their wi-fi. I hang out near their station all the time - they think I'm just a curious, cute penguin, but in reality, I'm trying to get a better signal.

This is my 5th year playing at this annual tournament on the site (missed the inaugural 2018 version), and I've enjoyed it each time. Every year, by coincidence (or perhaps luck/skill), I manage to score higher and higher than I did the previous year. Here are my results from previous years:

(note in 2019 chess.com calculated the final overall standings in a different way, hence the much higher number - if the same formula was used for 2020-22, I'd be 3709th, 1631st and 3621st respectively)

I say that every year my score gets better and better, and looking at my scores, it's true. I hope to get at least 20 points this year. Note that the minimum score required to guarantee advancement is 21, so I should be due to advancing by 2025.

Although winning this tournament is next to impossible for me to accomplish, I have a lifetime goal of advancing to Round 2. I also had the same goal for the official non-open chess.com tournaments, advancing on my 6th try. I hope to achieve it one sooner this time.

In order to advance to Round 2, I need to defeat the 11 humans in my group, so might as well start a counter:

Humans remaining: 11

This is my group by the way, in table form:

* Unrated

There are always plenty of people who time out at the start, and this year is no exception. Half my group timed out without playing a single move (or only 2 moves), so really, it's a 6 player group. My group had 7 unrated players, and only 2 of them participated. Only 1 of the 5 rated players timed out virtually all their games, and that player still played a few moves before abandoning. 

Here are some stats on timeouts in the past:

"Early TO" refers to games won by timeout on January 2nd of that year (so basically the game lasted 1 day, and my opponent probably did not make a move). "Total TO" are games won by timeout, in any number of moves.

I have never lost a game via timeout in the editions of these tournaments, which is something anyone should be proud of, regardless of how you actually fare. To play 22 concurrent games with no vacation and a time control of 1 day/move without timing out is impressive and shows your dedication to daily chess. There should be a trophy for that to be honest.

Regardless, 22 games is a lot, and a win is a win, so,

Humans remaining: 5

Below I will provide a quick summary of each of the remaining 10 games I played, in chronological order. For each game, I will provide mention the highlights, and include the link, but in order to keep this blog from going on forever, I will only include diagrams/PGN if something of note happens.

1. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714127

Nothing to really report in this first game vs. doxaergon98 - white's c3 point became weak in this Grünfeld Defense, I won a piece, then it was just a matter of simplifying and converting.

2. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714759

In this next game vs. tonyd2788, white played 3.f3, opening the kingside. I knew white wasn't gonna castle kingside, but I did it myself, a bit of a bold move as white was planning to castle the other way. White for some reason didn't play 10.gxh3, allowing me to be up a piece, but white launched a prolific attack on the kingside. Luckily I was able to hold, get the queen in a pin, and the rest is victory.

3. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714107

This game is my 2nd concurrent game vs. doxaergon98. Black tried a Greek Gift sacrifice with 6...Bxh2+ but it doesn't work as 9.Bf4 saves the day.

Black kept pressing but blunders later on with 16...Qxg4. Better is 16...Qc1+, and looking at the engine afterward, I think black gets some counterplay/perpetual checks in this line. I knew 16...Qc1+ was best for black, but I didn't think it would seriously jeopardize my winning position. Thank goodness black didn't play that move.

I've won both games vs. doxaergon98 so I can reduce my counter:

Humans remaining: 4

It is at this point I realized technically I don't need to defeat every human, and defeating someone doesn't actually guarantee I finish ahead of them, but oh well, it's fun to have a counter - it's basically the New Year's anyway. Instead, I'll add a 2nd counter which ticks off how many points I need to get to the maximum requirement of 21.

Points left to guarantee advancement: 6.0

Moving onto the next game, they're getting more interesting now.

4. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714539

For the first 20 moves of the game vs. Dr_Ogado, white was a bit too slow to castle so I tried to punish that by keeping the king in the centre. Unfortunately, I could not find a winning plan so decided to take a pawn and try to win the queenless endgame up a pawn. A few moves later, after 25.f5, there's a nice tactical shot available. (this tactic was actually available one move earlier but we both missed it) Can you prove you're better than both of us and spot it?

What a cute move, isn't it? A quiet, very natural looking move, but it's lethal. If the king moves, then the rook gets forked, and if anything else happens, the knight falls. White must decide whether to go down the exchange, or down a knight, and chooses to give up the knight (which is probably the lesser of two evils) but I end up converting anyway. This game goes to checkmate.

Points left to guarantee advancement: 5.0

5. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714619

The next game is also a good one, and it's Game 2 vs. tonyd2788.

Yet another game where both me AND my opponent miss a tactic. Black should've played 13...Bxg4, because the queen is tied down to the defense of c2. But black didn't, and I amend the c2 issue and go up a piece. But black doesn't give up!

After move 22, we arrive at this position. Black's been on the attack, and I've been trying my best to defend when I notice a tactic available to simplify the position and put out the fire. I'm sure there's many ways to win from this position, but can you spot (arguably) the best way to do so?

Pretty neat, isn't it? Tony, if you're reading this, I commend you for continuing to fight and attack while down a piece. I wish I had that fighting spirit - too often when I blunder a piece my position shrivels up and I go down without a whimper.

Humans remaining: 3

Points left to guarantee advancement: 4.0

6. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714703

My next game vs. wcrashr starts off as a Petrov, and nothing of note happened in the first 20 moves (surprise surprise, a Petrov results in an equal game). I place a piece on e4, controlling much of the board, but could not find a way to take advantage of that, until white helped me.

If you haven't gotten any of the puzzles yet, this one should be an easy one. White just played 23.b3. Can you find the winning move?

White resigned 8 moves later.

Points left to guarantee advancement: 3.0

The games continue to get better. Check out this one:

7. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714769

This one was truly a complex game - I had to watch out for all the tactics available. (for example, I knew but had to calculate 20.Qxe4 does not fail to 20...Bf5 because of 21.Qxb7 Bxb1 22.Qxa8+ Kf7 23.Qd5+, saving the queen, and I'm up a bishop and pawn) I spent a lot of time on the analysis board for this game, analyzing many lines that I have since forgotten but did prepare for.

However, I could not calculate any winning attack to blow the position wide open, while also being mindful I could be in trouble if the g-file opens. I was planning for 28.Ng6, an imbalanced endgame where I have a queen for rook and knight, with a rook and 5 pawns still on the board, but black made my life easy by playing 27...Rxg2+, another confusing sacrifice that doesn't work, and once the queens came off, it was lights out.

With this victory, I am now at 19 points, and guaranteed to finish ahead of Dr_Ogado in the standings, so the human counter is now down to 2.

Humans remaining: 2

However at this moment, with 19 points, barring closed accounts, no one can finish with more than 19 points, so I am actually guaranteed to finish at least tied for 1st and advance to Round 2 for the first time in my life, so congratulations to me!

Humans remaining: 0

A major victory for all penguins (especially A. forsteri) out there, and the entire continent of Antarctica goes mild! However, at 19/19, might as well go for the perfect tournament in case something weird happens (fun fact, you cannot NOT advance if you finish with a perfect score, so aim for that ;-) ). Thus, changing the name of my counter:

Points left to earn for a perfect round: 3.0

My anti-penultimate game was the white game vs. wcrashr.

8. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714617

Yet ANOTHER game where I trap my opponent's king in the middle of the board but cannot find the finishing blow so opt for a queenless endgame up a pawn. No real blunders from my opponent here, I just got my king active (as the saying goes, "The king is an attacking piece, use it!") and that was it.

Points left to earn for a perfect round: 2.0

9. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714929

Points left to earn for a perfect round: 1.0

10. https://www.chess.com/game/daily/458714615

Points left to earn for a perfect round: 0.0

I was hoping it was a case of "saving the best for last" but my last 2 games of the round (both vs. mildmanneredmiles) were won from the opening after my opponent hung some material.

Some common occurrences came up in the 10 games I played this round: had multiple games where my opponent made a piece sacrifice that doesn't work but still had to defend. Multiple games where my opponent and I BOTH missed a tactic which wins a piece (but I correct it first). Multiple games where I trap the opponent's king in the centre but cannot find anything so have to opt for a queenless endgame up a pawn. Good games all around, well played by my opponents. Maybe you're not impressed because everyone I played was 100s of rating points below me, but gotta take care of business. And also, this is a milestone win for me.

In conclusion, the lone penguin has defeated all 11 humans in this round, and Battle of the Species will have a Round 2, with much tougher opponents.

Thank you for taking the time to read this succinct blog.

Until then...

- Penguin