The Daily Chess Champs: 2nd Place is the New 1st Place

Hello, my fellow daily chess lovers, and welcome to my report on the second round of the Chess.com 2023 Daily Chess Championship.

In the 1st round of the Daily Chess Champs you feel like Paul Morphy, in the 2nd round you feel like NN. ~ SheldonOfOsaka circa 2022.

The old adage would prove prophetic, as the 2nd round of the Chess.com 2023 Daily Chess Championship would make me feel like one of Morphy's nameless victims.

The Daily Chess Champs had been whittled down from a field of 35,000 participants to just over 3,000. Most groups contained 12 players, who would be required to play 22 simultaneous games, with only one challenger moving on to the 3rd round.

The good news was that I was seeded in a group of only 11 players; the bad news being that I just happened to be in the same group as a 2300 rated monster who was the second highest rated player in the whole tournament...so there were positives and negatives...

At the sight of this monstrosity, all hope of reaching the 3rd round fled. I knew barring a time out victory or a number of mouse slips, I had virtually no chance. Yet, finishing 2nd would be consolation enough for me, so I set myself to playing my best chess against the other opponents in my group, while holding off on making my moves against the NM.

Unfortunately, another player in my group had a different strategy for overcoming the rating imbalance...That's right, old reliable...CHEATING.

But more on that later, first a few of my favorite tactics from the round. I need to narcissistically self-congratulate, before showing the NM game, in which I get torn to pieces.

Bubblegum

The first position arose from my game against "bubbl3man". He played the Alapin variation of the Sicilian Defense; an opening I detest...

Anyways, the position is double-edged, White's light bishop and rook are combining to threaten a possible mate. However, Black is able to use what I have dubbed...the Bubblegum tactic...O_o...

Can you stick it to White?

Discombobulation

In the following position my opponent playing White, essayed Bird's opening (1.f4), I responded with From's Gambit (1...e5) opining that the only way to meet nonsense is with more nonsense...

Anyways, there is a lot going on in this position, White is attacking the light bishop on e6, but Black has a mate threat building up on the h-file.

Can you see how to win material by discombobulating White's defenses?

I Got Five On It

The next position came about after my opponent played the Caro-Kann Defense. I didn't bother to develop my pieces properly or play for position considerations; I had an alternate strategy...that's right...throw all my pieces at the kingside and hope for a mating attack...

It worked, which is why I'm showing you this.

Can you find mate in 5?

A Cheater's Heart

And now for the sad tale of Tanvir-Abedin. We started the 2nd round with the exact same rating, so I considered him my main rival for 2nd place. Expectedly, he played quite well and put me under great pressure in both of our games. He also put forth some incredible efforts in his other group encounters.

Indeed, he played so well that one group member, (I won't say who, since its against the community rules) took to the comment section and publicly accused him of cheating...

And, you'll never guess what happened next....

Although, the game ended due to Tanvir's perfidy, I believe there is something to be gleaned from the following position.

White just played g4, which allows us to, pressure the now open h1-a8 diagonal, while gaining space and time.

Can you play better than this cheating dog-faced pony soldier?

Morphy vs NN

And, so at last we come to the feature game. NM Leonid_Starozhilov vs SheldonOfOsaka: I won't pretend that this game was close, like Morphy vs NN, Deep Blue vs Kasparov, or Magnus vs Nepo, this is going to be a beat down for the ages.

Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and hope that you, my dear reader, will find it as entertaining as I did.

And that was it, that was the Daily Chess Champs 2nd round. So, what did we learn?

Cheaters prosper, but not for long, it may take a while, but eventually those cheating dog-faced pony soldiers get their comeuppance.

Finishing 2nd place in the 2nd round feels better than finishing 1st place in the 1st round. Although, I lost in the end, the games were far more interesting, and I was glad to see that not many of my opponents timed out.

Pink is my color, I should consider investing in a tight fitting onesie...

Anyways, as always thanks for reading, and feel free to share these games with your friends down at the Library or Pony stable.

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.