Guess The Elo: Mastermind or Beginner?
NOTE: This blog may contain material that some readers might find offensive or upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
Welcome, everyone, to another blog by your fellow water turtle Pokémon, @squirtle! Today's blog shares a similar idea to the "Reacting to Your Chess Games!" series, which I previously posted on my blog, so you can consider this a continuation of it.
I asked some fellow bloggers in the BlogChamps club (a club you should definitely join if you want to participate in blogging competitions, become a better blogger, and possibly have the chance to contribute to my future blogs 
) to submit games for this blog, where I also explained how they should submit them.
- Send a message to @charmander with the game.
- The games must have the ratings attached and the players' names.
- Tell @charmander the time of the game (if it was 3+2, 5, 10 minutes, etc.).
From there, it was @charmander's job. He hid the ratings and names and only told me the time control. He gave me 4 games, so I'm so sorry if your game wasn't here. I'm only going to analyse these.
After I analyse the games, I will give both of the players a rating and an explanation of the game. When I'm done with analyzing and guessing all the games, I will check the ratings and see how far I was from the truth!
Now, let's get analysing, shall we?
1. Analysing and Guessing
1.2 Game Two: Let The Chaos Continue!
1.3 Game Three: Well, That Was Awkward...
1.4 Game Four: Rollercoaster Ride!
2. The Big Reveal
Analysing and Guessing
The quality of the games was interesting because some games were really good while others... you get the idea. Another major factor that made guessing the right rating difficult was the game time. We had a variety of time controls, ranging from 10 minutes all the way to 1 minute. This made my job way harder and confusing.
Our first game is a bullet game! I am interested in this game because bullet games tend to have lower accuracy, especially at lower to middle ratings (100-1700), so I am curious to see how this game will be played.
This game was way more entertaining than I expected. At the start, I thought this would be your average bullet game, where someone blunders a queen or wins by time.
However, I was proved wrong. In the middle game, both sides showed a different style of gameplay: white launched constant threats, while black played passively, sometimes a little bit too much. While entering the endgame, white loses a knight for a pawn, making black seem like the winner of the match.
But, against all odds, white struck again with a beautiful, brilliant move to take control over the match and win the game successfully. If this game were in my original series, I would have probably given this a 9, maybe even a 10!
Now, back to the ratings. My guesses for this game are:
- White is rated 1650
- Black is rated 1500
These are great ratings, so if I somehow got your ratings higher, then congrats! You played better than your chess.com rating! Keep improving!
Game Two: Let The Chaos Continue!
Our next game is a rapid game, more exactly, a 10-minute game. These are the most common games, so that does make sense. I have somewhat high expectations from this game. I hope I won't be left disappointed.
While this game wasn't a serious rapid game, it did get me really interested in it. In the opening, it seemed normal, nothing crazy. However, I didn't know what was about to come.
The middle game was fairly casual, with some mistakes here and there. What surprised me is the way the endgame occurred. White gave a lot of pieces, where most of the time these sacrifices weren't even necessary.
This didn't stop white from getting into a good position and eventually making black resign so he won't get checkmated. I do think white was way more experienced than black, so I will give him a higher rating.
My guesses for this game are:
- White is rated 1800
- Black is rated 1750
Again, high ratings, which is a great thing!
GAME Three: Well, That Was Awkward...
You know, I said in the beginning that you guys made my job hard? Well, this one game will completely show why I said such a thing. And no, do not expect a master class performance, which makes me wonder if they were cheating or if they were Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen playing undercover. (P.S. One of the players who played this game got banned for cheating, what an irony...)
Oh, hell no, that's not why the ratings were so hard to decide, it's because this is the game...
Yes, we are talking about a game where BLACK BLUNDERED HIS BISHOP ON THE 5TH MOVE. The opening did not even end, how? And why would you even submit this type of game? You could have sent any other game but not THIS.
So, what are my guesses for this game? That is a great question. I think I should take the estimate from the analysis, but that feels like cheating. Ultimately, this is the rating I decided to assign.
- White is 1600
- Black is 1500
I think white just wanted to troll me by sending this game, and it did kind of work! I guess, good job? Let's hope our last game will end better.
Game Four: Rollercoaster Ride!
The last game is also rapid! Hope it doesn't end up like the last one, I do want this to end great.
While this game's quality was...questionable, I do think that this was way more entertaining than the last one. The start was chaotic, which felt like I was watching two 400s fighting to make the best moves they could. The middlegame felt like white's revenge arc, where he shone through.
I do feel the ratings are lower, though. This is my final guess.
- White is 1200
- Black is 1150
Lower ratings, but an entertaining game!
The Big Reveal
Now, I will be shown the ratings of the players! I do think this will be interesting to see, because I will find out if I am good at guessing or not. Without further ado, let's reveal the secrets of the ratings!
Well, how will I show you the ratings. Well that's easy! You just need to click these buttons for each game. I hope you also guessed the ratings so it will be even more interesting for you!
Click here to see the ratings for Game 1!
White is 1418.
Black is 1348.
Click here to see the ratings for Game 2!
White is 1748.
Black is 1745.
Click here to see the ratings for Game 3!
White is 1723.
Black is 1708.
Click here to see the ratings for Game 4!
White is 1502.
Black is 1469.
So, yeah. These were the ratings. Were you close, or far away from them? Let me know down in the comments.
Now, here are my comments about my guesses.
Game 1: My guess wasn't exactly close, but it wasn't far off either. So I think I almost got it right.
Game 2: I got it almost perfectly right! Woohoo!
Game 3: The Troll Game...funny enough, I was quite close to the truth.
Game 4: My worst guess yet...I've underestimated the rating here. Sorry, this doesn't mean you usually play like that! It was just one game! I think both of you can play better!
In conclusion, I think I am decent at guessing ratings. I think I can improve even more, though!
@Pradipta22, @JustGettingThisOffMyChess, @Chesser1492 and @SPK1729 - for submitting these games. Without you guys, I wouldn't have been able to make this blog.
@charmander - for hiding the ratings, showing the games to me, and just being a good friend
Blogchamps - as I said many times, I thank them for being such a supportive community and helping me improve as a blogger and as a person
The Judges(for Blogchamps S9) - for spending their time reviewing the communities' blogs and telling them where they should improve.
Everything must come to an end. And this is the end of this blog. It was really fun writing it, I enjoyed it so much!
I hope I will see you next time, when I will write about maybe an opening, or I will continue analysing games.
PS: If you read this, message @charmander and give him a game so I can analyse it next time .
Adios, amigos!
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