Daily Chess Championship: A Fortunate Beginning

The Daily Chess Championship: Happens once a year and it is the biggest Daily Chess tournament on Chess.com. In previous years, I have not done so well, With my first year timing out all my matches in round 1, and last year failing to move on to round 2. But this year, I am determined to make it past round 1. 

Welcome back to my Blog! Recently, I finished playing all of my round 1 games in the Daily Chess Championship. My goal was to advance to round 2, and if not, at least make the top 3 in my group. Did I do it? You'll have to wait until the end to find out!

My Opponents

In my group, I was the 5th highest rated player, among the likes of two 1600s, and two 1200s, plus somebody about my rating as my main threats. Spoiler alert: Everybody except the player my rating and a 1600 timed out.

That left me with only four games to play, but they certainly were not easy games. Let's look at the first game!

Game 1: 

In my first game, I played as white. I was against the opponent that was about my rating. This game did not last very long, as it was only 13 moves long.

At this point, White was winning. Can you find what move I played to further my position advantage?

 For the majority of this game, I was winning. My opponent made the mistake of Queenside Castling, and then after the fact moved their king to a vulnerable square. By the time the game ended, I had won with only 13 moves and ended up having a 7.4-centipawn advantage. All in all, this game wasn't too bad, as the next game ended similarly. 

Game 2: 

This next game ended in a similar way to the other game. The opponent was the same, however, I was playing as Black for this game.

Here, I played two consecutive Great Moves. Can you find the moves that led me to win the game?

The full game ended up going like this:

Not the greatest game I have ever played. For example:

5.Nc6 I should have played... 5.a6

6.Bd6 I should have played... 6.a6

This game was quite similar to the other one I did against my opponent, as

• They both lasted under 20 moves,
• Both involved me sacrificing a bishop
• I also won both.

Well, that's it for this opponent, Let's move on to the other person I faced off against!

Game 3:

The next two games I had, were against the 1600-rated player. They were new to Daily Chess, but I did not underestimate them, as they also beat the other opponent that I beat. And let me tell you, these were no easy games.

Yeesh. I did not play very well in this game, including multiple blunders and mistakes consecutively. It wasn't very surprising, however considering my opponent's rating compared to my own. 

In this position, I made a mistake. Can you find what I should have played?

There was a lot of pressure after this game. I have to win the next game to move on to round 2, and if I lost or got a draw, My opponent would move on. But if I won, It would be the highest-rated win I have ever had. So let's see how that went!

Game 4:

I was pretty nervous in this game, considering the rating advantage my opponent had, and the fact that in the middle of the game, I lost the other game that I just showed. Let's see if I was able to pull through and move on to Round 2!

And there you have it, I am moving on to round 2! Along with that, I had the highest-rated win of my life, and according to the Game Review, I didn't have ANY Inaccuracies, Mistakes, Missed wins, or Blunders. Pretty good for my rating if you ask me.

Conclusion:

So in the end, I tied for first place with the 1600-rated opponent. 

Thanks for reading this blog! In a few months, when Round 2 ends I will publish a blog after that is done. I hope you enjoyed this blog! Seeya later!