The 64 - Are You Ready For Some Chess!?!? - September 5th, 2021 Sunday Recap
On the cusp of week 1 of the 102nd NFL season, week 2 of season 8 in the Live Chess Wold League kicked off this past Sunday. Much like them Cowboys who travel east to "Champa Bay" to take on Tom Brady and the Bucs -
, the US Chess Club vs Team Philippines was also a much anticipated matchup that garnered the attention of millions of viewers (Nielsen ratings still pending).
So get ready...
Come on and get ready...
The first matchup of the day was the Blitz portion. There was a steep drop-off in rating on the lower boards, but despite that the Americans still put up a tough fight, only losing 33-27. Let's take a look @ChessMax19 and his game with the black pieces, in which he scored an impressive 96% on the game report.
One of the most gratifying feelings in chess is when your opponent plays well...but you play just that much better and that was the case here. The second best feeling...the bishop pair, and after 18 moves, despite being down a pawn, ChessMax played chess to the max and made the best use of his long range pieces, specifically with a well setup x-ray on move 31 with 31...Rxe1+. You will be awarded a "Great Job" badge on behalf of the US Chess Club.
But so far US Chess has accumulated 0 out of 3 points so far in the young season. A goose egg. A frickin' donut.
But there is still the Rapid portion yet to be played. As a club, we seem to do better when there is more time on the clock and that was the case on Sunday, as the Americans finally get themselves on the board with a 31.5 - 22.5 victory.
Let's look at @lorookie with the White pieces, who played more like a venerated veteran than a rookie.
lorookie was matched up against a Filipino named Sicilian02. With a name like Sicilian, it should be easy to know what to prepare for because Sicilian02 played just that, the Sicilian, an Open Najdorf to be exact. But past the opening book moves, well those were about the only moves that he or she got correct, scoring only a dismal 14% Caps score compared to lorookie's spectacular 93%. After blundering a piece on move 13, it was still important to get the move order correct. The Italians call it "Intermezzo". The Germans say "Zwischenzug". We Americans, inarticulately just say "In-between move". 16.Nxe7+ coming with check before recapturing the queen. Up a piece and just like me at my brother's wedding this past weekend, lorookie and I cleaned up reeeaaaalll nice.
Your taco is in the mail!
So here's where US Chess stands after two weeks of play...
Still a lot of chess to be played with a chance to creep into that green and a top 4 position.
This upcoming weekend is quite an interesting one. Saturday starts the festivities with a new chess.com novelty, club arenas. It's a 24 hour 3/2 Blitz competition so if you're going to play a random Blitz game on Saturday, might as well just join in on the arena.
On top of that a 3-Day 960 correspondence matchup against Team India is also on the docket. You have three days to make one move, so just hop on in and move at your leisurely pace. Also, apologies to several of you out there who have challenged me to daily games. My slate is full at the moment. I signed up for too many tournaments at once and got bombarded with a torrent of about 50 daily games in just one day (and my play has certainly been indicative of this over-saturation). It's kind of like drunk shopping. You come home "blitzed", press a few buttons, constituting as a mouse-slip, and two days later you have an amazon package and your asking yourself "I don't remember ordering this?".
But most importantly, playoffs Sunday night!
That's right! Playoffs! LCPAL Bullet in a rematch against Puerto Rico, Sunday night. Primetime! Leading right into Sunday Night Football. So if you've deemed yourself as the fastest mouse in the west, join in and let's give ourselves a shot to sit atop the LCPAL podium. I'm pointedly directing my comments towards you @Hikaru and @DanielNaroditsky. The more the merrier!
Lastly, and on an unfortunate note, I'd like to address the Fair Play Policy. Like I mentioned just before, we welcome all members to join and participate in our club/live matches but the hospitality isn't extended to this one and only exception, that of cheaters. If you are going to join and sign up, only with the intentions to cheat and deceive, well then I'm sure I speak for every club member and all who take the time to participate on a weekly basis in saying that we don't want you. Reserve that spot for someone who intends to abide by the rules. It comprises the club, the results and we'd rather simply not win that way. It doesn't get you better and there's absolutely no benefit to it. And you will get caught!
For some lower-rated players, myself included, who take the time out of their weekend to register, sit in front of their computer for an hour, all in the hopes of playing in these live matches, to have a roster spot occupied by a cheater is a shame and quite frankly deplorable on the side of the deceiver. What is your function? To win? To get a better rating? Who gives a crap? Put in the work and eventually your rating will reflect that. This isn't Clash of Clans or frickin' Fortnite. You can't just pay for some extension pack and jump the line. There's no cheat codes in chess. Do your puzzles, study your games or maybe actually read a book from those experts who have paved the way in the latest chess theory. Just don't let Stockfish be your muse.
With that being said --
If you too are interested in participating in US Chess Live Matches, here's a link to the US Chess Club main page -
https://www.chess.com/club/uschess
- where you can find all the information on how to link up as well as all upcoming events. The club and matches are FREE to join and open to ANYONE who wishes to participate. You do not need a USCF rating! Just join the club and registration for Match Play opens one hour before the scheduled time, just like all other tournaments in the Live Chess tab. It's as simple as that!
Until next week, good luck to all the fantasy football managers out there and especially good luck to all those who venture out onto those perilous 64 squares.
