The 64 - Do The Shuffle - November 2021 Recap
The month of November saw the entire chess world redirect its attention towards the biggest event on the chess calendar. A clash that everybody has been waiting for and where chess history will inevitably be made. The world's brightest and most creative chess players duke it out on the 64 squares for the grandest and most illustrious prize a chess player can attain. It truly is the culmination and epitome of intelligence and sport...
But enough about the US Chess Club!
November kicked off with a highly contested LCPAL Rapid Cup bout against Puerto Rico. It's always a dog fight when the US takes on the common wealth and this one proved to be no different, as Puerto Rico won the match 21-17. But the rest of the month saw the US go on a bit of a tear, winning three matches in a row, all in convincing style .
31.5 - 4.5 against Nicaragua.
25-9 versus Team Brazil.
and 18-2 just this past weekend while taking on Venezuela.
Sticking with that match, let's take a look at National Master @Ejarov and how he swept both games.
Nothing to incredible of note here. Winning the exchange in both games, just taking space when he can, sacking the exchange back with the Black pieces and knowing when to trade the queens in order to win a won endgame.
What is of note is just the way Ejarov shuffled his pieces around in a rather harmonious way. All the pieces seem to work in unison, doing a synchronized dance. We're all familiar with Boz Scaggs' Lido Shuffle, well i'm also tapping my toe to the Ejarov Shuffle. I award you a "Dance Moves" badge because of your ability to shake a leg and cut a rug.
Here are the Rapid Cup standings after 7 rounds of play -
As you can see, the US is right in the thick of things with a match against undefeated Uruguay still on the horizon.
Unfortunately, play in the Live Chess World League hasn't been as kind to the US Chess Club, as they are competing in the relegation pool in the second stage of the league's format. The most recent match against Kazakhstan went in favor of the central Asian nation, taking home the Blitz portion 32-20 and squeaking by in the Rapid section 27-25 for the victory. It was a tough call time, 7 AM Pacific time on a Sunday morning is not ideal for participation and the match result was certainly evident of that.
But let's go back to November 14th, where after tying Team Italia in Rapid 29-29, the US got the full point after winning in Blitz 36.5-21.5. Let's take a look at one of the middle boards, @Jdchess177 with the White pieces.
This one turned into a donny brook in the matter of seconds, and I say seconds because both players were playing fast. An advanced French turned bloody after 17... Nxe5 when pieces began flying off the board seemingly with every move. Down three pawns and an exchange, Stockfish had the position at -5.32 after move 30. But after walking into a fork with 31...Rb3?, JD's Italian counterpart found himself having his first real think of the game. Despite the exchange the engine still has it as -4.16 but the American was up a full minute on the clock, while the Italian was now under one minute, and eventually with 30 seconds left, the game reached equality with the time pressured blunder, 41...Rc1?? Although JD never had an advantage, he went on to win when his foe flagged on the clock. When you play Blitz, you're competing with the clock just as much as the person playing the other pieces. I've got a "Pizza Order" badge cooking in the oven for you. Hot and ready for delivery.
When in Rome...
Here's the final Season 8 LCWL standings, as far as the US Chess Club is concerned.
With a forfeit already in our back pocket, the US Chess Club was able to stave off relegation and will continue to compete in the uber competitive Division 2. It just goes to show how ambitious these LCWL Divisions are and how good and well organized a club has to be, not just to get into Division 1, but to contend at the highest level. The Club certainly has some work cut out for itself.
Lastly, let's not forget about the JV Squad. The U1600 team which finished the month of November undefeated, winning both its games against Bosnia & Herzegovina 11.5-8.5 and then later against Team India 12-8. It was against India where @GMSohamOnTwitch beat its adversary (who at the time of writing this is actually well above a 1600 rating), in just 21 moves!! Let's see how it happened -
They say if you want something you have to will it into existence. So when you put GM in your username, you're making your intentions obvious. Therefore, if your opponent makes a routine developing move, unknowingly hanging mate in 5, well a Grandmaster would see this in his or her sleep. SoHam is not SoDifferent in this regard, and went H.A.M (Hard As A Mother F*****) with 18...Bxh2+! The Indian with the White pieces saw that the bishop had eyes on the rook on h5, but neglected to see the second great move in the combination, 20...Qh4+!, with Qh2# ensuing on the next move. Since I've already got a pie in the brick oven from the previous game with the Italians, you get a slice with the "Have Some Pizza" award.
Perhaps it will be you one day vying for a World Championship.
Here's a glimpse of the LCWL U1600 standings, still with plenty of chess yet to be played.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14f63y8kIDqv9FTX9Ghle7P1lcih6U8OHa3GIlVxX7uI/edit#gid=88552645
So if you too are interested in playing competitive chess, 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!
With the LCWL season currently in the books, our main focus is currently on the LCPAL Rapid Cup, continuing to prove the fact that the US Chess Club prefers Rapid to Blitz (let's not even bring Bullet into this conversation). All hands on deck will be needed, as we wish to finish strong and take home the championship. If you're reading this, we sure could use as many big bats in our lineup as possible!
But until then, study your openings, do your puzzles and keep on shuffling those pieces.
