The 64 - Hallo-Queen - October 2021 Recap
Previously on...
The 64
When we last left our heroes, they were seen tending their wounds, waist high in the wavy channels usually referred to as a moment of crisis. The chilling month of October kicked off on theme, with the US Chess Club coming out of the wrong end of a murderer's row thanks to a tough LCWL schedule. Perennial powerhouses the likes of Romania and Mexico slashed through any lineup the Americans presented them.
But just like at the end of the second act of your favorite horror movie, whenever the final girl has reached her low-point and seemingly defeated by the monster, there's a realization in which she's able to overcome her physical and emotional fears, making her stronger and finally capable of taking down the usually masked villain in the final act.
Have the Americans learned the lessons of past to help them overcome their future foes?
Will our heroes avoid relegation and remain in the competitive LCWL Division 2?
Will I continue to sift through and eat all my niece's trick-or-treat candy as a way of procrastinating from finishing this blog?
Don't go anywhere and stay tuned for the latest edition of...
TTHHEEEEEEEE SIIXXTTYYYYYY-FFOOOOOUUUUURRRRRRRRR!!
After drawing against Italy back on the 17th, the next LCWL matchup came against Brazil in the seventh and final round of the Live Chess World League regular season. It was imperative to beat Brazil, the cellar-dwellers of Division 2 as they sit at the bottom of the table. In that regard, US Chess fulfilled their mission as they took down the South American nation in both Rapid & Blitz, winning 26-10 as well as 33.5-16.5.
Let's take a look at @Percivality and the game with the White pieces. Perhaps the Brazilians confused the time controls because most of the games I perused through saw them carelessly blundering at an enormous rate, with the ultimate result of them resigning with still 9:30 left on the clock, which started with 10:00. Perhaps they're preparing for next season's Bullet Cup. But it's not the blunders I care to highlight, it's a brilliancy!!
I know the new Game Review stated that it will tend to be more lenient moving forward in regards to handing out those two exclamation points, but there's still no better feeling than checking the analysis afterwards and seeing that light blue annotation you're not accustomed to seeing (only then to be followed by that bright red dark annotation you are accustomed to seeing because that brilliant move you made in the first place was for the entirely wrong reasons and you had no idea how to actually follow up.)
With that being said, let's jump right ahead to 22.bxg6!!
Can't really take because then the Queen comes in and just wreaks havoc. If you trade knights, like in the game, a new one spawns in its place like when you cut the head off the Lernaean Hydra. For your brilliancy, a Chess Artistry award is in the mail(!!)
Let's take a look at the LCWL regular season standings...
As you can see, the US is in the bottom four, meaning that they will have to duke it out in the relegation pool in order to stay in Division 2, keeping chances alive at the idea of a future promotion into the 1st Division.
But the LCWL isn't the only game in town. Season 4 of the LCPAL Rapid Cup kicked off earlier this month. After losing the opener to our affable neighbors to the north, Canada, The US has strung together two wins in a row, including against Bolivia just this Halloween Sunday by a score of 20-8, but most notably, an admirable victory against the always proficient, Argentina Live Chess by a narrow margin of 28-24 just two weeks back.
I'll highlight @accgds in this particular match, and his game with the white pieces.
The American faces the Winawer variation of the French Defense but let's fast forward to the pawn push, 34.f4. There's an exchange and it even seems as though accgds may have miscalculated and will unfortunately lose a pawn. After examining both games, it's clear that his opponent was always quick to take and trade pieces, impulsively and at any cost. So on the surface, 36.Kf2 looks like it concedes that pawn. Except for the fact that that pawn, is indeed...
Poisoned!
Vinnie, the character portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in Searching for Bobby Fischer, tells young Josh "play the man, not the board". I fundamentally disagree with his ideology but in some cases, certainly, and this is actually a prime example of how that philosophy can pan out. The American knew there would be a capture, 37...Bxg5??, which is indeed a blunder after 38.Rg1!, pinning the bishop to the king and winning the piece. I award you a taco for your tactics and victory.
There's no formal standings released yet for the LCPAL Rapid Cup, but with 2 out of 3 points, US Chess Club will certainly be right in the mix to compete for a top spot. It's well known that our Rapid lineup is much stronger than in Blitz and other fast time controls. Perhaps in this format, this is a season in which The US can finish atop of the table.
But there's always room for more strong rated players to fit into our lineup!
So if you too are interested in playing in 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!
LCPAL is in full swing, as well as the upcoming relegation pool in LCWL so there are plenty of chances coming up in the next month to play competitive online chess. This includes under 1600 matches where the US got their first win on Halloween Sunday against Team Galicia. And if anything, at least I now have Galicia's flag collected in my passport. Did you know chess.com has this? It's pretty cool. You can find it in the awards tab. I'm currently open to taking challenges from anyone from Micronesia, the Falkland Islands and Papua New Guinea.
Either that or you'll just have to wait until next week to play me, and other members of the US Chess Club when we take on Puerto Rico in round 4 of the Rapid Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina in round 4 of the U1600 division as well as the LCWL Postseason.
So until then, study your openings, do your puzzles and analyze those endgames.
Thanks for reading.
