The 64 - Pole Position - July 25th, 2021 Sunday Recap
It's the penultimate week of the Nations League here on chess.com where, much like the Olympics which just kicked off on Friday (be sure to catch all the action, streaming live on Peacock, available now in the app store) country is pitted against country but in this particular case, the duel takes place on the 64 squares via online chess in live match play.
Quick side tangent -
Why isn't chess an olympic sport? You can debate over the fact wether you think it is even a sport or not, which it probably isn't, but like that has ever been an obstacle before. There's a long history of activities that nobody considers to be a sport in which teams and/or individuals have won gold medals for... so that's not exactly a sensible argument here. I say put everything in the olympics; poker, cheerleading, disc-golf, corn-hole, even beer-pong. I want it all! Now that I've created this blog, perhaps I'll go more into depth on this matter in a future post. Yesss... perhaps I just might...
But until then, take this worthy cause to the airwaves by using #YesForChess!
Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Today, US Chess stood toe-to-toe with Poland in the Rapid & Blitz format. What was most notable, and ever so encouraging, was the remarkable depth the US displayed today. Our first portion of the day was Rapid, in which there were eighteen boards. On the final board for the Americans was the 1616 rated boboymel who had a near one thousand point rating advantage over Poland's last board. Some probably view this as an indictment on the Polish, but I'd argue that a lineup like this would at the very least compete against any of the other Nations League federations taking part in this season. This isn't the NBA. You can't just role with five superstars and expect to win. You win with depth. When yours truly, who is about 1580 rapid, doesn't even get a game, it's a testament to that said depth. Selfishly, sure...I'm a bit salty I didn't get to participate in the match but I'm also keen on the fact that this is a good indicator of inevitable success for the club. And of course, my theory was proven to be accurate.
I know, I'm a genius.
The US put a quart of boiling water on the stove top and cooked the Polish like some lean pieces of smoked kielbasa. Final score 27-9 for the Red, White and don't forget the Blue.
It's always interesting to see how a team responds after a brutal loss but, if either a run-away or blow-out, a loss is still just A loss. It counts as one despite the score. In the NHL playoffs, where you play the same team in a best of seven, the opening ten minutes of the first period can tell the story of a how a team reacts after getting beat up the night before. Will the cornered dog cower or bite back? The game I decided to highlight this week emphasizes this theme. Not full of tactics (I'd argue just the one really) and not much to really take away from the game. So what am I getting at? Following is the game that coincided with Michael "The Mad Matador" Marmorstein and his Polish foe, krysztofzajac (Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel please).
When Poland needed to get off the schneid quickly, this happened...
In desperate need of a quick start, krysztofzajac blunders a piece, in which the Mad Matador gobbled it up in no time, kudos for spotting it without hesitation (expect your Knight Virtuoso award in the mail...and possibly a taco as well), forcing a resignation after just eleven measly moves (alliteration is fun!). So the Polish found themselves down 1-0 before most games even got to play 1.e4. 1-0 quickly turned to 4-0, which evolved to a 10-1 route. Ultimately, Poland was outmatched today, both in rating and numbers. I guess everyone went to the early mass on Sunday because the US showed up in the afternoon, and they arrived in droves. Final score 34-10; sweeping Poland in Rapid & Blitz.
The day wasn't done however. LCPAL scheduled a Derby Match against a formidable Mexico team that sees themselves at the top of the Season 4 table. Bullet continues to be a bit of a thorn in the American side. Mexico defeated us 29-19. Looking at the fixture, it doesn't take a statistician to see where those ten wins came from. There was a large rating disparity on the final five boards and that proved to be the difference, where Mexico bullied boards #20 through #24 by winning 10-0. I've noticed a reoccurring theme via the club chat that the Bullet format can be quite intimidating, and it is! I myself have only played a handful of games and that's only been through participating in these live matches. Time pressure is a petrifying monster, so a whole game under its curdling shadow doesn't appear to be anyone's idea of a fun time over the board. That, along with the fact that you probably need a mouse just to be on a level playing field with others who possess one, makes it a time variant that most tend to ignore. But if you are going to dip your toe into the Bullet pool, then the 2/1 format is not all that different than 3/0 Blitz. It could really hardly be called Bullet at all, more like "Blitz Lite" or "Old Man Bullet". So just dive in head first, play some games and get rated. I once viewed Blitz the way I know see Bullet, so opinions are always ripe for change. Just remember these two things...
1) Pressure makes diamonds.
and...
2) These passages from Hikaru Nakamura's (usually ranked #1 in Bullet but at the moment sits two rating points behind Andrew Tang. When did this happen?) book, Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate.
"Is bullet still chess?
Of Course not!
This is the fundamental truth about bullet chess that many players fail to understand. Bullet is certainly a form of chess, and much of what you've learned about chess applies to bullet, but bullet should never be confused with conventional chess itself!
....It doesn't matter if you lose.
People play chess for all sorts of reasons, but most players would rather win than lose. The beauty of bullet is that it doesn't matter if you lose! Since bullet isn't serious chess, it really doesn't matter, even in chess terms. Bullet is purely for fun, and people who think it's more than that have other issues they might consider addressing."
Also...
Quick side tangent #2, and I posted this in the club chat but...
Has anybody found that when playing bullet, the games are rather clunky? Don't want to make excuses for my poor play in that format but I feel like on my end I'm experience a slight lag or glitch. I haven't come across this issue while playing Blitz, where quick clicks and pre-moves are also essential. It's tough to articulate in words what I'm experiencing other than that the moves are just rather blocky and takes me some time just to adjust and find my bearings. It's throwing off my time and rhythm where in Bullet time and rhythm is almost as important as the moves you're playing.
Or it's also completely possible that I just plain old suck at Bullet.
Next week sees a busy slate of games -
Most notably the final round of the Nations League, where third place is still in the balance. US will face Jamaica, who's coming hot off their win against Argentina and nipping at our heels in the standings.
There's also -
LCPAL Bullet Round 7 vs Brazil
Here are the standings after 6 rounds of play --
And we also continue our LCWL Chess960 Cup campaign with our Round 5 clash with Argentina, a battle for first place in Group 2.
See you next Sunday, until then, study your lines and do your puzzles.
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 information on how to join and 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 opens one hour before the scheduled time, just like all other tournaments in the Live Chess tab. It's as simple as that!
