The 64 - Season Finale - August 1st, 2021 Sunday Recap
There was a plot device in the 2004 sports/comedy Mr. 3,000, starring the late-great Bernie Mac, in which "T-Rex" Pennebaker and the Milwaukee Brewers attempt to salvage their broken season by setting the team's sites on 3rd place in the Central Division. Now-a-days, 3rd place holds significant value, given the addition of the second wild card spot but in 2004, it was certainly nothing but a consolation prize. I found this to be a flaw of the film, quite a large leap of logic and an even harder sequence to believe when...
and spoiler alert for the 2004 sports/comedy Mr. 3,000 ...
SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
when Stan Ross forgoes his attempt at baseball immortality by, instead of stepping up to the dish hacking, decides to lay down a sacrificial squeeze bunt, forgoing his last shot at 3,000 hits just to climb the standings for that previously mentioned 3rd place finish. There's no contract incentives or bonuses for a major league team to finish in 3rd place...
But for the US Chess Federation, the battle for the 3rd place spot in the Chess.com Nations League is anything but consolatory. Instead, a top 3 finish was an achievement the club had set their sights on for the last couple of weeks and would be an admirable finish to the season. I mean hell, they give out medals for third place! (2021 Tokyo Olympics, streaming live on Peacock, available in the app store.) As well as being a high note to end the season on, there are 5 diamond memberships at stake for the team's top performers to boot (that's unlimited daily puzzles and lessons ya'll!)
It's a triumvirate of nations vying for 3rd. Along with the Americans, tied with 3 total points in the standings with us is England and just half a point behind both teams is our round 7 foes, Jamaica, who with an outright win, would leap frog us for third place.
A lot at stake in this matchup, so stay tuned and don't touch that dial, as the season 3 finale of the Chess.com Nations League, concludes now...
I've been saying it for a couple of weeks now, the Americans have a deep Rapid squad with consistent strength throughout their lineup and this was on full display against Jamaica on Sunday. In some weeks, where there could be a literal 1,000 point rating disparity in some matches, the edge against the Jamaicans on Sunday was minuscule but ultimately evident. Jamaica is proving themselves to be no push-over and could be an up and coming club to reckon with in future seasons. But on Sunday this wasn't the case, as USA took the Rapid section of their match 26-18, and took home Blitz as well, 30-18 for the full point.
After much internal deliberation, for ethical and mostly optical purposes (I won't make a habit of this, I swear) I'm highlighting yours truly this week who scored at least 90% in both his Rapid games. I was part of boards #18-20, who took a full 6/6 points. The ratings advantage was slight, but we made the most out of it, which speaks to that depth I've been preaching about.
Here's my first game with the Black pieces...
Did I kind of forget that my knight could get captured after delivering that 2nd check? Maybe but I would never admit it. And did I notice I would win the White queen after setting up and instinctively/blindly delivering check with with the queen. Duh! Regardless of what you thought my intentions were, they turned out to be the right moves nonetheless. I'll be boarding a plane to Sochi in the morning to take on Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE World Cup final (if he can even qualify for the final.) And much like the inevitable/looming future Logan Paul vs Conor McGregor bout, it's a matchup nobody was asking for.
But at this point in the settling season, there's a lot of scoreboard watching and there was one other team USA had to keep an eye out for, and that was England who took on our neighbors to the north, Canada. It would have been ideal to have our fate lie in our own hands but that wasn't the case and with nothing to play for, the Canadians didn't show up on Sunday. Not very neighborly like. Canada lost both matches including a 17.5 to 2.5 shellacking in Blitz. I think I'm capable of at least adding single integers (I went to public school) and if my math serves me correct, 3+1=4, which is where both USA and England sit in the standings and unfortunately, England holds the head to head tie-break for defeating US Chess a couple of weeks back so it looks like a 4th place finish has been determined to be our fate. They don't give out medals for 4th place (except for at my elementary school, where Mrs. Siccone invented the ever illustrious and prestigious Blue Medal. When my snarky ten year old self confronted her on this peculiar color choice, a choice that doesn't fit into the theme of being chemical elements, she told me "because it was the only other colored paper CVS had". Once again, I reiterate, I went to public school) but I see greener pastures for the US Chess Club. There's been a new found vigor when it comes to these live matches and club participation. We've got a good core group of participants that can, and will, only get better/grow. Sooner than later, the Americans will be on that podium.
Here are the final standings for season 3 of the Chess.com Nations League.
https://www.chess.com/club/chess-com-nations-league
Congratulations to Kyrgyz Republic for taking home the gold, as well as Romania for finishing as the bride's maid and for all participating nations for what was a fun and competitive season.
But that was just one leg of a Sunday triple header!
There was also the final week of the first stage in the LCWL 960 Cup. US Chess took on Argentina, the top two teams in Group 2 but it sure didn't play out like that on Sunday. Argentina gains the full point by winning the Rapid section 22.5-15.5 and then impressively took the Blitz portion 37-15. At one point the score was 17-0 but that didn't stop National Master Dare-Dare from playing on, because nobody ever won a game by resigning.
With the US down 24-4 at the time of this game, Dare-Dare proved to be resilient. At one moment down 6 points in material and an even greater -11 according to the engine, he played on, making life difficult for his opponent and eventually seizing the moment with a fortuitous knight fork and swindling a draw. Down so much on the board and seemingly even more on the scoreboard, the easy thing to do would have been to just resign and set 'em up for a new one, but let it be the identity of the US Chess club moving forward that we will always fight on and, in this regard, Dare-Dare led by example. Therefor, I award you one "Heart of a Lion" award.
But despite the loss to Argentina on Sunday, the US still finished top-two in their group, so they will advance onto Stage 2 of the 960 Cup in this summer-long showdown. Here are the updated division 1 standings.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h3WnBI-UoBeTsdZ6Xh9gHxcVkZ0nQYEPzhGO--_V88g/edit#gid=378858675
Then there was the night-cap, the 7th round of the LCPAL Bullet season against Team Brazil, in which the Americans were able to snap their two-game Bullet skid by defeating "Ordem e Progresso" 26.5-19.5. Here, it is one 2200 rated mcmodern who won both games and quit frankly made it look easy, winning with the Black pieces while still having 1:50 left on the clock (that's 20 seconds to spare in hyper-bullet!) but the game I would like to underline is the game with the White pieces.
Everything in chess has a name. Every opening, every pawn structure or endgame and certainly every mate as well. This is a particularly aesthetic mate. With the two bishops holding hands on the h-file while the rook cuts off the g-.
It's all the pieces working together, in harmony, gathered around the campfire singing Kumbaya. So if there is no name for this particular type of mate, from here on out and for all of eternity, it will be referred to as the mcmodern mate! I award you one "Chess Artistry" award. It'll be in the mail.
Despite the strong showing on Sunday, the US still sits middle of the pack in the LCPAL Bullet standings...
https://livechessleagues.com/s4/bullet-open-tournament/
By all accounts next week should be a lighter load. Along with Nations League wrapping up, it was the final week of the 1st stage in the 960 Cup. Maybe there will be a rest week before the 2nd stage begins so next weekend is just looking like everybody's favorite... Bullet! and possibly an international friendly just to keep our wits sharp during some down time. There's no schedule as of yet so I'm sure the chat below will fill in any details or you can always check the US Chess club page for all upcoming events.
And if are you reading this and asking yourself, "what is the US Chess Club and can I participate in Live Match play?
Well I'm glad you asked, while setting myself up with the cleanest and most unnoticeable segue in the history of self-advertisement.
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 ladies and gentlemen, practice your lines and do your puzzles.
Oh, and Magnus...I'll see you over the board.
What an idiot.
