What... happened to BlogChamps?

If you're a Chess.com veteran, or a social butterfly on the website, chances are you've heard of, stumbled across, or even joined the club 'BlogChamps.' It's quite a large club, having 406 members at the time of writing, yet in recent times it has fallen off. HARD. So how did a club with such a long list of members come to fall from grace in possibly the most unpoetic way possible?__________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT IS BLOGCHAMPS?

BlogChamps is a club on Chess.com created by @alphaous , a well-respected member of Chess.com. Many famous members on Chess.com are part of the club, in most people's eyes the most famous being @SheldonOfOsaka , who is a club coordinator. Top Bloggers often arise from the teachings of BlogChamps. @SheldonOfOsaka , @The_turtlepro , @DonRajesh , just to name a few. 

WHY WAS IT SPECIAL?

The factor that sets BlogChamps apart from other clubs, and which brought about its fame, is its unique "Blogging Tournaments." Every once in a while, an announcement will be sent to members of the club that a new season of BlogChamps is starting. In these tournaments, contestants will produce blogs for a chance to land in the top 16. The blogs will be closely analysed by a panel of judges selected by @alphaous , always admins of the club, and they each rate the blogs on a scale of 1-10, with the scores being averaged out. In Week 1 of qualifiers, the top 8 blogs go through, and the bottom 8 in Week 2. A tournament bracket system will be used, and contestants will create blogs to progress, with the winner being placed in the BlogChamps Hall Of Fame, and landing a spot in next season's panel of judges. The winners have also had an 100% success rate of being crowned a Chess.com Top Blogger. These tournaments were exciting in their heyday, with everyone wanting a chance to show their chess blogging mettle. But then... something changed. And for the worse.

SEASON 5. 

When the announcement for BlogChamps Season 5 came out, the club was still coming off the high of its apex. Every semi-prominent blogger in BlogChamps wanted to join Season 5, with 21 contestants, extremely impressive despite what it might seem. 21 people pushing their lives aside for a chance at 15 minutes of fame. So it was going to be a great tournament, right? RIGHT? No, actually. But why? Why did it fail? Week 1 of qualifiers had incredible energy, despite some expected procrastination from the judges. So why? Well... there was still a Week 2 of qualifiers. And THIS is where the trouble began. When a person who got a NEGATIVE 1500 qualifies, problems are bound to come up. And they came up HARD.

If you were to summarise the first round of the Sweet 16 Results in one syllable, it would be... oof. Four forfeit wins and a ban really set the tone that this was going to be a slow season. And with a technical cheater in @Xhive24 advancing due to the sporadic hibernation and judging of @DonRajesh , controversies were sprinkled in. The one saving grace was the completely outmatched @SavageOppress putting up an incredible fight against comparatively ascendant @HornetCruise , just barely losing 3-2. Still, one candle does not illuminate a room of darkness. 

And especially so when the room of darkness just keeps growing. The Elite Eight was summed up by the fact that three of the four matches ended in forfeits. @xia-silver , despite posting a sub-par blog for the round, managed to go forward because her opponent, the club legend @nimzo-indianajones , decided to pull a @DonRajesh and hibernate. @Xhive24 again managed to somehow go through due to @HornetCruise not posting. And the only battle where both contestants posted was a complete sweep, with the pitiful @2000knights getting battered by top blogger @AstroTheoretical_Physics . 

However, the Final 4 was much better. The only round in millennia without a forfeit. Sadly, both games wasted that, with @AstroTheoretical_Physics and @1cbb both sweeping their opponents 5-0 and advancing to the finals. The tone for the final? Astro having asserted dominance on every poor sod who faced him, and 1cbb just... being there. 

So, the finals to this turbulence-ridden season have arrived. @AstroTheoretical_Physics , the absolute powerhouse, completely overshadowing the aloof @1cbb. So it was no surprise when the winner was

1cbb.

Wait, hang on, what the f-

YES. Somehow, 1cbb pulled every ounce of weight they had and managed to defeat Astro in an extremely tight 3-2 finish. An absurd ending to an absurd season.

IN SUMMARY...

You can summarise this blog like this:

BlogChamps was a great and fresh club, bringing new things to the proverbial table that hadn't been thought of. But even the freshest things eventually grow stale. @Alphaous , thank you for your 15 minutes of fame. Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.