Nova Daily - 4 April 2025
Hi!
The 8th season of BlogChamps is well on the way. The competition has advanced to the knock-out phase, currently in the first knock-out round. The deadline for the Sweet 16 was due today. It was an intense week for the competition; not just for the 17 writers, but for the judges and the audience as well: would everyone finish in time?
The sweat of stress was cascading through the notes section. Where's my inspiration? Why do I have two topics?* Can I finish my blog in time? Will it be too long? Or too short? Is my thumbnail any good? All the emotions and struggles that you would expect when you have to perform under pressure, fighting against a deadline, and stressing to finish it on time. Whether that lack of time comes from procrastination, a busy schedule or an emergency, we all know the sensation. Some of us perpetual procrastinators know this far too well.
The deadline vastly approached. Only hours away. The density of the tension almost materialises. Would everyone be finished in time? Were we to suffer dropouts after all? Please no! But the deadline got closer. The time ticked away. Hour by hour. Minute by minute. Second by second.
The judges got ever more anxious. The last thing that they'd want is for people to drop out. It would first and foremost negatively influence the competition, because a poor blog would win out over several great ones because of the match-ups. It's not fun to win without any effort because it'd devalue the prize. And "quitter" is a stain on anyone's reputation. It's just no fun.
As an audience member, I too was almost biting my nails off for all the submissions to arrive in time. I bought nine extra stacks of popcorn to witness a blogging fight to the death, so I wanted to enjoy every last bit of it. I want to see the emotions, the clashes, the struggles, the hard-fought victories. (Not really, though: I just want to read good stuff and see my fellow bloggers do a great job at it.)
Unfortunately...
...no, there is no unfortunately. All 17 contestants who qualified for the Sweet 16 managed to finish their work in time and submit a blog.
High-level competition at its best!
- One of the judges
I can't agree more. Even though I haven't responded to each individual blog, I did read everything (or intend to do so).
Great job, everyone! Keep going!
* Small writing tip: always keep a notepad to the side when you're writing, so you can jot down the ideas for other topics that you get as you're busy writing your blog. You can store them away by solidifying them on paper (digital or physical), and you'll end up with a healthy stack of topics that might come in handy as postponed inspiration for future writing endeavours.
The game
My own game was also very competitive. I played against one of the Reversed Rossolimo systems that I've analysed before. I was able to implement one idea that had stuck with me from the previous analysis, but I found it incredibly difficult to progress after that. I may not even have been better at several points, and I'm also quite sure that at a few points I was actually worse. I do believe that my knight sacrifice at the end was too much for black to handle.
Just the game for now.
I felt it was an interesting game start to finish.
I have places to go tomorrow so I won't be able to analyse the game or enter my thoughts until I get back. I might not even be able to play my daily game tomorrow. But we'll see how it goes.
