The Best UNational Players Today (Part 2)

If you read my last post, you know the top 5 so far. I mentioned I would go over the top 15. So here's to my promise, and here are the top 6-10. Sit back, relax, and grab a snack.

As for a quick recap from Part 1, I talked about USM Rudy Tillmann, WUNM Selena Hartfeld, UGM Xander Kingman, UGM Dristen Grouper, and USM Mason Wright.

Now let's get into the next five people.

6. Yvette Morgan

She is the one of two female players in the top 10. As such, she has a great title. In UNational, she is a WUGM. Woman UNational Grandmaster.

By UNE, she places #8. She is 5 UNE behind #7, who stands at 2279 UNE (If you haven't done the math, Yvette has 2274 UNE).

To get this UNE, she participated in the 2025 Elo Set, like most of the others listed. When she had participated in the Elo Set, she originally set it to 2368, which was the second highest obtained in the set. The reason she fell down nearly 100 UNE is due to the Proof Tournament.

The Proof Tournament is where players prove their Elo after the Elo set, playing against others in the Elo Set. Yvette lost 4 games, therefore lost 94 UNE. Each player played about 7 matches. So she didn't lose as much as she could have, if she lost all 7 games.

Yvette has a classical UNE of 2274, but it changes a ton when changing to different game modes and time controls. In bullet, Yvette has a UNE of 2304; in blitz, she has a UNE of 2321; in rapid she has a UNE of 2345. As seen, it only goes up, until hitting classical (time control more than 30 minutes in UNational), where it drops to her current standing.

Another difference in her UNE is her performance UNE. Her performance is commonly seen at a level of 2370 UNE, which places her in 15th by performance (not actual UNE).

In this game, we can see that Yvette played many fantastic moves. She played much like Rudy, who is aggressive but also thoughtful of his moves.

Her opponent, Blake Marris, rated 2089, played equally well. Thus the game ended in a draw. Yvette should have won this game.

7. Maxwell 'Max' Hodge-Logans

This guy has made a name for himself in UNational. He plays like no one else. He plays slowly and deliberately. Prior to most tournaments he plays in (he only does one every month), he studies his opponents' play styles (brackets are generally released a week before tournaments begin).

As such, he commonly destroys his opponents. His UNE before the Elo set was 2109. He didn't need to even participate in it to be in the top 50. This guy gained a measly 131 UNE, for a new UNE of 2240. Before you have any questions, most people gained upwards of 500 UNE off of the Elo set (some gained close to or more than 1000 UNE).

His performance UNE is also insanely high. His performance takes him from 15th to 3rd. His performance UNE is 3079. This is a staggering height for a player such as himself, even compared to Rudy, who has 3178 as his performance UNE.

This guy is also one of the oldest in UNational, at 23 years of age (I know, UNational players are young). Not only is he one of the oldest, he also works as a detective (how he has time for UNational is beyond me). This guy's IQ is probably in the 130's, if not the 140's.

By most standards, he is a great player. However, when pitted against a player such as Xander Kingman or Rudy Tillmann, he looks extremely weak over the board. Even though Xander's performance UNE is significantly lower than Maxwell's, he is simply intelligent. As is Rudy.

In the following game, you can see that Maxwell played the computer's best moves. This is Maxwell's longest game by far, and also the longest recorded UNational game historically.

8. Brody Tillmann

Being the brother of Rudy Tillmann, he is expected to do great things in his time in UNational. After the Elo set, however, he was bumped from #3 to #121. His current UNE is 1998, significantly lower than his brother, who sits at 2352.

And while his UNE is much lower than that of Rudy, his performance UNE says he should be in the top 50. He commonly performs at a level of 2457, which places him 47th by performance. He is also one of the ones who participated in the Big 4 Round Robin, prior to the Elo set when he was actually in the top 4.

When he was in the top 4, people always speculated that Brody would eventually beat his brother, Rudy, since they have a rivalry like no other in the chess world. But he never beat his brother, not once. His record against his brother is 0-53.

While Brody is on the level of a FIDE National Master, Rudy still coaches him (Rudy is on the level of a FIDE Grandmaster). Both have a magnificent understanding of the game, yet both also have stuff to learn.

With Brody having been knocked out of the top 100, he looks to grow more than he ever has (his peak is 2037). If Brody were to be at his peak at the moment, he would place #124. Not much of an improvement from where he currently stands.

And while he is low rated (compared to many), his performance UNE shows. In this game against Raimond Reece (Former UNational Champion), he wins rather quickly in an awkward position. However, he made it work in his favor.