The Horse Pit

Your weekly review!
Enjoy!

p.s group four is previewed more in-depth here.
http://youtu.be/id5-YSzD8Yg?hd=1

Only three of you can come out of the horse pit heroes!   Whilst the rest of you will be trampled beneath the success of others!
However for now you have the future in front of you, and your past is filled with rosy memories of victory after victory, slaying opponents left right and center!  Ok enough of the blathering, lets look how things are shaping up.

Round two sees 24 potential champions enter into four groups of six.  Three players will advance from each group.   Ill take a quick look at the first three groups and then hit you up with the last one soon!
I’m going to enjoy watching you all battle it out!

Group one sees the tournaments best player stats wise kris_tofer

 facing off against filth rated jacopocolo who lost 3 games. They are joined by 15^th rated Leftymiddlewright who has already defeated Vitkalov79 within less than twenty moves.  A taster of things to come or a false dawn for lefty?  jaga_wu who was my outsider tip for the last round cant seem to get enough of kris_tofer and the two will go head to head once again in a battle that ended one a piece last time!  19^th rated grekgrekov will be hoping to refind their form at the right time, hoping to add to the third place medal they picked up recently.

Group two is a hell hole beyond imagination. Mikevrees who has won 11 tournaments and 41 tournament medals is joined by lord trophy themselves Cerezales.  Cerezales has won an outrageous 65 tournaments.  The way they cruised through their last group should leave 1008 rated MACRINUS shaking in their hooves,  however let us not forget how MACRINUS just destroyed a group full of hotshots in round one!  Oh and did I forget to mention Milomiter, who despite winning no tournaments to date, has a cracking 1600 in puzzles, lets hope matemagico23 , matotsmatots have got their whit’s about them to out puzzle Milomiter.

Group three features go73 another  tournament player who is no stranger to silverware.   go73 is joined by Monty4773 who along with jaga_wu is perhaps one of the surprise packages of the 2cnd round!  Group threes Ronaldo is econr6, the second best player in the tournament to date.  Econ boasts over 1700 in puzzles and has won 17 tournaments…….its hard to see a player out there who can stop them, but then again, heroes are formed by challenging situations.  Konerth will be hoping things are less tight than the last round where they slipped through by 0.5 points, whilst MedaBeda25 should have nothing to be scared of going forward (nervous laugh) dADamocleZ lost four games in the last round and still went through, the 2^nd round of the horse pit is unlikely to be as forgiving!

Only three of you can come out of the horse pit heroes!   Whilst the rest of you will be trampled beneath the success of others!
However for now you have the future in front of you, and your past is filled with rosy memories of victory after victory, slaying opponents left right and center!  Ok enough of the blathering, lets look how things are shaping up.

Round two sees 24 potential champions enter into four groups of six.  Three players will advance from each group.   Ill take a quick look at the first three groups and then hit you up with the last three tomorrow!
I’m going to enjoy watching you all battle it out!

Group one sees the tournaments best player stats wise kris_tofer

 facing off against filth rated jacopocolo who lost 3 games. They are joined by 15^th rated Leftymiddlewright who has already defeated Vitkalov79 within less than twenty moves.  A taster of things to come or a false dawn for lefty?  jaga_wu who was my outsider tip for the last round cant seem to get enough of kris_tofer and the two will go head to head once again in a battle that ended one a piece last time!  19^th rated grekgrekov will be hoping to refind their form at the right time, hoping to add to the third place medal they picked up recently.

Group two is a hell hole beyond imagination. Mikevrees who has won 11 tournaments and 41 tournament medals is joined by lord trophy themselves Cerezales.  Cerezales has won an outrageous 65 tournaments.  The way they cruised through their last group should leave 1008 rated MACRINUS shaking in their hooves,  however let us not forget how MACRINUS just destroyed a group full of hotshots in round one!  Oh and did I forget to mention Milomiter, who despite winning no tournaments to date, has a cracking 1600 in puzzles, lets hope matemagico23 , matotsmatots have got their whit’s about them to out puzzle Milomiter.

Group three features go73 another  tournament player who is no stranger to silverware.   go73 is joined by Monty4773 who along with jaga_wu is perhaps one of the surprise packages of the 2cnd round!  Group threes Ronaldo is econr6, the second best player in the tournament to date.  Econ boasts over 1700 in puzzles and has won 17 tournaments…….its hard to see a player out there who can stop them, but then again, heroes are formed by challenging situations.  Konerth will be hoping things are less tight than the last round where they slipped through by 0.5 points, whilst MedaBeda25 should have nothing to be scared of going forward (nervous laugh) dADamocleZ lost four games in the last round and still went through, the 2^nd round of the horse pit is unlikely to be as forgiving!

 Well have to fun everyone, and remember this is a social tournament!  There will be a trophy for the best participant too!

Hey horsepitters! Its your tournament director horsefacer here.  
Well, we are five games away from the 2cnd round so when better to post my weekly (i have long weeks) review!

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/ypVEL0iZyGA  (Group wrap up, player charts, etc short)  plus start of Monty vs Go 
Part 2  -    https://youtu.be/mBPQljtkcG8  Finishing up the review of the game between go73  and Monty4773

I meant to do another game review but things are a bit busy here!
Remember! Be social , be cheeky and enjoy your tournament.
If your enjoying the content give us comment, like or hello!
Ill keep doing it even if you dont though, so worry not

Hello all you Chessters!
Week two review Includes - quick group recap 
                                                Two game reviews 
                                                 Kris_tofer vs Gianfi51 
                                                  Milomiter vs Jacopocolo                                                

Excuse the coughing and noises if they are annoying, Im new to this.  I hope you enjoy the video and are enjoying your tournaments.
Remember, Be social, be cheeky, have fun and if you have comments on how i can do this better let me know!


Part one
https://youtu.be/xgn6AsM4z_Y

Part Two 
https://youtu.be/JzMz_LpZJVU

Hello and welcome to the weekly review part two! Sorry for splitting it, I was really tired yesterday! 

Group one remains an undecided group, with the qualifying positions up for grabs bykpos1,Valery-1953,Mrlittlepickle,Cerezales, and group leader Konerth.   Two players timed out which means we are likely to have high-scoring qualifying places and the reality of the group is yet to really hit us! Mrlittlepickle must be singled out for taking advantage of the dropouts..... 4 free wins and then a castle and queen checkmate at the back rank against group leader Konerth is enough to get us excited about pickles chances!  Wait a second..... just before I posted, pickle beat Konerth again!!! This is crazy folks! Pickle for gold! Pickle for gold! 

Group 3'sjb1007 sits in a proud and promising position having done the double over wilsonb1130 and scoring a fine horse and castle finish against the group leader Karel2012 after just 19 turns.  Way to go giant killer! 
But let us not only mention Karel2012's defeats, let us also mention the fact that otherwise it's a full house of victories for our trailblazer at the top.  Unless something shocking occurs, it seems like we are saying a fond farewell to my friend garrettf318 who recorded the double over fellow horsepit exiteer wilsonb1130  trapping with a castle and bishop in one and forcing resignation in the other.

AbhimanyuSaini has exited whilst there's still everything to play for dADamocleZ andLeftymiddlewright.

In group 4 we say farewell to DingySkipper who despite only grabbing two points so far impressed by forcing group leaderMedaBeda25 into resignation by trapping the rook with a queen check.  It's really inspiring to see victories like this and makes me glad we have a wide rating range in the tournament.  
MikeVrees is chasing poll position with seven points after completing all their games.  Mike appears to have qualified no matter the results due to a great tiebreak score, whilst my hot tip SerpentinePrison must look nervously over their shoulders..... a victory forReNessunojuve againstLawRencemy would see them slip into the top three whilst LawRencemy will require an incredibly good run to jump into the qualifying mix.   Perhaps SerpentinePrison can have room for hope though as LawRencemy is a pawn up in what will prove to be a tight rook vs rook end game!

(Week one Review - Part 1 of 3)
(in review two we will do the other groups and in three we will look through some of the games!)

One week of play down and 230 brutal battles has knocked out 11 players already!! 
So who are our ruthless chess hounds ripping through their innocent victims like they were the wrapping paper between them and the gold medal they know is theirs!

Well.... tucked away safely from each other we have the deadly Milomiter of group 7, kris_tofer of group 2 and MACRINUS of group 6.  MACRINUS and his pals in group six got things wrapped up nice and early as JazzyBlueberry and grekgrekov secured the other two qualifying places.
Respect must be given where it is due, only 3.5 points separate 6th place ImranShakhverdiyev and top dog MACRINUS.  A tight group indeed.

kris_tofer heads the pack in group two, currently undefeated and all but qualified. Gianfi51 looks like the obvious suitor for second place being the only player to take any kind of points off Kris_tofer thus far.  Still in the running is my hot tip jaga_wu  sitting in fifth place.  

So what about group seven where the other beast of the board pedals their craft?   There it was 9 out of 12 for milomiter, beating every single opponent atleast once.  Its a real tussle behind Milomiter, jacopocolo  and blakey22 having 7 points whilst matotsmatots and KiwiJC have two a peice.    Milomiter has an epic 9 wins and
is as stands the leading tournament player.  Rumor has it they intend to go all the way in the
horsepit and I for one wouldnt be suprised!

In group eight we find your humiliated tournament director who has lost three out of three and sits bottom of the group.  Rumor has it your mighty horse like freind is weighed down by the role of tournament director, but the truth is, he needs to buckle up and start trotting the trot or its time to get out of the pit!  Otherwise in group 8 Monty4773 stands out as a top performer, securing 7 points and sitting above three higher rated
players in go73, CarlosG297 and GoldenAce1.    Ace has won 50 percent of their games, and whilst this might not be okay in some of
the other groups, group 8 may be a little more forgiving, with group leader matemagico23 having lost 4 game on the run and sitting only with 7 points! AyushM26 timed out all of their games, except for against horsefacer who they beat within around 7 or 8 moves,
perfect!

As before, group five is a slow burn group, players taking their sweet time about things. econr6 should we find you another group? Cos your wrapping up things with the speed and fireyness of a bolt of chess lightening!  8 wins out of 8! this 17 time tournament winner is 6th best performer in the tournament so far! Im sure looking forward to seing all you hotdogs paired together in the second round!! 

otherwise there really is no telling in group five, with Guyda5 with three points andThePrinceKiller17 on 2.5.   
now a scary note to leave you with about group five and the tournamnet in general.  Remember that samuelplayer characeter i told you about in the preview?  I did my research and they have player a whopping 2735 tournaments, and are the ALLTIME fourth best performing player on chess.com in daily tournaments!  Thought the horsepit was tough? It just got tougher people!!

Well until next time!
Have fun out there!!

Group 7 is topped already by the sixth-highest rated player in the tournament jacopocolo.  Jacopocolo has won 5/5 which makes them the seventh-best performer so far in the horse pit….. Talk about some stats to reckon with! 

Not to be outdone, hot on the hoofs of Jaco is 1266 rated blakey22 and 1253 rated Milomiter winning 4/4 and 4/5 respectively.  That's the kinda start that often leads to hot finishes! I should know what Milomiter is capable of, having watched from my lowly perch as Milometer lost only one game on their march to first place in a group we were battling in!   A trophy is surely within their grasp?

KiwiJC and matotsmatots are also keeping this group an extremely tight one with 4 and 3 points each. 

Sadly another player has been trampled by the talent on show in the horse pit and we bid a sad farewell to kalistete who ended the tournament with three points.  In their one official victory they did force matotsmatots into resignation after grabbing an early queen capture…… a flickering suggestion what might of been had things worked out differently!

Group 7 is perhaps in my opinion one of the most interesting groups in terms of how level things are looking!  
How do you all feel your tournament is going?

Hello at welcome to day four of the action! Whilst group five are slowly getting into things, Group six are clearing off their games left right and centre.  

Group leader JazzyBlueberry has only two games left to play whilst second place MACRINUS has but one!! Ratings wise we can suggest that MACRINUS sits a little higher up than they might of expected after seeing the draw, but having only lost three games, one more win will secure them a place in the next round….and moving to the next round of tournaments is something they apparently very good at, having amassed 16 first place medals on chess.com!

Saito_13 and Hispanov have sadly already dropped out of the reckoning before  I even got to preview them!  ImranShakhverdiyev of Azerbaijan stands an outisde chance of slipping into the qualifying mix  if the players above them slip up.

At the bottom of the group with 2 wins out of three we have possibly a tactically slow and steady type in posejdon333

The slow and steady tournament players get a good overview of what they have to do to qualify and then go about their business accordingly, this avoids the stress that comes from wondering if your gonna be pipped to the post at the last minuite.

So will posejdon333 have what it takes to catch the trailblaizers? Perhaps, especially if they match their all-time best winning streak of 15 games unbeaten!   Having won 6 out of their last ten games, form is on their side! So watch out you hotdogs at the top!!

I hope yourare all having fun! Good luck out there!

Group five is a strong and tough group, with nearly all the competitors above the 1100 rating.  Indeed only GuillermoGomezESP and AkemiOne fall below that rating.  should Akemi just shy of the 900 mark be considered a serious underdog in both group and tournament? Or a darkhorse galloping amidst the murky shadows? 

German samuelplayer,  the 15th ranked player in the horsepit is a scary, scary opponent indeed. They have won 58 tournaments, come second 69 times and third place 73 times! Having being a member of chess.com since 2013, we can be excited to have them in the horsepit.

Vitkalov79, ThePrinceKiller17 and guyda5 are the middle hitters whilst econr6 is our other big gunner with a whopping 17 titles since 2013!    Ratings  of course  mean nothing in daily tournaments where each of us has 24 hours to deliberate over every minute detail of our moves…..so, no excuses for not trashing all your opponents, no matter how full of chess sharks your group may be!

Please let me know of any great games you have had, or killer moves you think should feature in the weekly horsepit review! Drop a comment and let us know what you think about the groups so far!

Group four beware because With 11 tournament wins to their name and a daily rating of 1312, I boldly tip MikeVrees to win….. a game or two during the horsepit.  But worry not, the pain of defeat will only be momentary as mike wraps up a move in a smooth 56 minutes clearly keen to move on to their next victim!

MedaBeda25 from Czech Repubic is sure to be hot on Mike’s heels, with five wins out of nine i would say that already their intentions of a strong finish have been neighed…... sorry i mean made.

Standing in their way are a amueller from the U.S.A, the Scot DingySkipper, LawRencemy from Malaysia and the italian ReNessunojuve.  ReNessunojuve has played over 8000 games of chess and at one point boasted a rating of 1459.  Despite losing their first four games, I still see them in with a chance here.

Last but not least a player who i have personally had this misfortune to be thrashed by.  Remember that MikeVrees I just mentioned?  Well our 1077 rated SerpentinePrison has already done the double over them.  If this were a horserace, i’d put my money on this underdog to go the distance!

Good luck everyone and remember, have fun and say hi to your rivals!