Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

[The_Purple_Cow]

Spanish bloke finally agreed a draw, after we were reduced to a king and a rook each

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Just got taken apart by VT who was a piece down on me. Not as bad as that time in an early tournament when Sam checkmated me while 3 pieces down on me, but still a pretty painful reminder that pieces in the wrong places on the board don't count for shit when your king is vulnerable. When I'm smarting a bit less I'll go through the analysis to see at what point I went wrong.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

It was your pawn to g6, which set it all off. But if you hadn't taken immediately with the f pawn, you would have been fine, I think.

[Etienne]

post edited as i was talking bollocks

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Well, still some positions to play for, but 1st place has been out of sight for some time already. Congrats to Etienne on the clean sweep!

[Etienne]

Thank you. I was quite happy with the lack of tension.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Crikey, just ran the analysis on the match I just won against Bored, and had my attention drawn by it to the fact that I blundered away my queen (moving it into a square attacked by one of Bored's pawns) two moves before the end. Fortunately for me, Bored didn't spot that either, but it could have made things interesting, I'm comforted to know that I'm in good company in this tournament for giving queens away.

[Etienne]

Did you run analysis on our second game? Because I thought your resignation was a bit precipitate - P-h6 would have just left you down a pawn I think.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Yes, you're right. Sorry, I should have played on.

[Sam]

Holiday was great. You should all visit north-western Argentina at the earliest possible opportunity.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Oh FFS. Just missed the chance to take VT's pawn e.p. and spotted it about five nanoseconds after I'd cilcked on the tick. Must. not. play. in. a. rush. Sam, glad you enjoyed your trip.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

The new layout I get today for the personalised "Home" page on chess.com sucks! The boards are fewer and smaller, lots of space dedicated to stuff I'm not interested in.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Oh FFS. Just missed the chance to take VT's pawn e.p. and spotted it about five nanoseconds after I'd cilcked on the tick. Must. not. play. in. a. rush. Sam, glad you enjoyed your trip.

I didn't notice that either, obvs

[Bored Of Education]

Crikey, just ran the analysis on the match I just won against Bored, and had my attention drawn by it to the fact that I blundered away my queen (moving it into a square attacked by one of Bored's pawns) two moves before the end. Fortunately for me, Bored didn't spot that either, but it could have made things interesting, I'm comforted to know that I'm in good company in this tournament for giving queens away.

Fucking hell, my only chance at all this tournament and I missed it.

[Sam]

The new layout I get today for the personalised "Home" page on chess.com sucks! The boards are fewer and smaller, lots of space dedicated to stuff I'm not interested in.

You know it's personalisable, right? If you go to Settings > Home > Home Settings, you can pick and choose which bits show up where.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Thanks Sam! (I didn't know that.)

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

PM for Wouter

[Diable Rouge]

Magnus Carlsen was briefly a double world champion of sorts, after topping the Fantasy Premier League table overnight.

[Wouter D]

PM for Wouter

Thank you! Answered.

Just went through the flag in two games. That'll teach me to postpone reacting to a chess move until I've come up with a plan, only to disappear to a party for a decent chunk of the weekend. Oh well. No point in crying over spilled milk.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Well, the chess.com analysis had me around 5 points up when the clock ran so I was favourite in that match if that's any consolation Wouter. Glad to hear it was a party that distracted you!

Edit: amazing re Magnus Carlson btw.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Nice promotion-to-knight mate by VT vs Sam just now!

[Sam]

Yes indeed. Well done, VT!

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

It's the way the program works - I put you in check first with a queen promotion, and then was able to test other computations. When the knight promotion went in, it showed mate, so I left it there.

That was a really enjoyable tournament for me, by the way. I had a lot of travel - Gambia, Lesotho and Egypt - during the tournament, so I was often erratic, but it was good for my mental health and something to look forward to after travel and work.
.

[Etienne]

After the last couple of tournaments have been very even with lots of upsets, this one has been the opposite. I won every game, VT was unbeaten against everyone other than me, EEG is surely going to finish with a 100% record against everyone apart from me and VT. It's only after that where players have been difficult to separate.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

That struck me too Etienne. Mind you, your comment that "EEG is surely going to finish with a 100% record against everyone apart from me and VT" is one I'm only just ready to endorse, after some trade offs to simplify the position. Sam was causing me all sorts of worry and trouble despite his being two pieces down, to the point where I blundered away one of my advantage pieces. I think even I can manage to force a win from where I am now though.