Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Thank you for taking care of this, EEG.

    Comment


      No problem thanks Wouter.

      Comment


        Another one for the annals of "twats offering draws when losing heavily".

        My opponent in the match linked below first offered a draw at move 19, at which point I'm 3 material points up (3 pawns) with no readily identifiable offsetting positional disadvantage. I thought he was a cheeky so and so for doing that, when I must be fairly strong favourite, but maybe not the most outrageous.

        But then he offered me a draw again on move 26. At which point I'm 9 material points up and have just embarked on a continuous series of checks up to checkmate. The only possible reason, surely, for doing that, is hoping that I'm accidentally going to click on the wrong button. What an arsehole.

        https://www.chess.com/daily/game/185041112

        Comment


          9 points? Pah! Sam just offered me a draw when 27 points down. As it was a verbal offer, I can absolve him of the wrong button gambit.

          Comment


            Yes, I thought I'd better do it by message rather than the 'offer draw' button so that a) it was obvious it was a joke, and b) you didn't accidentally accept. I thought you were going to get a third Queen just for the hell of it at the point I made the 'offer'.

            Comment


              I probably was. Your defensive structure was annoyingly sound given how much material you were down.

              Comment


                AAAARRGGGHHH.

                (my return game with Sam)

                Comment


                  Wanted to congratulate Bored, as although things went badly wrong shortly after, for the first 16 moves of our game there was nothing to choose between us. So definitely some big improvements.

                  Comment


                    Thank you, Etienne, much appreciated. Even though I have just lost three games in quick succession, I feel like I have my eye back in now. It certainly helps playing games quickly in a couple of evening rather than spreading them over days. I can keep track of what I am trying to do - and what my opponent is trying to do - over multiple games much more easily. I think I am finally thinking more than two moves ahead as well. Just have to reduce the silly mistakes and resist the temptation to do moves while pissed.

                    Comment


                      Yes, I was thinking earlier today that you've got markedly better all of a sudden, Bored.

                      And a late reply, because I've not been around as much lately, Etienne, but I shall be letting Alex know he owes me a pint if he only pips you to the title by a point or half a point. I was quite pleased with how I managed to hold my nerve and not make any fuck-ups after sending my Queen into the eye of the storm, as it were.

                      Comment


                        I think he is going to beat me by more than that. He's well on his way to beating me again.

                        Comment


                          I can only apologise, TPC. I should have run up the white flag ages ago on that game you just won but I became slightly obsessed with how many moves I could make it last for.

                          Comment


                            Gah, the fucking stupidest move ever by me against Sam just now. Twat!

                            Comment


                              You should've taken my rook on move 38 as well, instead of the bishop.

                              Comment


                                Overall though, just to reiterate, you have improved dramatically.

                                Comment


                                  Jammy good luck - when you think "Aha! My opponent has just given me the chance to win his rook by a knight fork!" and so you make the move and it turns out to be checkmate!

                                  https://www.chess.com/daily/game/186069604

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by Levin View Post
                                    Oh he is a twat. He sent the following to me in the chat.

                                    "What is this? Am I losing?"
                                    "Are you using an engine?"

                                    So I blocked him. I was wary already as I remember Sam mentioning him in the past and I can't be doing with that bullshit.

                                    Even worse I don't think I can keep my current performance up. He is, I think, quite good. It will be galling to lose to him.
                                    Updating this to report that not only did Levin successfully complete the double over the twat, and go on to win the tournament, but that the twat also shared points with the only player who could overtake us (yes, I said us), meaning that it's an OTF one-two in the medal positions! My best finish yet, and all the sweeter for finishing above that complete dick (even if it was courtesy of that baffling resignation he made against me in our first game).

                                    Comment


                                      In other news, I've been invited to join the B team of the Argentine national chess team on chess.com. Crumbs. They must be desperate.

                                      Comment


                                        Sam, I'm now playing a handful of club matches (for Outback) and my first involvement is against Argentina B. You'll definitely strengthen that team.

                                        Comment


                                          Updating this to report that not only did Levin successfully complete the double over the twat, and go on to win the tournament, but that the twat also shared points with the only player who could overtake us (yes, I said us), meaning that it's an OTF one-two in the medal positions! My best finish yet, and all the sweeter for finishing above that complete dick (even if it was courtesy of that baffling resignation he made against me in our first game).
                                          Congratulations! With regard to that baffling resignation, with all due respect to the excellence of your 1. Nf3, I'm wondering if it was a mis-click on his part. You need to mis-click twice of course, once to accidentally hit the "resign" button and a second time to accidentally hit "yes" instead of "no", but it's far from impossible, especially if you're playing on a mobile device on the move.

                                          Comment


                                            The trouble with advancing in tournaments is you meet stronger players. I've got 23 matches on currently. Early days still in most of them, but I already have a strong feeling that I'm unlikely to win more than 4 or 5 of those 23, if that. I seem to be hitting a wall.

                                            Comment


                                              Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                                              Congratulations! With regard to that baffling resignation, with all due respect to the excellence of your 1. Nf3, I'm wondering if it was a mis-click on his part. You need to mis-click twice of course, once to accidentally hit the "resign" button and a second time to accidentally hit "yes" instead of "no", but it's far from impossible, especially if you're playing on a mobile device on the move.
                                              That might make sense. Either way I've lost no sleep over it. What I'd like, on a similar note, is for the 'rematch' button to chuck up a confirmation option on the mobile app. After losing to TPC in this tournament, I went to set my tablet to analyse the game and accidentally asked him for a rematch, which to some people might look rather like going, 'best of five?' when you've just lost the first two games of pool to someone clearly much better.

                                              I see we only have one game left to finish. Exciting times. Come on Wouter!

                                              Comment


                                                And OTF 13 reaches its conclusion. Clean sweep for Alex.

                                                New ratings, with change in brackets since the previous snapshot (1 December)

                                                Alex 1806 (+65)
                                                ad hoc 1659 (-)
                                                Etienne 1564 (+6)
                                                Levin 1498 (+41)
                                                Wouter 1433 (+9)
                                                EEG 1416 (-24)
                                                VT 1373 (-)
                                                Matt 1300 (-)
                                                Sam 1246 (+19)
                                                TPC 1185 (+25)
                                                Rogin 854 (-)
                                                Bored 529 (-13)

                                                Comment


                                                  Out of interest, have we got any cumulative points for all the OTF tournaments? I know that they all have had different players but 14 points could be given to the winner of each, 13 points to the second etc. and then a mean taken of points divided by tournaments played. I think I have the wooden spoon sorted but it would be interesting to see whay everyone else is doing.

                                                  Comment


                                                    There would be some slightly odd effects arising from that point-awarding system, wouldn't there, for the players at the lower ends of the tables? If you only enter a few tournaments and you are one of the weaker players, your average points per tournament will be a lot higher under that system if the tournaments you choose to enter are those with fewer players, where last place garners quite a few points, than your average would be if you enter the tournaments with more players. From memory I think the number of participants has varied between 7 and 12 inclusive. I'll dig out the positions and post them here over a series of posts.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X