Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

[Sam]

Yeah, my first win against TPC came in a fairly even game. In our second he was distinctly on top until he lost concentration and made a howler which allowed me to go up a clean Queen.

In other news, my slide down the table is now inexorable.

[Etienne]

No sweep. Well played Levin. Completely out-manoeuvred me

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Joining a chess club has definitely helped even if I've only played a few games. My openings are much tighter.

Yeah, openings. Probably one of the key factors preventing me ever getting better at this game (my Daily rating has been stuck in the 1390 to 1450 range for the last year and is currently near the bottom of that range). I hate openings. Always the same starting position, the same narrow range of tediously repetitive issues. It's why, in my non-OTF play, I almost always opt for Chess 960 instead of standard chess. Standard chess matches only become at all interesting or enjoyable for me from around move 10 onwards, assuming I haven't already more or less lost by then.

[Etienne]

Well, it doesn't have to be that way. Throw in something different and the board can look very different pretty early on.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Maybe I should vary my openings a bit more. In probably more than 90 per cent of my matches as white I start d4 then almost always 2. c4 (against almost every 1st black move), whilst as white I probably respond to black's e4 with the Sicilian close to 100 per cent of the time. But I'm nervous of trying variants whose traps I'm unfamiliar with.

In the meantime, I have cracking games on against Wouter (hoping to avenge my first match defeat, but early days) and TPC. The TPC game was incredibly tight and behind-the-scenes-shuffly until TPC sacrificed a minor piece to weaken my king's shelter, and I'm hoping his boldness will prove to have been rash. Not wanting to tempt fate, but I think I've won my match against Sam as he's down to a lone king, but he had me on the ropes earlier (despite his being a knight down) and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he missed a chance to exploit my position by capturing a rook* and so going well ahead. [* edit: actually, that's overstated - I could have limited the immediate damage to the loss of a knight,so going level on material but with Sam in a much more threatening and solid arrangement so very much the favourite]

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I probably shouldn't be trying to play chess today. I'm having a "stupid" day for some reason, as shown by how I've fallen 128 points so far this morning on Tactics (from 1527 to 1399), including failing to solve the last 11 consecutive challenges. I still will be playing chess today, though, because I have an addictive personality.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Just been looking at one or two other matches in this event. I like the episcopal theme to Sam's mate as black against TPC.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Shame that Bored just lost 4 of his matches on time, especially as, in his match against TPC, TPC's last move just gave away a bishop (assuming Bored took that on the move he didn't make in time), which would have put Bored 4 material points up and possibly on his way to his first ever chess.com victory other than wins on time.

[Bored Of Education]

Shame that Bored just lost 4 of his matches on time, especially as, in his match against TPC, TPC's last move just gave away a bishop (assuming Bored took that on the move he didn't make in time), which would have put Bored 4 material points up and possibly on his way to his first ever chess.com victory other than wins on time.

I know. I am really pissed off. Sorry, lads. The weekend away buggered me up a bit.

[Sam]

Ah, unlucky Bored. I had clocked that my last game wasn't against you - and therefore that the last game of the tournament won't be between us two for the first time in living memory - but hadn't realised why that was.

Congratulations to EEG on solidifying fourth place (the Champions League spots, if you will), as I suspect he'll have checkmated me by the time he sees this.

[Bored Of Education]

By the way, Wouter, EEG and TPC, I am off today and, with the weekend, if we move it along, we can probably wrap up the tournament by Sunday. I don't think there are any time difference issues with any of us. No pressure just saying that I shouldn't be holding anything up from my end.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I shouldn't be holding anything up from my end either, except that I'm out all evening Saturday.

Thanks for the congrats, Sam. My performance in this tournament overall has cost me 30-odd rating points (so far - I'll drop more of course if I lose my final match against Bored). I've got a one-off non-OTF standard Daily match going, though, which might just rescue 18 points for me before my regular post-tournament ratings snapshot as I'm ahead in that match and my opponent is ranked about 110 points above me. (Results produce bigger swings if you've played relatively few matches in the category recently I think, which is the case with me and standard chess - I'm only playing the match in question by accident, in a failed attempt to start a Daily match of King of the Hill, which I've since realised isn't possible as all variants other than standard and 960 are still available in Live mode only.)

[Bored Of Education]

Hey, I'm out all evening Saturday as well. I'm not a complete nerd.

[Levin]

Ah, so what's going on?

[Etienne]

I did wonder why it was saying 83% complete when there was only two games left to finish. I guess I haven't won yet then.

[Wouter D]

Hang about, what!? I was explicitly told by the rules that I would not be able to organize tournaments with more than one round. I don't understand at all why this is happening.

[Levin]

My hopes of beating Etienne took a bit of a beating when the website gave my second move the name Reti Opening: Santasiere's Folly.

[Etienne]

I laughed at that.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Nice blog post here on chess.com by "batgirl" about the Santasiere of folly fame:

https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/santasieres-folly

[Janik]

Have you guys mentioned this on here? I would imagine that Bored's reaction to the idea that calling someone 'a gypsy' is not racial will be able to strip the paint off walls.

[Bored Of Education]

Thanks, Janik, it is always nice to see that one's opinions are noted.

Interesting what else has been said about this arsehole Azmaiparashvili. Good for Kovalyov for calling it out as a racial slur.

[Sam]

Organiser seems like a nice chap.

[Levin]

The site says I'm playing Wouter but it's the tenth turn and all his pieces are still in his half of the board. Have you been hacked?

[Bored Of Education]

How can we mere earthfolk view these games.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Go to the page for the tournament and click on "Pairings" - that should take you to the grid for Round 2, where you can click on the square for any particular match in that round.