The first game was very interesting and could have gone either way.

In the second one I was feeling very good at about move 20. But around move 30 my position was lost and I didn't even know why. I felt outplayed... In the end I was close to resigning my disgusting rest of a position. If you play something like 38...Kf3 instead of Nf2 I almost am in zugzwang.

Compared to the ratings of other people on that site: If you stop dropping rooks your rating there should be 200 to 300 points higher (based on how you played your games against me).

Thanks for making that one public!

To be honest, I wasn't sure that trying to force the pawn through the center would accomplish as much as it did when I started down that route but it seemed the only viable plan. I didn't consider much more than Nf2. My thought process was something along the lines of "winning the exchange can't be bad here" :/

No excuse for following it up with two of the worst possible moves though.

My OTB is just over 1700 (small sample size in ELO tournaments. Used to ECF gradings which convert to around the same..) so I'd imagine that my rating there should be at least that if I actually concentrated on every move of every game but that just doesn't happen.

I'm the only one with all 8 games left still (though some have games completed only because of drop-outs). I feel so slow, or so inefficient.

You're welcome! Now you're famous. Your 2+2 and chess.com names aren't similar enough.

Yeah sorry bout that

think of it as you being the only one with the right attitude

The only games I've finished were from a withdrawl. People who are done already aren't playing correspondence imo. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, people who play these games like blitz give me at least some hope of scoring points against opponents who I know are much better than I am at chess

I resemble that remark.

First.

Nice performance. It looked like you were headed for a clean sweep last time...if those scores carry over, you'll be off to a good start for round 2.

I think my best chance to go 8-0 would be is to provoke my opponent(s) via inappropriate chess.com chat ("What a pretty pawn on g2, shame if something were to happen to it").

I'll settle for playing civilized chess and trying to scrape up 5 1/2 instead :-)

Edit: Thanks, JoshK.

Scores do not carry over.

gg, sorry guys yesterday there was a very important soccer match that made me completely forget that I had to move.

*does his traditional "I didn't lose all my games" dance that always goes with his first non-loss of a tourney*

You guys should play in an OTB tournament with me sometime. The dance is something to behold.

On a related note, I really really suck at chess, lol. You should see the super complex (and probably doomed anyway) line I had calculated out based on Qxh6, while completely ignoring that you could also just play Qxf7+ and, you know, win instantly.

For those who wish to LOL @ me: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=48723434

Yay, I finished one game! I wonder, though, if Josh considered something crazy like Rxg7 at the end there. It can get interesting in some lines (though I think black is still winning, I ran into some traps in my analysis).

Qh4 I thought was my only reply so that I can get back to defend my rook, but everything still looked pretty terrible for me. GG

From one of my games:



I had played a3, to which HungryHippo answered a5? (although black's position doesn't look very pleasant anyway). Now i'm suddenly winning material with

Well, I didn't really have to do much there, but a victory over the Champion is always nice. Here's the upset, although there are more exciting games in our group, for sure.

Schandorff actually mentioned 17...Bd6 in that line in passing, although 17...b5 made more sense to me.

One just ended -- replay here of TexAg06 v. Chaos81 -- move 24, White to play:



How do you evaluate this position?



Anyway, I started sweating this one a couple of moves before the first diagram since I was hoping for a draw by White to help my chances in group-play.

I hope the participants don't mind my sharing it; it was a fun game to watch.

LOL I honestly hated my position and didn't want to play it, so I just played a5 and figured i was losing anyways. Missed d5 and d6 made my move then saw it. GG, at least I'm giving you a better run int he second game, however I still don't like my position too much.

Eeked through to round 2 in a tie for 2nd place with Cadaz. Got pretty lucky that Cadaz hung a tactic after I think he had a slightly better game in order to split with him.

seems a common theme with me :-/

Woot! I made it to round 2!!! You had me scared there at the end, Kyle, but ultimately I was able to wriggle my way out. Very curious whether you missed better continuations somewhere, or whether your attack really was unsound... Either way, good game!

Here's the game, for everyone else's enjoyment/amusement (for context, we were somewhere around move 20 when it became clear that the winner of the game would advance to round 2): http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=48723427

I was pretty much just flailing away wildly, so if there anything real to the attack, it was a fluke.

I think you had it in the bag after 15. d5, which savaged any chances I had of pawn-breaking pretty much anywhere, ever.

I think that 25. Rg3 was a very interesting idea for you, and it's not at all clear to me after that. Once you played 25. Rh3 instead it was definitely over, but on that 25th move, even though I had moved my king out of the way and Rg3 wasn't a pin any more, I think it might still have won the queen. I didn't analyze it that deeply, but I was planning to probably respond with 25. ... Qg6, because otherwise there are some serious threats if I try to save the queen. I don't know who's winning after Qg6, or if that really was my best option, but it's definitely more than just "flailing wildly" at that point, imo.

The Nf3 sacrifice made no sense at all to me until I saw the Rg3/pin the queen threat, which I didn't notice until after you played Rxf3.