Erica's Horde Diary 4: The Journey of the Horde WC

1. Random Thoughts

I am not experienced at writing blogs, I even thought I should just write numbers in the introduction part. But I will continue this, just to share my thoughts as a noob. I hope all of you can have fun... maybe I also get angry over a lost game at times, but later I always ask, is it really worth it? We play chess just for fun, so why get so mad? Also, I am not expected to do anything in the horde world championship, so losing is fine. I had school work recently, but playing chess at times still make me happy.

2. My Horde World Championship matches

The Horde WC bracket is here: challonge.com/2022hwc

I am afraid that using @ will give annoying notifications to the players mentioned, so I will just use bold text for players. You can search the usernames on lichess to find the players.

Match vs Glasslinger

Firstly, I will talk about my matches. I was very lucky that my first opponent decided to forfeit, so I played Glasslinger in round 2. The games are shown below:

I can't really understand the point of 1.f6 despite being a "top choice" for some top players. I decided to play the first match using the normal opening e5. But apparently I never had any chance after e3 (horde is a strange game, the engine often fails to come up with a clear plan.) Black opened the h-file, put the knight and rook to challenge my side pawns, and eventually used the classic rook sacrifice to break through. Sometimes I know that's bad, but I failed to do anything about it. I tried to create counterplay on the queen side but there are too many black pieces in the way. I lost soon after the queen gets to the queen side.

In this game I used a similar set up, but white played h5, so I tried to attack g5. I did exchange two bishops for 4 pawns, and my position was fine before the move Nh6. Nh6 was a one-move threat and it helped white advance the pawns. The critical blunder was apparently Rc8, but I'd say the problem was that I didn't have a concrete plan to break through. I just panicked behind a huge wall of pawns and failed to stop them. Eventually I lost queen and rook due to forks,

Basically the same as the first game. Why didn't I learn from it? Well, because I couldn't find a good way to stop black's idea. So I changed opening in the 5th game.

The opening was same, this time I learned from my opponent, opened the h-file, and almost broke through. But I got distracted from the Qh8 and rook sacrifice idea, which was better for me, instead my queen was trapped on queen side and I used rooks to break through, which was not as effective. Rooks are awkward when it comes to taking pawns. And I was low in time and flagged (the position was lost anyway).

I switched to h5 to stop the rook-queen breakthrough idea. Black still used the knight sacrifice to force the rook through. Basically I have no idea what to do after a queen breakthrough, and lost very quickly.

In the opening I failed to come up with a good plan and my pawns were traded, white had a thick pawn wall in almost every file. I was desperate to create a breakthrough and eventually broke through in the middle, after which my position was OK... My position was OK till as late as move 39, where Qe4 barely holds everything together and white was not threatening queening. Instead, I took the free pawn and allowed queening, which is not recommended. Checkmate follows soon after queening.

As you probably expected, I lost without winning once. After the match, I played one more casual game with my opponent where I lost again as white because I can't find a good way to deal with the sitting strategy either. (Sitting is very good especially against inexperienced players like me. Because I get anxious easily.)

Match vs Chipola14

In the losers' bracket I played Chipola14. This match went a little better but it's the hope that made me a bit stressed...

I learned the h5 idea from the first match and tried to combine it with the Be7 idea, but my opening set up was still a bit shaky. However, white played g5 and I gained a free pawn and had a chance to break through on the king side. White created counterplay on the queen side but I was able to stop the pawns and use my bishop and queen to break through. It did get dangerous in the middle game, white got a defended pawn to the 7th rank, but I just about had enough pieces to stop the far advanced pawns. The game was clear after I sacrificed the rook for two pawns, leaving white with several separated pawns. I scored my first win in the Horde WC.

I started with h-pawn pushes to stop the h-file breakthrough, but I soon found that my queen side pawns can also be targets. Black used a knight to open the a-file and while I was busy trying to keep the rook out, black was soon able to break through with the bishop and queen on the h-file anyway. I did win the queen with my advanced pawns (queen sacrifice was unnecessary), but my pawns were all stopped and my separated pawns can't promote with the last black rook defending everything.

I won the g5 pawn quickly — maybe sometimes that pawn is not that important. Here my queen side was completely paralyzed because I failed to develop these pieces. I was desperate for a breakthrough but white's pawn wall was solid, and I did not find a way in and eventually flagged while trying to defend.

I used the h-pawn opening again. This time again, both a-file and h-file are opened and the position was hard to play. But after a miscalculation by black. I was able to create serious counterplay on the queen side. But again, one bad move lost all the strong pawns instantly. My position was still not totally lost though, and black chose to walk in with the king which turned out to be fatal. I lured the queen away and forced a promotion. I found the mate pretty quickly with two queens on the board.

I used a similar opening as black, this time the position was not so exciting. I missed a good chance of taking a free pawn in the middle game. Other from that, I also did not find any clear plan while white had a plan. I managed to break through after all, but still got timed out in a losing position.

I played the same opening, and successfully kept the structure for quite a few moves, but I was too afraid to take the sacrificed bishop. But later I forgot that knights could move backwards, my pawns were eventually stopped by the king and rook. Maybe I rushed the pawns a bit too soon.

This just shows how being "out of mood" can get you in trouble. I started the breakthrough on a-file early on, and achieved the breakthrough without even sacrificing the rook. Then in an obviously winning endgame, I blocked my own queen and allowed a promotion. Then I still had chances but white was able to promote more pawns in time trouble. I can never use time as a weapon... maybe because I am not a good player with low time.

In the final game my opponent played a great game, did not give me any chance, and won by an a-file breakthrough. My stalemate trick never actually worked...

As for the "drama", I don't think my opponent cheated despite I got rating refunded. I respect the decision of the director (my friend on lichess argued that I should advance to the next round, but we all know nothing will change even if that happens :))

3. Other matches

In the main bracket, the final is going to be played between Drooooid and mindhunter0101. The latter is a big favourite — mindhunter defeated many strong opponents with dominant score lines (6-0 diablo4747, 6-1 ravif, 6-0 thealmightygebaby), Let's see some of the best games.

An example of cautious and accurate gameplay as white. Also shows what white should do when a breakthrough happens. Sadly players like me always panic and fail to show the power of advanced pawns.

A funny end to an exciting game. Also reminds us that it's never too late to hang mate!

An example of the sitting idea. White resigned too early though. (Sometimes I don't understand... When there is a piece sacrifice, taking it might be bad, but leaving it there surely can't do anything good... It can at least trade for one more pawn, sometimes even two pawns.)

The way to deal with far advanced pawns. It's easy to panic after some pawns reach the 7th rank and defend each other. Top players trust their calculations, especially in these cases.

An example of beating the sitting opening. It is not easy to play as white, but top players can always find surprising resources. Every pawn needs to contribute in some way. (Sometimes I think adding two more side pawns to white might make this game more balanced... )

Meanwhile, Drooooid beat wgoto744 6-2, Filippov_Anton 6-1, and beat the shield winner hod-konem96 7-5 (aet) in an exciting close match. It was also a comeback from 3-5, which is very impressive. Here are some of the best games.

Example of making progress when black is sitting. Possibly a misclick in the end, but white was winning anyway.

Maybe sitting is unnecessary if pawns are traded in the opening.

Trading pawns and finding a way to break through by the "overwork" tactic theme. White resigned early though.

Sitting in middle game is also an idea. It is easy for white to get into zugzwang and lose pawns.

The deciding game, where they started with a sitting opening and got into a time trouble. In time trouble accurate defence is difficult. And whenever white gets a queen, it is basically game over (unless there are too few pawns left).

In the side bracket, wgoto744 vs NGGYU_089 and CyberShredder vs Horde_Commender are still not played, Chipola14 vs qpwoeirut is forfeited to the latter (my friend thinks I should play qpwoeirut instead by Racing Kings or Atomic rules, but I don't see rules about this. It's extremely unlikely that my opponent cheated.) Glasslinger and PhillipeSaner will play in round 4, and matvei-e2e4, ravif, Filippov_Anton will also play in round 4. hod-konem96 and thealmightygebaby will be waiting in round 6.

The best match in the side bracket was PhillipeSaner managing a comeback from 1-4 down, to win 7-5 (aet) against Diablo4747. Their last game

featured a possibility of underpromoting to a knight winning the queen. (Move 45) Sadly the move was not played, but luckily white was still winning.

The only draw so far in the tournament happened in the match FrederikA vs dude128, it was also a close match and dude128 prevailed, 5.5-4.5. The draw

was by agreement instead of stalemate though. (And black was winning, but a draw was enough). It is strange to see no stalemates, maybe most players are aware of this trick by now.

4. Prediction

At this point, most people will think mindhunter0101 is going to crush everyone. But anything can happen — that is the charm of horde. Mindhunter is a big favourite to win the tournament though, with an incredible 2800+ rating.

I shall continue this blog for the final match of horde WC. Thank you for the support.