Lichess4545 Interview: 164 Years of Chess Wisdom, Zero Symmetrical Openings

This week, we are interviewing a player who has been a consistent, dependable captain in recent seasons, surpassing the 100 game mark during season 42. This player might or might not be 164 years old, according to their username. Can you guess who this player is?

If you guessed Siegbert Tarrasch, you are wrong. First, we’re pretty sure that Tarrasch died in 1934, though if he does still live, feel free to notify us; we’d be more than happy to (for a small fee) correct that statement. Second, Tarrasch would only be 163 if he were still alive, one year younger than the player being interviewed might be. Lastly, Tarrasch doesn’t even play in any of the leagues, which might be understandable to some, seeing as he is dead. (Unless that is who Feet_Barbie is.) No, the player being interviewed is none other than @JohnJPershing!

Tell us a bit about yourself and/or your chess play.

I am John J Pershing, and I play chess. Some of you folks who know history might recognize a fake name, but my real name is also the name of a famous American general. Also, I've always thought it was classier to go by the name "John" online than "xXxPawnSlayers360xXx" (which was my teams name in season 38). I've been going by this name online for literally more than 50% of my life, so I've become quite attached to it.

I joined this league about a year after I got serious about chess again when someone mentioned this league on reddit, back in Season 8. At the time I was working on my degree in nuclear engineering, and I needed something mentally engaging to fill the time between classes. I played for 7 full seasons throughout my college years, and realized I had a knack for being captain. I didn't mind the busywork of handling the pairings and mods, and letting people know what the rules were, as nobody reads the rules until they get told they've broken them. After season 19, I started my first full time job, and took a few seasons off to focus on that. Then of course there was some hubbub about a virus going around? Interestingly, over the pandemic I focused a lot on the other ancient board game with black and white pieces, go. I got decent at go, and it taught me a lot about strategy and opened my mind a lot. I still suck at it though, and it's much harder to find people to play against OTB in America, which is a darn shame. Around 2022, in an attempt to play more board games with people around me, I started focusing on chess again, and rejoined the league for Season 35. Since then, I've either been a player or an alternate for every single season, and I really enjoy playing here. It's both a great community, and an opportunity to force myself to regularly play slow games that help me analyze my own play and grow.

If I had to describe how I play chess, I'd say I play chess to have fun. That means that I avoid symmetric openings, e4e5, d4d5. It means that when I get bored, which happens about once every year or two, I change one of my openings completely. I recently changed my response to e4 from a French to an uncommon Sicilian, and give me a few years and I'll probably change it again. When an endgame looks drawn, I'll almost always play it out to see if I can make any unusual surprises happen. I try to create dynamic positions with a lot of tactical possibilities, which means I also lose a lot, but I have fun doing it. It's very important to have fun when you're losing. This is a game, and anyone who suffers while playing chess has lost something beautiful along the path of gaining rating.

Since you rejoined the league for season 35, you've captained every team that you've played for full-time. How long do you expect this streak to continue?

I hadn't realized that this was an unbroken streak, but I always volunteer first, and I'm usually friendly with the whole team from day 1, so a lot of people tend to support that. I'll happily keep up the good vibes for as long as I play in the league, and I imagine the first time I'll step down is when I'm on a team with someone else who really wants to be captain! It's a gift I'd happily give to anyone who wants it!

Which of your games this season is your favorite?

This was my first game of the season, and after the first fifteen moves, we had entered a position where I had lost a rook and two pawns for a bishop and a knight, which put me down material, but with more active minor pieces against their un-castled king. It was a tense position with a lot of possibilities. Over the next 5 moves, I continued to develop and protect my pieces, as black castled and started attacking back. Move 20 was a real moment where I was tempted by 20.Qxd7 Rd8 Qxc6, but I spent several minutes calculating the attacks black had against my king, and multiple ways my king would be chased, and all of them lead to either mate, or losing my queen. I spent 303 seconds on that move according to Lichess, and in the end I decided to play the quieter 20.Qd1, a safer move that set up a few potential moves for my next turn. Black decides that this passive move is an opportunity to strike at my unprotected rook on a1, but thankfully I had a response to that! 21.Qc2 pins their bishop to their unprotected queen. There is no desperado, or zwischenzug with check to escape this pin. Black brings their rook up to b4 to defend the pinned bishop, but it is now safe for me to force the piece trade, and black decides to trade the queens as well.

Several moves later, in an attempt to bring their king into the endgame, black blunders a bishop pin on their rook and king, which marks the final move of the game. While there are definitely some strategic aspects of this game that I may have changed in retrospect, I took my time on a risky move, decided it was too risky, and my patience was rewarded with a blunder from my opponent.

Which league player do you most respect?

How could I ever pick one? As a frequent captain, I have a lot of respect for all of our mods. They're always helping resolve disputes and taking care of the behind the scenes fun that is necessary for a league this big to run smoothly! I also respect all of my teammates who are active in our team channels, the camaraderie between teammates is the best part of this league! If I had to pick a few who I feel have been really good teammates, I've really enjoyed playing with @Kygreek, @Cloheessy793, @TristanBrown17, @Masedog91, and @Crazywane254, but the list is too long. Anyone who enjoys cheering on their teammates, and supporting them through the wins and losses is a player I respect.

Which league player would you most like to see interviewed in a future edition of the ledger?

I know @Crazywane254 has been part of the league for a while, I bet he has some fun stories to tell.

Please give us a nugget of wisdom.

Chess is a game, make sure you're having fun. It's ok to want to be better, and for some, the act of getting better is where the fun is, but if you're playing chess, and having a bad time, that's not healthy, and that's not sustainable. One cannot grow as a person if you constantly tear yourself down for not growing fast enough. Often the pressure to succeed can actually be what keeps us down.

How would you react if your opponent suddenly turned into a pumpkin mid-game?

I pause the clock, and call over the arbiter. "This has to be a win by forfeit, right?"

Lichess4545 is an online chess league for people who like playing long time control games online. Players are assigned to teams and play one game per week with a 45+45 time control. At the moment, registration for season 44 is open: Register here. For more information visit our league home page.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA).
Interview conducted by @fork2020