THINK Chess Blog Episode 9

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Liga, Variant Arenas, Crazyhouse Masters

Liga

Unfortunately, in the Liga on Easter Sunday (happy belated Easter, for those of you that celebrate), we finished rock bottom 10th place (THINK Liga 8) and will be hoping for better finishes next week, in the Liga 9C. Myself, I could not play as I was celebrating Easter with my family. @Shubhamronga09 was our top scorer that day. I have found, (in my humble opinion) their best game that day. I will provide a couple of comments, but feel free to take them with a grain of salt as I'm not that good at chess.
https://lichess.org/study/mkyoXS6l

Black has a solid game, only one major mistake, and is gifted by a White rook blunder.
FM @royalblue04 has been our Liga top scorer for three months now. This month, so far, @I_Am_Not_Me_Maybe is our top scorer with 133 points. However, there are still 3 more Ligas left to go this month, so plenty of time for FM @royalblue04- our 2nd highest scorer this month- or any of the rest of the crew- to catch up and earn a place on the Roll of Honour. (Except for me, I only have 2 liga points this month. Embarrassing.) Make sure to come up in arms (or should I say knights? Rooks?) for the Liga next Thursday April 21st and help THINK get promoted!

Variant Arenas

A couple of variant arenas took place in the past week or so, the Antichess and Three-check arenas. Not much to talk about in the Three-check, as @LoLLLLLLLLLLL (forgive me if I get the number of L's in the name wrong) took 1st place, beating FM @royalblue04 in the only game of the tournament.

https://lichess.org/Zi9xohs9

Beat may be a strong word in this particular scenario, as there was not a single move played, but I'm sure it would have been an insane game if it had taken place. As it was, @LoLLLLLLLLLLL got on the Roll of Honour.

Moving on to the Antichess... This was more filled with games. AIM (Antichess International Master) @George6W-obs absolutely crushed it, a 13-0 record and 39 points, earning them a place on the THINK Roll of Honour. I have picked one game in particular for them, against ACM (Antichess Candidate Master) @LoLLLLLLLLLLL. I will say a bit, but make fun of my horrible stockfish-assisted antichess commentary all you want. It's my worst variant.

https://lichess.org/q5v1l33w

From move 8 to move 14, @George6W-obs pretty much controlled the game, but then they blundered, and @LoLLLLLLLLLLL was winning. On move 23, the game returned to being equal, and (please consult some real anti players, not me for accurate commentary) on move 24, @George6W-obs had the game won. It took 10 moves to convert the advantage.

We look forward to the THINK Rapid Arena on Monday April 25th, and make sure to join to try and earn a place on the THINK Roll of Honour!

Crazyhouse Masters

On to the current edition of the THINK Masters, the ZH. I'll give a recap of the tournament so far- stay tuned for the winner in the next blog! There were three qualification matches:

@Rahsulaimon vs @Rankrotten 1-0

https://lichess.org/qsn4Bh1m

@George6W-obs vs @pUrpLegReeNniNga 0-1

https://lichess.org/oH3Vcx18/black

@LoLLLLLLLLLLL vs @David_Madularea 1-0 (forfeit)
2nd Round: (odds given if match has not been played yet, forgive me if these odds are not what you agree with):
@skybreaker42 (65%) vs @Rahsulaimon (35%)
@J3742 vs @I_Am_Not_Me_Maybe 1-0
https://lichess.org/9mSoOYtt
FM @royalblue04 (70%) vs @Windrunner315 (30%)
@theusualdumbkid vs @AbhirupPal 1-0 (forfeit)
@Diego-Alexander (30%) vs @pUrpLegReeNniNga (70%)
@chessmessi14 vs @Eniacknight (1-0)
https://lichess.org/40JTxLTf
@Kempere (20%) vs @LoLLLLLLLLLLL (80%)
@Dark-Bi5hop (30%) vs @ScrappyHo-oh (70%)

For the rest of the bracket, see here.

Your author managed to get a victory in the Masters for the first time:
https://lichess.org/40JTxLTf

The first 7 moves or so I don’t play so well, losing a pawn. However, I get my queen into a decent position. Move 9, my opponent attempts a discovered attack on my queen, and my queen doesn’t have many places to go. The funny thing is, I didn’t have to move my queen. Knight @ c7 would have gotten me a queen for a knight. I played the next best move, @ d6, which threatens Knight @ c7, which I realized around this time. I did play Knight @ c7 next move, which forces Qxc7. I had played N @ c7 with the idea that I would get @Eniacknight ’s queen. I thought “Oh no! They can take my queen also and I’m a piece down!” Then I realized “Oh. If they take my queen it’s mate in one, queen @ d8.” I did indeed play queen @ d8 for checkmate, sending me to the quarterfinals.

Now for another game: @J3742 vs @I_Am_Not_Me_Maybe .
https://lichess.org/9mSoOYtt

I won’t say much, but I will say this: It was a very flip-flop game, filled with mistakes and blunders. Both sides had a few chances to put the game beyond reach. It finally happened with a blunder of a capture and Knight @ g7 Mate on the 23rd move.

It's shaping up to be a cracking tournament, with great games, daring attacks, tenacious defenses, and maybe some upsets in the works? Send me a message @chessmessi14 for your prediction of who will win if you like! Make sure to follow the Crazyhouse Masters, and above all, the progress of the Masters as a whole:
https://i.imgur.com/S4xsW7Q.jpg
Best of luck to everyone in the tournament!

Outro

Sorry if this blog was too long or too short for your liking. Goodbye for now, and stay tuned for the next blog, in which I will hopefully have the Winner of the Crazyhouse Masters!
-@chessmessi14