Sorry about that. I was on a golf trip with my buddies and didn’t have internet and couldn’t get to a WiFi spot. I sent a request for a rematch, even if it is just for fun.
sorry about that, I somehow missed this thread for several days - challenge sent.
he’s ceejaoohyeah (he included an extra letter or two in his post)
Oh, we’ve been playing for a few days now, but thanks ^^
Bring it on. 
Anything moving? (Other than my being glad it’s only a friendly Hamlet and I are playing.)
My game with Ivan is over. I won. GG dude. So, yeah, commentary is appreciated for a beginner such as myself. All I know is my one remaining knight was definitely that game’s MVP, haha.
Here is a link to the game: Chess - GameKnot.com
Move List:
- e4 Nf6
- d3 d5
- Nc3 e5
- h4 Bc5
- Nf3 Nc6
- Na4 Qd6
- c3 Bg4
- Qb3 b6
- Be2 O-O-O
- Ng5 Rhf8
- O-O Bxe2
- Re1 Bxd3
- Be3 d4
- Bd2 dxc3
- bxc3 Bxe4
- Nxe4 Nxe4
- Rxe4 Qxd2
- Nxc5 bxc5
- Rb1 Qd3
- Re3 Qd5
- c4 Qd2
- Rg3 g6
- h5 gxh5
- Rg7 h6
- g4 Rg8
- Qb7+ Kd7
- Rxg8 Rxg8
- Rb2 Rxg4+
- Kh2 Qf4+
- Kh1 Qf3+
- Kh2 Qg2#
So I suppose I missed out on actually participating in the tournament, right? I’d love to play if there still is a chance, but even if there isn’t I’m vratislav on GK if anyone just wants to play for shits and giggles.
Yeah, we’re already two rounds into this tournament, so it is too late for newcomers. But if you challenge ChessSoldier on chess.com, I’ll take you on.
Right now, we’re waiting on the fubbleskag-Oredigger77 game and the peekercpa-garygnu games. Here’s my game against Edward the Head
1.d4 Nc6 2.d5 Ne5 3.e4 Nf6 4.f4 Neg4 5.e5 Ne4 6.Qxg4 d6 7.f5 dxe5 8.Qxe4 Qd6 9.Nf3 Bd7 10.Qxe5 O-O-O
11.Qxd6 exd6 12.Bd3 Re8+ 13.Kf2 h6 14.Nc3 a6 15.Bd2 Be7 16.Rhe1 Bf6 17.Rxe8+ Bxe8 18.Rb1 Bxc3 19.Bxc3 Bd7 20.Bxg7 Rg8
21.f6 Bg4 22.Re1 b5 23.Nd4 c5 24.dxc6 h5 25.Bf5+ Kc7 26.Bxg4 hxg4 27.Nf5 Kxc6 28.Ne7+ 1-0
Essentially, this game is over by move 8. Edward didn’t look more than a move or two into the future and didn’t see that the further his knights run, the more endangered they get. They start to run out of squares fast, and all that territory is sacrificed to White. When you attack a piece, forcing a move from the opponent, while also gaining something more important or permanent, it’s called “gaining a tempo”. In the opening, I gain several tempi on the knights and they end up hanging by their own reins.
I call those “Iraq knights” - no exit strategy.
My strategy after I end up two pieces is to trade off the remaining pieces and not worry about much else than that. So I play 11. Qxd6, 17. Rhe1 and 17. Rxe8. Black does my job for me with 18…Bxc3. 24. Nxd4’s sole purpose is to cover the f5 square for the bishop fork that forces a trade of bishops, and Black is left with a rook against 3 pieces and a bunch of pawns. After a tactical blunder, Kxc6, the game is rightfully over.
Peekercpa and I got an early jump on our game. I won.
I’m going out of town for a week or so, and I won’t have any net access. Hopefully I can finish my non-tournament game against Edward before I leave tomorrow morning.
We just started our game but I’d be surprised if we don’t get it done this weekend. Of course that may mean I’m playing drunk again but I need some way for people to remember me around here.
You can always put it on hold right? I’m not going to worry if it gets put on hold for a few days.
uh, gary made me look like the red headed stepchild that i am.
who get’s roadkill next round?
Which is exactly what Chessic did to me. All I did was run run run, so I decided to have some fun and throw some strange stuff in there. I knew I was going to lose after I had to keep moving the horsies around.
Well, you could always resign now. 
OK, so we’ve only got one game left, so there are only three possible pairings:
If Fubbleskag wins
Malacandra 2 Chessic Sense 2
Maserschmidt 1.5 fubbleskag 2
Edward the Head 1 GIGOBuster 1.5
Garygnu 1 Hamlet 1
Oredigger77 0 Autolycus 1
Ivan Astikov 0 peekercpa 0
If Oredigger77 wins
Malacandra 2 Chessic Sense 2
Edward the Head 1 GIGOBuster 1.5
Maserschmidt 1.5 Hamlet 1
Oredigger77 1 Autolycus 1
Garygnu 1 fubbleskag 1
Ivan Astikov 0 peekercpa 0
If they draw
Malacandra 2 Chessic Sense 2
Maserschmidt 1.5 fubbleskag 1.5
Edward the Head 1 GIGOBuster 1.5
Garygnu 1 Hamlet 1
Oredigger77 0.5 Autolycus 1
Ivan Astikov 0 peekercpa 0
Please don’t criticize my pairings too harshly. The FIDE rules say that when there are an odd number of players in a scoring group, the top player from the lower group gets “pulled up”. But that cascades all the way down the chart as an odd group steals a player from an otherwise even group, making it odd. The other quirk is that since GIGO already played Maser, they can’t play again, so they have to be paired outside their scoring group. If Hamlet and fubbeskag were closer in rank, then I’d switch them in the “Oredigger wins” scenario and Maser would be playing fubbleskag regardless, but I don’t want to arbitrarily make the top seed play the bottom seed and upset the math gods.
There are some matches that occur in all three scenarios, so those games can go ahead and get started. Those games are:
Malacandra Chessic Sense
Oredigger77 Autolycus
Ivan Astikov peekercpa
Edward the Head GIGOBuster
Maser, you’ll have white against **fubbleskag **or Hamlet. Garygnu, you’ll get white against the other one. If you guys want to play two games at once and just toss the “irrelevant one”, it’s up to you. No complaints here.
I’m fine with that, if my potential opponents are.
And BTW, I haven’t said: thanks for organizing CS!
Huh, I get an “Unable to challenge player edwardthehead at this time!” error when making a challenge in GameKnot.
so it looks like ivan is the next in the line of fodder.
and by that i mean his animals will probably be grazing in my yard sometime shortly.
and chessic your pairings stink. i haven’t drawn a toddler yet?
course losing to someone who is still teathing might like really take me down a notch.
So it’s me and the big guy now? My natural inclination would be to open 1. e4 again, but I heard something once about going in against a Sicilian…